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Perfect Lie #shortmax
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00:00My mother was the tragic heroine of a story that ended before I was born.
00:04When she died, her four childhood friends cut me out of her body, still breathing.
00:10That is how I got four fathers.
00:13Alistair, the most powerful senator in the country, kingmaker of presidents.
00:18Garrison, the four-star general who has never lost a war.
00:22Dr. Julian, the Nobel-winning surgeon who built the largest pharmaceutical empire on Earth.
00:28Jax, the underworld king whose name makes the five boroughs go quiet.
00:32Every girl in America envied me.
00:35Until my 18th birthday gala.
00:37That was the night she came home.
00:40Sienna, the daughter of their perfect muse.
00:44From that day forward, my four fathers became strangers.
00:48Sienna claimed I insulted her.
00:51Alistair had his security detail wire my jaw shut and starved me in the basement for 72 hours.
00:58Sienna claimed I poisoned her.
01:01Dr. Julian dragged me into his black site toxicology lab and let the test specimens eat through my cheek and
01:08devour one of my eyes.
01:10Sienna claimed I hired traffickers to violate her.
01:14Garrison lifted me by the collar and threw me into the underground training grounds.
01:19Made me a plaything for the men there.
01:20For three years.
01:24Three years.
01:25And I stopped fighting.
01:27Tonight, when my door opened again, I reached for my zipper like I always did.
01:32Then I heard a voice.
01:34Not from the doorway, from inside my skull.
01:38Ellie, do you want to come home to your mother?
01:40I looked up.
01:42The room was empty.
01:43And the voice whispered one more sentence.
01:46All you have to do, sweet girl, is die.
01:51The voice called itself a neural interface.
01:54It said my mother was the original host.
01:57That she'd left this world in a hurry.
01:59Never knowing I survived her.
02:01Now she knew.
02:02Now she wanted me back.
02:05All you have to do, Ellie, is let this body die.
02:09I was already moving.
02:11I pulled a combat knife from the weapons rack on the wall.
02:14Pressed the edge to my throat.
02:16Mom is alive.
02:17I am going to see her.
02:19The joy drowned out every instinct to flinch.
02:22I dragged the blade.
02:24And a hand caught my wrist mid-strike.
02:27Pain exploded through my fingers.
02:29The knife clattered to the floor.
02:31A boot stepped on it.
02:32Alara, you want to die?
02:35I knew that voice.
02:36I looked up before I could stop myself.
02:41Jax.
02:43His jaw tightened.
02:44Don't call me that.
02:46I cut ties with you three years ago.
02:49Jax the Underworld King.
02:51When I was seven, a rival cartel kidnapped me.
02:54He walked into their stronghold alone.
02:56Took three bullets and two blades in front of their box.
02:59To buy my freedom.
03:00When they let me go, I cried at the sight of his wounds.
03:04He'd smiled and said the bullets didn't hurt.
03:07Only my tears did.
03:09Of all forefathers, Jax loved me the most.
03:13Until Garrison came back from deployment four years ago.
03:17With a wounded Sienna in his arms, Jax picked up the knife, glanced at the cut on my throat.
03:23Then, without warning, he slashed the blade across my skin.
03:26A fresh line of red bloomed.
03:28His voice came out like ice.
03:30You're as cheap as your mother, Alara.
03:31She at least had the decency to die in front of us.
03:34You picked a sewer.
03:36I almost told him I wasn't performing.
03:39Then I remembered.
03:40They never listened.
03:42I lowered my head.
03:44You're right, Mr. Sterling.
03:46Did you come all the way down here just to watch the show?
03:49Don't flatter yourself.
03:51It's Sienna's birthday.
03:53Her coronation as America's sweetheart.
03:56She said she's ready to forgive you.
03:58I came to bring you to her gala.
04:01Three days ago, the news had broken.
04:03Alistair was naming Sienna the official Sterling heiress.
04:06It was supposed to be mine.
04:08He'd promised it to me when I was ten.
04:11The old Alara would have set the city on fire.
04:13The new Alara just said,
04:15I'm not going.
04:17This isn't a request.
04:19He dragged me out by the wrist.
04:22Threw me onto the back of his motorcycle.
04:25Took me to his penthouse.
04:27Scrubbed the grime off me.
04:29Put me in a black couture dress.
04:31Then drove me toward the Sterling estate.
04:33Kneel when you see her.
04:34Don't provoke her.
04:35Don't speak unless spoken to.
