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Perfect Lie - FULL | Reelshort
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00:02My mother was the tragic heroine of a story that ended before I was born.
00:07When she died, her four childhood friends cut me out of her body, still breathing.
00:13That is how I got four fathers.
00:16Alistair, the most powerful senator in the country, kingmaker of presidents.
00:21Garrison, the four-star general who has never lost a war.
00:24Dr. Julian, the Nobel-winning surgeon who built the largest pharmaceutical empire on Earth.
00:31Jax, the underworld king whose name makes the five boroughs go quiet.
00:36Every girl in America envied me, until my 18th birthday gala.
00:41That was the night she came home.
00:44Sienna, the daughter of their perfect muse.
00:48From that day forward, my four fathers became strangers.
00:52Sienna claimed I insulted her.
00:54Alistair had his security detail wire my jaw shut, and starved me in the basement for 72 hours.
01:02Sienna claimed I poisoned her.
01:05Dr. Julian dragged me into his black site toxicology lab, and let the test specimens eat through my cheek, and
01:12devour one of my eyes.
01:14Sienna claimed I hired traffickers to violate her.
01:18Garrison lifted me by the collar and threw me into the underground training grounds.
01:23Sienna made me a plaything for the men there.
01:25For three years.
01:28Three years.
01:29And I stopped fighting.
01:31Tonight, when my door opened again, I reached for my zipper like I always did.
01:36Then I heard a voice.
01:38Not from the doorway, from inside my skull.
01:42Ellie, do you want to come home to your mother?
01:45I looked up.
01:47The room was empty, and the voice whispered one more sentence.
01:51All you have to do, sweet girl, is die.
01:55The voice called itself a neural interface.
01:59It said my mother was the original host.
02:01That she'd left this world in a hurry.
02:04Never knowing I survived her.
02:06Now she knew.
02:07Now she wanted me back.
02:10All you have to do, Ellie, is let this body die.
02:14I was already moving.
02:16I pulled a combat knife from the weapons rack on the wall.
02:18Pressed the edge to my throat.
02:20Mom is alive.
02:22I am going to see her.
02:24The joy drowned out every instinct to flinch.
02:27I dragged the blade, and a hand caught my wrist mid-strike.
02:32Pain exploded through my fingers.
02:34The knife clattered to the floor.
02:36A boot stepped on it.
02:38Alara, you want to die?
02:40I knew that voice.
02:42I looked up before I could stop myself.
02:46Jax.
02:48His jaw tightened.
02:50Don't call me that.
02:52I cut ties with you three years ago.
02:55Jax the Underworld King.
02:56When I was seven, a rival cartel kidnapped me.
03:00He walked into their stronghold alone.
03:02Took three bullets and two blades in front of their box.
03:05To buy my freedom.
03:06When they let me go, I cried at the sight of his wounds.
03:10He'd smiled and said the bullets didn't hurt.
03:12Only my tears did.
03:14Of all forefathers, Jax loved me the most.
03:19Until Garrison came back from deployment four years ago.
03:22With a wounded Sienna in his arms, Jax picked up the knife.
03:26Glanced at the cut on my throat.
03:29Then, without warning, he slashed the blade across my skin.
03:32A rush line of red bloomed.
03:34His voice came out like ice.
03:35You're as cheap as your mother, Alada.
03:37She at least had the decency to die in front of us.
03:40You picked a sewer.
03:42I almost told him I wasn't performing.
03:45Then I remembered.
03:46They never listened.
03:48I lowered my head.
03:50You're right, Mr. Sterling.
03:52Did you come all the way down here just to watch the show?
03:55Don't flatter yourself.
03:57It's Sienna's birthday.
03:59Her coronation as America's sweetheart.
04:02She said she's ready to forgive you.
04:04I came to bring you to her gala.
04:07Three days ago, the news had broken.
04:10Alistair was naming Sienna the official Sterling heiress.
04:13It was supposed to be mine.
04:15He'd promised it to me when I was ten.
04:17The old Alara would have set the city on fire.
04:20The new Alara just said,
04:21I'm not going.
04:24This isn't a request.
04:26He dragged me out by the wrist.
04:28Threw me onto the back of his motorcycle.
04:32Took me to his penthouse.
04:34Scrubbed the grime off me.
04:35Put me in a black couture dress.
04:37Then drove me toward the Sterling estate.
