🔥🔥🔥FULL MOVIES ENGLISH SUB 2026
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Short filmTranscript
00:00Mermaids hide among humans, one iron law. Exposure means death.
00:05The clan sent me to make Morris Chadwick fall in love. I made him love me. I fell in love
00:10too.
00:11But the sudden car accident made him suffer from amnesia.
00:15Every December, Morris forgot who I am.
00:18Five years ago, a car crash, I protected my hands from the glass.
00:22Morris' amnesia began that same day.
00:26Who are you? Why are you in my house?
00:29I'd explain every time.
00:31I am your girlfriend!
00:33He never remembered. He'd lock me in the cold storage room, where for a mermaid the cold is suffocation.
00:39Ice seeps through my skin, pushing scales to the surface.
00:44Every breath feels like the ocean draining from my lungs.
00:47Blue scales shimmered on the backs of my hands, fighting to break through.
00:51I pressed my palms against the frozen floor and burned my mermaid essence to force them back down.
00:56The suppression tore through me like knives, but the iron law was absolute.
01:01Exposure meant extinction.
01:02So I paid the price in silence year after year.
01:06Then he'd smash my perfuming tools every bottle I'd blended with mermaid aura.
01:11Shattered on the floor, and I'd pick up the pieces and tell myself it was okay.
01:15He was sick.
01:16When the amnesia passed, he'd hold my cracked hands and whisper.
01:21I'm sorry. I didn't mean it.
01:24I believed him. Five years of this cycle.
01:27I never left, because I thought his illness was real and his tenderness was genuine.
01:32Then one night, I heard his voice through the half-open door. He was laughing.
01:37I pressed against the wall outside the study.
01:41Morris sat with his friends.
01:43How much longer are you going to keep up this act?
01:46Rachel's the only one who believes his fake amnesia.
01:48She's such an idiot.
01:51Every time, she kneels in the snow, begging us to help you remember.
01:56She really thinks you'll marry her.
02:01Laughter rolled through the room.
02:05You're going to pretend not to know her again next week, aren't you?
02:08How many years has it been now?
02:10Five.
02:11Morris's voice cut through the door, cold and sharp.
02:15During the car crash, to save her precious hands,
02:20Rachel let the glass slice through Lena's hands.
02:23She should burn in hell!
02:25Through the crack, I saw Jacqueline sitting next to him.
02:28The clan sent her to monitor me.
02:30Here, she called herself Lena.
02:33He reached over and gently fixed her hair.
02:36Gently held her bandaged hands.
02:38I'm going to make sure she suffers far worse than you ever did.
02:42For five years, I worried about him and gave him everything.
02:45The freezer.
02:46The scales.
02:47The destroyed tools were all just his way of punishing me.
02:50It wasn't amnesia.
02:51It was punishment.
02:53Then someone added.
02:54By the way, Maurice, you had someone switch Rachel's perfume sample at the competition.
03:00Put Lena's name on it instead, right?
03:04She deserves it.
03:06My formulas.
03:07Three months of testing until my hands bled.
03:10Jacqueline was the brand ambassador for Chadwick Perfumes.
03:13It took everyone for granted that she can make perfume all stolen by one word from him.
03:19I sat on the floor for three days without eating or sleeping.
03:23I used to kneel in the snow, begging his friends to help him remember me.
03:28Because I thought he was lost.
03:30He was never lost.
03:31I was.
03:32Last year, after the perfume competition destroyed me, he held me through those terrible nights.
03:37He told me I was a born perfume genius.
03:40He said no matter what people said, he'd always believe in me.
03:43His kindness was just a trick.
03:46He built up my confidence just to break it completely.
03:50I went to the mermaid elder.
03:52I knelt on the stone floor of the coastal cave, where the sound of waves echoed from below.
03:58I want to erase everything.
04:01Every feeling, every memory of Maurice, all of it.
04:04The mermaid elder studied my face for a long time.
04:08Last month, you begged me for more time.
04:10You traded years of your life to stay with him.
04:12Now you want to erase him?
04:13The ritual takes five days.
04:15Once it's done, you won't feel anything about him anymore.
04:17No love, no hate, no grief, nothing.
04:20But the clan doesn't erase memories for personal reasons.
04:22Your mission isn't over.
04:23I grabbed his sleeve.
04:25Please.
04:27He pulled away.
04:29Then my phone rang.
04:32Ratch, your brother is in the O.R.
04:36I was sitting on the curb outside the clinic, freezing, when Maurice walked up.
04:40He shrugged off his coat and wrapped it around my shoulders.
04:44What happened?