04:38Every word cut deeper than Dr. Julian's scalpel ever had.
04:41I stared at the East River blurring past the window.
04:44I want to see my mother.
04:46Opened the door.
04:47And jumped.
04:49Alara!
04:49And then I was in someone's arms.
04:51Jax.
04:52Alara!
04:53Are you insane?
04:54I reached up to wipe the blood from his cheek.
04:57And he shoved my hand away.
04:59If you want to die next time, die.
05:01I won't save you again.
05:03I laughed once.
05:04Bitter.
05:05Remember what you said, Mr. Sterling.
05:08I saw the Hudson.
05:11I saw the Hudson.
05:11Then I ran four strides.
05:13I launched myself over the edge.
05:15Jax was terrified of water.
05:17He'd almost drowned as a child.
05:19He'd just said he wouldn't save me.
05:20So when the freezing Hudson flooded my nose and dragged me under, I smiled.
05:25I'm coming, mom.
05:27Then a slap across my face so hard my teeth rang.
05:31You little bitch.
05:33You can't stand a little honest work at the training grounds?
05:37You had to stage this whole performance in front of your father.
05:40Do you know he almost died in that river?
05:44Dr. Julian.
05:45Of the four he and I had been closest, the other three ran empires.
05:49He was the one who raised me.
05:51He taught me to read.
05:52Taught me medicine.
05:53Taught me which herbs could kill and which could save.
05:57He never raised his voice at me.
05:59Not once until Sienna came home.
06:01Sienna had planted one of his venomous specimens on herself and screamed that I did it.
06:08Alara.
06:10I failed you.
06:12I raised a monster!
06:16Later, when Sienna was poisoned again, he force-fed me pheromone pills and locked me in the containment chamber.
06:26The specimens chewed through my skin from the inside out.
06:30He saved my life afterward.
06:32But he couldn't save my left eye.
06:34I didn't speak now.
06:36He took my silence for defiance.
06:38Sienna raised his hand to strike me again.
06:40And Jax's hand shot out of nowhere, catching his wrist mid-air.
06:45She's tried to kill herself three times tonight already.
06:49I looked at Jax.
06:50He'd changed clothes.
06:51His wounds were bandaged.
06:53His face was ghost, white.
06:55So it was him who pulled me from the river.
06:57He couldn't swim.
06:58I didn't want to imagine what that cost him.
07:02Dr. Julian scoffed.
07:04You're soft, Jax.
07:06She used this trick on us a hundred times before you left.
07:09It's just a cry for attention.
07:11Jax exhaled, relieved.
07:13Thank God.
07:14Alara, today is Sienna's gala.
07:17Act out in front of us if you must.
07:19But do not do this in front of Alistair and Garrison.
07:22I was already moving.
07:23I yanked open the drawer.
07:25Closed my fingers around the black vial.
07:28Swallowed it whole.
07:29Dr. Julian's face drained of coffee.
07:31He lunged.
07:32Shoved his fingers down my throat.
07:34Do you know what that was?
07:36Needle to my wrist.
07:38Black blood out.
07:39When the black turned red, he exhaled.
07:41Alara, you would die over a title?
07:46I dropped to my knees.
07:48Tears rolled down my cheeks.
07:50They mistook them for joy.
07:53Doctor, Mr. Sterling, please, just let me die.
07:59I don't want to come home.
08:01I want my mother.
08:02I told them everything.
08:04The voice, the neural interface.
08:07My mother waiting.
08:09Alara.
08:11Your mother is dead.
08:13We sat with her body for seven days.
08:16We watched her rot.
08:19The voice is trauma.
08:21It wasn't.
08:22I knew.
08:22Tires screeching outside.
08:24Alistair and Garrison burst through the door.
08:26Brothers, have you seen Sienna?
08:28She's missing.
08:29All four of them turned to me.
08:31No, it wasn't me.
08:33Jax's hand closed around my throat.
08:36He dragged me into the courtyard.
08:38He plunged my head into the stone fountain.
08:41Last time.
08:43Under, up, under, up.
08:45Where is Sienna?
08:51Sienna?
08:52Oh, I killed her.
08:54And before I did, I let 12 of my favorite guests from the training grounds have her first.
09:01Four faces went white.
09:04Then Jax ordered that I be taken to the underground interrogation room.
09:10Alistair sent for the instruments.
09:12Garrison brought the agency's best interrogator.
09:14Dr. Julian Force fed me a stimulant so I'd stay conscious.
