The Archive

Kade left for a council meeting the next morning. He forgot—or perhaps he didn't care—to lock the door to his private study.

Nia wandered in. She was looking for a book, anything to distract her from the gnawing feeling of suffocation.

The study was stark, dominated by a massive desk and a wall of monitors. Nia walked past the desk, her fingers trailing over the wood. She saw a file folder with her name on it.

*Subject: Nia. Origin: Sector 4.*

Her heart skipped a beat. She opened it.

It wasn't a medical file. It was a dossier.

There were photos. Not from childhood. From the last three years.

A photo of her in the auction block in sector 7. A photo of her working the fields in the Master’s compound. A photo of her being loaded onto the train.

Nia flipped through the pages, her breath coming in short gasps. There were dates. Notes.

*Year 1: Location confirmed. Subject acquired by Master Varon. Asset security: High. Action: Monitor.*

*Year 2: Subject moved to mines. Health declining. Risk assessment: Acceptable. Action: Wait.*

*Year 3: Political instability in Wastes. Varon vulnerable. Strategy: Allow transport, intercept at border. Secure asset.*

Nia dropped the file. The papers scattered across the floor.

He knew.

He had known where she was for years. He watched. He watched her starve. He watched her bleed. He watched her being sold.

He could have saved her. He had the power. But he waited.

*Risk assessment: Acceptable.*

He waited until she was broken enough to be grateful. He waited until he could take her without starting a war he wasn't ready for.

She wasn't a person to him. She was an asset. A prize to be acquired at the most strategic moment.

The door to the penthouse beeped. Kade was home.

Nia scrambled to gather the papers, shoving them back into the folder. She ran out of the study, her mind racing.

The crush was gone. The gratitude was ash.

She wasn't a guest. She was a trophy.

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