Chapter 36
Chapter 36 (Mr. Reed’s POV)
The meeting room was dark, cold, and silent except for the steady hum of the air conditioner.
Mr. Reed sat at the head of the long table, fingers steepled under his chin, staring at the glowing laptop screen in front of him.
The images flashed quietly.
Grainy security footage from the hospital.
Nell Hayes slipping through side doors.
Dodging cameras.
Sneaking into restricted areas.
Not once.
But twice.
His jaw tightened.
---
Three agents sat along the sides of the table, silent and stiff.
They knew better than to speak first.
Reed let the silence stretch, heavy and sharp, making them sweat under his cold stare.
Finally, he clicked the laptop shut with a sharp snap.
The sound made all three agents flinch slightly.
Good.
They needed to understand just how badly they had failed.
---
"She accessed Phase III files," Reed said, his voice low and even.
"Sir, we’ve tightened—" one agent started, but Reed held up a hand.
The agent fell silent immediately.
Reed stood slowly, walking toward the small window at the far end of the room.
The city skyline glittered outside.
Fake.
Busy.
Full of people who thought they were free.
He smiled thinly.
---
"Nell Hayes," he said softly, almost to himself.
"A nobody. A student. Barely eighteen."
He turned back to face them.
"And yet here we are. Watching her slip through our fingers like a trained operative."
The agents shifted uncomfortably.
Reed walked back to the table and tapped the laptop hard with his knuckles.
"Phase III is supposed to be buried," he said.
"Dead and gone. Like the memories we wiped."
He leaned in slightly, his voice colder now.
"If she remembers too much… if he remembers too much…"
He didn’t finish the sentence.
He didn’t need to.
The weight of it was heavy in the room.
---
One of the agents, a woman with sharp eyes, cleared her throat carefully.
"What about Carter?" she asked.
Reed’s mouth twisted slightly.
Alex Carter.
The boy they thought they had erased.
The boy who wasn’t supposed to exist anymore.
Except he did.
And worse — he wasn’t just surviving.
He was thriving.
A billionaire.
A public figure.
A man with enough money, lawyers, and influence to crush anyone who moved against him carelessly.
---
"We don't touch Carter yet," Reed said firmly.
The agents looked surprised.
Reed paced slowly, hands clasped behind his back.
"You want to bring down a man like that, you don't shoot him head-on," he said.
"You isolate him. Discredit him. Make him question himself."
He smiled coldly.
"And you make sure he never knows who to trust."
---
He stopped pacing, facing them again.
"For now, we focus on the girl."
The woman nodded.
"Claire is close to gaining her full trust."
"Good," Reed said.
"Keep the pressure on. Slowly."
He tapped a finger thoughtfully against the table.
"If Nell Hayes believes she’s safe, she’ll make mistakes."
He smiled again, sharper this time.
"And when she does… we’ll be ready."
---
Another agent, younger and nervous, spoke up.
"Sir… what if Carter gets involved anyway?"
Reed's smile faded.
For a moment, his eyes were distant.
Calculating.
He knew the risk.
Alex Carter wasn’t just rich.
He was smart.
Relentless.
Dangerous in ways even his polished public image couldn’t hide.
If he remembered Nell...
If he remembered everything they had tried so hard to erase...
Phase III wouldn’t just be exposed.
It would be destroyed.
And Reed with it.
---
"We will be ready," Reed said finally, his voice like steel.
"If Carter remembers... we have contingencies."
He didn’t explain what those were.
And he didn’t plan to.
Not yet.
Some truths were too heavy even for his own people to carry.
---
He sat back down slowly, steepling his fingers again.
"Increase surveillance on both of them," he said.
"Passive for now. No direct moves."
"And if Nell tries to meet Carter?" the woman asked carefully.
Reed’s eyes gleamed coldly.
"If she gets too close... cut her off."
---
The agents nodded.
Understanding that “cut off” didn’t mean gently.
---
The meeting ended quietly.
The agents filed out one by one, leaving Reed alone in the dark room.
He leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling.
Thinking.
Calculating.
Waiting.
---
Nell Hayes.
Alex Carter.
Two names that should have meant nothing.
Two broken experiments that should have faded away into normal life.
Instead, they were fighting.
Remembering.
Finding each other again against every odd.
---
He hated them for it.
Hated them for making him feel... nervous.
For making him doubt the perfection of Project Eden.
---
He stood and walked back to the window, staring out over the city.
The lights twinkled like false promises.
He knew the world better than anyone.
People were easy to erase.
Easy to replace.
Easy to control.
---
But love?
Love was harder.
Messier.
More dangerous.
---
Reed clenched his jaw.
They had underestimated the bond between Carter and Hayes.
They wouldn't make that mistake again.
---
He watched the city for a long time, until his reflection stared back at him from the glass.
Cold.
Hard.
Unforgiving.
He smiled thinly.
This wasn’t over.
Not yet.
It was just beginning.
And when it ended, Reed promised himself, there would be nothing left of Carter or Hayes but a footnote in a forgotten file.
---
He turned away from the window and disappeared into the shadows of the empty room.
Already planning his next move.
Already tightening the noose.
Because in the end?
No one escaped Project Eden.
Not for long.