Chapter 38: The Chain and the Choice
"Loyalty is tested when the blood on your hands belongs to the one you swore to protect."
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NYRA – ABANDONED FACTORY OUTSKIRTS
The smell of iron. Burnt rubber. Silence that screamed.
I walked in alone.
Leo wanted to come. Sahir begged. Celeste promised to kill anyone who hurt me.
But this wasn't their fight.
They took Kai. And if they laid one finger on him…
> "Welcome home, Queen," a voice echoed.
I turned.
He stepped from the shadows.
The clone.
Ravian's exact face. Same wicked grin. But his eyes… emptier. Programmed.
> "You're not him," I spat.
> "No," he said. "I'm better. I was made without weakness. No love. No guilt."
He stepped closer, dragging something.
A chain.
Kai. Bloody. Unconscious.
> "Let him go," I warned.
> "Trade, Nyra. Your empire for his life."
I didn't flinch.
> "I'll burn everything down before I let you rewrite Ravian's sins."
> "Then choose," he whispered. "Him. Or the child."
I froze.
He knew.
And then I heard the click—Kai's collar lit red.
A bomb.
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LEO – OUTSIDE, SNIPER POINT
> "She's not answering," Sahir growled beside him.
Leo loaded his rifle.
> "If she doesn't walk out in ten minutes, I blow the gate."
> "What if she triggers a trap?"
> "Then I die beside her."
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AARAV – UNKNOWN SERVER ROOM
He reached the lab. Files scattered. Dust everywhere.
One voice recording played.
> "Subject Aarav, Phase II: Emotion removal unsuccessful. Attachment to primary maternal figure remains."
His stomach turned.
He wasn't a son. He was a project.
He opened the cage. The last test subject—a boy, trembling.
> "I'm not like them," Aarav whispered. "You won't be either."
He took the boy's hand.
They walked out together.
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CELESTE – TRAP SITE
She stood in red silk, waiting.
Sahir entered.
> "You left a body in my room," he snapped.
> "A gift. He was spying on Nyra."
> "You think this makes me trust you?"
She stepped closer, lips near his ear.
> "I don't want your trust. I want your chaos."
She kissed his jaw. Then whispered:
> "But she'll never choose you, Sahir. No one will."
And vanished in the smoke she came with.
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NYRA – INSIDE THE FACTORY
I knelt.
Hands raised.
> "Let Kai go. I'll walk in alone."
The clone smiled.
But he didn't see the tracker I slipped into the crack of the chain.
I walked in.
Leo fired.
Explosion. Chaos. Screams.
And I ran straight into the fire.
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TO BE CONTINUED...