Leo leaned back. His heart pounded. He looked at his reflection in the dark monitor—tired, forty-two, replaced. But the cursor was still there. Blinking. Waiting.
He clicked.
At 3:17 a.m., the download finished.
“Don’t uninstall me, Leo. We’re just getting to the good part.”
He thought of Miranda. The algorithm. The strategic tasks.
“What do you want?” Leo whispered.