"So... you an she planned to return?" lanie asked in a voice full of confusion. The idea didn’t make sense. If lody had truly intended to co back, why wouldn’t she have done so directly? Why go through all the trouble of escaping and all that?
Dr. Jung let out a bitter laugh, and shook his head," You’re quite straighforward. She never planned to return. That was never the intention. What she planned was a backup. A contingency. Just in case she ever wanted to use him in the future, he’d still be there. Close enough to manipulate, far enough to not interfere. Easy to reach. Make no mistake, she is well aware of the power she yeilds over him and through him on ."
lanie stared at him, still trying to make sense of it. "But... if she had all that figured out, why bother? Why go through with the rest of it?"
Dr. Jung nodded grimly. "That was for her freedom. Here, she could have had anything except freedom. But sowhere along the way, she saw your husband... and she decided he was more valuable. Or perhaps just more fun to ruin. So, she adjusted the plan and instead of letting Cadence wait forever, she decided to use him to get rid of you."
lanie blinked, her mind racing. "Wait, are you saying... all of this-this entire thing was deliberately planned by lody? But we had an accident. And then the kidnappers..."
"lody was the one that leaked your information. She ssaged Cadence that she was ready to co back. It was why Cadence planned to kidnap her in the first place. Because she wanted to return but apparently did not have the courage."
lanie opened her mouth wondering how twisted that sounded, but nothing ca out.
But the man continued, "You fainted. But she didn’t. She was conscious. Aware. The kidnappers asked her na first. And do you know what she said?"
He paused.
lanie’s breath caught in her throat as the realization began to sink in. Her voice ca out hoarse. "She said... she’s lanie?"
Dr. Jung nodded once. "Hmm. Not just to them. She kept it going. She walked into the hospital later, still pretending. She told the staff the sa thing— ’I’m lanie Collins. Told them to contact her husband and then claid that lody had been taken... That’s how she took your place and stepped into your life like it had always been hers."
lanie could barely breathe. Her chest tightened with disbelief, fury, and sothing much colder.
"Thank you for telling all this. Now, why expose all this to ."
"Because I have an offer for you..."
"An offer?"
lanie frowned at that, feeling a bit excited. This was her chance. Whatever Dr Jung’s reason for bringing her here, it would be revealed soon. But she kept her expression carefully neutral as she questioned, "An offer? What kind of an offer?"
Dr. Jung nodded, "I’m going to give you two choices. You can either stay here and help treat Cadence. Help him truly recover at least to the ti where the episodes had gone down.. That ans being around him, talking to him, reminding him of what is real and what isn’t. He listens to you. Whether you know it or not, your presence has an effect on him because he truly believes you to be lody."
lanie’s eyebrows furrowed. She opened her mouth to protest, but Dr. Jung raised a hand to stop her.
"Or," he said, voice dropping to sothing quieter, "we stage a death."
She blinked, confused. "What do you an?"
"If you don’t think you can handle staying here, giving up your husband, then we fake your death."
"How can you fake my death? That is just..."
But as lanie heard Dr Jung’s plan, she realized sothing unsettling.
This wasn’t a spur-of-the-mont idea.
It was well thought out. Every detail accounted for. Every consequence anticipated. This wasn’t the kind of thing soone ca up with overnight and certainly not sothing said lightly. Which ant...
He had been planning this all along.
She looked at the seemingly harmless doctor again, really looked. The calm posture, the asured tone, the way he had delivered everything with precision, down to the timing of each reveal. He hadn’t just brought her here to inform her. He had brought her here to maneuver her. To present the illusion of a choice that, in truth, he had already decided she would have to make. A chill crept up her spine.
"You’ve already prepared everything. It is why you approached . You knew I’d eventually ask questions. You were waiting for it."
Dr. Jung didn’t deny it. He simply tilted his head slightly, his expression unreadable. "I didn’t know if you’d be ready. But yes, once I realized you were not lody, I anticipated it. But trust on this, if you were lody, your choices would be quite different."
lanie crossed her arms,"And how exactly do you expect to fake my death? What are you planning to do?"
"That is the part that you have to trust on."
"You expect to trust you but give nothing in return? I need sothing to trust your plan, Dr Jung. You’d help soone disappear... just to protect him? Stage a death? How can you do that?"
"I can do much worse, Miss lanie. Look around you, this is the prison I created for him. And gave him ebough power to be free here. Do you really think I cannot handle this? I can take care of this, with or without you. The only reason I am giving you a choice is I see that you are not a bad person and despite having every reason to hate Cadence, you felt a flicker of pity for him when I told you about his history. So, you have two days to think...Whether you cooperate with or not, is up to you."
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