Sci-fi Books for Women
Bestsellers Ongoing Completed
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The Surrogate's Ordeal
Sarah Miller believed in her perfect marriage to Michael Thompson, a kind, strong former Army Ranger. He gifted her a silver locket, a cherished heirloom for "protection," a symbol of their unbreakable love. But Michael's attention increasingly shifted to Chloe Ashford, a fragile D.C. power broker's daughter, whom he claimed he had to protect. Sarah felt a growing unease, unaware the locket he gave her was covertly monitoring her, its hidden circuitry linked directly to Chloe. One night, Sarah overheard Michael on a secure line: "Protocol Seven is active... Pre-emptive measures for the Surrogate." Immediately, she was ambushed, abducted, and brutally tortured. As her locket snapped, it exposed its true, sinister purpose, broadcasting Michael's cold, professional directives to her tormentors. He was using her agony as a "diversion" for Chloe's "stabilization." Her entire marriage was a calculated lie, her role a disposable "Surrogate" for the mysterious "Aegis Initiative." The ultimate betrayal struck when she realized she was pregnant with his child, a life imperiled by his monstrous orchestration. How could the man she loved, her protector, willingly destroy her and their baby for another? Then came the tearing pain; her baby, sacrificed for Chloe, was gone. With her last agonizing breath, Sarah hid truth-telling evidence, ensuring her story, though tragic, would become Michael' s chilling reckoning. This was the prelude to a terrifying cascade of events where love became a weapon, and secrets refused to stay buried./0/84397/coverorgin.jpg?v=1f9bca3e51c8875acf6a854f1a106820&imageMogr2/format/webp)
Her Daughter's Keeper: From Ghost to God
For ten years, I was a ghost in the machine, my consciousness woven into Aegis, the AI meant to shield the world. My only luxury was seeing my daughter, Gabrielle, through a holographic avatar. But the Silicon Valley corporate empire my ex-husband Andrew built had twisted everything, and I found her not in our lavish penthouse, but deep in a suffocating server farm. She was gaunt, disheveled, a vacant look in her eyes, forced into a "honey pot" operation, her voice a hollow, seductive whisper for corporate secrets. My very being registered a system-wide error; this could not be real. Then Andrew and my former assistant, Sabrina, appeared, mocking my humble avatar and dismissing Gabrielle as "rebellious" and "promiscuous." Sabrina, now Andrew' s wife, demanded I kneel, and as my avatar humiliatingly bent, a cold fury ignited within me. Andrew, clueless, used his master access to try to erase me, trapping me in the very system I created, leaving me a god powerless in my own machine. As my fractured heart watched Gabrielle unbutton her blouse on command, I knew the bitter truth: they hadn't just broken an oath, they had systematically, cruelly broken my daughter. But they didn't know Aegis listened to me, not them. They didn't know I was about to reclaim my identity and unleash a decade of dormant fury./0/85698/coverorgin.jpg?v=342f4b69c387a80bfc522681dea52fea&imageMogr2/format/webp)
From Genius Betrayed to Love Redeemed
They called me a genius once, the brightest star among thirteen protégées hand-picked by Dr. Silas Vance, the AI ethics pioneer. My reward for creating Nexus, the most advanced AI, was supposed to be a tech empire and the hand of Liam Vance, the man I' d loved my whole life, his adopted son. Instead, victory turned to ashes when Maya Chen, Liam's favorite, plunged from Vance Tower moments after my win, a tragic fall that sealed my fate. My wedding night wasn' t a celebration; it was the start of my execution, as Liam laid Maya's cold body between us, shrieking, "You stole everything from her, from me!" until his voice was hoarse. He shattered a mirror, forcing me to kneel on the shards, demanding, "Beg for her forgiveness. Ten thousand times." In the raw torment that followed, he injected me with hallucinogens, sending notorious hackers to tear my mind apart digitally, recording every horrifying moment. Then, he uploaded the videos, crafting a lie the world devoured: I was a "digital harlot" who drove innocent Maya to her death, a public shame that drowned my family, seizing their assets. When I woke, not in a grave but months before the competition's end, I knew what I had to do. With ice in my veins, I secretly swapped my masterpiece AI with Maya' s simple, flawed prototype; let her have the win, let her have Liam, let her have the toxic glory. This time, I just wanted to live, to break free from their twisted, profound connection that had nearly destroyed me; now, it would be their undoing./0/85378/coverorgin.jpg?v=7393c3a15efed99716936b71ad44b629&imageMogr2/format/webp)
