“...It’s for my mother,” she finally muttered. “She... She’s in a special establishment, back in the Core. I... I lied. She didn’t die, and she didn’t make it to the Suburbs with me, either. The night we tried to escape, she... my mom was caught at... they shot her at the border.”
Eden’s throat tightened up as she spoke, choked by emotions. Dante’s hands were strangely comforting her, with their warmth caressing her skin, her waist. She was fighting to get the words out, as it was something she was confessing for the first time in a very long time. It was painful, just to remember it all. Eden would still have nightmares of that precise memory from time to time, so she mostly avoided remembering it at all. Still, Dante was waiting for her explanation, so she bravely took another deep breath in.
“For a while, I could just... I just saw how they dragged her back in. She screamed for me to leave, so I ran, and I hid. The last time I... saw her for real, she was being dragged into one of those Overcrafts by a dozen men in black. She just... kept screaming, and then it stopped, and they took off. I was... alone with Adam in the Suburbs, in the beginning. Then, he was shot and killed, and I was alone again, until my master... until Pan appeared again, and led me to Loir. When I got better at hacking, I began thinking of my mom again. I knew she was alive, so I... looked into the place they had put her in, with Loir’s help.”
Eden took a faint pause to catch her breath, Dante’s thumb gently rubbing her cheek.
“She... I’m not sure if my mom was... tortured, injured, or she just got psychological trauma from the shock, but... they put her in an establishment for patients with mental health issues. I don’t think my father had told her much, and she had no idea about my whereabouts after we split up, so there wasn’t any information to get from her. I think the Core... relaxed their attention on her, so when we saw an opportunity, Loir and I hacked their System. We made it so she’d be registered like any other patient, no trace left of her involvement with me or my dad.”
“You changed the data?” he asked with a soft voice.
Eden nodded.
“Yeah. I just... It was an easy hack,” she muttered. “Just changing the information on a file, a fake name, different data, new numbers... Surprisingly, it worked. Nothing else happened to her after that, and I get to call her from time to time. Anyway, I managed to hide her from those people, for now. But because she’s back to being a normal person, a... regular patient, someone has to pay for her medical bills, and... it’s a lot.”
She let out a faint sigh but looked up for Dante’s reaction. As per usual, it hadn’t changed at all. He didn’t look surprised or shocked, which made her wonder if he had any idea before. At least, she felt a bit better now that this secret was out. She had just opened up a bit more to Dante and, unlike her expectations, it felt strangely good. She waited for a bit, but seeing how he didn’t respond with anything to that, Eden swept her tongue across her lips, a bit unsure.
“They asked me for a year’s worth... or else they’ll kick her out. That’s all I want the money for.”
“I understand.”
“Then...?” Eden asked, a bit relieved.
However, Dante’s cold expression made her realize something was wrong. Eden frowned, and pushed him, this time freeing herself from his embrace, although he didn’t let her get away easily. Eden took a couple of steps back, staring at him in doubt.
“Dante, I swear that’s all I need the money for,” she insisted. “I am not trying to double-cross you or anything. I’ll fight with you!”
“I know. But I won’t give you the money for that. You can’t give that money to them. Not anymore.”
“Wha–Why?” she exclaimed, furious. “You just agreed to it!”
“I agreed to give you two million, but not for you to be cheated out of it.”
“What the heck are you saying?! I swear I’m sending money for her medical bills, they just tell me what it goes toward, and then all of her expenses are taken care of! I’m not even asking to see her, I just want to make sure they take care of my mother! Dante!”
He let out a faint sigh, this time looking away from her; it was the first time Dante was intentionally avoiding her gaze, and she hated it.
“Dante, look at me!” she ordered, upset. “What are you talking about? What cheating?”
“Your mother is most likely dead.”
Eden rolled her eyes at him. So that’s what it was... She shook her head.
“No, no, she’s alive. I know how it sounds, but she’s alive. I’ve talked to her almost every week since I changed her data, Dante. It’s my mom, it’s her voice.”
“It’s not your mother,” he retorted.
“I know it’s her! You think I wouldn’t be able to recognize my own mother’s voice? I know that’s her! I asked Loir to modify the data so she’d be transferred where she’d be safe and taken care of! You don’t know what they did to her!”
“She has memory issues, doesn’t she?”
His words stunned Eden, cutting her anger short. She hesitated, frowning.
“H-how do you...?”
“You had already mentioned the money was for your mother when we met,” he said, “so I had it looked into. Your mother is... supposedly kept in an establishment not for retired people of the Core, but for people with mental health issues.”
“You investigated my mom?” she repeated, baffled.