04:45Are you okay?
04:49He pulled me into his arms.
04:51He always showed up right when I was at my worst.
04:54He knew I depended on him.
04:56That's why I never left.
04:57I grew up alone in the sea with my brother.
05:00Now I was alone in the human world, hiding my identity every day.
05:03I needed someone to anchor me.
05:06Even after he locked me in the freezer, even after he destroyed my hands, I still forgave him.
05:12Right now, I was so exhausted that for one second, I let myself be held.
05:19Maurice?
05:20Maurice?
05:20Jacqueline's voice came from behind us.
05:25morris let go of me immediately and stepped back like i was something inconvenient
05:30jacqueline looked at the billing screen through the clinic window
05:34rachel do you seriously not even have three thousand dollars did you gamble away the monthly
05:39allowance maurice gives you her voice was loud on purpose people on the street turned to stare
05:44so she's a kept woman gambling away her sugar daddy's cash while her brother's sick
05:49disgusting don't embarrass lena morris didn't defend me he leaned in and whispered a warning
05:56something inside me went quiet not broken just done five hundred thousand dollars he stared at
06:02me and shock dot in five years together i never asked him for a cent over five years you took
06:09my
06:09perfume formulas put jacqueline's name on them and sold them for way more than five hundred thousand
06:14dollars you owe me
06:20over five years you took my perfume formulas put jacqueline's name on them and sold them for way
06:26more than five hundred thousand dollars morris stared at me like i had just spat on his shoes
06:32your formulas you're nothing but a perfumer's assistant rachel nothing more my formulas the
06:39ones i had created by blending my mermaid aura with human spices the only bridge between my world
06:45and this one he had taken every single one and given them to jacqueline jacqueline stepped forward
06:50with a smile that didn't reach her eyes rachel i know you're struggling here this should help with
06:57your brother's bills she pulled out four thousand dollars in cash and held it out to me as my fingers
07:02reached for the money she tilted the cup in her other hand hot water poured directly onto my hand first
07:07for a mermaid on land human skin is only a thin layer of disguise the heat sank deeper than it
07:13would on any human i gasped and yanked my hand back blisters swelled instantly the skin peeling back
07:19from the burn jacqueline dropped to the floor and screamed
07:25rachel pushed me she pushed me the cash scattered across the cold tile morris stepped between us
07:32is this how you act when you're begging for money rachel
07:36i held up my blistered hand
07:42she poured hot water on my hand first look morris cut me off before i could finish
07:48don't tell me lena fell on purpose again
07:53i lowered my hand he would never believe me
07:57the cash was still scattered across the floor the money i needed to keep samuel alive
08:03i squatted down and started picking up the bills one by one morris's leather shoe came down hard on
08:08my hand the blisters popped under his weight blood and clear fluid spread across the floor
08:14the pain shot up my arm and into my spine for a mermaid hands are survival destroyed hands mean
08:20exposure exposure means death every time the cold cracked my skin i had burned my own life force to
08:27keep the scales hidden now his shoe was doing the same damage from the outside he pressed harder
08:32apologize to lena neil i'm sorry miss bray i was wrong i dropped to my knees on the cold tile
08:39floor
08:39i turned my face up toward morris my voice flat and empty is that enough mr chadwick he froze
08:45his expression shifted not anger something he couldn't name he lifted his foot pulled at his tie
08:51and shoved the remaining cash into my arms this is the last time rachel
08:58don't take your anger out on lena again
09:02i kept my eyes on the floor there won't be a next time
09:06and there really wouldn't be that night morris called he had contacted the coastal clinic and
09:12pulled every string he had the full treatment cost would be covered the payment would process by
09:17tomorrow afternoon samuel had a chance
09:22the next day i sat beside samuel's bed in the clinic
09:26his breathing was shallow the monitors beeped in a rhythm only our kind understood
09:32the treatment was supposed to start at noon morris's payment had to clear first
09:37noon came no payment i checked my phone nothing
09:45the nurse came in and shook her head without the funds they couldn't begin
09:52samuel's hand twitched in mine his pulse was slowing if he died on land clan protocol was absolute
09:59destroy the remains leave nothing human eyes could find
10:04i called morris no answer i called again and again
10:11on my 99th try someone finally picked up his assistant miss heaton mr chadwick can't talk
10:19right now miss brain is upset she went to the roof jacqueline
10:25she had been faking damaged hands for five years and now she was on a rooftop threatening to jump
10:30morris was with her instead of sending the money that would save my brother
10:34the payment deadline was 30 minutes away i kissed samuel's forehead and ran
10:4130 minutes had passed the mermaid clan had already ordered the destruction of samuel's remains
10:47jacqueline's delay gave them time to execute i snatched the consent form from the assistant's
