Chapter 1

The Continuum Program promised a better life, a perfect existence. I, Alex Miller, was a Prime Beneficiary, a special status. It meant rapid healing, a long, high-quality life here, in this simulation. All it cost was a "perfect emotional bond" with my chosen partner, Chloe. I was an orphan in the real world, bounced around foster care. I wanted stability, love, a real home. I thought I could build that with Chloe. I was devoted, ready to take the Program's "Feedback Dissonance" – the punishment for a weak bond – for her.

Chloe. She' d had an accident, a terrible one, saving me in the Continuum. That' s what she said. A brain injury. She needed me. I stayed, I cared, I endured the migraines and the sensory hell when our bond wavered, because she needed me. That was my sacrifice, every day.

Then the car, simulated metal screaming against simulated asphalt, smashed into me. Not an accident. Chloe stood over me, Liam Carter beside her. No sign of her "brain injury."

"It's time, Alex," Chloe said, her voice clear, cold.

Liam smirked. "Your Prime Beneficiary status. We need it."

I stared. The pain from the crash was nothing compared to this. "Your accident... it was a lie?"

"To keep you," she said, no shame in her voice. "To keep you here, caring for me, until we were ready."

Ready for this. Ready to take everything. Liam, her long-time love, suffered from cystic fibrosis in the real world. She thought my status could save him here, give them their perfect life. My life, my status, was just a tool for her. The Program' s Core Protocol, the System, it monitored our bond. It punished me when her love wasn't real. All those years of pain, it was because of her deception. Now, this felt like an escape.

"You want the status?" I managed, the words grating in my throat. The Feedback Dissonance was already flaring, a white-hot poker in my skull because her "love" was a complete fabrication. "Take it. Just... let me out of the Program."

Chloe' s eyes, the ones I' d loved, were flat, unfeeling. "Of course, Alex. You were always so selfless."

"He was," Liam added, his voice dripping with something ugly. "So trusting."

The pain in my head intensified. The System knew. It always knew. Chloe had never loved me, not truly. My commitment was to a ghost, a lie she' d built.