The Mother who Fed the Dark
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Memories of Lerato haunted him, more vividly than any ledger or calculation could account for.
Her defiance, her resilience, her final whispered words to their children—echoes of humanity he had crushed in his pursuit of perfection—returned to him in relentless loops. He had orchestrated her suffering, ensured her death with absolute precision, yet her resistance had lingered, leaving an imprint even the darkness could not erase.
The children, now scattered and fearful, haunted the edges of his consciousness. Every death he had caused, every tragedy around her, every consequence of his obsession—the ledger had recorded them all, and now, in his agony, he felt the full weight of it.