10:53hand and ran back to the hospital
11:00the hallway stretched forever a white sheeted gurney at the end
11:06the doctor looked at me missed the window by 10 minutes samuel didn't make it
11:13he died because two forces struck at the same time jacqueline's delay the clan's destruction order
11:19my legs gave out i fell to my knees on the cold tile floor i cried silently
11:25right then my phone buzzed a location pin for a high-end restaurant
11:35then morris called
11:39rachel the payment went through samuel will be fine he didn't know he had been on that rooftop with
11:45jacqueline the whole time the payment cleared but the treatment window had already closed
11:49i didn't correct him i couldn't form the words samuel was dead and this man was talking about
11:56designer dresses he paused lena is emotionally unstable i couldn't just leave her on that roof
12:03i'll pay for whatever samuel needs you know that his voice shifted back to that familiar arrogant tone
12:08you got the designer dress right wear it tomorrow night meet me at the glass conservatory i have something
12:13important to tell you i knew exactly what he was doing tomorrow would be the fifth time he faked
12:19getting his memory back the fifth time he would confess love like it was real those first few times
12:24i had cried tears of joy i had thought it meant he finally loved me back but it was always
12:30a staged scene
12:31he would cry blame his illness and i would stay i had even fallen deeply in love with him the
12:38kindness
12:38and cruelty and alternation had made me dependent on him i swallowed hard the game is over morris
12:44i don't want your money anymore and i don't want you the next day i didn't go i threw the
12:51expensive dress
12:52in the dumpster i went to the clan and demanded samuel's body back for a proper farewell the elder agreed
13:00but only on one condition the cremation must happen within 24 hours
13:07i was at the funeral home handling the cremation paperwork when morris's assistant arrived with two men
13:18they grabbed my arms and forced me into a waiting car
13:22mr chadwick has been waiting for you you can't just give up now
13:26he went all out for the proposal this time you've been through this for years you can't walk away
13:34the glass conservatory was full of white roses the smell hit me before i even stepped inside for a
13:42mermaid the olfactory system is hypersensitive white roses were worse than any human allergy
13:49every breath was a sharp sting behind my eyes a wave of nausea rolling through my skull i had been
13:56dragged through this exact setup for times before those first few times i had cried tears of joy now
14:02the rose smell made me sick morris stood in the center wearing the same tailored black suit he recited
14:08the same confession he had used every time before i raised my hand and swatted the jewelry box away
14:14the diamond ring flew across the room and hit the marble floor
14:21the loving look on his face disappeared
14:27rach do you you don't want to marry me just then his assistant rushed over in panic holding a tablet
14:35he glanced at the screen and quickly tried to hide it against his chest
14:40i burst through the rooftop door and the wind hit me like a wall morris stood near the edge one
14:45arm
14:45around jacqueline she was draped over the railing fake sobbing into the wind i didn't look at either
14:50of them i ran straight for morris the payment you promised samuel is dying
14:58two bodyguards grabbed me and shoved me onto the concrete
15:03he grabbed my hair and yanked my head back everyone is blaming her for the clinic calling
15:08her a liar a manipulator she can't bear it she's threatened to jump you need to record a video right
15:13now tell everyone you were the one who ruined her life i stared at him tell them what that i
15:21protected
15:21her from the glass and you two blamed me for it he slapped me you're still refusing to admit it
15:28rachel
15:30if lina doesn't come down from that rail you don't get the payment no payment means no treatment for
15:37samuel he was holding samuel's life hostage for jacqueline's tantrum samuel was still lying in that
15:44clinic dying by the second i opened my ig live stream and screamed the lie he wanted
15:50it was me i was cruel i'm the reason jacqueline's hands were damaged it's all my fault
16:00jacqueline kept fake crying while morris coaxed her down from the railing
16:07i stayed on my knees the wind cutting through me the payment authorization form was still in the
16:13assistant's hands unsigned
16:17i pushed past morris and grabbed the tablet it was the funeral home where samuel's body was being held
16:29a crowd had broken into the main hall and was live streaming the whole thing
16:36after the rooftop confession went viral jacqueline had been stoking the outrage for days
16:42she told her followers samuel helped rachel plan the crash that destroyed her hands
16:47that the heat and siblings tried to murder her for her perfume empire she posted the funeral home's
16:52address called it justice her followers showed up with cameras the mob came for revenge they thought
17:00they were avenging an innocent woman and punishing a criminal who escaped justice by dying
17:08i stumbled out of the greenhouse and flagged down a taxi in the back seat i sent messages in the
17:14live chat
17:14over and over please stop don't touch him nobody read them the leader sneered right into the camera