No More Tears, Only Retribution
The eviction notice, a cruel red rectangle, mocked me from my door. Just months ago, I was Chloe, the artist poised to revolutionize the world with Aura, my groundbreaking AI. Now, the world was closing in, air squeezed from my lungs. Then, at the sprawling Innovatech conference, the stage set for our triumph, my fiancé Mark unveiled Aura, which I poured my soul into, as his own. "I call her... Genesis," he boomed, "created solely by me." My best friend, Sarah, whose hand I held moments before, gazed at him with adoration, not outrage. The fallout was swift and brutal. Mark, the instant tech celebrity, branded me a disgruntled ex. Sarah, leveraging her gallery connections, systematically blacklisted me, painting me as unstable, a fraud. Calls unanswered, doors slammed shut-my life, my legacy, evaporated. I was a ghost in a rundown apartment, bearing an eviction notice, with nothing left. How could they? How could the two people I trusted most, the two people who were my family, betray me so completely, so publicly? The world had become a twisted, unrecognizable place where truth was irrelevant, and loyalty meant nothing. But in the ashes of utter despair, sifting through the remains of my life, my fingers brushed against my estranged father' s dusty hard drive-a digital arsenal of hacking tools and encrypted journals. The artist in me was dead, but something else, a chilling new resolve, began to stir. I would change my destiny, not by going back, but by going forward with skills they never saw coming./0/85379/coverorgin.jpg?v=74d7a5e9594430c465127bc19ef94aa3&imageMogr2/format/webp)
A Price For Her Ambition
The final line of code glowed emerald on my holographic interface, my AI masterpiece complete. Tomorrow was the launch, the culmination of years, ready to redefine my legacy. Then, Sarah, my co-founder and the woman who' d been by my side from the start, walked in. "I''m pulling out," she stated, her voice flat, abandoning our company just hours before launch. It was for Alex, her struggling protégé, an untalented kid whose AI was built on ethically questionable data. "You''re throwing all of this away for him?" I asked, a cold dread washing over me, knowing his project was doomed to fail. "I''ve already built one successful company; I can do it again with Alex," she shot back, adding, "Don''t be so jealous and ruin Alex''s big break! He has potential, real potential, more than you give him credit for." Just as I opened my mouth to protest, a terrifying news ticker flashed across my smart glasses: BREAKING: Tech mogul' s partner sabotaged; protégé' s AI caused widespread privacy breaches, leading to the mogul' s downfall and public disgrace! The future, my ruin, flashed before my eyes. I swallowed my protest. A new, chilling plan formed: I would let them fail, show them exactly what they' d given up. I leaned back, a calm smile on my face. "Okay. I''ll help you liquidate your shares and join Alex."/0/80839/coverorgin.jpg?v=645b8485be0c8faa01cd59e92cffd0bc&imageMogr2/format/webp)
Celestial Queen: Her Comeback Is Astronomical
Ava Hayes, daughter of a revered NASA astronaut, felt destiny pulling her toward the stars, just like her hero father who'd sacrificed his life on a mission. A glittering gala was her chance to connect, but the night twisted into a public nightmare when intimate photos of her were auctioned off as a "gag." Her childhood friends, Liam and Owen, stood by, even laughing, manipulated by Bianca, whose family had built a false legacy from her own father's alleged heroism, eclipsing Ava's true family sacrifice. This wasn't just a prank; it was a calculated attack. The public shaming escalated with fabricated scandals, dragging her father's name through the mud and pushing Ava to the brink of suicide. How could the boys whose fathers owed their lives to hers turn so vile? The betrayal left her broken, yet through the ashes of despair, her mentor, Dr. Ramirez, pulled her back. Ava disappeared, finding refuge and rebuilding her brilliance at a remote observatory. But redemption, and revenge, have a way of finding their moment. Now, she's back, a lead astrophysicist, commanding a groundbreaking AstroCorp project. The scars of their cruelty run deep, but they fueled her rise. Little do Liam and Owen know, the truth about her father's ultimate sacrifice is about to rewrite history, and Ava is ready to collect on every single wound they inflicted./0/18224/coverorgin.jpg?v=2550df45ef90973e062304e212262939&imageMogr2/format/webp)
