Trembling hands vibrated in my pockets as I braced against the cold. My stride quickened, hoping to catch Harper on the walk back to my cabin, but the group had already dispersed.

  I’ll tell her about the tissue at lunch...

  Snow crunched underfoot until I froze at the sight of a white van parked outside. Harry was casing the cabin. Julius.

  I weighed my options. I could turn around and let him chase me down—or face him now. As Derek’s father, he was unavoidable, but we weren’t shy about our disdain for one another. Both of us claimed the moral high ground, neither willing to yield.

  I remembered meeting him almost four years ago, when Derek and I had been dating for about a year. His parents invited me to their lake house during the summer school break. His younger sister Aria and her girlfriend, Brynne, were there too.

  For all the Dravos wealth and reputation, the house was underwhelming. It was at least fifty years old and didn’t appear updated. The Dravos wore casual clothes. We went water skiing and played board games all together. They almost seemed like a normal family.

  But the last night we stayed there, I woke from a bad dream. Derek didn’t stir as I slid out of bed in my nightgown and went to the kitchen for water.

  The kitchen was dark except for the glow of the fridge. I grabbed a glass by feel from the cabinet and filled it from the fridge’s automatic dispenser. The snap of a single recessed light overhead startled me, illuminating the counter. Julius sat at the peninsula, grinning like he’d been waiting.

  “Trouble sleeping?” he asked.

  “Just thirsty,” instinct told me to lie.

  “Pie?” he lifted his plate, showing a half-eaten slice of apple pie.

  Why is he eating in the dark?

  I suddenly got the feeling the invitation was more of a command. “Sure... thank you.”

  He smiled, but it didn’t touch his eyes. He slid a plate he’d already set aside toward me, cut a slice with unsettling care, and watched as I mounted the bar stool across from him. The hem of my nightgown crept too high on my thighs. I felt a chill despite the summer heat and crossed my arms over my chest, subconsciously covering the parts of me he seemed to notice first.

  “Are you enjoying your stay?” he asked.

  “Yes, I’m having a great time. Thank you for inviting me.”

  “Good. I’m glad. Derek has told us all about you, so I insisted you should join us. To meet you properly. He says you want to go to law school?”

  “Yes. Someday, when I can afford it.”

  “That’s something we could help with. At ViraRx, we have a sponsorship program. I could see your application finds the right eyes.”

  “That’s incredibly generous. I’d have to think about it.”

  “What’s there to think about?”

  “I’m not sure ViraRx is the right fit for me.”

  “Tell me more.” His eyes darkened as he leaned back, arms crossed, shadows stretching like long fingers across his frame from the adjoining room.

  I sat quietly for a moment finishing my bite of pie and testing the words on my tongue before I released them. “I don’t think I could forgive myself for supporting practices that target the vulnerable for profit.”

  His laugh was humorless. Gooseflesh rippled up my arms at the hollow sound.

  “You are your mother’s daughter.”

  What the hell is that supposed to mean?

  “Indeed,” I said dryly.

  Mom had left ViraRx shortly after I met Derek, coincidentally. We met at her conference, where she was presenting new tissue regeneration methods. She’d given them twenty years before walking away under an NDA. Her silence pushed me toward law school. Corporations like ViraRx were unchecked, devouring companies and consolidating power. Someone needed to hold these companies accountable.

  “Gina was brilliant,” Julius said, almost wistful. “A shame how it ended. I hear she’s not working anymore. Even after all that sacrifice to get to the top of her field—missed family dinners, soccer games, graduations?”

  I nodded. He wasn’t wrong. My jaw clenched, and I felt heat rising in my chest. He had struck a nerve, and I forced myself to stay composed as I hastily finished my pie, eager to escape the conversation.

  “It’s a waste, isn’t it?” he continued, “Your future could be bright, Mia. But your naivety will stunt your growth. You’ll learn soon enough.”

  He stood to leave, clearing our empty plates and forks. Then, in one startling motion, he angled my stool toward him, towering over me, and leaning close to lock eyes with mine. Fear froze me to my seat. The pounding thud of my heartbeat ricocheted in my ears. I prayed he couldn’t hear it. After a moment, he touched his rough cheek against mine. The acidic smell of his cologne stung my nostrils. Hot breath dampened my ear as he whispered, “Let’s just hope you find the courage to step through this door before it closes for good.”