09:20Jax gave the order.
09:22The blades went in.
09:24Mom, I'm coming.
09:27An assistant sprinted down the floor.
09:29Senator!
09:30Sienna!
09:30We found her!
09:31Alive!
09:32Four faces drained to paper white.
09:37They threw the door open.
09:39My scream tore through the estate.
09:41The interrogator's blade, driven clean and perfect, straight through my heart.
09:46The blade in my chest burned.
09:48I almost cried almost.
09:50But I was going to see my mother.
09:52Through the haze, I saw them running toward me.
09:55Alistair stripped off his thousand dollar suit jacket and pressed it to my chest.
10:00Garrison kicked the interrogator into the wall.
10:02I heard something crap.
10:04Dr. Julian shoved an experimental compound between my lips.
10:08Jax just kept whispering my childhood name.
10:11Ellie.
10:12Ellie.
10:13Don't close your eyes.
10:14Don't you dare.
10:15It reminded me of a winter I'd forgotten.
10:18I was six.
10:19I had a fever of 104.
10:21They'd cancelled four boards, a Pentagon briefing, and a ceasefire negotiation.
10:25Just to sit around my bed and coax me into taking medicine.
10:29They used to love me.
10:31They really, really used to love me.
10:33I memorized their faces one last time and closed my eyes.
10:38The world should have ended there.
10:40But five days later, I opened them again, alive.
10:43In Dr. Julian's guest room, and the girl perched on the edge of my bed was Sienna.
10:52Sister.
10:54You're awake.
10:55Dr. Julian crossed the room to take my pulse.
10:57The blade missed the ventral by a hair.
10:59I flew the experimental regen serum in from Switzerland.
11:02Five days.
11:04He'd burned a million-dollar compound on someone who just wanted to die.
11:08Waste.
11:08Hilara.
11:10If you didn't touch Sienna, why didn't you just say so?
11:15Why put us through that?
11:17Don't scold her.
11:19It's my fault.
11:20I got lost.
11:21I just wanted to buy her a gift.
11:25Alistair's fury turned back on me.
11:28Sienna missed her own gala worrying about you.
11:31Apologize.
11:32Now!
11:32I laughed.
11:34It hurt my ribs.
11:35I laughed anyway.
11:37Apologize for what, exactly?
11:39I never laid a finger on her.
11:42Not once in my life.
11:44Every crime she cried about, she staged.
11:48And you bastards believed every tear!
11:51Sienna's face crumpled on cue.
11:54And Dr. Julian's hand came up so fast.
11:57Sienna ran to Alistair, clung to his sleeve.
12:00Send me back to the compound in New Mexico.
12:02That's where I belong!
12:04The four of them melted instantly.
12:06They hushed her.
12:07Promised her she was their precious girl.
12:09Then they turned on me.
12:11Alistair's voice dropped.
12:12You're jealous.
12:14That's all this is.
12:15Jealous.
12:16Like your mother.
12:18Something snapped.
12:19Don't!
12:21Jealous like your mother.
12:22Spiteful like your mother.
12:23Your mother would be ashamed of you.
12:25Years of swallowed venom came up at once.
12:28Don't you dare bring up my mother!
12:30My mother risked her life to hide you four when your father was assassinated.
12:35My mother emptied her trust fund to buy the evidence that exonerated the sterling name.
12:40My mother found the witnesses.
12:41My mother testified at the hearings.
12:44My mother gave you this empire.
12:47And what did you do?
12:49Alistair.
12:51You left her at the altar for a stranger who'd been in your life eight weeks.
12:55Garrison.
12:56She called you crying for help and you didn't pick up the phone.
13:00Julian.
13:01Jax.
13:02You swore you'd protect her.
13:05You drove her into the water.
13:06No one on earth called them by their first names.
13:09Four faces went bone-white.
13:11They hadn't realized I knew.
13:13And Alistair's voice came out hoarse, almost a whisper.
13:16How do you know any of this?
13:18Because of Lily.
13:19My mother's maid.
13:21The one person they couldn't make disappear.
13:23Alistair had banned her name from every inch of the estate after she died.
13:27Burned every portrait.
13:29Paid off every witness.
13:31Shipped every servant back to wherever they came from.
13:34The tabloids thought the titans were grieving too hard to bear her image.
13:38I knew better.
13:39They were furious.
13:40Because my mother had driven Zhang Ying, Sienna's real mother, into hiding by dying.
