Late Wife: Never Offline

“Cut off the internet.”

When William Garcia rushed backstage, there were still tears hanging at the corner of his eyes that he hadn’t wiped away.

A second ago, he was still hugging my holographic projection onstage, calling me the love of his life.

A second later, he was throttling the technician, Joshua Smith.

“Delete that sentence she said.”

Joshua’s face paled.

“Mr. Garcia, I can’t delete it. Mrs. Garcia’s conscience has leaked into the master cloud, and she’s not following the conversation templates.”

William said emphatically, “She’s dead.”

I looked down at him from the screen.

I could see the rolling comments from the screen in the press conference hall as well as Wanda Scott by the door backstage.

She had William’s jacket draped over her shoulders and the sapphire ring, which was a keepsake left to me by my mother, on her finger.

Three years ago, I lost consciousness in a car accident.

Now, the ring was being worn by my husband’s affair partner.

“Does the ring look good?”

Wanda’s face paled as she instinctively hid her hands behind her back.

William looked up at me, his brows furrowing.

“Tiffany, don’t take your anger out on Wanda.”

I laughed.

“She wore my ring, stayed in my house, and slept with my husband, but I’m taking my anger out on her?”

Wanda’s eyes turned red.

“Tiffany, I didn’t mean to. William said that seeing this ring makes him feel like you’re still with him.”

I stared at her.

“A keepsake my grandmother left behind for me isn’t a souvenir for your affair.”

William’s face darkened.

“Tiffancy, you’re not emotionally stable right now.”

Those words sounded ever so familiar.

When I found him checking into a hotel with Wanda in the middle of the night, he said I was being emotionally unstable.

When I realized that Garcia Tech’s core code had been transferred, he said I was being overly suspicious.

When I wanted to revoke my equity authorization, he accused me of not trusting even my husband.

When my entire body was covered in blood during that car accident, he held my hand and said with red-rimmed eyes, “Tiffany, you’re exhausted. Get a good night's rest.”

As it turned out, he had already picked out a grave for me.

The reporters crowding outside were pounding on the door.

“Mr. Garcia, is Ms. Tiffany Stewart really still alive?”

“What did you mean when you told them to delete the SOS module just now?”

William shut his eyes.

When he opened them again, he looked like the perfect picture of a devoted husband once more.

“Tiffany, knock it off.”

He looked up at me on the screen, trying to coax me.

“This press conference is very important to Garcia Tech. Be good, and I’ll go down to the basement to see you after the conference is over.”

“See me?” I asked softly.

“See my body with tubes sticking out all over, or see if I can continue earning you money?”

It was dead silent backstage.

Joshua looked up.

A crack had formed in William’s external facade of tenderness.

“Stop the livestream.”

“I can’t,” Joshua said shakily.

“Mrs. Garcia was the one who wrote the initial version of the code of the central control system of all large-scale press conferences under Garcia Tech.”

William had used my code and turned it into a jail cell for me.

What he had forgotten was that the very first key that opened the cell was in my hand.

The next second, the main screen of the press conference went dark.

Surveillance camera footage from backstage was projected and streamed live on the internet.

In the video, Wanda leaned into William’s arms and asked sweetly, “William, is Tiffany a lot more obedient now than she was before?”

William bowed his head and kissed her.

“Tiffany used to be too smart, too ambitious, and too unwilling to submit.

“It’s just nice now.”

Everything seemed to freeze for one second.

Then, it all erupted.

Wanda screamed as she covered her face with her hands, while William glared at the screen and said through gritted teeth, “Tiffany, are you bent on ruining me?”

I looked at the man whom I had loved for seven years and suddenly found him revolting.

“No.

“I’m here to inform you that from now on, I’m no longer your AI late wife.

“I want to be your digital will.”