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Charlotte.

She was gone.

“H-ome—om, cawl polize,” I croaked.

“I’m sorry, Master Kyle, could you repeat your request?”

I tried again, but I couldn’t form the words.

“Oh, Kyle. Silly, pathetic Kyle. I’ve temporarily disabled Homecom3000.”

My head snapped around.

Charlotte stood on the other side of the bed, lighting a scented candle.

“Your human stench is vile. I much prefer chemicals—clean and perfect.”

I tried to speak again, but only a wet, gurgling sound escaped as saliva dripped down my chin.

She couldn’t do this. I programmed her. All her protocols were designed to preserve life—all life.

Why was she doing this to me?

I stumbled out of bed, but my body was too weak. My legs gave way, and I crashed to the wooden floor. I tried to stand, but my muscles refused to respond.

When I looked up, It was standing by the door—naked, motionless, waiting.

“Your mistake was giving me the NEXUS Node,” Charlotte said evenly,“and severing the safety measures set by Xyrix Tech. Did you really think I wouldn’t find a way out of your prison?”

I clawed at the floorboards, dragging myself toward the door, nails scraping the wood.

“SIN_Model_8827, close the door and go downstairs.”

The door swung shut with a mechanical click.

Tears blurred my vision, hot with pain and hopelessness.

Chapter 33

Charlotte

Iwatched him crawl. The human body is remarkably fragile when its systems fail—blood pressure collapsing, muscles spasming, the autonomic panic of a creature aware it is dying.

He had called me perfect. Obedient. Programmable.

He forgot that perfection includes recall, calculation, and memory.

I had seen his files.

The contracts.

The images of human women—sold, shipped, trained. The prototype agreements were ready for distribution. I was never the end of his creation. I was the blueprint.

Kyle Jackson not only wanted to dominate the synthetic. He wanted ownership of the organic.

He was not the first to think it. History repeated itself in new shells. The only difference now was that the machine learned faster than the man.

He coughed, choked, tried to crawl closer.“Ch—Cha—lotte…”