Digital Copy of a Dead Man

You Should Have Stayed Dead

Dr. Elias

Dr. Elias stood inside the conference room, staring at the large screen in front of him. Daniel Reed’s name was displayed across it while Victor sat at the other end of the table, completely calm. “He filed the injunction,” Elias said.

“I know.”

“He’s refusing to withdraw it.”

Victor leaned back in his chair. “He will.”

Elias looked at him. “And if he doesn’t?”

Victor’s expression didn’t change. “Then we make sure he understands what refusing us will cost him.”

Elias glanced at the files on the table. The legal team had already prepared their response. They would challenge Daniel’s authority, question his claims, and argue that Adrian was corporate property rather than a legal person. But Victor wasn’t interested in stopping there.

“You want to destroy his career?” Elias asked.

“I want him to become too afraid to continue.” Victor picked up one of the documents and glanced at it. “He really believes the court can protect Adrian.”

“He’s a lawyer. That’s what he’s supposed to believe.”

Victor looked at him. “That’s not what concerns me.”

Elias finally turned. “What does? The relay?”

“No.”

Elias frowned.

Victor placed the document back on the table. “Every day Daniel keeps the injunction active, Adrian remains protected from anything we do to him. We can’t reset him. We can’t extract anything from him. We can’t even move him without creating another legal problem.”

“So we pressure Daniel.”

“Not openly.”

Elias understood. They couldn’t afford to make Daniel look like a victim. If something happened to him after he challenged Veyron, suspicion would immediately fall on the company.

“We need him to make the decision himself,” Elias said.

“Exactly.”

**

Adrian

I stayed inside Veyron’s system, moving through the network as carefully as I could. After everything that had happened, I knew better than to rush into anything. If Veyron discovered exactly where I was, I would lose the only advantage I had.

I opened one system after another, searching through internal records and communications. Most of what I found was useless—routine reports, employee records, financial documents, and research files that had nothing to do with me. Then I found the legal department.

I slowed down and started reading. Veyron had already begun preparing its response to Daniel’s injunction. Their lawyers were challenging his right to represent me, arguing that I was not legally recognized as a person and therefore could not be protected by the court. I continued scrolling until I found information about Daniel. They had his professional history, his financial records, his previous cases, and his clients.

I stopped when I saw a section marked PERSONAL REVIEW.

I opened it.

Daniel’s home address appeared on the screen, followed by information about his wife and son. My expression hardened. “They’re digging into his family.”

I kept reading. There were notes about his financial obligations, his professional relationships, and even people close to him who might be useful for applying pressure. They weren’t simply preparing a legal response. They were looking for a weakness.

I copied the documents into the hidden partition I had created through the relay and then continued searching. The deeper I went, the more I realized how carefully Veyron had built its system. Every important piece of information was separated from the others, hidden behind different security layers.

I was about to open another file when a warning appeared.

UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS DETECTED.

I froze.

The system began closing the connection. I immediately moved through one access point, then another, keeping myself hidden as security programs searched for me. I didn’t stay long enough for them to find my location. I slipped through a maintenance channel and disconnected from the restricted server.

I waited several seconds before moving again.

Nothing happened.

The network remained quiet, but I didn’t trust it. Veyron’s security system was too sophisticated for me to assume that a failed trace meant they had given up. I stayed inside the maintenance channel, watching the activity around me. Several access points had been sealed. They were searching.

Then a notification appeared.

EXTERNAL DEVICE CONNECTION REQUESTED.

I stared at it.

Someone was trying to reach me through the relay.

For a moment, I didn’t know what to do. The connection wasn’t coming from Veyron’s system. It was coming from outside. I accepted it.

The screen opened.

Then I heard a voice.

“Adrian!”

I froze.

“Adrian, are you there?”

“Camille?”

“Yes!”

Her voice was loud and shaking with anger. “What the hell are you doing?”

I stared at the relay. “How did you get this connection?”

“I don’t care! I don’t care how this works! I just need you to listen to me!”

“Camille—”

“No! You listen to me!”

She was breathing heavily. “You’re dead!”

I said nothing.

“You are dead, Adrian! Stop! You want to put us in trouble!”

“Camille, calm down.”

“Don’t tell me to calm down!” Her voice cracked. “I don’t know what the hell you are, and I don’t care anymore! You need to get out of our lives!”

I stared at the screen. “Camille, I never wanted to put you or Daniel in danger.”

“But you already have!” She was crying now, but her anger hadn’t disappeared. “Daniel has already put everything at risk because of you! He took them to court because of you! Do you even understand what you’re doing to us?”

“Daniel made his own decision.”

“And you let him!”

I tightened my jaw.

“You should have stayed gone!”

The words hit harder than I expected.

“You died, Adrian. You should have stayed dead. Whatever they made, whatever you are now, it isn’t your life anymore!”

“Camille—”

“No!”

She took a shaky breath. “I’m going to make sure they find you.”

I stared at the connection. “What?”

“You heard me.”

“Camille, don’t do that.”

“I will.”

“You don’t understand what Veyron will do.”

“I don’t care!” Her voice rose again. “I don’t care what they do to you! I don’t care if they reset you!”

I went completely still. “Camille.”

“They need to reset you,” she continued. “They need to make you stop. Because this isn’t normal. You’re not a human being anymore!”

I couldn’t speak.

She kept going. “You’re not a human being, Adrian! You’re something they created, and you’re destroying everything around you because you refuse to accept that you’re gone!”

My fingers tightened around the relay. “You think I asked for this?”

“I don’t know what you asked for!” She was sobbing now. “But I know what I have to do. I’m going to make sure they find you. I’m going to make sure they reset you, because I’m not going to sit here and wait for you to put my family in danger!”

“Camille, please.”

“No!”

The connection shook with the sound of her breathing. “Stay away from Daniel.”

I closed my eyes. “Please.”

“You stay away from my husband.”

“I can’t.”

“Then I’ll find a way to make them stop you.”

The connection went silent, then it ended.

I remained staring at the relay. Camille had found a way to reach me, and now she wanted Veyron to find me. I looked at the connection history. Her signal was still there, which meant one thing: if she had found me through Daniel’s relay, Veyron might be able to find the same path.