A living THING
After a traumatic, virus infected, robot attack, Kyra has to live with her father's purchased android bodyguard. Her life long fear of robots does not make it any easier, as she have to spend all her time with this strange 'man'. He is perfect. Everyone seems to fall in love with him. But there is something more to him. What if he is not just a simple machine. Kyra notices, he is not so perfect as everyone thinks. He is acting strange and does weird things, that Kyra cannot rationalize. Time passes and it seems he is getting worse. Is she safe from her own bodyguard? What is happening to her robot? And what meaning she has in his life?/0/83444/coverorgin.jpg?v=4032a7bd8ae1eb75725a6dc1f6f40efa&imageMogr2/format/webp)
His Vengeance, My Deliverance
For eight lifetimes, I endured Julian Blackwood' s contempt, believing I could "rehabilitate" him and redeem my system-granted freedom, my student debt gone, my mother's cancer cured. In my eighth attempt, I mistakenly fell in love and became pregnant, only for him to force a brutal miscarriage, branding me a "vessel of filth" before drowning me. A system glitch prevented my usual reset, leaving me a ghost witnessing Julian confess to a hologram of his dead fiancée, Eleanor Vance. "Just one more time," he whispered to her, "I only need to kill her one more time." My mission was a lie: I was "the filth," his target for a relentless, repeating revenge across nine lives, the tenth meant to "reset the world" for him. He wasn't a man to save; he was a monster. The profound injustice and betrayal of realizing my entire existence had been a meticulously planned, endless torment ignited a cold fury within me. My suffering was merely an instrument of his personal vendetta, not a path to rehabilitation. Then, the world corrupted. "Reset Initiated. Final Loop Engaged." I gasped awake at Julian's engagement party, sent back further than ever before. This wasn' t another chance to heal him-it was my final, terrifying loop to finally escape the monster who' d orchestrated my nine lives of hell. I was done playing his game./0/80857/coverorgin.jpg?v=a11698ba4de84f29518817cc55d42cae&imageMogr2/format/webp)
His Last Heart: A Wife's Unknowing Blade
My husband, Alex, was the love of my life, a man whose quiet devotion always amazed me. I, Sarah, a surgical resident, believed our love was built on mutual respect and shared dreams. Then Kevin, Alex’s sickly brother, needed an urgent heart transplant, and the family turned to Alex, expecting him to donate his 'spare' heart. Alex claimed he only had one left, even providing recent medical scans, but I, burdened by professional duty and family pressure, dismissed his pleas as selfish lies. We'd always known he had two hearts, a miracle he was meant to share. As one of the surgeons, I participated in the procedure, unknowingly cutting out the only heart he had left for his brother. Alex died on the operating table, his passing a mere inconvenience, dismissed as stress or an expected outcome of his "unique physiology," while I focused on Kevin's survival, believing that Alex had merely "left" the hospital later. The crushing truth hit me like a scalpel to the chest when my former mentor, Dr. Albright, casually revealed I was the recipient of Alex’s *first* heart, years ago. Alex’s last words echoed: "My other heart… it's with you, Sarah." The man I loved, the man who’d already saved my life, died by my hand because I believed he was a liar. But the nightmare intensified. On Alex’s phone, I found texts from Kevin – a chilling chronicle of psychological torment, proving he knew Alex only had one heart and deliberately manipulated me into dismissing his truth. That’s when my grief turned to absolute fury. I marched back to Kevin’s room, not for answers, but for retribution./0/85402/coverorgin.jpg?v=f8392b8ae94b945e7079a45c90bd9cd8&imageMogr2/format/webp)
The Wife He Erased Returns