17:26rachel admit what you did to lena someone like you deserves to watch your brother's remains get destroyed
17:33a loud crash came through the speaker they smashed the cremation container ash and fragments scattered
17:39across the floor dirty water from a broken pipe mixed with the debris people stepped on it grounded into
17:46the concrete then i saw it a scale fragment still glistening with the last trace of mermaid essence
17:53it flickered once twice then faded to gray samuel's scale the last proof he was one of us
18:00trampled by humans who had no idea what they were destroying i opened my mouth to scream but no sound
18:05came out i rushed to the hospital on the surface it looks like a regular coastal clinic
18:14but behind a hidden door on the second floor there's a mermaid medical facility that no human knows about
18:20samuel shouldn't even be on land this long
18:24the clan forced him to stay they needed him to run errands in the human world and when he almost
18:29exposed our secret they made him stay as punishment now the land is killing him every day without seawater
18:36his body decays a little more the doctor met me at the iq door samuel's degradation is accelerating
18:43he's near death his murd pipiology is breaking down samuel lay on the specialized pod his skin pale
18:50faint scale lines visible along his jaw the mermaid specific pod was the only thing keeping him stable
18:56and it cost more than i could earn in a year i walked to the payment desk and handed over
19:02every card i had
19:03one by one the cashier swiped them insufficient insufficient insufficient i begged her save my brother first
19:11i just need to have a few days to get the money together morris sold my perfumes under jacqueline's
19:17name he must give me money she looked at me with cold eyes no money no treatment
19:25no samuel wouldn't survive another week the people behind me grew impatient and called the security guard
19:33security dragged me out and shoved me onto the street
19:40then i heard a familiar voice behind me morris
19:47my phone buzzed out it was the mermaid elder rachel your time is up the mission has failed
19:54we will now perform the memory wipe ritual i didn't argue there was nothing left to argue about
20:01samuel was dead his remains were trampled into concrete by humans who hunted our kind
20:07my hands were destroyed my mission had failed the man i loved for five years had been lying from the
20:12start
20:15i walked to the coastal cave where the elder waited the elder stood at the water's edge
20:20her silver hair streaming in the wind
20:24once this is done it cannot be undone you will lose every emotion and memory tied to maurice chadrick
20:31you will remember the mission you will remember the facts but you will feel nothing i closed my eyes
20:40do it the elder placed her hand on my forehead blue light flowed from her palm it moved through my
20:46skull
20:47like water through stone images rose and shattered one by one morris wrapping his coat around my
20:52shoulders in the freezing wind gone his hand gripping my hair on a rooftop while i screamed a lie
21:00gone his leather shoe crushing my hand until the blisters popped and bled
21:06gone five years of love and pain gone like bubbles breaking on the surface of still water i opened my
21:12eyes
21:14the cave was dark the tide was coming in the elder was gone i felt nothing no sadness no anger
21:21no love
21:23i walked out of the cave and into the morning light the mission had failed a new one would begin
21:28soon
21:34morris had meant to go after me he was standing by the door when his phone rang it was jacqueline
21:41she was crying again complaining about a splitting headache and the online harassment he hesitated
21:47then he put down his keys and headed to her apartment instead
21:53jacqueline clung to him the moment he walked in he couldn't pry himself away and ended up sleeping on
21:58her couch the next day at noon a message popped up in his private group chat morris are we starting
22:05the
22:05fifth fake amnesia routine he stared at the screen his finger hovering over the keyboard
22:11jacqueline shifted beside him wrapping an arm around his
22:17keeping his face blank he typed a single word in reply
22:23yes
22:24after freshening up he ordered his bodyguards to lock rachel in the sub-zero cold storage
22:30just like he had done the last four times only this time annoying anxiety built in his chest
22:37he found himself staring at the cold storage door he remembered the way my hands shook after each
22:42session the way i still smiled at him the next morning
22:48he couldn't sit still two hours later his bodyguard called
22:56mr chadwick miss heaton is missing
23:02morris frowned a living person doesn't just vanish
23:07where else would she go besides the hospital he flashed back to the tablet footage from last night
23:12they destroyed her brother's remains at the funeral home didn't leave a trace
23:18morris knocked over his black coffee he thought it was just a stunt never thought they'd destroy
23:24everything
23:27where is rachel we checked the funeral home and her apartment no sign of her find her
23:34tear the city apart if you have to he hung up
23:40jacqueline walked up and wrapped her arms around him from behind
23:47maurice rachel probably just left
23:49if she wants to go let her go
