Love's Betrayal: A Digital Wasteland

oundations of my world until everything collapsed. Jake and Noah' s words from the briefing room played

. All for O

ender smile on his face as he set the tray down.

k. "We' re good. Ju

r from my face, his touch making my skin crawl. "Once this is all over, w

king about our family. He was talking about ensuring Olivia' s future. My chi

. They needed our skills, my cybersecurity expertise and Chloe' s data analysis, to build their e

ry victory, had b

had been reckless, exposing her own digital signature during a vanity transaction. The "attack" was a smokescreen Jake created to justify a counter-assault on a

wn to wolves, just to see which of Olivia' s rivals would be stupid enough to take it. He watched them descend on her, cataloging their methods

called it progress. They took our love an

tterns on a cold, dark screen. She looked up as I app

on't you?" s

le to speak past th

used on my recovery. He used his neural feedback tech to help me rebuild my shattered memories. He held my hand thr

art. All that trauma, all that pain, and

ining a sliver of its old stren

arely a whisper. "They contro

ey think we' re broken. They think I' m a fragile doll and you' re a lovesick fool w

onger than any lie they could tell, any manipulation they could devise. The love they

ds tasting like freedom. "We e

er tired eyes. "We get out, and we b

ead felt impossibly dark. I still had to face Jake every day. I had to pretend to love the man who ha

ed tenderness fought with the cold reality of his betrayal. The