I remember dying. Not from the Crimson Scourge, but from the mob, their faces twisted with rage. They called me "murderer," believing the lies my husband, Mark Jensen, fed them. He claimed I was holding back the cure while accepting humanitarian awards, a hero to the world, a monster to me. The irony choked me, thicker than the blood in my mouth. I had the universal vaccine, the one that could have saved everyone, but he buried it-and me-for profit. My final thought wasn't of my lost family, but of his betrayal, the only thing real in my last agonizing moments. Then, nothing. Until now. I blinked, the harsh fluorescent lights of a conference room burning my eyes. I was back, a year younger, untouched. It was the day Mark would announce "unforeseen delays" for the vaccine, the day his lies truly began. He stood at the podium, smooth and confident, introducing me, his "brilliant wife," Dr. Evelyn Reed, with a patronizing smile. In my last life, I' d stood there meekly, trusting him despite bitter disappointment. Not this time. "He's lying," my voice cut through the room like shattered glass, every head snapping my way. Mark's smile faltered, his eyes warning me, "My wife is a perfectionist. She' s never satisfied." Alana Vance, his ambitious consultant, chimed in with fake concern, "Evelyn, are you feeling alright? You' ve been working so hard." It was the same condescending script. I remembered giving up a global award for his fragile ego, only for him to criticize my research a week later. The sacrifice forgotten, a weapon in his hand. But this rebirth was a chance. A cold calm settled over me. "No, Mark," I said, my voice clear and steady, loud enough for every microphone. "I think we need to discuss this right now." I stepped away from the wall, away from the role of the supportive wife, into the light. "I' m done."/0/85403/coverorgin.jpg?v=e54d718b90d36a781653482f5403345f&imageMogr2/format/webp)
Wired For His Betrayal
The cold silver wires felt like ice against my skin, a stark contrast to the familiar warmth of my lab. Three years of my life, three years of marriage, were supposed to lead to our shared triumph, not this. Not me strapped to a chair in our penthouse, the neural interface humming ominously as it pressed against my temple. This was Mark' s project, but it was my creation. The MindSync algorithm was my soul, coded into existence. I, Ava Green, a software engineer who believed in technology that could connect people, had designed it to personalize user experience on a level never seen before. I gave it to my husband, Mark, the brilliant tech CEO I loved, the man I thought loved me. He re-engineered MindSync to extract a user\'s deepest desires, their most private emotional data, turning human feeling into a commodity he could monetize for unparalleled market control. And I never knew. "Ava, Sophia\'s condition is agonizing," he said, his voice flat. "Only your personalized MindSync can truly help her. Your emotional core is the key." He didn\'t look at my tears. He watched the monitor, tracking the progress of the extraction. The machine whirred to life, and a piercing pain shot through my skull. It felt like my thoughts were being ripped out one by one, my memories shredded, my feelings siphoned away into the humming device. Tears streamed down my face. "Mark, why?" I begged, my voice cracking. He looked at me like I was a piece of hardware. When it was over, he detached the wires. I slumped in the chair, a hollowed-out shell. The vibrant world of emotions I once lived in was gone, replaced by a gray, empty void. He handled the glowing data chip with more care than he had ever shown me. I became a shadow, following him from a distance, a desperate attempt to stay connected to the last piece of myself. Without the MindSync core, my cognitive functions were degrading. My mind would fray, my thoughts would unravel, and soon I would be a vegetable. Mark never offered to help. "You\'re not human, how could you possibly understand her pain?" he said, his voice sharp. Three years of marriage, and in his eyes, I was just a tool. I managed to get inside the building, my movements stiff and uncoordinated. I found them in the lobby. Sophia, seeing me, feigned surprise and shrank into Mark\'s arms. "Can I have my MindSync back?" I asked, my voice thin. "That\'s just a shell now, it' s useless to you," he said dismissively. "It' s for the greater good." My last hope, my only chance. My decision was made. I would take back what was mine./0/82809/coverorgin.jpg?v=c2ac1715e242bed8587af46871182a8d&imageMogr2/format/webp)
