Chapter 1

The Guide' s voice, or whatever it was, echoed in my mind, not my ears.

"Ten days, Sarah. Your choice."

My hands, twisted and scarred, lay useless in my lap.

Eight years. Eight years I' d given to this world, to Ethan.

"I accept," I told the emptiness, the presence only I knew.

My culinary dreams in Vermont, shattered by that accident, felt like a distant, faded photograph. The Guide had appeared then, a lifeline. Heal your hands, it offered, if you save one struggling soul in another reality.

Ethan Hayes. That soul.

He was brilliant, broken, drowning in his father' s suicide and the mountain of debt left by a scam. I pulled him from an overdose, literally.

We built an empire, a tech giant. From nothing.

My mission was complete. The Guide offered me my old life, my hands healed.

Ethan begged me to stay.

"I can' t lose you, Sarah. Don' t leave me." His voice, desperate then, genuine.

I loved him. So, I stayed. We married. That was five years ago.

Three years of marriage, then Chloe.

Chloe Vance, the intern. Young, hungry, ruthless. She saw Ethan, our success, as her ladder.

The Guide' s new offer was stark. Ten days to return. My "death" here was the price of passage. All my legally acquired assets would transfer.

My shares in the company we built, our properties. A fortune.

A fair trade for my life back.

I looked at my hands again. The thought of feeling dough, the heat of a pan, the precision of a knife – it was a physical ache.

This time, there was no hesitation.

"Yes," I repeated, firmer.

The Guide receded. The ten-day countdown had begun.

My apartment, our San Francisco penthouse, felt cold, alien. It had been a battleground for three years.

Ethan' s affairs, his gaslighting, the constant, grinding emotional neglect.

I was numb. The vibrant woman who had loved him, who had believed in him, was long dead.

My first act was to call my broker.

"Sell all my shares in Innovate Dynamics," I said, my voice flat.

"Sarah? Are you sure? That' s a significant portion."

"I' m sure."

Then the properties. The Napa vineyard, the Aspen condo, the city lofts. Anything jointly owned that could be legally divided and sold.

The Guide' s rules were specific: "legally acquired assets." My pre-marital stake, my shares from the founding, my portion of marital property. It was substantial.

I felt nothing. No triumph, no sadness. Just a quiet efficiency.

This was step one of my departure.