04:39Kneel when you see her.
04:41Don't provoke her.
04:42Don't speak unless spoken to.
04:44Every word cut deeper than Dr. Julian's scalpel ever had.
04:48I stared at the East River blurring past the window.
04:51I want to see my mother.
04:53Opened the door.
04:54And jumped.
04:56Laura!
04:56And then I was in someone's arms, Jax.
04:59Laura!
05:00Are you insane?
05:02I reached up to wipe the blood from his cheek.
05:04And he shoved my hand away.
05:06If you want to die next time, die.
05:08I won't save you again.
05:10I laughed once, bitter.
05:12Remember what you said, Mr. Sterling.
05:16I saw the Hudson.
05:18Then I ran four strides.
05:20I launched myself over the edge.
05:22Jax was terrified of water.
05:24He'd almost drowned as a child.
05:26He just said he wouldn't save me.
05:28So when the freezing Hudson flooded my nose and dragged me under, I smiled.
05:33I'm coming, Mom.
05:35Then a slap across my face so hard my teeth rang.
05:38You little bitch.
05:40You can't stand a little honest work at the training grounds?
05:44You had to stage this whole performance in front of your father?
05:48Do you know he almost died in that river?
05:51Dr. Julian, of the four he and I had been closest, the other three ran empires.
05:57He was the one who raised me.
05:59He taught me to read.
06:00Taught me medicine.
06:01Taught me which herbs could kill and which could save.
06:05He never raised his voice at me.
06:07Not once until Sienna came home.
06:09Sienna had planted one of his venomous specimens on herself and screamed that I did it.
06:17Allura, I failed you.
06:20I raised a monster.
06:24Later, when Sienna was poisoned again, he force-fed me pheromone pills and locked me in the containment chamber.
06:35The specimens chewed through my skin from the inside out.
06:39He saved my life afterward.
06:41But he couldn't save my left eye.
06:43I didn't speak now.
06:45He took my silence for defiance.
06:47Raised his hand to strike me again.
06:49And Jax's hand shot out of nowhere, catching his wrist mid-air.
06:53Brother, she's tried to kill herself three times tonight already.
06:57I looked at Jax.
06:59He'd changed clothes.
07:00His wounds were bandaged.
07:02His face was ghost, white.
07:04So it was him who pulled me from the river.
07:06He couldn't swim.
07:08I didn't want to imagine what that cost him.
07:10Dr. Julian scoffed.
07:13You're soft, Jax.
07:15She used this trick on us a hundred times before you left.
07:18It's just a cry for attention.
07:20Jax exhaled.
07:21Relieved.
07:22Thank God.
07:23Alara, today is Sienna's gala.
07:26Act out in front of us if you must.
07:28But do not do this in front of Alistair and Garrison.
07:31I was already moving.
07:33I yanked open the drawer.
07:35Closed my fingers around the black vial.
07:37Swallowed it whole.
07:38Dr. Julian's face drained of coffee.
07:41He lunged.
07:42Shoved his fingers down my throat.
07:44Do you know what that was?
07:46Needle to my wrist.
07:47Black blood out.
07:48When the black turned red, he exhaled.
07:51Alara.
07:53You would die over a title?
07:56I dropped to my knees.
07:57Tears rolled down my cheeks.
07:59They mistook them for joy.
08:02Doctor.
08:03Mr. Sterling.
08:05Please.
08:06Just let me die.
08:09I don't want to come home.
08:11I want my mother.
08:12I told them everything.
08:14The voice.
08:15The neural interface.
08:16My mother waiting.
08:19Alara.
08:20Your mother is dead.
08:23We sat with her body for seven days.
08:26We watched her rot.
08:29The voice is trauma.
08:31It wasn't.
08:32I knew.
08:32Tires screeching outside.
08:34Alistair and Garrison burst through the door.
08:36Brothers.
08:37Have you seen Sienna?
08:39She's missing.
08:39All four of them turned to me.
08:42No.
08:42It wasn't me.
08:44Jax's hand closed around my throat.
08:46He dragged me into the courtyard.
08:49I plunged my head into the stone fountain.
08:52Last time.
08:53Under.
08:54Up.
08:54Under.
08:55Up.
08:56Where.
08:58Is.
09:01Sienna.
09:02Sienna?
09:03Oh.
09:04I killed her.
