Chapter 1

The sterile blue light of the interface reflected in Sarah Miller' s eyes.

"Confirm activation of Protocol Chimera?" a synthesized voice asked, devoid of emotion.

"Yes," Sarah whispered, her voice barely audible even to herself. "Simulated demise. New identity. Complete severance."

This was it. The final step.

A wave of pain, sharp and deep, washed over her.

Michael. Ethan.

Her husband, the man she had saved, the man she had loved with every fiber of her being.

Her son, the boy she had risked everything to bring into the world.

Leaving them felt like tearing out her own heart, but the Sarah they knew, the Sarah they had systematically destroyed, was already dead.

This was just making it official.

A small notification pinged on the screen.

"Protocol Chimera initiated. Countdown: Ten days. Prepare for extraction. No trace."

Ten days.

A quiet acceptance settled over her, a weary calm after a long, brutal storm.

She remembered the early days, before the money, before Jessica.

Michael had been in a terrible accident, his body broken, his dreams shattered.

She nursed him, day and night, her small savings dwindling to keep them afloat while he recovered.

Then, his kidneys failed.

Without a second thought, she offered one of hers. "We're a match," the doctor had said, and it felt like fate.

His life was her life.

He held her hand after the surgery, his eyes filled with a love so profound it made her weak.

"You saved me, Sarah," he' d rasped, his voice thick with emotion. "Twice. I'll spend my life making it up to you."

She believed him.

She poured her youth, her health, her every waking moment into him, into his tech startup, into building their family.

Ethan' s birth was difficult.

Doctors warned against it, her single kidney a constant risk.

But Michael wanted a child, an heir to the empire he was building.

She risked her life for their son, their beautiful, perfect Ethan.

For a few years, they were happy. She was a devoted wife, a loving mother. Their home was filled with laughter.

Then Jessica Monroe slithered back into Michael' s life.

His high-school sweetheart, newly divorced and smelling opportunity.

"She's just an old friend, Sarah," Michael had said, his arm around her, his smile reassuring. "You and Ethan are my world. Nothing will ever change that."

He was a good liar.

Or maybe he just lied to himself.

The photos started arriving.

Jessica, beaming, with Michael' s arm around her at a company gala Sarah hadn't been invited to.

Jessica, laughing, Ethan perched on her lap, opening an expensive toy Sarah could never afford and would never approve of.

Taunting messages. "He says he only ever truly loved me." "Ethan calls me Mommy Jess now, isn't that sweet?"

Each one was a hammer blow, shattering the carefully constructed illusion of her life.

The love she thought was her foundation was just quicksand.

Sarah walked to the calendar on the kitchen wall.

She circled the date ten days from now.

Her last day as Sarah Miller.

A strange sense of peace settled over her. The fight was over.

The sound of a pained yowl cut through the silence.

Buddy, her calico rescue cat, streaked past her, a small, terrified blur.

Ethan, now twelve, stomped into the kitchen, his face contorted with rage.

"Stupid cat scratched me!" he yelled, holding up his hand where a thin red line was welling with blood.

He' d been cornering Buddy again, poking him with a ruler.

Before Sarah could speak, Ethan grabbed a heavy textbook from the counter and hurled it.

It caught Buddy on his side with a sickening thud. The cat cried out, a high, piercing sound of agony.

"Ethan!" Sarah' s voice was sharp, horrified.

She rushed to Buddy, who was now limping, trying to drag himself under the sofa.

Ethan advanced on her. "It' s your fault! You and that stupid cat!"

He shoved her, hard. Sarah stumbled back, her hand flying to her side where a dull ache from her remaining kidney always lingered when she was stressed.

"I hate you!" Ethan screamed, his face inches from hers, his eyes filled with a cruelty that mirrored Michael' s dismissiveness. "I wish Jessica was my mom! She' s fun! You' re just a boring old hag!"