Death Inc.

Prologue

In a dimly lit room in my lavish mansion, I stood by the window, gazing out at the sprawling city below, shrouded in the darkness of a cold, unforgiving night. The city was a testament to human ambition and scientific progress, a world transformed by something so inspiring to all, yet ironically damning to my life: life-extension technology. I turned away from the window and looked at the figure lying in the grand, opulent bed behind me.

Dan Hastings, my husband, was a mere shadow of the man he used to be. At 127 years old, his body was frail, but his mind remained sharp, as ruthless as ever. Even now, bedridden and at the brink of death, he clung to the heart of the empire he had built, an empire that had cost us both dearly.

"Rach," he rasped, his voice a mere whisper barely overcoming the nocturne of the EKG.
His eyes, though dulled by age, still held a glimmer of the fierce determination that had driven him for so many years. I approached the bed, taking his trembling hand in mine. My fingers dancing along his bony knuckles, recognizing a once vibrant soul now a withered CEO defined by his work.

"This is all that matters," he insisted, his grip tightening. "It's our legacy."

I looked at him. How had we come to this? How had the bright, ambitious young man I fell in love with turned into this cold, calculating figure? As Dan's breathing slowed, I felt a surge of resolve. The past could not be changed, but perhaps the future still held a glimmer of hope. Leaning down, I placed a gentle kiss on his forehead.

As I walked out of the room, I knew that the end of one life might just be the beginning of something new. Descending the grand staircase, my thoughts drifted back to the beginning, to a time before the world had changed, and before we had become who we were today.