09:05And before I did.
09:06I let 12 of my favorite guests from the training grounds have her first.
09:12Four faces went white.
09:15Then Jax ordered that I be taken to the underground interrogation room.
09:20Alistair sent for the instruments.
09:23Garrison brought the agency's best interrogator.
09:26Dr. Julian Force fed me a stimulant so I'd stay conscious.
09:31Jax gave the order.
09:33The blades went in.
09:35Mom.
09:37I'm coming.
09:38An assistant sprinted down the floor.
09:40Senator!
09:41Sienna!
09:42We found her!
09:42Alive!
09:43Four faces drained to paper white.
09:48They threw the door open.
09:50My scream tore through the estate.
09:53The interrogator's blade, driven clean and perfect, straight through my heart.
09:58The blade in my chest burned.
09:59I almost cried almost.
10:02But I was going to see my mother.
10:04Through the haze, I saw them running toward me.
10:06Alistair stripped off his thousand dollar suit jacket and pressed it to my chest.
10:11Garrison kicked the interrogator into the wall.
10:14I heard something crap.
10:16Dr. Julian shoved an experimental compound between my lips.
10:20Jax just kept whispering my childhood name.
10:23Ellie.
10:24Ellie.
10:24Don't close your eyes.
10:26Don't you dare.
10:27It reminded me of a winter I'd forgotten.
10:29I was six.
10:30I had a fever of 104.
10:32They'd cancelled four boards, a Pentagon briefing, and a ceasefire negotiation, just
10:38to sit around my bed and coax me into taking medicine.
10:41They used to love me.
10:42They really, really used to love me.
10:44I memorized their faces one last time and closed my eyes.
10:50The world should have ended there, but five days later, I opened them again, alive.
10:55In Dr. Julian's guest room, and the girl perched on the edge of my bed was Sienna.
11:05Sister, you're awake.
11:07Dr. Julian crossed the room to take my pulse.
11:10The blade missed the ventral by a hair.
11:11I flew the experimental regen serum in from Switzerland.
11:15Five days.
11:16He'd burned a million dollar compound on someone who just wanted to die.
11:20Waste.
11:21Elara.
11:22If you didn't touch Sienna, why didn't you just say so?
11:27Why put us through that?
11:30Don't scold her.
11:31It's my fault.
11:32I got lost.
11:34I just wanted to buy her a gift.
11:38Alistair's fury turned back on me.
11:40Sienna missed her own gala worrying about you.
11:44Apologize.
11:44Now!
11:45I laughed.
11:46It hurt my ribs.
11:48I laughed anyway.
11:50Apologize for what, exactly?
11:52I never laid a finger on her.
11:55Not once in my life.
11:57Every crime she cried about, she staged.
12:01And you bastards believed every tear!
12:05Sienna's face crumpled on cue.
12:07And Dr. Julian's hand came up so fast.
12:10Sienna ran to Alistair, clung to his sleeve.
12:13Send me back to the compound in New Mexico.
12:15That's where I belong!
12:17The four of them melted instantly.
12:19They hushed her.
12:20Promised her she was their precious girl.
12:23Then they turned on me.
12:24Alistair's voice dropped.
12:26You're jealous.
12:27That's all this is.
12:29Jealous.
12:30Like your mother.
12:31Something snapped.
12:33Don't!
12:34Jealous like your mother?
12:36Spiteful like your mother?
12:37Your mother would be ashamed of you!
12:39Years of swallowed venom came up at once.
12:42Don't you dare bring up my mother!
12:44My mother risked her life to hide you four when your father was assassinated.
12:48My mother emptied her trust fund to buy the evidence that exonerated the sterling name.
12:53My mother found the witnesses.
12:55My mother testified at the hearings.
12:57My mother gave you this empire.
13:01And what did you do?
13:03Alistair, you left her at the altar for a stranger who'd been in your life eight weeks.
13:09Garrison, she called you crying for help and you didn't pick up the phone!
13:15Julian, Jax, you swore you'd protect her.
13:19You drove her into the water.
13:20No one on earth called them by their first names.
13:23Four faces went bone-white.
13:25They hadn't realized I knew.
13:27And Alistair's voice came out hoarse, almost a whisper.
13:30How do you know any of this?
13:32Because of Lily.
13:34My mother's maid, the one person they couldn't make disappear.
