They Removed the Fake Chip but the Real System Came for Me Chapter 06

They Removed the Fake Chip but the Real System Came for Me Chapter 06

The officer at the door blocked their path.

“A female body was found near the hospital. We need next of kin to identify her.”

Ivy’s fingers jerked inward.

Dominic’s face dropped first. Irritation. “Identify a body? Everyone in the family is right here. No one’s

dead.”

The officer looked at him, voice even but weighted. “Are you sure? Every single person accounted for?”

Dominic didn’t blink. “Obviously.”

Julian stood there, an inexplicable heaviness sinking through his chest. Quietly, he said, “Elena’s not here.”

Dominic frowned. “Ivy already said, she went to the mall. That body obviously isn’t her.” He moved to

leave.

The officer held out the photo. “Take a look first.”

“Are you serious? You want me to look at a dead body photo right now?” Annoyed, Dominic swatted at

The picture slipped from his hand and skidded across the floor.

Julian glanced down. Just instinct.

Then his entire body seized. His pupils blew wide.

That face, shattered, crushed, unrecognizable to anyone else.

But he knew.

“Elena. It’s Elena!”

Dominic’s step hung mid-air. He couldn’t even bring himself to look down.

The officer didn’t need anything else. No more words. He told them to follow him to the morgue.

The drive was dead silent.

Dominic’s jaw locked. He’d chewed through the soft flesh inside his mouth. Blood seeped from the

corner of his lips.

Julian’s fists stayed clenched, motionless. His nails bit so deep into his palms that blood dripped onto the seat, spreading in small dark circles.

The morgue door opened and cold air rushed out. Even without a body, I shivered.

I lay inside the refrigerated drawer, so thin I was barely more than bones.

As they hauled her away, her screams pitched higher and higher, scraping like nails down glass.

I didn’t watch what happened next.

The transfer channel finally stabilized.

Later, the voice told me bits and pieces. Dominic and Julian didn’t let Ivy die easy.

They made her carry decuplets. All ten at once.

Her belly stretched high and tight. Skin splitting open, deep cracks bleeding and tearing. They kept her

on IV nutrition, wouldn’t let her body give out.

She screamed through every night. Screamed until her throat bled.

By the end, she looked like dried sticks. Bones threatening to punch through skin.

When she finally died, her eyes were still wide open.

None of those ten children survived either.

The voice told me all of this with something like satisfaction in its tone.

But I just felt still. Like I was listening to a story about someone I’d never met.

Julian killed himself on the one-year anniversary of my death.

He took my photo and went back to the chapel where we’d gotten married.

“Elena. We made a vow on our wedding day. Till death. You went first. Now it’s my turn. Wait for me.

I’m coming.”

Dominic went insane.

He walks the streets every day, stopping strangers. Asking the same question over and over.

“Have you seen my Elena?”

“She’s about to be a mother. I need to go take care of her.

})

The man who once moved empires with a single phone call became the crazy person everyone crosses

the street to avoid.

And me?

I already have a new life now. A new beginning.

From this day forward, the sky is bright.

And I belong only to myself.

“Why didn’t I believe her? Why didn’t I notice sooner? Why didn’t I take her to a doctor?”

His voice shook, then splintered into something close to a wail.

Julian looked gutted, hollowed out. Murmuring to himself. “I swore I’d take care of you for the rest of my life at our wedding.”

“I promised you’d be the happiest woman in the world. And yesterday I left you alone on the side of the road. What the hell have I been doing all these years?”

He couldn’t keep going. He bent over and wrapped his arms around me, shoulders heaving, crying like a man who’d completely lost his mind.

Dominic lunged forward, hands clumsy, trying to hold me too.

“Home. We’re taking you home.”

“You always hated the cold. Hated being alone. We’re not staying here. I’m taking you home.”