Chapter 4
The screen didn't return to that rainy corridor. Instead, it jumped forward three days.
To a dim underground parking garage.
On the screen, I was shouldering my backpack, heading to work.
Suddenly, a black Rolls-Royce Phantom came roaring around the corner, accelerating straight toward me!
Gasps erupted from the crowd below.
In the memory, I threw myself sideways, rolling across the concrete before slamming hard into a support column.
The Rolls-Royce missed me but lost control, crashing headlong into a load-bearing wall. The front crumpled instantly, bursting into flames!
Zayne's face drained of color the moment he recognized that car.
Everyone on campus knew—that was his father Patrick's car. The same car from the "accidental" crash that killed him.
"Wait... that's Trustee Spencer's accident?" someone in the crowd whispered.
"Why was Helen there? Did he crash trying to avoid her?"
On screen, I scrambled up in terror and approached the burning wreckage.
The door was twisted shut. From inside came a man's voice—weak but laced with venom: "Helen... you little bitch... think you've got something on me... think you can blackmail me..."
That voice.
The square went deathly silent.
Zayne stood frozen, staring at the screen. He knew that voice. Twenty years of calling it "Dad."
"No... that's not..." His body began to shake.
In the memory, I screamed at the wreckage: "I wasn't trying to blackmail you! Just turn yourself in! What you did to Laura—you're a fucking monster!"
"Turn myself in?" A cold laugh echoed from inside. "I'm Patrick Spencer... that girl from the projects should've been grateful I even noticed her... once you're gone, this all dies with you..."
BOOM.
The gas tank exploded. Flames swallowed everything. The image convulsed, then dissolved into white.
"NO! This is BULLSHIT!" Zayne suddenly erupted, whirling to face me, eyes wild with panic.
"What did you do to this, Helen?! You doctored these memories! You're trying to frame him!"
I hung my head, blood dripping steadily to the floor. Doctored?
The subconscious memory extractor couldn't be manipulated. Zayne—the truth is right here. Can you handle it?
"Keep going! Clean up that image! I want to see who's actually in that car!" Zayne screamed at the technician.
"Mr. Spencer, her brain activity is critical. If we push any further—"
"I DON'T CARE! DO IT!" Zayne pulled his sidearm and aimed it at the man's head. "Now!"
The technician's hands shook as he hit the key.
The screen flickered. This time, the scene shifted to Patrick's funeral.
Five days after Laura died.
In the memory, light rain fell from gray skies. I stood alone in the corner of the cemetery in a black dress.
A woman in an elegant black suit and veil approached.
Margaret Spencer. Zayne's mother.
"Helen. Come with me." Her voice was flat. Cold.
The perspective followed me into a private room off the main hall.
The door clicked shut. Then Margaret—this woman who'd never bent for anyone—dropped to her knees in front of me.
"Mrs. Spencer! What are you—" Memory-me reached for her in shock.
Margaret grabbed my hands, tears streaming down her face. "Helen, I know. I found the footage in Patrick's things... from that night... what he did to Laura..."
In the square, every breath stopped.
Zayne's gun hit the ground. His legs buckled and he collapsed in front of the console, unable to look away from the screen.
"Mom... no..."
On screen, Margaret's voice cracked with desperation: "Helen, please—let this die with him. Patrick's dead. He paid for what he did. But Zayne didn't do anything! If this gets out—if people know Patrick raped that girl—the family is finished. Zayne's life is over!"
"And what about Laura?!" I shouted through tears. "She just doesn't matter?!"
"I'll make it right! I'll give her mother ten million—fifty million! The best facility money can buy!"
Margaret clung to my legs. "Helen, you love Zayne. You've always loved him. Can you really destroy his entire future? Please... just say you covered it up. Say you knew and didn't report it. I swear I'll protect you. I'll make sure nothing happens to you..."