13:37Alistair had banned her name from every inch of the estate after she died.
13:42Burned every portrait.
13:44Paid off every witness.
13:45Shipped every servant back to wherever they came from.
13:48The tabloids thought the titans were grieving too hard to bear her image.
13:52I knew better.
13:54They were furious.
13:55Because my mother had driven Zhang Ying, Sienna's real mother, into hiding by dying.
14:00When I was nine, I fell out of a tree and into the condemned east wing of the estate.
14:06Lily was there, still living in my mother's old rooms.
14:09The ones they'd sealed.
14:11She looked at me and started to cry.
14:14Your eyes are exactly like hers.
14:17She told me everything.
14:19My mother helped Alistair escape the men who killed his father.
14:23My mother nursed Garrison through his first combat wound.
14:27My mother synthesized the rare compound that saved Dr. Julian's dying sister.
14:32My mother found Jax when the underworld left him for dead and brought him back with her bare hands.
14:38She'd been their whole world.
14:40Until Zhang Ying came.
14:43Alistair broke off the engagement two weeks before the wedding.
14:46Jax, who'd comforted my mother through the humiliation, confessed his love to Zhang Ying behind her back.
14:52Garrison imprisoned my mother for her own safety.
14:55Dr. Julian watched it all happen and said nothing.
14:58When Zhang Ying planted the last false accusation, my mother stopped fighting.
15:07Everyone thinks she drowned herself out of heartbreak.
15:12But that morning she was smiling.
15:15She told me she was going home.
15:19Isn't this her home?
15:21She said her real home was another world.
15:24And she said,
15:26you could go there too.
15:29Back in the present, the four of them sat in broken silence.
15:32Finally, Jax reached for me.
15:34Ellie, if you're miserable here, come with me.
15:38Come see the world.
15:39Travel.
15:40You said once you wanted to be like me.
15:45Jax,
15:47you don't want to take me away because you love me.
15:50You want to take me away so I stop making Sienna uncomfortable.
15:54His eyes flickered, bullseye.
15:58If you take her with you,
16:00she needs medical supervision.
16:02I'll take her to my private facility in Geneva.
16:06No!
16:06She'll come back to the training grounds with me.
16:08She was obedient there.
16:10I laughed out loud.
16:11Loud enough that Garrison's own chair fell over as he shot to his feet.
16:17Back to the training grounds?
16:19Garrison, haven't your men violated me enough yet?
16:22The room went dead silent.
16:24Suddenly his voice came back at me like a gunshot.
16:26What did you just say?
16:32You said to make me work.
16:34You said keep me busy.
16:36And the second you left,
16:38they told me the general himself had given the order.
16:41I was a new asset.
16:43Don't go easy on her.
16:45There was someone in my cell every night.
16:48Sometimes one.
16:49Sometimes three.
16:50Dr. Julian,
16:52you taught me about contraceptives.
16:54I use them every time.
16:56Dr. Julian's lips went gray.
16:57Tell me you didn't use sylphice extract.
16:59I nodded.
17:00He doubled over.
17:01That compound erodes the uterine liner.
17:04Every dose is like grinding bone.
17:06How did you-
17:06Better than a baby.
17:08Jax moved first,
17:10grabbed Garrison by the collar,
17:12slammed him into the wall.
17:13You piece of shit!
17:15You told them to!
17:17I didn't.
17:18I never gave that order.
17:20Good sister.
17:21Be exaggerating.
17:24Exactly.
17:24My men would never-
17:25I peeled off my blouse.
17:27My back was a map.
17:28Whip scars.
17:29Burn marks.
17:30The ruined tissue from the sylphium.
17:33Lacerations that had healed wrong
17:34because no one had set them.
17:37Pull every officer
17:38who had access to her cell
17:41tonight.
17:42The four men who had tortured me
17:43for three years
17:44were finally, finally looking at me
17:46like I was real.
17:48Sienna saw it too.
17:49Her eyes flickered with something cold.
17:57I pushed.
17:58I don't want to live with any of you.
18:01I want to go home to my mother.
18:04Allura.
18:05Jax said carefully.
18:06You've been through trauma.
18:08The voice isn't real.
18:11But we can make you comfortable.
18:14Each of us kept one of your mother's rooms.
18:16You can live in whichever one you choose.
18:18I shook my head.
18:19I want my mother.
