At first, Ivana didn’t believe I would protect a criminal. Yet, it only took her less than one day to start doubting me.
Only she knew I hid in a cave with Bruno. When the villagers found us and began to skin Bruno alive, I begged her to stop them. Instead, she picked up a stick and struck me hard on the head until my vision blurred with blood.
She yelled at me then, eyes full of anger: “Selina, we grew up together. We treated you as a friend. What do you take us for? You gave up your best friend to protect a rapist!”
That night, the villagers nearly beat me to death. Ivana’s mother pulled her away and two days later, their family left the province and never returned.
Now, she looked at me with a gaze full of hatred.
She raised her hand and spoke with cold resolve, “Expand the extraction. I won’t stop until I find the truth.”
The tech hesitated. “Ms. Sinclair… her body is weak and she’s fighting the process. If we keep widening the range… she may not survive.”
Ivana gave a cold, disdainful laugh. “Can’t handle it?”
“I spent years building this machine to find the truth. Her life or death means nothing to me. People like her… better if they all die.”