Smile
Chapter 5: Mirror
Jennifer and Rachel reached David’s building at 12:24. They remained in the car until 12:27. Neither wanted to wait in the hallway, and neither wanted to arrive late enough to give him an excuse.
Rachel checked her phone. Their live locations were active. The messages, the studio address, and the meeting time had already been forwarded to the officer handling the report and to Mara, the general counsel at Jennifer’s firm. The officer had been clear: do not go. Wait for the investigation. Preserve everything. Do not engage.
Jennifer had asked what he recommended instead. Nothing the officer offered could prevent David from reaching her again. He had altered her face from miles away while she sat on a public stage. A locked door and a police report had not stopped him.
Mara expected a check-in at one-fifteen. If neither of them ed her, she would call the police herself.
Rachel put the phone away. “Same rules. We stay together. We don’t go into separate rooms. Neither of us promises anything for the other. Neither of us agrees to delete anything. If one of us says we leave, we leave.”
Jennifer looked at the entrance. “We enter together, and we leave together.”
They got out of the car.
David opened the door before the second knock. He wore a dark shirt and gray tros, and there was no camera in his hands.
“You’re late.”
Jennifer checked the wall clock behind him. “No.”
He stepped aside. Jennifer entered first. Rachel stayed close enough that their shoulders nearly touched as they crossed the threshold.
The studio was clean and quiet. Lenses stood in straight rows, the cables were secured to the floor, and the gray backdrop had been rolled above the shooting area. A large mirror stood near the styling station, facing the center of the room. Jennifer ed it only as ordinary equipment.
David closed the door but did not lock it.
“What did you do to me?” Jennifer asked.
“I adjusted an expression.”
“You changed my face while I was speaking.”
Rachel stopped beside her. “She told you to leave us alone.”
“And you kept the video in circulation.”
“We deleted our post. The copies are already out of our hands.”
David moved to the workstation. “You created these consequences when you released the recording.”
“We released evidence,” Rachel said.
“You came because you want to understand what happened.”
Jennifer remained where she was. “We came because you threatened us.”
David turned toward the monitors. “I’m going to show you.”
David sat at the workstation. The park still was already open. In the frame, Jennifer stood slightly ahead of Rachel, who held the camera raised. Their shoulders were less than a foot apart.
Two outlines were already in place: SUBJECT 1 and SUBJECT 2.
Rachel leaned forward. “It’s from your phone.”
“Yes.”
He selected both markers. The status read PREVIEW.
Jennifer glanced at the door. “Is there a device in the room?”
“No.”
“At the summit?”
“No.”
David selected the microphone icon beside the subject controls.
“Subject One, turn toward Subject Two. Subject Two, meet her eyes.”
In Preview, Jennifer’s photographed head turned toward Rachel, and Rachel’s gaze shifted to meet Jennifer’s. David adjusted the angle with the controls until they faced each other exactly as he wanted. The women standing in the studio did not move.
Rachel looked from the screen to the room—lights, ceiling, cameras, mirror.
Two additional composition thumbnails waited beneath the active preview. In the first, Jennifer and Rachel had been brought face-to-face, their mouths touching. In the second, their arms had been arranged around each other and their bodies drawn closer.
He had prepared the entire sequence before they arrived.
David looked directly at the altered source and pressed CHANGE.
The status turned red.
LIVE
Rachel felt pressure along the left side of her neck. Her head began turning toward Jennifer. Her eyes moved first, then her chin. She tried to brace against it. The muscles continued until she faced Jennifer directly.
Jennifer turned at the same time.
Rachel pulled against the movement. The pressure held. She forced her eyes toward the edge of the monitor. The red indicator remained. Both subject outlines were active.
David watched them. For an instant, surprise broke through his concentration—eyes widening, breath stopping—before satisfaction replaced it.
Rachel saw it.
He had expected something. He had not known.
He stood, lifted the laptop, and walked toward them. He stopped close enough that they could not look away from each other without also seeing his face.
“Stage one holds,” he said quietly, almost to himself. “Both subjects stable.”
He looked from Jennifer’s eyes to Rachel’s. The smile that had been absent in the park was now present in his expression.
“You stopped before the picture was complete.”
He selected the second composition and committed it while the connection remained Live.
The pressure shifted. Jennifer’s head tilted while Rachel’s chin lifted to meet it. Their mouths were forced together and remained pressed there, leaving no space for speech. Jennifer tried to pull back, but the muscles refused. Rachel’s breath came hard through her nose.
Their eyes stayed open.