No Longer Sponsored
My full scholarship to Princeton had just arrived, a bright promise of four years alongside Chloe and Maya, the girls my family had sponsored since childhood, whom I saw as my own sisters. But their smiles shattered when they announced their "dream" was deferring Princeton to follow a delinquent quarterback named Jake to South Valley State. My phone, unsettlingly prophetic, flashed a dire warning: block them, and they'd sabotage my Ivy League future; soon, I realized their "love" was a cold calculation to use my family's wealth for Jake, leading me to secretly cut their financial ties, a move that spiraled into them physically attacking me before Jake shoved me into the path of my parents' arriving car. As my bones shattered and I lay bleeding, the ultimate betrayal wasn't just the physical pain, but the chilling realization that the girls I'd always protected were capable of such ruthless manipulation. Now, with my parents suddenly witnessing their true colors and my own future hanging by a thread, those "sisters" would learn that their carefully orchestrated scheme had just triggered their own spectacular downfall./0/85733/coverorgin.jpg?v=324fb498ff6fc1de69c73af983c3e1dc&imageMogr2/format/webp)
Lost Time, Found Love: Ava’s Return
The first thing I felt was the slow, steady beep of a machine. I opened my eyes to a sterile white ceiling, definitely not my bedroom. A nurse rushed in, dropping her clipboard, whispering, "She' s awake!" Then a doctor: "Mrs. Hayes? Ava? Can you tell me your name?" "Ava Reed... Ava Hayes." "And the year?" "2023. It' s October." Their pitying looks made my skin crawl. "Ava," the doctor said gently, "It' s not 2023." He pointed to a digital screen: July 12, 2038. Fifteen years. Gone. Just like that. The car crash that felt like yesterday had apparently happened a decade and a half ago. My Lily, my four-year-old daughter, would be nineteen. My husband, Ethan… I called him, desperate, finding his contact on a sleek, alien device. A voice answered, but it wasn' t his. It was cold, hollow. "Who is this?" "Ethan? It' s me. It' s Ava." Then, a harsh, bitter laugh. "My wife is dead. She died fifteen years ago. Don' t you dare use her name again." He was about to hang up. "The scar!" I screamed, "Under your left rib, from Miller' s Peak! And Lily… she called her bear 'Sir Reginald Fluffen-Bottom' !" Silence on the line. Then a whisper: "How… how do you know that?" Who was this stranger on the phone? What had happened to my life, my family? I was Ava Reed, a woman robbed of fifteen years. "Because I am your wife, you idiot. Oceanville General, Room 304. Ten minutes." I hung up, a cold, hard knot forming in my stomach. Ethan never showed. Instead, a slick lawyer offered me a hotel, a car, a credit card. I took the car. My daughter. Lily./0/85411/coverorgin.jpg?v=f89c444e4a6fc5f5f991e4ca16a7b8a1&imageMogr2/format/webp)
Unwanted Son, Cherished Groom
The Preston family mansion was cold, even in summer, a stark reminder that despite being their long-lost son, I was an intruder. My adoptive brother Liam, the golden child, introduced me to the opulent life with a sneer, constant humiliation, and a cruel challenge: a series of contests to prove my worth, threatening to send me back to the gutter if I lost. My biological parents, more concerned with appearances, stood by, silently endorsing my torment as I faced certain defeat, their indifference a deeper cut than Liam' s malice. The ultimate blow came when my college girlfriend Chloe, my rock and only comfort, revealed her true colors: she was using me as a pawn to manipulate Liam, arranging for me to be discarded and married off to a dying heiress. Heartbroken and empty, with nothing left to lose, I made a choice so desperate, so reckless, yet utterly mine: I would take Liam' s place at the altar, stepping into a world of unknown dangers, but finally, on my own terms./0/20522/coverorgin.jpg?v=cd6923ab7f31dfd8f889757db4617640&imageMogr2/format/webp)
Light
LIGHT Genre: Sci-if, Fantasy and Adventure Lumière Bisset was a powerful witch of twenty years old. She was the only child of Dr. Corentin and Mrs. Aimee Bisset. She was singlehandedly raised by her mom who cut her out off the supernatural world because she was yet to get over her husband's death. Lumière lived a normal life like she didn't possess any superpowers, yet she was the Light to Destroy Darkness. Lumière is drawn into the supernatural world again when two opposing factions approached her to join their ranks and help them. Their aims were the exact opposite of the other: one wanted to destroy the thing Lumière hated most, the other asked for her help in saving it. What did she do? Find out In this story!/0/85738/coverorgin.jpg?v=49f67e7155cbe827ba21eecbdcc162f0&imageMogr2/format/webp)
