The beat of "I Was Never There" didn't just play; it bled through the speakers of Elias’s workstation. He was a digital ghost, a "cleaner" for a tech firm that didn't technically exist. His job was to scrub the footprints of people who wanted to vanish.
By the time the track faded into its final, ghostly silence, Elias had stepped out of the car and into the shadows of an alleyway. He dropped the phone into a storm drain. The beat of "I Was Never There" didn't
That night, the neon lights of the city blurred against the rain on his windshield. He was sitting outside a high-rise, waiting for a signal. His phone stayed silent, the black screen reflecting his tired eyes. He thought about the lyrics. The Weeknd sang about heartbreak and the desire to be erased; Elias lived the literal version of it. He had spent years making sure billionaires and whistleblowers were "never there." By the time the track faded into its