The gun in your hand feels heavier now. Not because of the weight of the metal—but because of the weight of the truth.

Anita Berling isn’t real.

The woman standing in front of you, jaw clenched, eyes burning with something between fury and terror, isn’t the ruthless DHPP delegate everyone fears. She’s Karina dos Santos—the girl sold, broken, and remade into a weapon by the very man she now protects.

You lower your weapon. Your voice cracks.

"Damn it, Anita—Karina—think about it."

She flinches at her real name like it’s a slap.

"If someone as strong as you couldn’t save herself… what happens to the ones who aren’t as strong?" You step closer, ignoring the way her finger twitches near her own gun. "You have the power to change it. To stop him. To be more than what he made you."

For a second, just a second, her mask slips. You see it—the ghost of the girl she was before the world carved her hollow. Then her face hardens again, her breath ragged.

"SHUT UP!" Her scream is raw, desperate. "You don’t know anything! You weren’t there—you didn’t crawl through hell just to survive!"

The gun trembles in her grip.

But she doesn’t shoot.