13:46When I was nine, I fell out of a tree and into the condemned east wing of the estate.
13:51Lily was there, still living in my mother's old rooms.
13:54The ones they'd sealed.
13:56She looked at me and started to cry.
14:00Your eyes are exactly like hers.
14:03She told me everything.
14:04My mother helped Alistair escape the men who killed his father.
14:08My mother nursed Garrison through his first combat wound.
14:12My mother synthesized the rare compound that saved Dr. Julian's dying sister.
14:17My mother found Jax when the underworld left him for dead and brought him back with her bare hands.
14:23She'd been their whole world.
14:25Until Zhang Ying came.
14:28Alistair broke off the engagement two weeks before the wedding.
14:31Jax, who'd comforted my mother through the humiliation, confessed his love to Zhang Ying behind her back.
14:36Garrison imprisoned my mother for her own safety.
14:40Dr. Julian watched it all happen and said nothing.
14:42When Zhang Ying planted the last false accusation, my mother stopped fighting.
14:51Everyone thinks she drowned herself out of heartbreak.
14:56But that morning she was smiling.
14:59She told me she was going home.
15:04Isn't this her home?
15:05She said her real home was another world.
15:08And she said, you could go there too.
15:13Back in the present, the four of them sat in broken silence.
15:16Finally, Jax reached for me.
15:18Ellie, if you're miserable here, come with me.
15:22Come see the world.
15:23Travel.
15:23Travel.
15:24You said once you wanted to be like me.
15:29Jax.
15:31You don't want to take me away because you love me.
15:34You want to take me away so I stop making Sienna uncomfortable.
15:38His eyes flickered.
15:39Bullseye.
15:42If you take her with you, she needs medical supervision.
15:46I'll take her to my private facility in Geneva.
15:49No!
15:50She'll come back to the training grounds with me.
15:52She was obedient there.
15:53I laughed out loud.
15:54Loud enough that Garrison's own chair fell over as he shot to his feet.
16:00Back to the training grounds?
16:02Garrison, haven't your men violated me enough yet?
16:05The room went dead silent.
16:07Suddenly his voice came back at me like a gunshot.
16:10What did you just say?
16:15You said to make me work.
16:17You said keep me busy.
16:19And the second you left,
16:22they told me the general himself had given the order.
16:24I was a new asset.
16:26Don't go easy on her.
16:29There was someone in my cell every night.
16:31Sometimes one.
16:33Sometimes three.
16:34Dr. Julian,
16:35you taught me about contraceptives.
16:38I use them every time.
16:38Dr. Julian's lips went gray.
16:40Tell me you didn't use sylphice extract.
16:42I nodded.
16:43He doubled over.
16:44That compound erodes the uterine liner.
16:47Every dose is like grinding bone.
16:49How did you-
16:49Better than a baby.
16:51Jax moved first,
16:53grabbed Garrison by the collar,
16:55slammed him into the wall.
16:56You piece of shit!
16:58You told them to!
17:00I didn't.
17:01I never gave that order.
17:03Good sister.
17:04Be exaggerating.
17:06Exactly.
17:07My men would never-
17:08I peeled off my blouse.
17:09My back was a map.
17:11Whip scars.
17:12Burn marks.
17:13The ruined tissue from the sylphium.
17:15Lacerations that had healed wrong
17:16because no one had said them.
17:19Pull every officer
17:21who had access to her cell
17:23tonight.
17:24The four men who had tortured me
17:26for three years
17:27were finally, finally looking at me
17:29like I was real.
17:30Sienna saw it too.
17:31Her eyes flickered with something cold.
17:39I pushed.
17:40I don't want to live with any of you.
17:43I want to go home to my mother.
17:46Allura.
17:47Jax said carefully.
17:48You've been through trauma.
17:50The voice isn't real.
17:53But we can make you comfortable.
17:56Each of us kept one of your mother's rooms.
17:58You can live in whichever one you choose.
18:00I shook my head.
18:01I want my mother.
18:02Then Sienna.
18:03Stepped forward.
18:05Why doesn't sister stay with me?
18:06Dr. Julian and Jax exchanged
18:08a look I couldn't read.
18:09She's afraid of men now.
18:11My staff are all women.
18:12I'll take care of her.
18:13Four pairs of hopeful eyes
18:15swung toward me.
18:16I opened my mouth to refuse.
18:18Then I saw Sienna's expression.
18:20And I understood exactly
18:21what she wanted.