18:20Then Sienna stepped forward.
18:22Why doesn't sister stay with me?
18:24Dr. Julian and Jax exchanged
18:26a look I couldn't read.
18:28She's afraid of men now.
18:29My staff are all women.
18:30I'll take care of her.
18:32Four pairs of hopeful eyes
18:33swung toward me.
18:34I opened my mouth to refuse.
18:36Then I saw Sienna's expression.
18:38And I understood exactly
18:39what she wanted.
18:41Living with the fathers
18:43would keep me alive.
18:44Living with Sienna would kill me.
18:47I smiled back at her.
18:49Matching her mask with my own.
18:51Okay, Sienna.
18:54She led me to a windowless room
18:56in the sub-basement
18:57of the brownstone.
18:58Her smile died.
19:00Her two handmaids
19:02forced me to my knees.
19:03I didn't fight.
19:06You brought me here
19:07to torture me.
19:08Congratulations.
19:09I'm not surprised.
19:11Sienna lowered herself
19:12into a chair across from me.
19:14Legs crossed,
19:15wine glass in hand.
19:16Your mother killed mine.
19:19I'm just balancing the books.
19:21My eyes lit up.
19:22Then kill me.
19:24Kill me and we're even.
19:26Go on.
19:27She leaned in.
19:28You think I won't?
19:31You won't.
19:33Your mother was a cheap slut.
19:35A homewrecker.
19:37A whore passed around
19:38every bed in Manhattan.
19:40Thy we can softy.
19:41Don't speak about my mother.
19:43Don't speak about mother!
19:46She lunged,
19:47slapped me,
19:48drew a knife,
19:49pressed it to my throat.
19:54My mother was royalty.
19:56My mother was the last daughter of...
19:59Princess, careful.
20:02Her chief of staff
20:03caught her wrist.
20:05You may go.
20:08Death is a second of relief.
20:10I'm not giving you that.
20:12I'm going to keep you alive.
20:15Conscious.
20:17Watching.
20:18While I take everything
20:19that was ever yours,
20:20one piece at a time.
20:23She clapped twice.
20:24Four large men walked in.
20:26My stomach dropped
20:27before my brain caught up.
20:28I knew those faces.
20:30Every single one of them.
20:31They were from the training grounds.
20:33My body started shaking
20:35before I could stop it.
20:39The men who came to my cell
20:41for three years,
20:42they were yours!
20:44Sienna laughed.
20:45Every single one.
20:46Hand-picked.
20:47For you.
20:48I'm a generous sister,
20:49aren't I?
20:51Aren't you afraid
20:51Garrison will find out?
20:54If I wasn't certain he wouldn't,
20:56I wouldn't have done it.
20:58Which meant she had moles
20:59inside the U.S. Army.
21:01And if she could bend
21:02Garrison's command to her will,
21:03there was no telling
21:04how deep the rot
21:05in the city went,
21:06or which of my father's empires
21:08was already hollowed out
21:09from the inside.
21:10She clapped again.
21:12The men moved toward me.
21:13The familiar smell
21:14hit me first.
21:15Cheap cologne
21:15and military-grade soap.
21:17My stomach flipped.
21:18Sienna didn't want me dead.
21:20She wanted me hollow.
21:21Every time I got too weak,
21:23her doctors revived me.
21:25Two weeks in,
21:25I was skin and bone,
21:27barely lucid.
21:28Then the father started showing up,
21:29one of them every day.
21:33She wouldn't let them see me.
21:35Sister is resting.
21:37She gets agitated when she sees men.
21:39They came back and back and back.
21:43Until Dr. Julian,
21:45on his fourth visit,
21:46I've arranged a flight to Geneva.
21:48Inpatient neuropsychiatric care.
21:50She needs it now.
21:51Sienna had no way to refuse
21:53without exposing herself.
21:58Remember, my sweet sister.
22:00They believe me,
22:02not you.
22:04One wrong word inside that room
22:06and I swear to God,
22:09I will burn your eyes out.
22:11I nodded.
22:14Good girl.
22:16Then I walked into the room,
22:18dropped to my knees
22:19in front of Dr. Julian.
22:23Save me.
22:24Julian, please.
22:25She has men here.
22:27The soldiers who raped me
22:28in the training grounds.
22:29They're hers.
22:30She brought them here.
