Chapter 93

Three Years Ago

The memory didn't return like a gentle dream.

It hit Rhea like a tidal wave.

She had been lying in bed with the baby asleep beside her when a sharp pain pulsed through the back of her skull. She pressed her hands to her temples—but the world around her spun, shifted—fractured.

And suddenly, she was no longer in the present.

She was back in the lab.

---

The room was cold. Sterile white walls. A humming sound from above. She was restrained—arms and legs gently but firmly secured to a padded chair. Around her, several figures in black surgical coats moved wordlessly.

A man stepped forward. His face hidden behind a biometric mask.

> "Subject M. Phase 4. Neural gateway activation begins now."

She screamed. But no one reacted.

The last thing she saw before darkness swallowed her was a metal arm descending, a needle glittering at the tip.