Business 101

The clone's face haunted Elena. Even as she sat in the MBA lecture hall, the image of Subject #34-C flickered in her mind, someone with her own eyes, blank and lifeless, staring back from a lab bed. She kept writing WHO AM I? in her notebook, then crossed it out violently.

"You look like you have seen a ghost," Noah whispered and moved his sit next to hers. He had traded his combat boots for sneakers, but his posture still screamed bodyguard.

"Just tired," she lied.

The professor, a old man with a white beard, clapped his hands. "Today's exercise is a mock merger negotiation. Pair up and crush your opponent. No ethics, no rules, profit is the only language here."

Elena's phone buzzed. A text from Serena:

Unknown Number:

Met your twin yet? She's prettier.

Noah glanced at the screen. "Ignore her."

"Easy for you to say. She's not cloning you."

"Couldn't afford my good looks," he deadpanned.

Elena almost smiled. Almost.

The class divided into teams. Elena's opponent was a smug finance bro named Jason, who smirked as he rolled up his sleeves. "Ready to lose, Girl?"

"Ready to cry?" She slide a folder across the table. "Hart Industries acquires your startup. Terms: 90% equity, your team fired and your patents are ours."

Jason blinked. "That's... aggressive."

"You said no rules." She leaned forward, channeling every boardroom memory from her past life. "Your tech is outdated. Your CEO's facing three lawsuits. Take the deal, or I leak the scandals to Bloomberg."

Noah whistled under his breath.

Jason turned red. "You're bluffing."

Elena pulled out a USB drive, the one she had stolen from Adrian's pen last week. "Try me."

He folded in five minutes.

Adrian Voss watched from the back of the room, arms crossed, face unreadable. When class ended, he cornered Elena by the coffee machine.

"Charming performance," he said. "But blackmail is not good enough. Real power doesn't need threats."

"Says the guy who probably blackmails his barista for extra foam." She sipped her coffee, bitter and hot.

Adrian's lips twitched. "You're wasting your time here. These kids wouldn't survive a real boardroom."

"And you would?", She asked him.

"I built my boardroom." He stepped closer, his cologne a mix of frost and fire. "Let me mentor you."

Elena snorted. "Pass."

"Your loss." He tossed her his pen, the same gold-plated one she'd stolen days earlier. "Next time, steal something useful. The USB you stole was decoy data."

Her stomach dropped. "What?"

"Old grocery lists and cat videos." Adrian smirked. "But nice try, songbird."

He left her fuming, the pen burning in her fist.

That afternoon, Elena stormed into Hart Tower's archives, Noah trailing her. Dusty boxes of financial records lined up the shelves, and the air smelled old and dusty.

"What are we looking for?" Noah asked.

"Proof that my dad restarted Project Echo." She opened a box labeled R&D 2015-2016. "And why he cloned me."

Noah hesitated. "What if you don't like what you find?".

"I already don't like me."

They worked in silence, sunlight shining through the windows. Elena's hands trembled as she flipped through lab invoices, her mother's name (Clara Hart) haunting every page.

Then she found it: a shipping manifest.

To: Voss Biotech

Contents: DNA Samples (Subject 34-C)

Date: 2 weeks ago.

"Adrian's father has my DNA," she whispered.

Noah cursed. "We need to tell the police."

"And say what? 'My maybe clone is maybe kidnapped'?" She snapped a photo of the manifest. "We handle this alone."

Serena found them in the parking garage.

"Working late, sis?" She leaned against Elena's car, swinging a keychain with a USB drive. "Looking for this?"

It was the files on Subject 34-C.

Elena tried to snatch it, but Noah held her back. "Don't."

"Aw, protective pup!" Serena mocked. "What's wrong, Noah? Scared I will break your toy?"

"Give. It. Back." Elena said in a state of intense anger.

"Make me." Serena dangled the USB over a storm drain. "Or... admit you're just a lab rat playing CEO."

Noah moved first. He snatched the keychain, swift and silent, while Elena shoved Serena against the car.

"Touch me again, and I will end you both," Serena hissed.

"You have tried." Elena gripped her wrist tighter. "Who's the clone, Serena? You or me?"

Serena's mask slipped, fear, rage and something raw. "You have no idea what is coming."

She fled, heels clacking like gunshots.

Back at the dorm, Elena plugged in the USB. Files flooded the screen:

Project Echo Phase 3: Consciousness Transfer (Subject 34-C)

Activation Date: 48 hours

Objective: Replace Elena Hart.

Noah paled. "They're going to swap you."

Elena's reflection stared back from the dark screen, a face someone else might wear. "Then I'll give them a show."