Chapter 3

Years ago, we had installed a camera in the living room to keep an eye on our golden retriever.

On the small screen, my android replica was lying on the couch.

The camera was old, the feed grainy after five years, showing only a vague silhouette of a woman.

Fury erupted among the onlookers.

"Look at her! Laying on the sofa without a care in the world. Imagine how lavishly she’s lived these past five years!"

"Meanwhile, Lucas worked himself to the bone, pulling all-nighters just to keep this company afloat!"

"What a leech. To think I actually respected her work once. Disgusting!"

"And these two old grifters are putting on a whole act to back her up!"

Chloe shook her head with a patronizing smirk. "Thank goodness you checked the camera, Lucas, or these two frauds would have fooled everyone."

Lucas’s fury boiled over.

"Take a good look! That’s your precious daughter!"

"She’s sleeping like a queen in my living room!"

"Let me make one thing crystal clear: I will never see her again as long as I live!"

A bitter, tragic laugh caught in my throat. If only Lucas had stepped foot inside that house just once, he would have known in an instant that the figure on the couch was merely a shell of metal and synthetic skin.

Chloe waved dismissively at the guards. "Security, drag these two out. We have a product launch to run, and we won't let them ruin it."

Meanwhile, my parents’ eyes were glued to the phone screen.

Mom squinted through her tears, sensing something terribly wrong.

As the guards grabbed her arms, she cried out, "Wait! That’s not my daughter! That isn't Mia!"

Lucas glanced at the screen and scoffed. "Not your daughter? Open your eyes!"

"That’s her! She spends her entire life doing nothing but eating, sleeping, and wasting my money!"

Dad stood his ground, his voice shaking with absolute conviction. "That is not our daughter. I swear it on my life!"

Several burly security guards surrounded them, trying to force them toward the exit, but Dad threw his frail body in front of Mom.

I screamed in despair, trying to shield them, but my hands passed through thin air.

Lucas cast a look of utter disdain at them. "No wonder you've stayed in the dirt your whole lives. You lie without batting an eye."

"I must have been blind to ever fall for someone as cold and manipulative as Mia."

"Get out of my sight. Don't ever let me see your faces again!"

Chloe barked at the hesitation of the guards. "What are you waiting for? Throw these pests out!"

More guards surged forward, tackling my elderly parents to the marble floor.

No matter how hard my father struggled, a sick, frail old man was no match for young security personnel.

They were being dragged toward the doors like garbage.

I fell to my knees in agony, high-pitched ringing filling my ears.

Five years. They had waited five long years for me, completely unaware that their daughter had died alone in a hospital bed.

And now, they were being brutalized in public, humiliated before a jeering crowd.

And I couldn't do a damn thing. I had grown up, only to fail at protecting the two people who loved me most.

Suddenly, one of the junior engineers staring at the phone screen frowned.

"Wait... look at the feed. Something’s wrong with that figure. She’s been slumped against the wall corner for minutes without moving an inch."

"Is that... is that really Mia on that screen?"