Chapter 116: Nadia Wells

Finding Nadia Wells proved harder than finding Adrian. She had no active professional license, no recent publications, and no property under her original name. Derek eventually located an old passport renewal tied to a mailing address in a coastal town.

Louis refused to approach until they knew more. Nadia had worked on Project Northwind, edited a scenario that resembled Freya's novel, and vanished from public life. That made her important, not automatically guilty.

Miriam provided archived correspondence showing Nadia had disagreed with Julian Cross about the project's ethics. Cross considered the narratives decision-support tools. Nadia believed sufficiently detailed behavioral models could be used to steer people toward predicted outcomes.

One letter contained a sentence Freya read three times: A forecast becomes dangerous when the subject is punished every time they deviate from it.

That sounded exactly like Adrian's method.

Derek traced Nadia's later work to a behavioral technology company that eventually supplied components to Melissa Grant's research firm. The connection was indirect but undeniable. Project Northwind had evolved from family scenario planning into tools capable of influencing behavior.

Freya wondered whether Nadia had helped Adrian. Louis pointed out that her letters suggested she feared precisely that misuse.

They contacted the coastal address through an attorney. Two days later, a reply arrived.

Nadia agreed to speak, but only to Freya.

Louis immediately said no.

Freya immediately said yes.

The argument lasted fifteen minutes before they compromised. Freya would attend the meeting in a monitored public location with Louis and security nearby, while Nadia could speak to her privately at the table.

Nadia Wells was sixty-one, silver-haired, and far less mysterious in person than Freya expected. She studied Freya for several seconds before sitting down.

"You don't look like her," Nadia said.

Freya's breath caught. "Like who?"

"The Freya in the model."

Nadia explained that Adrian had obtained Project Northwind after Evelyn's death and commissioned increasingly personalized revisions. He wanted a model proving Louis would fail. Nadia initially participated because she believed she could monitor and limit the work.

When Adrian began using real-world interventions to force events toward the model, she left.

Freya asked about the novel.

Nadia looked genuinely confused. She had transformed the technical scenario into a readable narrative years ago because Adrian found story form easier to use when briefing collaborators. She called the file Gentle Devotion. But she had never published it.

"Did you use the name North Wind?"

Nadia nodded. "It was an internal joke based on Northwind."

Freya's hands became cold.

The pen name from her old world had belonged to a woman sitting across from her in this one.

Then Freya asked the question that mattered most. "Did you write: Some endings are only stable until the wrong person wakes up?"

Nadia's face lost color.

"No," she whispered. "Julian did."

Freya stared at her.

"He wrote it in a private note the week before he died."

After the meeting, Louis asked Freya whether Nadia's explanation changed how she felt about her arrival. Freya said no. It explained the origin of the story but not the bridge between worlds. She was relieved to solve one layer without pretending they had solved all of them. Louis called that progress.

After the meeting, Louis asked Freya whether Nadia's explanation changed how she felt about her arrival. Freya said no. It explained the origin of the story but not the bridge between worlds. She was relieved to solve one layer without pretending they had solved all of them. Louis called that progress.

After the meeting, Louis asked Freya whether Nadia's explanation changed how she felt about her arrival. Freya said no. It explained the origin of the story but not the bridge between worlds. She was relieved to solve one layer without pretending they had solved all of them. Louis called that progress.