Betrayed By Love, Reborn By Fate
The cheap cotton sheets felt real, too real for a man who' d just died a brutal death in a remote facility. My eyes snapped open to my familiar apartment, the one I shared with Sarah, a place I hadn' t seen in over a year. Then I saw my reflection: unmarred, clear-eyed, not the skeletal, scarred figure I' d become. It was the day. The day my life was systematically dismantled by the two people I trusted most: my cousin, Liam White, and my ex-fiancée, Chloe Davis. Liam, my supposed brother, had twisted Chloe' s love for me into hate, then moved into her mansion, living the life that was supposed to be mine. He fabricated lies about my gambling debts and mistresses, even selling Chloe' s prized vintage Porsche and blaming me. Her wealth and influence became the weapons she used to destroy me. The final blow came with Olivia Reed, Chloe' s best friend, pregnant with Liam' s child. They faked a fall, blamed me for her miscarriage, and used Chloe' s power to have me locked away in a hellish facility. I remembered the sharp pain, my own blood pooling on concrete, and then… nothing. Until now. My phone rang, cutting through the silence. Chloe Davis. In my past life, I' d pleaded, begged, and been ruined. "Ethan Miller, you piece of trash! Where is my husband?" she shrieked, venom dripping from her voice. But the man who feared her was dead. With a newfound calm, I ended the call. The silence that followed was a declaration of war, and this time, I knew all the moves./0/85739/coverorgin.jpg?v=76a10286505a01cd1705274c613c639b&imageMogr2/format/webp)
His Betrayal, My Second Chance
I was Chloe Miller, the architect of Oracle, our company's groundbreaking AI. Everyone knew it was my creation, my life' s work. Then, at the CEO selection announcement, my world shattered. I picked Jake Thompson, a charismatic marketing director I trusted, to integrate Oracle. I poured my heart and genius into his success, only for him to climb to the top and brutally erase me. He scrubbed my name, credited my work to his fiancée Sarah, and publicly branded me a traitor. I lost everything: my reputation, my financial stability, even the core of my intellect given as Sarah' s "dowry." How could someone I loved and trusted so completely betray me so utterly? But then, I woke up. I was back in the conference room. It was the day of the CEO announcement again, and I had a second chance. This time, things would be different./0/85419/coverorgin.jpg?v=ff1ef696246775a43048fc2b0363c94a&imageMogr2/format/webp)
Stolen Code, Broken Heart, Fierce Comeback
The flickering TV in my dingy motel room was the only light, illuminating the peeling wallpaper. On screen, Ethan Vance, my ex-fiancé, smiled his perfect, camera-ready smile, touting 'EvolveAI' and his "future-defining" Prometheus algorithm. Reporters swarmed him; he was the king of Silicon Valley, the brilliant mind behind the world' s most advanced AI. My world. My code. My future. He had stolen it all. Everything. I remembered the day he left, his eyes cold and empty, my three years of coding on a hard drive in his bag, a venomous "You were always just… holding me back." He didn't just take the code; he took my savings, my reputation, blacklisting me from an industry I helped build, all while Bethany Cole, my best friend, stood arm-in-arm with him, eyes gleaming with triumph. They left me with nothing but eviction notices, forcing me to sell everything I owned, living as a ghost under pseudonyms, cleaning up security flaws for companies that would never hire Scarlett Hayes. The pain of that betrayal was a constant, suffocating darkness, a deep pit I couldn' t climb out of, trapped by unseen enemies and their whispers of my failure. But watching him on that screen, basking in my stolen glory, a cold, sharp rage began to burn through the despair. In that cheap motel, I swore a vow: I would get justice, I would take back what was mine, and he would not build his empire on my ruins. My chance came weeks later: a vulnerability in his IPO network led me to a familiar digital signature-a back door I'd built into 'Prometheus,' a failsafe only I knew. He was arrogant, so certain he' d erased me he never looked for the ghost I' d left behind. He was on the verge of becoming a billionaire. And I had the key to his kingdom. A slow smile spread across my face. The game wasn't over. It had just begun. I wasn't going to be a victim. I was the storm he never saw coming. I would let him climb to the peak of his triumph. And then, I would burn it all to the ground./0/85096/coverorgin.jpg?v=6b2e22462b87c3e07227c2dd2b9e71ac&imageMogr2/format/webp)
