Chapter 1

Ten years.

I' d spent ten years in this world, building this life.

The System, my strange ticket out of Ohio, showed Mark' s affection for me at a solid 100%.

It glowed on the small, invisible interface only I could see.

Mark Thompson, my husband, tech CEO, rich and handsome.

Our son, Leo, smart, already showing signs of his father' s brilliance.

We lived in a big house in California, the kind I only saw in magazines back home.

I looked at the affection score one more time.

"Permanent stay confirmed," I whispered to the System.

No more gray Ohio days, no more feeling like nobody.

This was it, my perfect life, earned and secured.

I smiled, a real, deep smile.

Then the doorbell rang.

Mark opened it.

A woman stood there.

Chloe Davis.

I knew her name from the stories Mark told about college.

His first love.

She looked a lot like me, an unsettling amount.

Mark froze for a second.

Leo, who was usually shy with new people, ran towards her.

"Aunt Chloe!"

My smile vanished.

Mark' s attention snapped to Chloe, then to Leo.

He looked at me, not with concern for my feelings, but with a strange fear.

Like I might do something to upset Chloe.

"Sarah, this is Chloe Davis, an old friend from college," Mark said, his voice a little too bright.

Chloe smiled at me, a dazzling, practiced smile.

"So nice to finally meet you, Sarah."

Her eyes scanned me, quick and sharp.

I felt a cold knot in my stomach.

The 100% affection score on my System display suddenly felt like a lie.

Mark was fussing over Chloe, getting her a drink, asking about her art.

Leo clung to her side, chattering happily.

I stood there, a stranger in my own living room.

The System had brought me here to find love, to build a family.

I thought I had.

But watching Mark and Leo with Chloe, a terrible thought hit me.

Maybe I wasn' t the original.

Maybe I was just the replacement.