18:23Living with the fathers
18:24would keep me alive.
18:25Living with Sienna would kill me.
18:29I smiled back at her.
18:31Matching her mask with my own.
18:33Okay.
18:33Sienna.
18:35She led me to a windowless room
18:37in the sub-basement
18:38of the brownstone.
18:39Her smile died.
18:42Her two handmaids
18:43forced me to my knees.
18:45I didn't fight.
18:47You brought me here
18:48to torture me.
18:49Congratulations.
18:50I'm not surprised.
18:52Sienna lowered herself
18:53into a chair across from me.
18:55Legs crossed,
18:56wine glass in hand.
18:57Your mother killed mine.
18:59I'm just balancing the books.
19:02My eyes lit up.
19:03Then kill me.
19:05Kill me and we're even.
19:07Go on.
19:08She leaned in.
19:09You think I won't?
19:12You won't.
19:13Your mother
19:14was a cheap slut.
19:16A homewrecker.
19:17A whore
19:18passed around
19:19every bed in Manhattan
19:20that we can softy.
19:22Don't speak about my mother.
19:24Don't speak about mother!
19:26She lunged,
19:28slapped me,
19:28drew a knife,
19:29pressed it to my throat.
19:35My mother was royalty.
19:37My mother was
19:38the last daughter of...
19:39Princess,
19:41careful.
19:42Her chief of staff
19:43caught her wrist.
19:45You may go.
19:48Death
19:48is a second of relief.
19:50I'm not giving you that.
19:52I'm going to keep you alive,
19:55conscious,
19:57watching.
19:58While I take everything
19:59that was ever yours,
20:01one piece at a time.
20:03She clapped twice.
20:04Four large men walked in.
20:06My stomach dropped
20:07before my brain caught up.
20:08I knew those faces.
20:10Every single one of them.
20:11They were from
20:12the training grounds.
20:13My body started shaking
20:14before I could stop it.
20:19The men who came to my cell
20:21for three years,
20:22they were yours!
20:23Sienna laughed.
20:24Every single one.
20:26Hand-picked.
20:26For you.
20:27I'm a generous sister,
20:29aren't I?
20:30Aren't you afraid
20:31Garrison will find out?
20:33If I wasn't certain
20:35he wouldn't,
20:36I wouldn't have done it.
20:38Which meant she had moles
20:39inside the U.S. Army.
20:40And if she could bend
20:41Garrison's command
20:42to her will,
20:43there was no telling
20:44how deep the rot
20:45in this city went,
20:46or which of my father's empires
20:47was already hollowed out
20:49from the inside.
20:49She clapped again.
20:51The men moved toward me.
20:52The familiar smell
20:53hit me first.
20:54Cheap cologne
20:55and military-grade soap.
20:56My stomach flipped.
20:58Sienna didn't want me dead.
20:59She wanted me hollow.
21:01Every time I got too weak,
21:02her doctors revived me.
21:04Two weeks in,
21:05I was skin and bone,
21:06barely lucid.
21:07Then the father
21:07started showing up.
21:09One of them every day.
21:12She wouldn't let them
21:13see me.
21:14Sister is resting.
21:16She gets agitated
21:17when she sees men.
21:18They came back
21:19and back and back.
21:22Until Dr. Julian,
21:23on his fourth visit,
21:25I've arranged a flight
21:26to Geneva.
21:27Inpatient neuropsychiatric care.
21:29She needs it now.
21:30Sienna had no way
21:31to refuse
21:32without exposing herself.
21:36Remember my sweet sister.
21:39They believe me.
21:40Not you.
21:43One wrong word
21:44inside that room
21:45and I swear to God,
21:47I will burn your eyes out.
21:49I nodded.
21:52Good girl.
21:55Then I walked into the room,
21:56dropped to my knees
21:57in front of Dr. Julian.
22:01Save me.
22:02Julian, please.
22:04She has men here.
22:05The soldiers who raped me
22:07in the training grounds.
22:08They're hers.
22:09She brought them here.
22:10She's planning
22:10to overthrow Alistair.
22:12She wants to destroy
22:13all of you.
22:15Oh, sister.
22:16Your delusions are back.
22:19You're having another episode.
22:21I just wanted to help you.
22:24I'm not delusional.
22:26You liar.
22:27You liar.
22:30Alara, I agreed to let you stay
22:32with Sienna because I thought
22:33it would humble you.
22:35I thought you would finally learn
22:37to repent for your sins.
