Reborn to Love Mr. Right – Episode 79
The professor denied sending the letter. Her signature had been copied from Arianna’s campus registration form, and she had no security clearance. Someone wanted Arianna to believe the university recruited her for continuity research.
The enclosed meeting address belonged to a federal research facility near campus. Officials confirmed a legitimate program existed there but insisted no one had invited Arianna. The leak came from inside the government review.
Arianna considered withdrawing from the university. Hayden reminded her that abandoning the choice would reward the person who attached danger to it. They could investigate without surrendering her education.
Federal agents staged the proposed meeting while Arianna remained off-site. A researcher arrived expecting her and carried a consent form authorizing neural testing. He claimed a senior official ordered the recruitment.
The official had used data from the seized First Light buyer list. Although commercial implantation was banned, the government wanted to study Arianna’s stable rebirth memories for defensive purposes.
The consent form offered tuition and protection but included permanent ownership of all resulting data. The language repeated the systems Arianna had spent months dismantling.
She testified before the oversight committee rather than accepting a private settlement. National security did not erase informed consent or transform one survivor into public property.
The committee suspended the program and ordered deletion of copied medical files. Independent monitors verified the process. The university separated itself from the unauthorized recruitment.
Arianna kept her enrollment. She also requested ordinary campus accommodations instead of a private building arranged by Taylor security. Protection would remain present but proportionate.
Hayden worried quietly until she asked him to speak. He admitted wanting to buy property beside campus and move part of Scott Global there. The plan would solve distance by reorganizing both their lives around his fear.
Arianna appreciated his honesty and rejected the plan. Visits and calls would require effort, while constant proximity could become another sophisticated form of supervision.
He canceled the property review before money changed hands. Choosing differently in a small present decision mattered more than knowing what Guardian Hayden once sacrificed.
Derek’s sentencing occurred the following week. He apologized publicly to Arianna, Ivy, Emmy, Donald, and Hayden. The judge acknowledged the statement without treating remorse as repayment.
He received a lengthy sentence reflecting violence, conspiracy, fraud, kidnapping, and arson. His cooperation prevented the maximum penalty but did not return freedom.
Jeff watched from another secured courtroom. He cried when the sentence was read, then accepted his own punishment without asking Arianna to intervene.
Victor received consecutive sentences that ensured he would spend the remainder of his life in prison. His final appeal could challenge procedure, not the physical evidence underlying conviction.
Evelyn, Leonard, Martin, and the cardiologist began their separate sentences. Restitution orders redirected recovered assets toward victims and affected employees.
After court, Arianna felt relief without triumph. The people who ruined her first life could no longer reach her, yet freedom still required building something beyond their punishment.
Donald held a small dinner before her departure. Ivy attended through video, Emmy brought an overdecorated cake, and Hayden arrived without a contract, ring, or prepared speech.
When Arianna opened the cake box, a flash drive lay beneath the plate. Its label read “Original Signal—Unedited,” although every known copy had been sealed by the court.