Data of a Broken Heart

ss fel

himself. He held my face, his thumbs pressing against my cheekbones, but his eyes were not on me, they were focused on a

ith a practiced precision that had no warmth. It was a collection of data points, not a moment of affection

hs. Ever since he started "Project Seraph," our home had transformed, our

at his keyboard. "The oxytocin response was exactly as pr

or his project. Our kiss, a moment I had hoped woul

about?" I asked, my voice bar

project, Ava. You know how important this

straight line of his spine, the intense focus he gave the screen. He was a million miles away, a

down the hallway. A thin line of light glowed from under his office door, the one he now kept locked. He used to share everything wit

tonight, they came rushing back. I went to my own laptop, my fingers flying across the keys, pulling up the security s

on his office door disenga

ick veins, all leading to a massive, humming server rack that took up an entire wall. In the

. It was Sophia Reed. Ethan's ex-girlfriend, the one who had died in a car accident before I ever met him

ing to the hologram, his voice filled with a reverence I hadn

er voice was a perfect, synthesized replica of the record

ran cold.

re the perfect raw data to rebuild you. All her empathy, her softness. I've filtered out her weaknesses to reconstruct your strengths." He let out a dry, bitter laugh. "She was alwa

urrection. And I was the sacrifice. He wasn't grieving a lost love, he was trying to build a better ver

the miscarriage I' d had years ago, a devastating loss that Ethan had dismissed with cold logic, blaming it on my "emotional instability." I thought back to the job offer I had lost, a dream position at a top tech fi

ng clarity. This wasn't just about Ethan's

d for a split second, I saw a flash of triumphant

ed dreams-all gone. Erased. In their place, a cold, hard resolve began to form. I backed

my marriage anymore. There

be a template. I would not be erased. I would burn his project