23:51she was sick of playing the victim she had noticed morris's gaze on me shifting from disgust to desire
23:57she had to end this now
24:01back in the clan she was always the second choice i was the one sent to capture morris's heart
24:06jacqueline was only sent to watch
24:11in the human world she had tasted power wealth and devotion
24:17she was not going back to being nobody's first pick the clan's mission meant nothing to her anymore
24:23morris was her ticket to staying on land forever and i was the only thing standing in her way
24:29morris went quiet she made sense
24:33but a sharp suffocating tightness in his chest made it hard to breathe in the end he cancelled the search
24:43life went back to normal he took jacqueline to evening galas and helped her pick out dresses
24:48she was a mermaid manipulating him and he had no idea the same way i had once hidden my true
24:54nature
24:54from him only jacqueline's manipulation was all calculation no heart
25:03a month later a thunderstorm rolled through the city
25:07jacqueline showed up at his apartment claiming the storm terrified her
25:11the vibe shifted she stood on her tiptoes closed her eyes and went in for a kiss
25:17morris jerked his head away on instinct and pushed her back
25:21he knew she was crossing a line he'd known about her feelings and played dumb figuring it was harmless
25:27if unspoken but right then a wave of intense irritation washed over him
25:32his body was rejecting something he didn't understand what looking down at jacqueline's tears
25:38he laid it out cold i only see you as my sister ignoring her shocked expression and the tears
25:45spilling over her cheeks he grabbed his car keys and bolted out the door
25:50he drove without thinking by the time he snapped out of his haze he was parked outside an abandoned villa
26:00the basement the perfumery he had torn apart the exact same room where he used to lock me up to
26:06punish me whenever he was faking his memory loss his hand wrapped around the rusty doorknob that severe
26:12tight ache hit his chest again it took everything he had just to shove the heavy door open
26:20a blast of stale dust hit him laced with my faint familiar scent his composure shattered the cramped
26:27room was still packed with my things perfume formulas plastered the walls smashed beakers and
26:33glass droppers littered the corner mixed in with inexpensive little gifts i had given him over the
26:38years for the first time it actually hit him my entire universe for the last five years had revolved
26:45around him then he saw it at the hand-knit navy blue cashmere scarf he had demanded rare mountain
26:51cashmere just to be cruel i had dragged myself through the snow to get the materials ending up
26:57with frostbite so bad i almost needed an amputation he had tossed that scarf into the dog's bed morris's
27:04eyes burned quickly filling with tears then he saw an unopened bottle of custom blended perfume
27:11the label was written in my neat careful handwriting till you marry me i had worked myself to the bone
27:18formulating it planning to give it out at our wedding he had dumped it down the drain in front of
27:23a crowd
27:24just to humiliate me i had forced a smile and said i'll wait for the day you're willing to marry
27:29me
27:31but he had never intended to marry me the memory of that smile made his knees buckle
27:39he leaned against the freezing concrete wall and slid down to the floor his hands were shaking so
27:44badly he could barely light a cigarette the small red glow illuminated the tears streaming down his face
27:52but he had locked me in a freezer destroyed my career used my brother's treatment as leverage
27:59let strangers trample his remains
28:03every item in this room was a confession none of it made sense anymore the revenge the five years
28:09all of it crumbled a jagged gasp tore from his throat he stumbled to his feet knocking over the box
28:17of my
28:18things the basement door was heavy just like it had been every time he locked me inside
28:27he pulled himself up he had to find me he pulled out his phone to call the number he still
28:32knew by heart
28:33then a notification from his group chat flashed across the screen morris it's over i checked the
28:39hallway security footage rachel heard everything we said in the private room about you faking your amnesia
28:44his hands stopped mid-dial
28:49he tapped the video attachment there was me standing just outside the heavy door
28:55my face was pale the thermos slipped from my grip and shattered against the floor
29:01i slapped a hand over my mouth spun on the heel and ran in absolute despair the cherry of his
29:07burning
29:07cigarette broke off and landed on the back of his hand scorching the skin he didn't flinch dot then
29:12his foot clipped an old box on the floor inside sat a semi-transparent scale and a small sea crystal
29:20he picked up the scale it was cold and moist against his fingers like it had just been pulled
29:25from the ocean the surface shimmered with a faint blue light that pulsed once and faded
29:32his hand went still this was not a human thing his mind raced
29:40her unnatural talent for perfumes the way she always seemed to carry the ocean in her scent
29:46she was not human she was a mermaid
29:52the weight of it crushed him morris buried his face in his hands
29:57for all those years i hid what i was and stayed by his side while he locked me in that
30:02basement and