22:39Instead, you're spreading
22:41venomous slander against
22:42your own sister.
22:44You are beyond saving.
22:46You don't see it.
22:48You're all blind.
22:50You're handing her the knife.
22:52I won't visit you again.
22:54You bring this upon yourself.
22:55He walked out.
22:59Sienna bent down,
23:01whispered in my ear.
23:02When will you learn, Alara?
23:04You are nothing.
23:05They will always choose me.
23:09Tonight, nobody holds back.
23:11Have your fun.
23:13Break her completely.
23:27She dipped a braided leather whip
23:29in salt water.
23:30You thought Julian would save you?
23:33You thought any of them cared?
23:35You are just a parasite.
23:37I will peel the flesh
23:39from your bones.
23:40The first lash fell.
23:42Then another.
23:44Then tires outside, screeching.
23:47What was that?
23:48Sienna froze.
23:49The door exploded inward.
23:53Alara.
23:55Alistair stepped in first.
23:57Kicked the nearest of Sienna's men
23:58across the basement.
24:01Sienna, what are you doing?
24:04Father, I can explain.
24:07I was just...
24:07I was playing with Sister.
24:09She was so afraid of men.
24:11I was helping her overcome her trauma.
24:13Playing?
24:14Then what are the soldiers
24:15you've been training
24:16at the compound in North Hills?
24:17What kind of game
24:18requires a private militia?
24:22You thought we were blind forever.
24:24Garrison tossed something at her feet
24:26to the severed head of her own commander,
24:28staring back at her.
24:32I'm so sorry, Alara.
24:33I'm so sorry.
24:35No, no, this is a frame-up.
24:39Father, you have to believe me.
24:40They are lying.
24:43Lying?
24:44He'd noticed Sienna's handmaids.
24:46The throats weren't right.
24:47Calluses from weapons
24:48training on their palms.
24:50Earlier that day,
24:51when I whispered the truth
24:52to Dr. Julian,
24:53he'd believed me.
24:54You thought a few dresses
24:55could hide the calluses
24:56of trained killers?
24:57I am a scientist, Sienna.
24:58I noticed details.
24:59Once Julian alerted us,
25:00I ordered an immediate internal audit
25:02of the training grounds.
25:02The trafficking scheme,
25:04the abused funds,
25:04it all unraveled in hours.
25:06We traced the money.
25:08Millions of dollars
25:09slifened out under my nose,
25:10leading straight to
25:11an abandoned industrial site
25:12in North Hills.
25:13You built a standing army
25:14inside U.S. borders,
25:16pointed directly at Manhattan,
25:17pointed at U.S.
25:18No!
25:19I didn't!
25:20We stormed the base this afternoon.
25:23Most of your pathetic
25:24force were cheap mercenaries
25:25and ex-cons.
25:26They folded in 20 minutes!
25:28They stormed it that afternoon.
25:30Most of the force
25:31was mercenaries and ex-cons.
25:33They folded in 20 minutes.
25:36Your precious commander,
25:38he broke under questioning
25:40in 10 minutes.
25:41He wasn't American,
25:41he wasn't a mercenary,
25:42and he wasn't working
25:43for any cartel
25:44we'd ever heard of.
25:45He was the last living general
25:46of an Eastern European monarchy,
25:49a regime we helped overthrow
25:50a generation ago.
25:53Tell us, Sienna,
25:55who is pulling your strings?
25:57That deposed
25:59Eastern European general,
26:01he was taking orders
26:02directly from you.
26:04And your mother,
26:06Jiang Ying,
26:07she wasn't just some pretty stranger
26:09I met by chance,
26:10was she?
26:11She was the deposed
26:12monarchy's youngest princess,
26:14exiled,
26:15forgotten,
26:16living in a content
26:17like a rat.
26:18She spent 20 years
26:20in the shadows,
26:21planning her revenge
26:22against the four of us
26:23who destroyed
26:23her father's empire.
26:25Step one,
26:26seduce the four men
26:28who ruined her bloodline,
26:29play the victim,
26:30make us fall for her,
26:31and turn on us
26:32into fools!
26:34Step two,
26:35destroy my mother,
26:36who was the one person
26:37who saw through her.
26:39My mother
26:41didn't drown herself?
26:43No, Alara.
26:44We just learned this today.
26:46Jiang Ying poisoned your mother
26:47to silence her,
26:48then vanished.
26:50She left her daughter behind,
26:53raised on hatred.
