😱 **THE GROUND SPLIT OPEN BENEATH A MASSIVE OAK TREE—AND I FELL INTO A SECRET UNDERGROUND LAB FILLED WITH FROZEN GIRLS WHO LOOKED EXACTLY LIKE ME! THEN A MYSTERIOUS WOMAN WHISPERED, “YOU'VE ALWAYS BEEN OUR MOST RESILIENT COPY.” BUT WHEN I DISCOVERED WHY THEY'D BEEN MONITORING MY BLOOD FOR 22 YEARS, THE TRUTH WAS MORE TERRIFYING THAN I COULD EVER IMAGINE!** 🧬💔

There were more girls than Clara had imagined.

Some chambers held sleeping figures. Others held empty beds with dates crossed out. The names had been replaced by numbers. Clara counted until she lost her place.

June's lips went white. “I didn't know there were this many.”

A security officer pushed them toward a console. Voss waited beside it, sleeves rolled up, a blue badge clipped to his pocket.

“You know why she survived,” he said, pointing at Clara. “Seven endured everything we put her through. Seven learned to live outside. That makes her priceless.”

“My name is Clara.”

“Names are for people with legal standing.”

June stepped forward. “Then why are you so scared of what we'll say?”

Voss hit the console. Blue light flooded the floor, and Clara's body stiffened. She felt the remote command tug at her muscles. She clenched her jaw until the pressure eased.

“You'll sign,” Voss said. “One authorization to release the treatment. One to transfer the research assets. Nobody gets hurt if you cooperate.”

“They're people,” Clara said. “Not assets.”

He leaned close. “That's an emotional distinction.”

In Clara's ear, hidden beneath her hair, a tiny receiver crackled. Marcus had found the estate's old maintenance frequency.

“Clara, listen. State investigators have Victoria's files. We need minutes, not miracles.”

She held Voss's gaze. “Where's Evelyn?”

“Considering a lifetime of poor decisions.”

A side door opened. Two guards dragged Marcus into the core, blood on his sleeve. Clara cried out and tried to reach him, but her cuff flared blue and froze her feet.

Voss placed a pistol against Marcus's temple.

“I think,” he said, “we're finished discussing consent.”