In the city of Elmira-where cobbled streets met sleek storefronts and cafés buzzed with student chatter-Dr. Joshua Bennett lived a life of quiet order. At just twenty-five, freshly graduated from medical school, he had returned to Almira University...
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Her mother's face went pale, and she gripped Aina's hands tighter. "No." The word came out sharp and final. "No, Aina. Stop digging into this. Your father is gone—nothing we do will bring him back. Those research files... they'll only bring more danger, more death."
"But we can expose what Nordstrom did—"
"And then what?" Her mother's voice rose with desperation. "You think he'll just quietly accept defeat? You think there won't be consequences?" She stood abruptly, pacing away from them. "I spent all of these years keeping you safe, giving you a chance at a normal life, and now you want to throw it all away for revenge?"
Felix stepped forward. "Dr. Janan, with respect, this isn't just about revenge. Those files contain evidence of illegal human experimentation, memory manipulation, murder—"
"I know exactly what those files contain!" Her mother whirled around, eyes blazing. "I helped create half that research! I know what Nordstrom is capable of, which is why I'm begging you to leave it buried." She turned back to Aina, her voice breaking. "Please, darling. You've suffered enough. We've all suffered enough. Just... let it go. Live the life you've built. Be happy."
Aina stared at her mother, feeling the weight of two conflicting desires tearing her apart. The desire for justice, for her father's vindication, for the truth to be known. And the desire for peace, for the simple happiness she'd found in her manufactured life, for the safety her mother had sacrificed everything to give her.
"You don't understand," Aina whispered. "I can't just pretend none of this happened. There are other victims, other families Nordstrom has destroyed—"
Her mother moved closer, her voice becoming gentler but no less urgent. "Aina, listen to me. This is life, darling. You can't be the heroine who saves everyone. You're twenty-three years old—you should be building your own life, not carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders."
"But the other victims—"
"Will still be victims whether you expose this or not!" Her mother's voice broke with frustrated love. "You think a man like Nordstrom can just be arrested? He's not some common criminal, Aina. He's rich, he has connections in every government, every major corporation. He feeds the world's hunger for control, for power. The world is cruel, and even if by some miracle they did arrest him, he'd be out within months. And you?" She cupped Aina's face in her hands. "You'd be dead."
Aina felt tears burning her eyes. "So we just... give up? Let him win?"
"We let you live," her mother said fiercely. "We let you have the chance your father and I fought so hard to give you. A chance to be happy, to love someone, to have children, to grow old. That's not giving up, darling—that's choosing life over vengeance."
She gestured toward Ms Yasmin, who had been standing quietly to the side. "Do you know what I've been doing for eighteen months? I've been researching every person who ever tried to expose Nordstrom. Want to know what happened to them?" Her voice grew cold. "Car accidents. Suicides. Disappearances. Mysterious illnesses. The few who survived did so because they stopped fighting and disappeared completely."