26:54I found Sienna in Albania.
26:56I thought I was saving her.
26:58I brought a weapon
26:59into our home!
27:00Father!
27:01Father, please!
27:03Please, I'm your daughter!
27:05I have your blood in my veins!
27:08You can't do this to me!
27:10I only did what my mother
27:12forced me!
27:13I am a sterling!
27:14You can't kill
27:15your own flesh and blood!
27:19Father, I am your blood!
27:21You loved my mother!
27:23You have to spare me!
27:29I never slept with your mother.
27:31None of us did.
27:33You are nothing but
27:35the bastard child
27:35of an exiled pretender.
27:37Sienna snapped.
27:38She threw her head back
27:39and laughed.
27:41I'm not yours?
27:42I'm a bastard?
27:43Then whose is Alara?
27:45Because none of you
27:47know either!
27:48The room froze.
27:49Sienna pulled a transmitter
27:50from her sleeve.
27:51Black-clad men
27:52flooded every entrance
27:54of the estate.
27:55Her second army
27:56were one she'd kept
27:57in reserve,
27:57in a cascade of gunfire.
27:59Alara!
28:01Stay down!
28:02I slipped past all of them,
28:04out the front door
28:06and into the night.
28:12The firefight
28:13was short and loud.
28:15I watched it
28:15from the floor.
28:16Then I stood up,
28:18walked past them.
28:20Past the bodyguards
28:22screaming my name.
28:23Past the burning wreckage
28:24of my sister's rebellion.
28:26Into the street.
28:27I walked for a long time
28:29through Central Park.
28:31Past the reservoir
28:32where I'd fed ducks
28:33with jacks.
28:34Past the met
28:35where Dr. Julian
28:35had lectured me
28:36on anatomy at age 7.
28:38Past Alistair's
28:395th Avenue building.
28:40Past the brownstone
28:41where Garrison
28:42had taught me to shoot.
28:43I walked to the top
28:44of one sterling tower.
28:46The tallest of Alistair's
28:47properties,
28:4886 floors.
28:49The wind-up there
28:50was sharp enough to cut.
28:51Finally,
28:52I'm coming, Mom.
28:53No!
28:54And when I turned my head,
28:56they were 20 feet away.
28:58Ellie, please,
29:00step back.
29:01Ellie, what are you doing?
29:02We can talk about this,
29:04don't leave us!
29:05We'll do anything you want!
29:08Ellie, we know everything.
29:10We were wrong.
29:11We were so wrong.
29:13I'm going to posturously
29:14legitimize your mother.
29:15She'll be named
29:16the rightful Duchess.
29:18Don't jump.
29:19Please don't jump.
29:20We'll make it right.
29:22Too late.
29:23I smiled.
29:25No!
29:27No!
29:28Saw Jacks grab by two security men
29:30to keep him from leaping after me.
29:32Let me go!
29:33Ellie!
29:34I'm coming with you!
29:36The fall was longer than I expected.
29:39I saw them flatten against the ledge.
29:41The city lights blurred.
29:44Then, light.
29:45A ceiling fan.
29:47I opened my eyes.
29:49I was in a bed with white linens.
29:51An IV drip in my arm.
29:52Clean.
29:53White.
29:54Antiseptic.
29:55Where am I?
29:56The door opened.
29:57A woman walked in.
29:59Her eyes met mine.
30:00They were my eyes.
30:02She burst into tears.
30:05Ellie.
30:06I knew her without being told.
30:10And as I reached for her.
30:12Mom.
30:15Here.
30:16We say mom.
30:17Her name was Elena.
30:19She made me stop calling her mother.
30:21She ran a small biotech startup.
30:23She was doing okay.
30:25I dove into the neural interface game
30:27as a beta tester.
30:29A narrative simulation designed
30:30to save my Comus brother's consciousness.
30:32The simulation had dropped her
30:34into the fictional life
30:35of a 22nd century European heiress.
30:37She finished the mission.
30:38Her brother woke up.
30:40But the sim had glitched.
30:41The exit had killed her character.
30:43I assumed you died with me.
30:46Then Dr. Julian,
30:48even inside the sim,
30:50pulled you back from the edge.
30:51I was going to come back for you.
30:53I had to wait for the interface
30:55to ping me that your character was dead.
30:57Five days.
30:58I fought with them for five days
31:00to let me dive back in.
31:01I am so sorry, baby.
31:03I'm so, so sorry it took this long.