Panic moved through both of them, visible and unhidden. In the mirror, the reflection showed a deep, mutual kiss. Nothing of the refusal appeared.
David watched their eyes. He did not look at the screen.
“This one is complete,” he said. “I don’t need either of you to agree.”
He held them there. The only sounds were the soft rush of their breathing and the faint hum of the laptop fans. Jennifer’s hand twitched against her side. Rachel’s shoulders remained rigid. Their mouths stayed pressed together.
David’s voice remained low, almost private.
“You had already shown where the picture was going. You chose to leave it unfinished.”
He selected the third composition.
The image changed while the connection remained Live. Their arms rose. Jennifer’s hand settled against Rachel’s back. Rachel’s hands moved into place against Jennifer’s shoulders and sides. Their upper bodies were drawn tightly together until the embrace locked into the arrangement David had prepared. The kiss continued without interruption.
David’s eyes left the laptop and went to the mirror.
The reflection showed an intimate embrace, practiced and willing. Their hands rested with apparent familiarity. Their bodies appeared relaxed inside a pose neither had chosen.
Nothing in the reflection belonged to them.
David’s breathing had changed. He watched their eyes instead of checking the program. He had already proved that the composition worked, but his hand remained away from Undo.
“The mirror is convincing,” he said. “Your eyes aren’t.”
He let the embrace continue.
Jennifer found Rachel’s eyes and held them. The fear there matched her own. That was the only part of the embrace David had not arranged.
The pressure did not weaken. The kiss remained fixed. Jennifer could feel Rachel resisting through every point of —the rigid muscles beneath her hand, the tension in her shoulders, the controlled breaths forced through her nose.
Rachel saw the same resistance in Jennifer.
David continued watching.
Only after the result had been clear for several seconds did he speak distinctly.
“Undo.”
He pressed the key.
The red border vanished.
Their mouths separated with a sharp intake of air. Their arms dropped. Both women stepped backward hard, unbalanced by the sudden return of control. Jennifer struck the styling counter. Rachel covered her mouth, then lowered her hand.
Their eyes remained on each other long enough to confirm the same thing: neither had chosen any part of it.
Neither spoke at first.
Rachel moved where she could see the laptop screen without standing close to Jennifer. The status had returned to gray PREVIEW. She had watched David’s hand and seen the status turn red when he opened the connection and return to gray when he pressed Undo.
Preview did nothing. Change opened the connection. The red status meant Live. He could switch between prepared compositions while the connection remained open. Undo closed it.
She looked at him but said nothing.
He had taken a moment when they were standing together against him and decided he could finish it. He had turned their refusal into an error he believed he could correct.
David closed the laptop.
“You have until six tomorrow evening,” he said. “Every copy of the park recording you control. The original, exports, backups, private s, and online files. You will anyone you sent it to and instruct them to delete it. You will stop discussing me with clients, venues, and professional s. You will not discuss the summit or what happened here. Then you will confirm in writing that it’s done.”
Jennifer looked at the closed laptop. “If you can control us, why not make us delete it?”
“I’m giving you the opportunity to correct this yourselves.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“It is the opportunity I’m offering.”
Rachel understood what he had avoided itting.
The source could control what it showed, but it could not provide knowledge David did not possess. He did not know their s, where Rachel had hidden the original memory card, who possessed copies, which s they could access, or whether a written confirmation was true. He could control visible physical actions through the image, but he could not make them reveal information he did not already know.
He still needed them to choose, and neither woman agreed. David stood and moved away from the workstation. “You should go.”
Jennifer turned first, and Rachel followed. Neither looked back as the door closed behind them.
They did not speak in the hallway. Their footsteps sounded too loud against the bare floor. As they reached the street door, an alarm sounded from Rachel’s phone. The screen read 1:15 CHECK-IN. Both phones vibrated a moment later with a message from Mara asking if they were okay. Jennifer lifted her phone. “We’re out of the studio. Call us in ten minutes. If neither of us answers, call the police.” She checked the transcription and said, “Send.” Rachel sent the same confirmation from her own phone.
For a moment, they only looked at each other. Jennifer lowered her phone. “We’re fucked.” Rachel nodded once. “Yeah.”
They pushed through the street door. On the sidewalk, Jennifer stopped beside the building and gripped her own arm. Rachel turned to her and opened her arms. Jennifer stared at her for a moment, then stepped in sideways, shoulder first, one arm going around Rachel while the other stayed between them. Rachel’s hands settled lightly on her back. Jennifer held on as a shudder ed through her, then pulled away. Rachel let her go.