  Then he was gone, slinking off into the dark hallway.

  I sat frozen until I remembered how to breathe. I finished my water in shaky gulps. At the sink, I scrubbed the dishes with unnecessary force, anger easing the helplessness. I felt a little better as I put the washed dishes on the rack to dry.

  I quietly made my way back to my room and crawled into bed next to Derek. He stirred, pulling me close in his sleep. I pressed my face against his chest, finally letting myself feel safe.

  Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

  After that, I never let myself be alone with Julius again. Until now.

  I looked up from where I had been staring at the ground to see Harry watching me, his hands clasped together, patiently waiting for me to acknowledge him. I took a deep breath and commanded my legs to move. To my surprise, they obeyed.

  “Hello, Miss.” Harry nodded, holding the door.

  I hesitated. “Will you come inside?”

  “No, Miss.” He didn’t need to explain. I knew it wasn’t his choice. My disappointment, or perhaps fear, must have shown, because he added, “But I’ll be watching from out here. The whole time.”

  I nodded in appreciation and mentally reached for a protective mask against the mind games to follow. Julius stood in the living room, studying the mountains.

  “Hello, Mia.” Julius’s voice was as smooth as ever, his smile too knowing to be comforting.

  “Dr. Dravo?” I feigned confusion. “I didn’t think visitors were allowed.”

  “They’re not. But I’m not just any guest.”

  “Right...of course.”

  He surveyed the room like he owned it—which I suppose he did.

  “How are you feeling?” he asked. “Any side effects yet? Derek has been eager for updates. I wanted to see for myself that you are being well looked after.”

  “Oh...I feel about the same, I think.”

  “Any body aches? Chills? Fever?”

  “Body aches, off and on. I’m mostly just very tired.”

  He nodded and gestured to the couch. “Please, sit.”

  I sat, hesitantly. He poured two glasses of water from a jug and took the armchair opposite me, crossing his legs with theatrical ease.

  He let the silence between us stretch to an uncomfortable degree. He wants me to speak first.

  “They won’t tell me if it’s working,” I admitted, watching him.

  “They can’t,” he said. “The study’s double-blind. Placebo effect can be powerful, especially with terminal illness. The brain wants to believe. It’s remarkable, really.”

  I sipped, uneasy, unsure of what he really came for.

  “There’s another reason I stopped by,” he said after a pause. “As you may suspect, Derek intends to propose once your treatment concludes.”

  “If I survive,” I said flatly.

  Julius smiled, like I’d made a clever joke. “Yes. If you survive. He’s serious about you. But marriage, in our family, is more than sentimental ceremony. Derek is going to inherit an empire, and the person at his side will bear... considerable responsibility.”

  My mask cracked. “Shouldn’t Derek be the one to explain this to me? If he’s serious about marrying me?”

  “Derek doesn’t yet understand the full gravity of what he’s inheriting,” Julius said. “But it will be imperative for him to have the right partner. The right support. Down the road.”

  “Ah...” realization dawning on me, “So when you say ‘empire’, that’s not a figure of speech. ViraRx intends to expand beyond pharmaceuticals. You acquired Terrnova, the largest synthetic crop distributor in the western hemisphere, and now you’re lobbying for the Corporate Infrastructure Sovereignty Act. That’s not a coincidence. If it passes, state systems become corporate systems. We will be entirely dependent on your subscriptions.”

  He raised his brows, amused. “Very astute. I’ve read your file, of course. Graduated top of your class from one of the last AI-independent institutions. Critical thought is almost extinct these days. It’s rare. Precious.”

  Is that a compliment or a veiled threat?

  “You’d be an asset to ViraRx,” he continued. “I’m not offering you an entry-level post. I want you to lead a division with five or six associates under you. I’m offering you a seat at the table.”

  “That’s... generous,” I said slowly. “But difficult to accept from a company deciding who deserves basic survival. You’re monetizing human rights.”

  “We’re securing human rights,” Julius corrected. “Where governments have failed. If we want to preserve the planet, we need speed, efficiency, resolve. Not consensus and committee. Democracy is slow. People are dying while politicians squabble.”