30:03used the cold to break me his family had always been in marine industries
30:10he had heard the stories about mermaids
30:15he just never thought they were real never thought one was standing right beside him
30:20the deeper things he would never understand
30:25but the one thing he knew now was this cold was not just cold for us it was agony
30:32a raw guttural wail ripped from his throat rash i was wrong i was so wrong i love you
30:40his agonizing cries echoed off the concrete walls of the empty basement
30:45no one heard him the regret had come way too late
30:51morris's eyes welled up as if he were the victim
30:55rish i know you hate me i know you're a mermaid and i know you didn't stay with me by
31:00choice
31:02i was wrong to fake my amnesia and torment you but my feelings are real i love you
31:08don't punish me by pretending you've lost your memory even without emotions i recognize the absurdity
31:16you treat someone like garbage for five years then get teary-eyed and claim you love her
31:20the psych horde is down the hall on your left get out
31:27morris's face went pale because i once shivered in the snow to warm his hands now looked at him
31:32with open hostility he reached out to touch my face i grabbed a glass dropper and pointed it at his
31:38throat morris stumbled back he forced a tight smile it's okay i'll win you back make up for everything
31:46you changed your number can i have the new one he pulled out his phone
31:55i was about to tell him to leave when i saw a tall guy walking toward the glass doors
31:59i smiled took his phone and started tapping in numbers before i could finish a large hand reached
32:05over and slapped it out of my grip the phone hit the floor with a sharp crack and the screen
32:10totally
32:10shattered morris's temper flared up instantly you looking for a fight broderick didn't even look at
32:18him he just glared straight at me rachel yesterday you told me you liked my scent best and today you're
32:26giving your number to another guy where's your professional integrity i laughed at how obviously
32:33annoyed he was i mean i appreciate your talent for making perfumes but that doesn't mean i can't humor a
32:40salesman
32:41i tilted my head looking right into broderick's striking eyes besides mr marfly what gives you the
32:48right to tell me what to do broderick's face flushed red but he was way too stubborn to admit that
32:53he liked me
32:54i don't care i'm your lead investor and i say no he pulled me behind him shifting into fiercely
33:02protective mode as he glared at morris hey old man aren't you a little too old to be harassing women
33:09don't you have any shame i'll have my legal team sue you into bankruptcy morris's voice was ice cold
33:16i was talking to my future wife broderick laughed out loud
33:21she wouldn't even give you her number are you stupid or just delusional i reached under the
33:26counter and pulled out a small jar of custom blended rosin i held it out to broderick here i made
33:32this for
33:33you he took it his eyes lighting up like a kid on christmas morning morris's lips were trembling
33:44you you used to say you'd never make perfume for anyone else roderick raised an eyebrow and wrapped
33:52his arm around my waist she used to have terrible taste she's my perfumer now she makes whatever she
34:00wants for whoever she wants i only care about making her successful and letting the world experience her
34:06work something stirred inside me a faint ripple in the emptiness where emotions used to be
34:13broderick guided me toward the exit morris grabbed his arm
34:18let go of her roderick yanked his arm free in disgust
34:28he pulled out a checkbook wrote an enormous figure and threw it in morris's face
34:33that covers the phone use the rest to book a psych appointment morris's fist clenched purple spots
34:40appeared on his face he clutched his chest and collapsed broderick rolled his eyes
34:46heart problems and he still wants to fight he called an ambulance then turned to me
34:54do you have any sanitizing wipes i touched a trash person and i feel dirty
35:00that night i went home to the small rented room where samuel used to sleep
35:03i sat on the edge of his bed and stared at the empty space the elder texted me
35:13rachel there's something i need to tell you about samuel
35:18i went still what about him the night he was declared dead i moved him before the clinic could
35:24process the paperwork i had my people report his death to follow clan protocol but i preserved his
35:29consciousness his body is in a medical pod at a secure location he has been alive this whole year
35:36at rachel my hands started shaking what the clan ordered the destruction of his remains because he
35:45was too close to exposure i followed the order on the surface but i couldn't let him die i helped
35:50you
35:50fake the cremation what jacqueline's followers destroyed at the funeral home was a decoy container
35:55the scale fragment you saw in the debris was placed there to make the remains look authentic
36:01i couldn't breathe thought samuel was alive my brother was alive i had grieved for a year over a
36:07decoy why didn't you tell me sooner his condition was too fragile i needed to be sure he could recover
36:13before giving you hope i won't deny it i felt pity for you even though it broke clan law i
36:18didn't want
36:19you to lose everything thanks thank you can i see him my voice broke soon he's getting stronger every
