Chapter 3

Leo screamed at me, "It's your fault! You made Aunt Chloe sick!"

His small fists were clenched, his face red with a child's helpless anger.

Ethan gently steered him out of the room. "Go with Nanny, Leo. Mommy... Aunt Chloe needs rest."

Then, he turned to the men who brought me. "Take Sarah to the Redwood Clinic. Dr. Alistair is expecting her."

The Redwood Clinic. A discreet, high-security private facility. Ethan owned it.

My blood ran cold. I knew.

I knew what he intended.

Later, in a sterile room that felt more like a prison cell, I confronted him.

The men had left. It was just us.

"You're going to use me as an organ donor for Chloe, aren't you?"

My voice was surprisingly steady.

"You understand that will kill me, Ethan?"

He looked at me, his handsome face etched with something I couldn't name. Not guilt. Not exactly.

"I won't let you die, Sarah," he said, his voice unnervingly calm.

"Chloe... she saved my life once. A long time ago. I owe her this."

A fabrication. Or a memory so twisted by Chloe' s influence it bore no resemblance to reality.

"And you," he continued, his eyes holding a strange, fervent light, "you're healthy enough. The doctors said so."

Healthy enough to be carved up.

The System, quiet until now, flickered in my mind.

He believes this is an act of devotion.

A flashback, unbidden, sharp as glass.

Years ago. My "arrival" into this life, this reality.

The System had activated, pulling me from my old world, my old pain, into this one.

Ethan was just a coder then, brilliant but broke.

Chloe, even then, was a user, influential in small circles, exploiting his talent.

I saw his potential. I believed in him.

My music, the songs Chloe would later steal, he loved them. He said they inspired his early innovations, the ones that built his empire.

We were poor, but happy. Or so I thought.

The System had whispered then, His devotion is at its peak. You can exit now, if you choose.

I looked at Ethan, sleeping beside me in our tiny apartment, his arm thrown protectively over me.

I chose to stay. I believed our bond was real, unbreakable.

What a fool I' d been.

The System' s warning, ignored. The regret, a bitter taste now.

His "devotion" had twisted into this monstrous obsession.