51

Gwendolyn’s POV

The shadow of the ledger did not disappear when we walked away from the Hong Kong exchange. It simply lengthened, stretching across the globe like a stain that refused to fade. Even six months into our "normal" life in Shenzhen, the digital ghost of the Thorne mapping continued to haunt me. It wasn't that I was still a machine—I was undeniably, painfully flesh and blood—but the world itself had become a mirror of the ledger I had unleashed.

Everywhere I looked, the cracks in