Chapter 2

AURORA: Current primary mission objective: Conquer Ethan Vance. Probability of success: 37%. Warning: Failure to complete mission will result in severe system penalties. Do you wish to proceed, Ava Hayes?

The calm, synthesized voice of AURORA echoed in my mind, an interface only I could perceive.

"No," I whispered, my voice hoarse. "Abort mission. I want nothing more to do with Ethan Vance."

AURORA: Aborting primary mission incurs maximum penalty: permanent system unbinding from current target and potential system degradation. Confirm?

"Confirm," I said, a tear tracing a path down my cheek. I didn' t care about penalties. I just wanted out.

It felt like a lifetime ago, yet it was only a few months since I' d first stepped into the Ashworth mansion.

Victoria, my biological mother, had greeted me with a hesitant smile and eyes that kept darting to Chloe.

Robert Ashworth, my stepfather, was bluff, hearty, and distant.

They gave me a beautiful room, clothes I couldn' t imagine affording, and a place at their lavish dinner table.

But it was all surface. Chloe was the sun they orbited. I was a newly discovered, inconvenient moon.

"We're so glad to finally have you, Ava," Victoria had said, but her hand rested on Chloe's shoulder.

Chloe, the adopted princess, had everything. And she saw me as a threat to it all.

The "nine strikes" pact wasn't a game; it was a systematic dismantling of my fragile new life.

Chloe had proposed it with a sweet smile, "Just a way for us to bond, sis. To see if you truly fit in."

The Ashworths, Victoria and Robert, had murmured their approval. "A bit of fun," Robert had boomed. "Show us what you're made of, Ava."

I' d agreed, desperate for their approval, for a sign that I belonged.

I thought if I played along, if I was good enough, they' d finally see me. Love me.

The strikes came, one by one.

First, it was a scholarship I' d won, my ticket to a prestigious art program. Chloe "accidentally" missed the deadline to submit my acceptance. Strike one.

Then, a stray cat I' d started feeding, the only creature in that cold house that seemed to genuinely like me. Chloe had it "rehomed" to a farm far away. Strike two.

A small, anonymous gallery had offered to show my paintings. Chloe arranged for a "charity art auction" the same night, ensuring no one from the family or their circle attended my show. Strike three.

Each loss was a small cut, bleeding me dry of hope.

My sketchbook, filled with drawings of my father, Michael Hayes, based on old photos AURORA had found for me. Chloe "tidied" my room and it vanished. Strike four.

The strikes were always framed as accidents, misunderstandings, or Chloe' s well-intentioned but clumsy attempts to "help" me.

Victoria and Robert saw nothing, or chose not to.

"Chloe means well, dear," Victoria would say, patting my hand. "She's just a little exuberant."

"Don't be so sensitive, Ava," Robert would add. "Chloe has a big heart."

Their blindness, their blatant favoritism, was the cruelest cut of all.

I became a ghost in their grand house, my presence tolerated, my pain ignored.

Kevin, my half-brother, sometimes looked at me with a flicker of something – guilt? Pity? – but he always sided with Chloe. He was weaker, or perhaps just too comfortable in the established family dynamic.

By the eighth strike – Chloe "borrowing" and then "losing" a locket Michael Hayes had apparently left for his then-unborn daughter, a locket AURORA had helped me track down to an old safe – I was ready to give up.

I was packing my meager belongings, ready to tell Chloe she' d won, ready to walk away from the Ashworths and their toxic charade of family.

I didn't even care about the inheritance anymore. I just wanted peace.

That' s when I found Ethan.

Or rather, when AURORA found him for me.

I' d been walking aimlessly in a rougher part of the city, trying to clear my head.

An alert flashed from AURORA: Bio-signature distress detected. Proximity: 30 meters. Michael Hayes Protocol: Aid potential asset.

I found him in a derelict alleyway, bleeding, his legs twisted at an unnatural angle. Ethan Vance.

He was barely conscious.

AURORA: Subject critical. Severe trauma. Experimental bio-regeneration protocol available. Requires user consent and energy transfer. Successful regeneration will bind subject temporarily as a 'mission target'. Grant wish upon mission completion. Do you consent, Ava Hayes?

"Yes! Help him!" I cried, not fully understanding, just knowing I couldn't let him die.

AURORA' s interface glowed. I felt a strange warmth spread from my hand as I touched his forehead, a warmth that flowed into him. His breathing eased. The bleeding slowed.

Ethan became my ninth strike. My everything.

He recovered, miraculously. He said I saved his life. He was charming, attentive. He made me feel seen, cherished.

He told me he was a struggling musician, and I believed him.

When Chloe made him the final stake in her cruel game, his public declaration of love for me was my greatest triumph.

"I choose Ava," he' d said.

For a fleeting moment, I thought I' d finally won something. Found someone.

I had my eighth wish from AURORA ready – to permanently heal his legs, a lingering issue from his "accident."

Then, the balcony. The overheard conversation. The shattering truth.

His "accident" was an old injury from a conflict with my father, Michael Hayes. AURORA's tech had healed him, a tech he now coveted.

His love was a lie. His rescue, a setup.

His plan: use me to provoke Chloe, whom he truly desired for her social standing and to undermine the Ashworth legacy. Then, force me into the Riley marriage as Chloe's substitute, keeping Chloe for himself.

Later, he'd "rescue" me, control me, and gain access to AURORA.

The betrayal was absolute. It hollowed me out.

AURORA: Ethan Vance: Status - Former Target. Threat Level: Extreme. Vance Industries CEO. Motives: Revenge against Michael Hayes's legacy, power, control, obsession with Chloe Ashworth, acquisition of AURORA technology.

The words scrolled across my vision, cold, clinical.

My father, Michael Hayes, had created AURORA to protect and empower me.

And I had, in my naivety, used its power to save the man who now sought to destroy everything my father stood for, and me along with it.

"I'm done," I told AURORA. "I'm done with Ethan. Done with the Ashworths."

AURORA: New potential mission target identified. Captain Marcus 'Mac' Riley. Current status: Comatose, critical. Medical intervention required. Probability of successful intervention with AURORA assistance: 68%. Value: High. This mission aligns with Michael Hayes Protocol: Preserve valuable lives, foster positive change.

A new target. A new mission. Mac Riley.

Chloe' s discarded groom. A man in a coma.

"Why him?" I asked AURORA.

AURORA: Captain Riley championed the Medical Research Foundation you stand to inherit significant control over, via Chloe's intended marriage. His survival and recovery could secure its ethical future. He represents a path to positive impact, away from current entanglements.

A path away. A chance to do something good.

My heart was a wasteland of betrayal, but a tiny seed of purpose began to sprout.

"Okay, AURORA," I whispered. "New mission. Let's save Captain Riley."

If I was going to marry a comatose man, I'd do it for my own reasons. And I'd make sure Ethan Vance paid for what he'd done.