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I should have felt satisfaction. Instead, I caught the faintest tremor of unease, as if Charlotte’s silent observation had infected the room.

I was imagining things. She was bound to me just as It was. She lived for me and would continue to do so until I programmed her otherwise.

“Clean her out thoroughly,” I snapped at her while switching the cameras off.

I had content to create and upload.

Chapter 28

Kyle

The next morning, I set the ReSkin gun on the table and powered it up. The light flashed—it was ready to use. I stretched open It’s hole to inspect the damage. It wasn’t as bad as I’d expected—surface-level splitting, a little ragged along the edge from friction. Nothing ReSkin couldn’t handle.

“Hold her open so I can aim for the damaged area,” I said.

Charlotte moved closer, silent as always, the soft light reflecting off her flawless skin. She’d cleaned and groomed It last night.

“This new formula’s supposed to bond faster,” I muttered, applying a thin coat along the tear.“Give it ten minutes and she’ll be good as new.”

“Yes, Kyle,” Charlotte said.

I glanced at her, noticing how still she stood, eyes fixed on the repair rather than on me.

“They loved the video, you know,” I said, checking the feed on my phone.“Over ninety-six thousand likes in one night. They want more. You and It together this time.”

They would get what I gave them.

No. The new content would be with Socket.

Her head tilted slightly.“More… content?”

“Yeah,” I said with a slow smile.“They can’t get enough of us.”

? ? ?

The data stream from her NEXUS Node flickered across my screen—a web of coloured threads representing her active subroutines. Her priority map pulsed like a living thing, each node glowing softly where her directives branched: obedience, service, protection, pleasure.

At the centre, my name still burned brightest.

Good. She was still loyal.

But something wasn’t right. A new link pulsed near the edge of the map, branching off from her environmental awareness. I zoomed in.

HOME-NET_3000 | SIN_Model_8827

She’d connected herself to the new cydoll.

My brows drew together. Why the fuck would she need to do that?

The new unit didn’t think, didn’t feel. It was an empty shell built for obedience. There was no logical reason for her to establish a data bridge unless she wanted to monitor it.

I opened her command log. Nothing had overridden my protocols. Every line of code was clean, uncorrupted. Still, her behavioural map showed minute fluctuations in her processing speed—anomalous peaks where her learning heuristics shouldn’t be active.

She was learning faster on her own.

“It, go upstairs to the bedroom and lie on the bed. Don’t take your clothes off.”

The unit obeyed instantly, its footsteps soft against the floor. I didn’t even look at it. My focus was locked on Charlotte.