[Keifer's POV]
I was sitting in the dark of the Blue Suite, the silence so heavy it felt like it was crushing my lungs. I hadn't turned on the lights; I didn't deserve to see anything. I was just staring at the empty side of the bed—the side that still smelled faintly of her vanilla scent—when the door opened.
A sliver of light from the hallway cut through the room. Mamma Serina walked in. She didn't look angry anymore; she looked exhausted, her face lined with a sorrow that made me feel like the smallest man alive.
She sat on the edge of the bed, a distance away from me, and sighed. A long, shaky sound.
"She's asleep, Keifer," Mamma whispered.
I felt a surge of pathetic relief. "Is she... is she okay? Did she eat anything?"
"She didn't eat. She cried until her body simply gave up," Mamma said, her voice trembling with a hint of that sharp edge again. "I had to hold her for three hours. I haven't seen someone bleed emotionally like that since... well, ever. You didn't just hurt her, Keifer. You shattered her sense of safety. She told me that every time she.closes her eyes, she sees you looking at that woman—and she feels like a 'glitch' in your perfect life."
I buried my face in my hands, my fingers digging into my scalp. "I was just looking at data, Mamma. I swear."
"It doesn't matter what you were looking at!" Mamma snapped, her voice hushed but fierce. "It matters what she saw. She saw the man she gave her soul to acting like he didn't have a heart. And the worst part isn't what she said to me while she was awake, Keifer. It's what she's saying now, in her sleep."
My heart stopped. "What... what is she saying?"
Mamma looked toward the window, her eyes glistening. "She's restless. She's tossing and turning, and she keeps whispering. She's not calling for the CEO. She's not calling for the Prince."
Mamma took a deep breath, her voice breaking. "She keeps whispering, 'Please don't delete me. Keif, please... I'm still here. Don't replace the constant.' She thinks she's being erased, Keifer. In her dreams, she's fighting to stay relevant in your world. She whispered your name and.then said, 'I'm sorry I'm not efficient enough.'"
A jagged, agonizing sob finally broke out of my chest. I doubled over, the physical pain of her words hitting me like a lead pipe to the ribs. I'm sorry I'm not efficient enough. I had done that. I had taken the most brilliant, radiant woman I'd ever known and made her feel like a failed piece of software. I had turned our love into a performance review, and she felt like she was being fired.
"She's terrified of you now, Keifer," Mamma said, standing up to leave. "Not because you're a monster, but because you have the power to make her feel like nothing. And right now? To her, you are a cold, empty room. If you want her back, you better figure out how to be a human being again, because the CEO is currently bankrupt."
She left the room, closing the door softly behind her.
I stayed in the dark, the echoes of Jay's sleep-whispers screaming in my ears. I looked at my hands—the hands that had held her, the hands that had worked the keys of the empire—and I hated them. I had everything, but as I sat in our empty bed, listening to the silence of a house that no longer held her laughter, I realized I was at 0%.
Total system failure. And I was the one who had hit 'Delete.'