Chapter 49 The Aster Memoirs

• “Until you needed it to control me,” I finished for him, the pieces clicking into place. “When you brought me onto the Prometheus project. You dangled the possibility of reviving my father’s work as an incentive. A reward for good behavior.”
• He nodded, the motion stiff with shame. “I used his legacy as a leash on his daughter. It was… grotesque.”
• The memory was a fresh wound. The hope he’d kindled in me, the belief that I could finally rescue something beautiful from the wreckage he’d made of my family. It had been a lie. A bargaining chip.