Chapter 23 · I Don't Trust Me

The audio file keeps looping in my head even after Nora cuts the feed.

My voice. Cold. Clinical. Ordering Ian dead sixteen seconds before someone put a bullet in him.

I don't remember saying it. I don't remember any of it. But the system logged my credentials, my voiceprint, my memory signature. Everything that makes an order mine.

Ian's staring at me from the passenger seat. Lena's got both hands on the wheel but she's not driving anywhere. We're parked in some industrial lot three blocks from the archive, engine running, doors locked.

Nobody's talking.

"Say something." Ian's voice cracks. "Seren. Just—say something."

I open my mouth. Close it.

What the hell do I say? I didn't do it? I don't remember? Trust me?

Which me is he supposed to trust? The one sitting here who can't remember half her own life? Or the one on that audio file who sounded like she knew exactly what she was doing?

"I don't know." The words come out flat. "I don't know what I did. I don't know why. I just—I don't remember."

"Convenient," Lena mutters.

Ian shoots her a look. "Lena."

"I'm just saying." She doesn't look back.