Chapter 2

Carter stood off to the side, holding a black box. It was the one meant to hold my memories.

Tobias wasn't here. I knew he was probably in some high-level meeting, contract in hand, chipping away at the Keith family's defenses bit by bit.

He only cared about the result. The process was just too messy for him.

A technician fastened a helmet covered in sensors onto my head. The icy touch spread quickly from my scalp through my entire body.

I could feel a faint electric current buzzing through my blood vessels. It was uncomfortable, like countless tiny ants gnawing at my nerves.

The lead technician said, "Ms. Moss, we're about to start extracting all the connections related to Jonah Keith, your memories from ages ten to fifteen, and everything about the lab.

"Try to relax. If you feel dizzy, that's just part of the separation process. You'll probably feel about 0.6 milligrams of sharp pain. That's the tearing sensation when your soul is being pulled away."

The lead technician's voice was flat.

I stared up at the ceiling light, watching its glow expand and shrink. Then I closed my eyes, trying to recall Jonah Keith, the boy from my memories.

His face had always been a blur in my mind, but as the electric current intensified, his features sharpened and became clear.

I remembered how he once hid in an old warehouse just to bring me a candy.

He took my hand, and together we ran through that desolate wasteland the whole night.

Suddenly, a massive force yanked at the back of my skull. It was like someone jammed a burning-hot hook in and tore out a chunk of my mind.

I started shaking uncontrollably. My fingers clamped onto the edge of the metal table so hard that my nails nearly snapped.

I couldn't make a sound. It felt like the pain had frozen the air itself.

I watched as a golden light was ripped from my forehead, flowing through a tube straight into the black box Carter was holding.

For a split second, my mind went totally blank. It was like someone erased everything with a chalkboard eraser before I could even react, leaving nothing but a dull gray mess.

I couldn't even remember Jonah's name, let alone how to spell it. All I remembered was someone giving me candy, but the taste was completely gone from my mind.

Carter watched as the golden light vanished into the black box and finally breathed out, relieved. He took out a red stamp and pressed it firmly onto the contract. "Extraction confirmed."

Someone helped me sit up. My body felt like jelly, limp and useless.

My brain was buzzing, and that sharp, soul-tearing pain they warned me about was slowly fading, replaced by pure emptiness.

I felt so light, like a feather drifting in the air.

"Mr. Rivas said that after the procedure, you should head to the lounge on the second floor. He'll be waiting there to wrap things up," Carter said.

He helped me up, his voice polite, but his eyes were cold as ice.

I nodded. I couldn't even remember why I was supposed to meet Tobias, or what he was to me. But my body just went along with it, like I was on autopilot.

My body still remembered the route to the second floor. When I pushed open the heavy wooden door, Tobias was sitting on a leather sofa by the window.

He'd swapped into a dark gray shirt, the top two buttons casually undone. As I walked in, he looked at me, his eyes glinting with satisfaction.

Tobias stood up and came over, the air still heavy with that same pressure. He reached out, like he wanted to touch my forehead, but I instinctively stepped back.

His hand froze in midair.

"Still not back to yourself?" Tobias asked. His voice had lost its usual chill, replaced by a hint of almost forced gentleness.

I stared at him, blinked, and asked, "Who are you?"

Tobias's face darkened instantly. He stared at me for so long that the tension in the room felt like it could freeze the air.

Then, suddenly, he laughed. It was a cruel, self-satisfied laugh.

He leaned in close, whispering in my ear, "I'm your best business partner. And the one who sold your soul."

Tobias still lived in the Rivas family mansion, and so did I.

Only now, my room had been moved out of the main house and into the old servants' quarters. It used to be the butler's place, but now I was Tobias's personal fixer, cleaning up the dirty work after his secret deals.

Three days after my memories were extracted, Carter escorted me downstairs for dinner. Tobias was already there, sitting at the head of the dining table with a stack of financial reports in his hands.

He'd been riding high these past few days. The Keith family's core projects were about to go under, all thanks to the leaked information.

Tobias looked like a war hero fresh off the battlefield, radiating an aura of predatory charm.