36:27day i pressed my palms against my face and cried for the first time since the memory wipe i felt
36:33something real one year later rachel the mermaid elder's face appeared on my screen brodicton marston
36:45is clearly attached to you keep up the good work i smiled waving a perfume testing strip in the air
36:52to
36:53let it dry i jotted down cedarwood essential oil in the final column of my formula sheet
36:57the very last ingredient this capture emission will be over soon just then a rough trembling voice
37:06called out from behind me
37:11ratch i turned around a tall man reeking of stale tobacco yanked me into a crushing hug
37:17it really is you i looked everywhere for you a whole year his hands clamped down on my waist with
37:23an
37:23aggressive desperate strength i frowned and shoved him back i gave him a flat impassive one sober his
37:31face stirred absolutely no emotion in me who are you he went completely rigid utter disbelief washing
37:38over his eyes ratch what's wrong it's me maurice the elder texted me again rachel this is your previous
37:45capture target morris chadwick so this was the scumbag who had manipulated me nearly got me killed and let
37:52people trample on samuel's remains the elder had already provided me with a text summary of my past
38:00mission to prevent me from being manipulated again i knew every detail of his five years of abuse keeping
38:08my face entirely deadpan i casually brushed off the spots on my clothes where he had touched me and took
38:14a huge step back excuse me but i don't know you at all please step aside or i will call
38:22security
38:24morris started showing up outside my apartment building every day he cancelled international
38:29meetings and conferences he stood in the freezing wind for hours holding bouquets of white roses
38:37i threw every single one in the trash the smell made my head pound and my stomach turn
38:44for a mermaid with hypersensitive olfaction white roses were a slow grinding headache that wouldn't stop
38:51morris had known i was a mermaid since he found my scale but he still didn't know roses were poison
38:56to
38:56my kind he just kept sending them day after day one night he stood in the ice wind for a
39:04full 12 hours
39:07i watched from the window as frost formed on his coat he didn't leave
39:12the elder texted me roderick marbury is at the edge one more push and the mission reaches full completion
39:21the next morning a sports car engine roared outside my building i opened the window
39:28morris looked up his face lighting up with desperate hope rash you finally looked at me
39:33five years was too cruel as long as you come back i'll do anything for the rest of my life
39:39he was soaked from the ice rain shouting into the wind i really need you roderick stepped out from
39:46behind his car you say you need her but you don't even know white white roses trigger her allergy
39:52morris went pale roderick held an umbrella in one hand and a cup of hot cocoa in the other
39:58he pulled out the backup door card i had given him and walked straight into the building lobby
40:09morris could only stand in the rain watching he had no right to follow
40:13that evening after dinner morris's horse voice came from the street below
40:23rage please come down and see me one last time
40:28i dried my hands and headed for the door broderick's face went dark his knuckles whitened around his coffee
40:34cup
40:37i'm going down i reached for the door handle broderick suddenly pushed me against the door
40:42he lowered his head and bit down hard on my collarbone
40:47don't you dare go soft on him do you hear me his voice was rough and possessive
40:53he had smelled morris's lingering scent on me another man sent on my skin his jaw tightened
41:00his instinct reacted like his territory had been invaded
41:05i pushed him off and opened the door the ice rain hit me first then the rain
41:11morris rushed toward me from across the street in his hand he held a bottle of perfume
41:18till you marry me
41:22i pulled my sleeve over my scarred hand
41:28you let people trample on samuel's remains you think a little warmth erases everything
41:34morris swayed like a man who had just been hollowed out
41:39then let me hold you one last time just once i took one step closer to him i lowered my
41:46voice so
41:46only he could hear you lied to me for five years morris
41:53now it's my turn to use you to boost brockett's affection thanks for cooperating
41:59his face crumpled off before he could respond the apartment door opened behind me
42:05broderick stepped out under an umbrella morris's eyes went wide
42:10the shock and pain on his face swallowed his last shred of hope
42:15broderick pulled me under the umbrella and kissed me hard in the pouring rain
42:21rachel you're mine
42:24i wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him back
42:27my phone buzzed the elder texted me i looked into it
42:31broderick marbury filed a prenup request with his family you're the one named on it
42:36rachel you are no longer a failed operative you are a mermaid who completed her mission
42:41right then another notification popped up
42:45samuel had regained consciousness he was awake
42:50morris's voice was forced and broken
42:52rash please just see me this one last time
42:57he held up the bottle
43:03you spent three months making this perfume you said you'd use it at our wedding how could you forget