22:32She's planning to overthrow Alistair.
22:34She wants to destroy all of you.
22:36Oh, sister.
22:38Your delusions are back.
22:41You're having another episode.
22:43I just wanted to help you.
22:46I'm not delusional.
22:48You liar.
22:49Enough!
22:52Alara,
22:53I agreed to let you stay with Sienna
22:55because I thought it would humble you.
22:57I thought you would finally learn
22:59to repent for your sins.
23:01Instead,
23:02you're spreading venomous slander
23:04against your own sister.
23:07You are beyond saving.
23:09You don't see it.
23:10You're all blind.
23:12You're handing her the knife.
23:15I won't visit you again.
23:16You bring this upon yourself.
23:17He walked out.
23:22Sienna bent down,
23:23whispered in my ear.
23:24When will you learn, Alara?
23:26You are nothing.
23:28They will always choose me.
23:31Tonight,
23:32nobody holds back.
23:34Have your fun.
23:35Break her completely.
23:50She dipped a braided leather whip
23:52in salt water.
23:53You thought Julian would save you?
23:56You thought any of them cared?
23:58You are just a parasite.
24:00I will peel the flesh from your bones.
24:03The first lash fell.
24:05Then another.
24:07Then tires outside, screeching.
24:10What was that?
24:11Sienna froze.
24:12The door exploded inward.
24:16Alara.
24:18Alistair stepped in first.
24:20Kicked the nearest of Sienna's men
24:22across the basement.
24:24Sienna,
24:25what are you doing?
24:28Father,
24:29I can explain.
24:30I was just,
24:31I was playing with sister.
24:33She was so afraid of men.
24:35I was helping her overcome her trauma.
24:37Playing?
24:37Then what are the soldiers
24:39you've been training
24:39at the compound in North Hills?
24:41What kind of game
24:42requires a private militia?
24:45You thought we were blind forever.
24:48Garrison tossed something at her feet
24:50to the severed head
24:51of her own commander,
24:52staring back at her.
24:55I'm so sorry, Alara.
24:57I'm so sorry.
24:59No.
25:00No.
25:01This is a frame-up.
25:02Father,
25:03you have to believe me.
25:04They are lying.
25:05I'm lying.
25:07Lying.
25:08He'd noticed Sienna's handmaids.
25:10The throats weren't right.
25:11Calluses from weapons
25:12training on their palms.
25:14Earlier that day,
25:15when I whispered the truth
25:16to Dr. Julian,
25:17he'd believed me.
25:18You thought a few dresses
25:19could hide the calluses
25:20of trained killers?
25:21I am a scientist, Sienna.
25:22I noticed details.
25:23Once Julian alerted us,
25:24I ordered an immediate
25:25internal audit
25:26of the training grounds.
25:27The trafficking scheme,
25:28the abused funds,
25:29it all unraveled in hours.
25:30We traced the money.
25:32Millions of dollars
25:33sliphoned out
25:34under my nose,
25:35leading straight
25:35to an abandoned
25:36industrial site
25:37in North Hills.
25:38You built a standing army
25:39inside U.S. borders,
25:40pointed directly
25:41at Manhattan,
25:42pointed at U.S.
25:43No!
25:44I didn't!
25:45We stormed the base
25:46this afternoon.
25:47Most of your pathetic force
25:49were cheap mercenaries
25:50and ex-cons.
25:51They folded in 20 minutes!
25:53They stormed it
25:54that afternoon.
25:55Most of the force
25:56was mercenaries
25:57and ex-cons.
25:58They folded in 20 minutes.
26:01Your precious commander,
26:03he broke under questioning
26:04in 10 minutes.
26:05He wasn't American,
26:06he wasn't a mercenary,
26:07and he wasn't working
26:08for any cartel
26:09we'd ever heard of.
26:10He was the last living general
26:11of an Eastern European monarchy,
26:13a regime we helped overthrow
26:15a generation ago.
26:18Tell us, Sienna,
26:20who is pulling your strings?
26:22That deposed
26:24Eastern European general,
26:26he was taking orders
26:27directly from you.
26:29And your mother,
26:31Jiang Ying,
26:32she wasn't just
26:33some pretty stranger
26:34I met by chance,
26:35was she?
26:36She was the deposed
26:37monarchy's youngest princess,
26:39exiled,
26:40forgotten,
26:41living in a content
26:43like a rat.