  “At what cost?” I asked. “Freedom? Autonomy? Will access to clean water depend on one’s subscription score?”

  “Access will be based on contribution. Equal effort, equal reward. It’s meritocratic. Fair.”

  “It’s survival of the rich.”

  “It’s survival, period.”

  I swallowed hard.

  He leaned in, voice softening. “This treatment isn’t charity, Mia. Look out there—” He pointed to the mountains. “We share the same view, whether you admit it or not. Think it over. I’ll return at the end of your treatment, and I hope, for your sake, that you’ll be ready for that conversation.”

  My stomach churned. I forced a nod. Julius stood and made his way to the door.

  “One more question,” he said, hand on the knob. “Why Derek? I love my son, but he’s always reminded me of the golden retriever I had as a child.”

  Lovable. Loyal. Easily led.

  I met his gaze. “If that’s what you see, then you don’t know him at all. You underestimate your own son.”

  Julius chuckled. “Oh, I doubt that very much. But that’s what I’d expect a devoted wife to say.”

  He winked, then slipped out the door.

  The feeling of powerlessness sent tremors through me. A chill lingered in the room, and no matter how I shook my arms or flexed my fingers, I couldn’t get the feeling of him off me.

  Like I’d touched something toxic.

  “To clarify for the court, Everly,” Faith interrupts my retelling, “there is no official record of the human clinical trials you are describing?”

  “No. It’s not part of the new histories.”

  “New histories?”

  “Right. After the scrub. When Virarx and the other sectors erased any narrative from the recorded histories that didn’t vibe with their mission statement.”

  “Blasphemy!” The Squat Judge shouts from his bench, droplets of spittle spraying through the air. “What proof do you have for these allegations?”

  “Me. I am the proof.” And the files I’ve kept all these years. “What I lived through isn’t recorded digitally, but that doesn’t change what they’ve done.” I look up at the lie detector above me, its silence attesting to my truthfulness.

  “These experiments in nanotechnology are not some great secret,” Daniel interjects. “For the Court, I would like to submit into evidence Exhibit A.”

  With a wave of his hand, he projects a holographic image of the scientific article: Therapeutic Nanobot-Mediated Delivery of CRISPR-Based Repair Constructs in Murine Models of Oncogenesis authored by Dr. Jacob Everly and Dr. Raychelle Stevens et al., ViraRx Therapeutics, 2045.

  “This is the cornerstone,” he declares. “It predates the witness, and yet she bears their names. That is no coincidence. Mia Alden was erased. What remains is Everly Stevens—the synthesis of this research, the living extension of their design.”

  “Yes, Exhibit A was authored by Everly and Stevens,” Faith agrees, “not by the witness. She did not conceive this experiment—she suffered it.

  “The only reason she carries those names is because she was forced to abandon her own. Mia Alden had to vanish when ViraRx began hunting her. What greater proof of her humanity than the fact that she feared for her life and chose exile to survive?

  Spoilers.

  “However, victimhood does not erase culpability. Once she bore this body, once she carried this technology, she made choices. She aligned with insurgent groups. She participated in unlawful acts, including attacks that cost civilian lives.

  Debatable.

  “The Tribunal must consider her actions as well as her victimization. She is human, and must be held accountable like anyone else.”

  I challenge you to live nearly two hundred years without becoming the villain in someone else’s story.

  “Objection, Your Honor!” Daniel says, beads of sweat forming on his brow. “Counsel for the Coalition is attempting to turn this proceeding into a vendetta against our subject to bias the Tribunal. 3V3-R17 is not on trial for alleged crimes, nor can she be, as she no longer qualifies as human under any coherent legal standard.”

  “Counsel, that is precisely the question before this Tribunal,” The Squat Judge, P1-L8, responds. “We are here to determine whether 3V3-R17 constitutes a human being, and therefore can be subject to human laws. Objection overruled. Counsel for the Coalition may proceed.”

  “Thank you, Your Honor,” Faith continues. “Everly, please continue your recollection of the Everly Protocol and describe how the treatment affected you and your decisions thereafter.”

  “Certainly. But if you’re squeamish, brace yourself for this next part. Are you familiar with The Most Dangerous Game?”

  Blank stares.

  I sigh. Of course not.

  I take a deep breath. Let’s go.