Chapter 2

A soft chime sounded in my mind, a familiar, unwelcome presence.

"Swap opportunity available. Would you like to use it now?"

The System.

It had been with me since I was a child, Emily Carter, enduring Jessica' s cruelty.

Three chances to swap bodies with another person.

I' d used one, long ago, to escape a different kind of hell.

Then another, to become Sarah Miller, leaving a dying body for this one.

This body, Sarah' s body, was also failing me.

The doctors had given me months, a year at most.

A terminal illness, hidden from Mark, hidden from everyone.

That' s why I' d hesitated to use my last swap, to take a healthy body from an unsuspecting soul.

It felt wrong, a selfish act.

But now?

Now, Mark was trying to murder me.

The System' s prompt echoed again.

"Swap opportunity available."

Before, I wanted to live out my remaining time in peace, but Mark and Jessica had shattered that.

Revenge. The thought was a bitter comfort.

Mark came home that evening, all smiles and affection.

He had papers in his hand.

"Honey, I was thinking," he began, his tone smooth, "we should update our life insurance. Just a precaution, you know."

He spread the documents on the kitchen table.

A new policy, a substantial one, with him as the sole beneficiary.

One million dollars.

My price tag.

"It' s a good idea, Mark," I said, my voice surprisingly steady. "We should be prepared."

I picked up the pen he offered.

His eyes gleamed, a flicker of triumph he couldn't quite hide.

He thought I was naive, unsuspecting.

He thought he was in control.

I signed my name, Sarah Miller, on the line.

Each letter felt like a nail in his coffin, not mine.

The System' s chime was a quiet hum in the background of my thoughts.

My terminal illness still loomed, but it wasn't a death sentence anymore.

It was a deadline.

A deadline to make them pay.

The hesitation was gone, replaced by a cold, hard resolve.

I would use the swap.

But not to save myself by taking an innocent life.

No, this last swap would be for something far more satisfying.