26:44She spent 20 years
26:45in the shadows,
26:46planning her revenge
26:47against the four of us
26:48who destroyed
26:49her father's empire.
26:50Step one,
26:51seduce the four men
26:53who ruined her bloodline,
26:55play the victim,
26:56make us fall for her,
26:57and turn on us
26:58into fools!
26:59Step two,
27:00destroy my mother,
27:01who was the one person
27:03who saw through her.
27:05My mother
27:06didn't drown herself?
27:08No, Alara,
27:09we just learned this today.
27:12Jiang Ying poisoned
27:12your mother to silence her,
27:14then vanished.
27:16She left her daughter behind,
27:18raised on hatred.
27:20I found Sienna in Albania,
27:22I thought I was saving her.
27:24I brought a weapon
27:25into our home!
27:26Father!
27:27Father, please!
27:29Please, I'm your daughter!
27:31I have your blood
27:32in my vein!
27:34You can't do this to me!
27:36I only did what
27:37my mother forced me!
27:39I am a sterling,
27:40you can't kill
27:41your own flesh and blood!
27:45Father, I am your blood,
27:47you loved my mother!
27:49You have to spare me!
27:55I never slept
27:56with your mother.
27:57None of us did.
28:00You are nothing
28:01but the bastard child
28:02of an exiled pretender.
28:04Sienna snapped.
28:05She threw her head back
28:06and laughed.
28:07I'm not yours?
28:08I'm a bastard?
28:10Then whose is Alara?
28:11Because none of you
28:13know either!
28:14The room froze.
28:16Sienna pulled a transmitter
28:17from her sleeve.
28:18Black-clad men
28:19flooded every entrance
28:20of the estate.
28:21Her second army
28:22were once she kept
28:23in reserve
28:24in a cascade of gunfire.
28:28I slipped past all of them.
28:31Out the front door
28:32and into the night.
28:39The firefight was short
28:41and loud.
28:41I watched it from the floor.
28:43Then I stood up,
28:45walked past them.
28:47Past the bodyguards
28:48screaming my name.
28:50Past the burning wreckage
28:51of my sister's rebellion.
28:53Into the street.
28:54I walked for a long time
28:56through Central Park.
28:58Past the reservoir
28:59where I'd fed ducks
29:00with jacks.
29:01Past the Met
29:02where Dr. Julian
29:03had lectured me
29:03on anatomy at age 7.
29:05Past Alistair's
29:065th Avenue building.
29:07Past the brownstone
29:09where Garrison
29:09had taught me to shoot.
29:11I walked to the top
29:12of one sterling tower.
29:13The tallest of Alistair's properties
29:15is 86 floors.
29:16The wind-up there
29:17was sharp enough to cut.
29:18Finally, I'm coming, Mom.
29:20No!
29:21And when I turned my head,
29:23they were 20 feet away
29:25Ellie, please.
29:27Step back.
29:28Ellie, what are you doing?
29:30We can talk about this.
29:31Don't leave us.
29:32We'll do anything you want.
29:35Ellie, we know everything.
29:37We were wrong.
29:39We were so wrong.
29:40I'm going to posturously
29:42legitimize your mother.
29:43She'll be named
29:44the rightful Duchess.
29:46Don't jump.
29:47Please don't jump.
29:48We'll make it right.
29:49Too late.
29:50I smiled.
29:53No!
29:55Saw Jacks grab by two security men
29:58to keep him from leaping after me.
30:00Let me go!
30:01Ellie!
30:02I'm coming with you!
30:04The fall was longer than I expected.
30:07I saw them flatten against the ledge.
30:09The city lights blurred.
30:12Then, light.
30:13A ceiling fan.
30:15I opened my eyes.
30:17I was in a bed with white linens.
30:19An IV drip in my arm.
30:21Clean.
30:21White.
30:22Antiseptic.
30:23Where am I?
30:24The door opened.
30:25A woman walked in.
30:27Her eyes met mine.
30:28They were my eyes.
30:31She burst into tears.
30:33Ellie!
30:34I knew her without being told.
30:38And as I reached for her...
30:40Mom!
30:43Here.
30:45We say mom.
30:46Her name was Elena.
30:47She made me stop calling her mother.
30:49She ran a small biotech startup.
30:52She was doing okay.