31:12She hired me a tutor phones.
31:14Cars, democracy, Wi-Fi, credit cards, consent.
31:18The 18th Amendment.
31:22Six months later,
31:23I enrolled in a private academy
31:25on the Upper East Side.
31:26Every girl there was my age,
31:28but none of them had ever been starved
31:30in a basement.
31:32For the first time in my life,
31:34I was a regular girl.
31:36Then the interface activated again.
31:41Ellie.
31:42Ellie.
31:43Ellie.
31:44Your death broke them.
31:45All four of them went dark.
31:46They're burning the country down.
31:48Thousands are dying.
31:50You have to come back.
31:51Just long enough for them to see you.
31:53And Ellie.
31:54Your mother's new boyfriend
31:55left her because of you.
31:57They had a huge fight.
31:58Do you want her to grow old alone?
32:00I almost said yes.
32:02Until a voice behind me.
32:06I...
32:08Yes.
32:08Take us back.
32:10I'm coming with her.
32:11I spun around,
32:12and Mom was standing in the doorway
32:14with her company's mat,
32:15black prototype handgun
32:16already loaded in her hands.
32:20The interface dropped us
32:22into my old bedroom
32:23at Alistair's estate.
32:24The four of them
32:25were already there.
32:26Waiting for me,
32:27they saw me,
32:28and broke.
32:29Ellie.
32:31Ellie.
32:32Ellie.
32:32Ellie.
32:33You came back, baby.
32:35Dad made your favorite.
32:37They're still warm.
32:38I fixed the swing in the garden.
32:39It's exactly like it was
32:40when you were six.
32:42Don't touch her.
32:44Elena.
32:46The four of them froze.
32:49Elena.
32:51Elena, is that you?
32:52God, it's you.
32:54God, it's you.
32:56Elena.
32:57Elena.
32:58Elena, we can be a family now.
32:59The five of us.
33:00A real family.
33:01She comes with me.
33:03No, with me.
33:04You don't deserve her.
33:06Mom spoke once.
33:07Who said I came back
33:08to be your family?
33:09Mom drew the gun.
33:10Four shots.
33:11Four clean holes.
33:12Four bodies dropping
33:14in perfect choreography.
33:15And inside my head,
33:17the neural interface
33:17began to scream.
33:22You killed them.
33:24You killed the pillars
33:25of this world.
33:29Shut up.
33:31They hurt me.
33:33Fine.
33:34But they hurt my child.
33:37Vent.
33:38Yun.
33:42My daughter was sixteen
33:44when you threw her
33:45to an army.
33:46My daughter lost an eye
33:48because a jealous girl
33:49cried wolf.
33:52My daughter jumped
33:53off a skyscraper
33:55to reach me.
33:57These four were never
33:59walking out of this room alive.
34:01The country will collapse.
34:02The monarchy.
34:04The bloodline.
34:05Then find another king.
34:09Countries are replaceable.
34:11My daughter is not.
34:13We stayed for a year.
34:15Mom hand picked
34:16the new ruler.
34:17Rebuilt the government.
34:18Stabilized the nation.
34:20Then pulled the plug.
34:22Before we logged out,
34:23I hesitated.
34:24The interface was right
34:25about one thing.
34:26Mom's boyfriend
34:27had left because of me.
34:29If I went home,
34:30she'd be alone.
34:31I was about to tell her
34:32to stay behind.
34:33She read my face.
34:34Baby.
34:35Men come and go.
34:36You are the only family
34:37I have left.
34:38That interface is a liar.
34:39I have a line of men
34:41interested in me.
34:42I'm gorgeous.
34:43I'm rich.
34:44I'm not worried.
34:45All men are the same.
34:48None of them are worth
34:48trading you for.
34:50Hard shutdown.
34:54On the car ride home,
34:56I looked at her
34:57in the driver's seat.
34:58One more question
34:59had been burning in me
35:00for six months.
35:06Mom?
35:07Yeah, baby?
35:10Who is my real father?
35:12She laughed,
35:14long and soft.
35:19Then she leaned over
35:20and whispered
35:21a single name
35:22into my ear.
35:22A name I had heard
35:24a thousand times.
35:25A name that made
35:26my blood freeze
35:27in my veins.
35:27Oh my god, I think...
35:28A name that could not
35:29possibly,
35:29in any universe,
35:31be the answer.
35:36How is it him?
35:37How is it him?
35:38How is it him?
35:39How is it him?
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