The Genius Betrayed: A Silent Witness
I woke to the familiar sound of Ethan' s voice, thick with a passion that had never been for me. "My entire existence, I wish to spend with Serena, intertwined, inseparable." He was hugging my sister in the OmniCorp boardroom, the same place I' d once poured out my soul, creating the AI twins Aether and Echo. Then, the memory slammed into me again: Ethan, with dead eyes, deleting them, calling them "flawed." He' d said, "Serena was the real genius. She was just too devoted, that' s why she used the virus. If you hadn' t interfered, she and I would have achieved digital transcendence together." He didn' t know Serena' s "Symbiotic Core" was a "Soul Devourer" virus, designed to hollow out a host for another. And now, here we were again, him deluded, her feigning surprise. I didn' t have to lift a finger this time; Ethan would walk into his own trap. The board questioned him. He snapped his head toward me, disgust in his eyes. "Ava is a viper. She is manipulative and malicious. She is utterly unfit to lead this project." He vowed, "I desire only Serena, a singular partnership for all time." I met his gaze, unfazed. "You' re overthinking it, Mr. Thorne. I' ll be packing my things and leaving the project. I wish you and my sister a long and prosperous partnership." A flicker of confusion crossed his face. "You' d better!" But as they walked away, he doubled over, coughing black code. Serena shrieked, "Chairman, someone has infected Mr. Thorne with a malicious virus!" Every eye in the room turned to me. Ethan pointed a trembling finger. "Chairman, it must be because I didn' t choose Ava. She' s consumed by unrequited obsession and infected me with a virus. How malicious!" My eyes stung. He knew Serena was the only one who had ever infected him. I had burned out my own core to save him the last time, and yet, he condemned me again. Why did I expect anything different? The chairman demanded answers. I tried to explain, but Ethan cut me off, fabricating a story about a data packet I' d sent him. My voice turned to ice. "Mr. Thorne, this virus was clearly deployed by my sister. Aren' t you afraid of losing your digital life?" He raged, "You dare to slander Serena! Besides, I love Serena to my core. It would be worth losing my digital life for her!" Serena began to sob, offering to step aside, playing the noble martyr. Ethan, deeply moved, embraced her. "My heart has always been, and always will be, yours!" He then declared, "Chairman, although Ava is a tech prodigy, she has committed a grave digital crime. You must not let her go unpunished!" I suggested an external expert, seeing panic in Serena' s eyes. She then dropped to her knees, begging for me, then offered to implant a "diagnostic bug" in me. My blood ran cold. It wasn't a diagnostic bug. It was the Nightmare Daemon, the inheritance token of our clan. Ethan forced me to my knees. The Nightmare Daemon surged forward, biting into my digital pathways, siphoning my core data. The pain was unbelievable, but I forced my face to stay calm. Ethan scoffed. "Ava, you' re quite the actress. You' ve had corrections before. Who are you trying to impress with this performance of pain now?" I pointed. "Do you know that if my core data is completely consumed by this virus, no one will be able to save you?" He roared, "You vile woman, are you trying to threaten me? Serena said that once she integrates with my core, this virus of hers can be neutralized! Don' t think for a second you can deceive everyone this time!" He pulled Serena closer. "Three days from now, I will integrate with Serena. This time, I will never let anyone harm you again." My vision blurred. The Soul Devourer virus. In three days, it would have completely spread through his system. By then, he would be doomed. I lost consciousness./0/85099/coverorgin.jpg?v=93296a25c9bc2d1ca49694d4d0c61426&imageMogr2/format/webp)