30:54I dove into the neural interface game as a beta tester.
30:57A narrative simulation designed to save my Comus brother's consciousness.
31:01The simulation had dropped her into the fictional life of a 22nd century European heiress.
31:06She finished the mission, her brother woke up.
31:08But the sim had glitched.
31:10The exit had killed her character.
31:12I assumed you died with me.
31:15Then Dr. Julian, even inside the sim, pulled you back from the edge.
31:20I was going to come back for you.
31:22I had to wait for the interface to ping me that your character was dead.
31:26Five days.
31:27I fought with them for five days to let me dive back in.
31:30I am so sorry, baby.
31:32I'm so, so sorry it took this long.
31:41She hired me a tutor phones.
31:43Cars, democracy, Wi-Fi, credit cards, consent.
31:47The 18th Amendment.
31:51Six months later, I enrolled in a private academy on the Upper East Side.
31:56Every girl there was my age, but none of them had ever been starved in a basement.
32:01For the first time in my life, I was a regular girl.
32:05Then the interface activated again.
32:11Ellie, Ellie, Ellie.
32:13Ellie, your death broke them.
32:15All four of them went dark.
32:16They're burning the country down.
32:18Thousands are dying.
32:20You have to come back.
32:21Just long enough for them to see you.
32:23And Ellie, your mother's new boyfriend left her because of you.
32:27They had a huge fight.
32:28Do you want her to grow old alone?
32:30I almost said yes, until a voice behind me, I spun around and mom was standing in the doorway
32:44with her company's mat, black prototype handgun already loaded in her hands.
32:51The interface dropped us into my old bedroom at Alistair's estate.
32:55The four of them were already there.
32:57Waiting for me, they saw me and broke.
33:01Ellie, Ellie, Ellie, you came back, baby.
33:05Dad made your favorite.
33:07They're still warm.
33:08I fixed the swing in the garden.
33:09It's exactly like it was when you were six.
33:13Don't touch her.
33:15Elena.
33:16The four of them froze.
33:20Elena.
33:22Elena, is that you?
33:23God, it's you.
33:25God, it's you.
33:26Elena.
33:28Elena, we can be a family now.
33:30The five of us.
33:31A real family.
33:32She comes with me.
33:34No, with me.
33:35You don't deserve her.
33:36Mom spoke once.
33:38Who said I came back to be your family?
33:40Mom drew the gun.
33:41Four shots.
33:41Four clean bullets.
33:43Four bodies dropping in perfect choreography.
33:46And inside my head, the neural interface began to scream.
33:53You killed them.
33:55You killed the pillars of this world.
34:00Shut up.
34:02They hurt me.
34:05Fine.
34:06But they hurt my child.
34:08Then.
34:09Yun.
34:13My daughter was 16 when you threw her to an army.
34:18My daughter lost an eye because a jealous girl cried wolf.
34:23My daughter jumped off a skyscraper to reach me.
34:29These four were never walking out of this room alive.
34:32The country will collapse.
34:34The monarchy.
34:35The bloodline.
34:36Then find another king.
34:41Countries are replaceable.
34:43My daughter is not.
34:45We stayed for a year.
34:47Mom hand picked the new ruler.
34:49Rebuilt the government.
34:50Stabilized the nation.
34:52Then pulled the plug.
34:54Before we logged out, I hesitated.
34:56The interface was right about one thing.
34:58Mom's boyfriend had left because of me.
35:01If I went home, she'd be alone.
35:03I was about to tell her to stay behind.
35:05She read my face.
35:06Baby.
35:06Men come and go.
35:08You are the only family I have left.
35:10That interface is a liar.
35:12I have a line of men interested in me.
35:14I'm gorgeous.
35:15I'm rich.
35:16I'm not worried.
35:18All men are the same.
35:20None of them are worth trading you for.
35:22Hard shutdown.
35:27On the car ride home, I looked at her in the driver's seat.
35:30One more question had been burning in me for six months.
35:38Mom?
35:39Yeah, baby?
35:43Who is my real father?
35:45She laughed.
35:46Long and soft.
35:52Then she leaned over and whispered a single name into my ear.
35:55A name I had heard a thousand times.
35:58A name that made my blood freeze in my veins.
36:00Oh my god.
36:01A name that could not possibly, in any universe, be the answer.
36:09How is it him?
36:12How is it him?
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