👉 Previous Decision: You chose to alter server configurations (from Chapter 9), OR You chose to transmit biometric logs to Leo (from Chapter 10).
The smell of herbal tea hit Maya the moment she opened the front door. Julian sat at her kitchen table, sipping from her mother’s favorite mug. Her parents sat opposite him, their expressions a mix of concern and quiet deference.
A thick folder rested on the table, its contents fanned out. Julian looked up, a placid, reassuring smile on his face.
“Maya,” he said, his voice gentle. “We were just discussing your recent… academic pressures.”
He pushed forward a stack of forged medical chart updates. They detailed her “severe home stress,” her “dissociative episodes,” her “hallucinations of work details.” Her mother, eyes red-rimmed, took Maya’s hand.
“Sweetheart,” her mother whispered, tears welling. “Julian says you’re suffering from late-onset dissociative amnesia. He brought some cognitive stabilizers from the hospital pharmacy. We think you should start taking them tonight.”
Maya looked from her mother’s pleading face to Julian’s calm, triumphant gaze. He wasn’t just controlling her at Synapse; he was dismantling her reality at home.
➡️ Read CHAPTER 12 to continue the story.
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