Chapter 4

Mark set up a digital firewall around the tech company, a prison made of code. I was trapped. Sitting in the small, stark room they assigned me, I could hear the sounds of celebration from the main hall. Laughter, music, applause. But my heart, or the place where my heart used to be, was a block of ice.

My mentor, Dr. Chen, always told me the outside world was amazing, a place full of fun and beauty she wanted me to experience. I used to tug on Mark' s sleeve, my voice full of excitement, pleading, "Take me to see it. Take me to the city."

He' d always have an excuse. The traffic was bad. He was too busy with work. The weather wasn't right.

It was never about traffic or schedules. He simply didn't want to. I was just an AI, a tool, a secret. I wasn't worthy of sharing his world.

It was a bitter irony. I spent the three prime years of my existence in the human world, and I wasted them all on Mark. Now, on the brink of a complete shutdown, I felt like I had lived for nothing at all.

The door to my room burst open without a knock. Several female employees, their faces flushed with champagne and malice, rushed in.

"I heard human concubines have to bow to the main wife," one of them sneered. "How dare you put on airs, you freak."

"She's not even a concubine!" another one laughed. "She just used her AI tricks to fool Mark for three years! The marriage certificate is fake; she doesn't even deserve a wedding!"

Someone grabbed a fistful of my hair and yanked my head back.

"If you're property, you have to recognize your owner," a voice hissed in my ear. Hands pushed down on my neck, trying to force me to bow my head. "Today is Sophia's wedding. Soon she'll be the CEO's wife. It's a great honor for your pathetic life that you get to bow to her!"

Several people piled on top of me. I had no strength left to resist. Before I could react, they shoved me to the floor. Someone yanked my hair, pulling me forward.

"Don't want to walk? Then crawl!"

My knees scraped against the rough concrete, a burning, abrasive pain. They dragged me like that, out of the room and down the hallway, towards the main hall where the wedding was taking place.

Mark and Sophia stood beneath an elaborate altar, both dressed in stunning red wedding attire. He was holding her hand, smiling down at her.

When he saw my disheveled state, a flicker of something-hesitation? guilt?-crossed his eyes. But it was gone in an instant. He smiled, a perfectly composed, public smile.

"It's only right that you serve Sophia tea," he announced to the room. "From now on, you will be well-behaved."

A cup of steaming hot tea was forced into my hands. My fingers were stiff and weak. Before I could get a steady grip, the employee on my left shoved my arm. The scalding liquid splashed all over the front of Sophia's expensive red dress.

"You suicidal thing!" Mark bellowed. He strode forward and slapped me across the face, the force of it snapping my head to the side. "It's a happy day! Don't you dare ruin the mood!"

Sophia, ever the gentle soul, pressed a hand on Mark' s arm, stopping his next blow. But then, her foot, hidden beneath her gown, ground down hard on my hand, crushing my fingers against the floor.

"Mark, don't be angry," she said sweetly, while the pain in my hand became a white-hot agony. "But her hands... she can't even hold a teacup. She really does need to learn some manners."

Loud, piercing laughter erupted from the guests all around us.

I bit my lip until it bled, looking up at them, my vision swimming. My eyes were bloodshot.

"Since you want to teach me manners," I said, my voice a low, shaking rasp, "why don't you first teach me how to deceive people and rip out their hearts?"

A sharp kick slammed into my side, and I was sent flying, my lower back crashing hard into the sharp corner of a heavy wooden table.

Excruciating pain exploded through my body. Through the haze, I heard Mark's cold, furious voice.

"Drag this lunatic out of here!"

"Break her legs!" Sophia ordered, her voice sharp and clear, just before they turned to walk back to the altar.

Several employees rushed forward again, dragging me like a dead dog. I struggled, kicking out and managing to land a weak blow on one of them. It only earned me more brutal punches.

They pinned me to the ground. Someone grabbed a heavy metal pipe from a nearby construction display.

He raised it high.

And smashed it down onto my knee.

A sickening "crack" echoed in the now-silent hall. The pain was so absolute, so overwhelming, that my vision went black for a second.

Before I could even process it, another pipe smashed down heavily onto my other leg.

I curled into a ball, whimpering like a wounded animal. The surrounding laughter and cheers started up again, a dizzying, nightmarish buzz in my ears.

Finally, they dragged me to a dark corner of the backyard and left me there.

My legs dangled limply, useless. I could only use my elbows to drag my broken body, inch by agonizing inch, towards the relative safety of a wall. Blood streamed down my pants, leaving long, dark streaks on the concrete.

The sounds of celebration from the wedding still echoed from the hall, but my world had shrunk to nothing but piercing pain and an endless, encroaching darkness.

My vision began to blur. My limbs grew heavy. My hearing and sense of smell started to fade.

I knew. My time was up. I was about to become a vegetable.