Chapter 2: The Forbidden Memory
She didn't run. She didn't hide. She walked toward him, her footsteps silent on the cold floor. Her hand reached out, trembling, and hovered near his face before she pulled it back, terrified of breaking the spell.
"They said you died," Leo managed to rasp, his throat tight with dust and disuse. "They showed me the photos. The wreckage."
"It was a setup, Leo," she whispered, leaning down so her face was inches from his. "They didn't just want the Vane fortune; they wanted to erase us. They needed you to be broken so they could control the stock. If you were whole, you were a threat."
"Why did you leave me?" The question was a jagged piece of glass in his heart.
"I didn't leave," she cried, a single tear cutting through her mask. "I was hunted. I’ve been living in the shadows of this facility for years, waiting for the day I could reach you. They’ve been keeping you doped, Leo. They’ve been killing your mind."
Suddenly, the security alarms began to blare. The red lights bathed the hallway in the color of blood.
"They know," she said, panic flaring in her eyes. "We have to go. Now."
"I can't," Leo said, looking down at his limp, wasted legs. "I can't walk, Mom."
She knelt beside him, her face fierce. "Your legs aren't broken, Leo. Your spirit is. They’ve been convincing you that you’re paralyzed for a decade, but it’s a psychosomatic lock. They’ve hypnotized you, fed you muscle relaxants, and told you lies until you believed them."
She grabbed his hand. Her touch was electric. It surged up his arm, shattering the fog in his brain. It was like a dam breaking in his mind—years of suppressed memories, the night of the "accident," the men in suits, the injection—it all flooded back.
And as the pain of the truth hit, the suppression of his nerves failed.
His muscles twitched.
"Stand up," she commanded, her grip tightening, pulling him forward with a strength born of desperation and love.
Leo pushed. He gritted his teeth. He felt the fire in his thighs, the agony of blood rushing back into muscles that hadn't fired in years. He gasped, falling forward, but she caught him, holding him upright.
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"Stand, Leo!" she shouted over the blare of the klaxons.
He roared with the effort, his feet finding the floor. He stood.