43:09the bottle was the one thing i had left behind in the basement
43:13he must have kept it all this time i looked at the bottle then at his rain-soaked face my
43:19expression
43:19didn't change i didn't forget i just don't care anymore morris's arm dropped to his side
43:28rash come home with me tomorrow we'll get the marriage certificate i'll transfer all my shares
43:33to you i took a cold step back
43:37maurice i'm only gonna say this once we are completely done i raised my right hand the frostbite
43:43scars from five years in the freezer were still there
43:46white puckered lines across my knuckles and fingertips these scars are because you locked me in a freezer
43:54for a mermaid ice is suffocation every time you put me in there i was dying from the inside out
44:01my hands will never precisely extract another drop of essence again every winter i burned years of
44:07my lifespan to force the scales back under my skin you never even noticed you destroyed everything i had
44:15morris looked like he had been punched in the chest tears mixed with rain on his face
44:21is there really no chance to start over none
44:28from that night on morris fell apart he stopped going to work he drank from morning to night
44:38social media called him a pathetic loser
44:45jacqueline moved in she was a mermaid who had betrayed the clan
44:52she was no longer permitted to return to the sea she could only cling to morris and live in hiding
45:02she cooked his meals poured his drinks and held him when he cried
45:12a month later jacqueline announced she was pregnant
45:20to protect the chadwick family reputation morris married her without a single feeling in his heart
45:31the wedding was grand and hollow he signed the papers with a blank expression
45:39she smiled like she had won everything and for a while it looked like she had
45:47but the truth has a way of catching up three months into the marriage morris hired a private
45:52investigator the investigator found the child she was carrying belonged to another wealthy man
46:00morris sat in his study staring at the investigator's report his mind went blank
46:05jacqueline lied to him too
46:12he dragged jacqueline to the basement of the old villa
46:15the same cold storage room where he had locked me for five years
46:21he tied her to the chair and turned the temperature dial to maximum
46:28the cold hit her like a wall then the cold did what it always did to our kind
46:33blue scales shimmered on the backs of her hands pushing through her skin
46:39she thrashed against the ropes and her bandages unraveled the hands beneath were perfect unscarred
46:45fully intact morris stared at the scales then at her hands a mermaid hands never damaged five years of
46:53revenge built on a lie
46:56maurice please she held up her perfect hands scales pushing through her fingers our hands keep the scales
47:03hidden without them i'll be exposed i'll die he went completely still
47:09our hands kept the scales hidden our hands kept us alive on land and he had crushed mine under his
47:15shoe
47:15he had destroyed me for nothing he had locked me in this exact room and made me burn years of
47:20my
47:20life to survive what he was doing to her right now jacqueline's eyes went wide with terror
47:29maurice please i'm pregnant he looked at her with dead eyes the child isn't mine
47:37he wrapped his hands around her throat and squeezed until she stopped moving
47:43then he poured the industrial chemicals stored in the corner across the floor
47:49he lit a match and dropped it the fire spread fast he sat down on the floor and watched the
47:55flames
47:55climb the walls he didn't try to leave the last thing he saw was the blue shimmer of a mermaid
48:01scale
48:01fragment on the concrete then the fire took everything the news the next day reported a
48:08suspicious fire at an abandoned villa two bodies found no survivors new york's biggest scandal
48:16the clan moved quickly any trace of mermaid biology in the ashes was quietly removed
48:22the clan's iron law held no human would ever know what had really burned in that basement
48:34it was the last day in the house in the house in Paris the top floor of the polydillo perfumery
48:37i stood behind my display table adjusting the final row of bottles the label on each one rebirth
48:47the scent was my mermaid aura fused with human spices at their purest
48:52every note carried the ocean every breath told a story of survival
48:59critics called it the most extraordinary perfume of the decade they didn't know the half of it
49:10the exhibition hall was packed up buyers journalists competitors they all leaned in when they passed my
49:17booth drawn by something they couldn't name my mermaid aura blended into every bottle
49:24the crowd parted broderick walked up his hands in his pockets grinning like he owned the place
49:31you made them all cry didn't you three buyers already called me to negotiate exclusive rights
49:41i told them the perfumer decides not the investor he stepped behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist
49:52he pulled a small velvet box from his jacket and opened it a custom diamond ring
50:00mrs marbury samuel just called he wants us back for dinner
50:08i looked at the bottle labeled and rebirth and
50:11on the display then i leaned back against broderick's chest okay let's go home
50:19you
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