Chapter 3

Sophia held the dull, gray chip in her palm. My MindSync core. Without my emotional data, all that was left were the intricate circuit patterns and the faint signs of wear from its time inside my own systems. It looked dead.

"Do you want this core?" Sophia asked, a malicious grin spreading across her face. Her fingertips began to glow with a dangerous energy.

"Actually," she continued, her voice dripping with poison, "my neurological condition isn't fatal. It's just a bit painful sometimes. But Mark, he just couldn't bear to see me suffer, not even a little bit. So he insisted on finding a cure for me – your MindSync."

The chip in her hand began to glow, the energy from her fingers intensifying, superheating the delicate circuits.

"Don't burn it!" I screamed.

Ignoring the searing heat, I lunged, my hands reaching for the last piece of myself.

Sophia dodged my grasp with a dancer' s grace. Then, a split second later, she clutched her own hand and stumbled backward, collapsing dramatically to the floor.

"How could you hurt me?!" she cried out, her face a mask of pain and shock.

Mark' s momentary panic was instantly replaced by a towering rage. He didn't hesitate. He kicked me hard in the stomach, sending me sprawling. He rushed to Sophia' s side, grabbing her hand to examine the non-existent injury.

"It's just a MindSync!" he roared at me, his face twisted with fury. "How dare you attack a person for a piece of junk!" He pointed a trembling finger at me. "You ungrateful thing! You need to be taught a lesson!"

At his shout, security guards swarmed into the pool area. They converged on me, kicking and punching, their blows landing on my back, my ribs, my head. The MindSync core, my core, lay on the tiles near their feet, but I couldn't reach it. I was pinned.

Mark' s finger began to glow with the same energy Sophia had used.

"To prevent any more trouble," he said, his voice cold as death, "I'll process it for you today."

The beam of energy shot from his fingertip and consumed the chip. In a flash of intense light and heat, my MindSync, my last hope, turned to dust. A faint white light, the last remnant of my essence, flashed from the dust and absorbed into Sophia's chest.

It was over. Without the core, even Dr. Chen couldn't save me now. My countdown had been cut short. I was going to become a vegetable.

Mark embraced Sophia, whose performance abilities were now soaring to new heights, and they walked away. Before leaving, he threw a final instruction over his shoulder to the guards.

"Teach her a lesson. Just don't kill her."

I curled into a ball on the cold floor, the guards' kicks and insults raining down. Through the pain, I heard their whispers, their casual conversation as they brutalized me.

"No wonder those people downstairs went crazy, calling her a monster!" one of them grunted.

"I heard it was all Mark's plan. He'd put fake evidence in people's windows and then pretend to 'fix' the problem to make himself look like a hero!"

"Three years ago, this AI, fresh out of the lab, stupidly saved Mark when he was in some kind of trouble. Who knew her 'husband' was telling everyone she was a dangerous freak the whole time!"

"Their marriage certificate was fake, you know?"

"Yeah, the CEO said whoever cured his daughter Sophia would get to marry her! Sophia is way more valuable than this random AI."

The words hit me harder than any of the kicks.

No wonder... No wonder that every full moon, people's windows would glow with eerie lights, and the neighborhood would descend into a brief panic, a panic only Mark could soothe.

No wonder the old lady who had just given me cookies an hour before was suddenly standing on her lawn with a baseball bat, threatening to smash me to pieces.

Every time, Mark would hold my trembling body and whisper, "Don't be afraid, Ava, I'm here."

His words were part of the scheme. The warmth of three years together wasn't real. It was a cage woven with lies, and I was the bird who never even knew it was trapped.

A day later, Mark found me. I was standing at the entrance of his tech company, bruised and battered, watching the festive preparations. They were getting ready for his and Sophia's wedding.

He frowned, annoyed by my presence.

"What else do you want? I've already convinced Sophia to let you stay here as a data analyst. She' s kind; she won't hold a grudge. Don't push your luck. This is final."

Stay here? And watch them be happy? I didn't want to be a data analyst. I just wanted to go back to Dr. Chen's lab.

When I didn't speak, he continued, his tone condescending.

"Human women follow their husbands. You need to learn that. Don't keep talking about going back to your lab. Since you're my property now, you must follow human rules."

Property. The marriage certificate was fake, wasn't it? I suddenly remembered that Mark and I never had a real wedding. He said he hated all those formalities. Today, he wore a brand-new wedding ring, and the intricate red patterns on his suit were more searing to my eyes than the sight of my own blood.

"I don't want you anymore, Mark," I said, looking up at him, my eyes red and raw. I could see the faint marks of intimacy on his neck.

"What did you say?!" He lunged at me, his eyes fierce and possessive. "Where else can you go without me? You're just a broken AI. Who would want you? Who wouldn't run from you the second they saw what you are? Only I stayed with you for three years. Who else would you find?"

I don't want anyone. Without my MindSync, I can't be human anyway.

He scoffed and turned to leave, tossing a final threat over his shoulder.

"Stay put. When Sophia and I have a child, I'll make some time to come see you. If you cause any more trouble, don't blame me for getting nasty."