Chapter 1

Seven years.

Seven long years I' d been playing this stupid game.

My name is Ava Rodriguez, or at least, that' s who I am in this life. I' m an ER nurse in a busy Chicago hospital.

But it' s all a setup.

A "life-path correction program," The Navigator calls it. My System.

The goal: get romantically rejected 100 times by Julian Vance, the hospital' s wealthy benefactor.

The prize: my old life back, a quiet one in Montana, plus a big payout and a special talent. "Healer's Instinct," the System promised.

I was on rejection number ninety-eight. Two more to go.

Tonight was the anniversary of starting this program. My new, fake birthday.

I' d just finished a double shift. My feet ached, my brain felt like mush.

Julian Vance was in the administration wing, probably schmoozing for more donations. He visited often.

This was it. Number ninety-nine.

I found him by the large windows overlooking the city lights. He looked perfect, as always. Untouchable.

"Julian," I said, my voice steadier than I felt.

He turned, a polite, distant smile on his face. "Ava. Still here? You work too hard."

"I was thinking," I started, the lie already prepared, "about a volunteer medical mission. Doctors Without Borders. It's high-risk, a war-torn region."

He raised an eyebrow. "Noble."

"If I go, and if I come back... would you consider something real between us? Marriage, even?"

This was a big ask, designed for a swift, clean rejection. He' d laugh, or look uncomfortable, or politely decline. That' s how it always went.

He looked at me, really looked at me, for a long moment. The city lights reflected in his dark eyes.

Then he said, "Alright."

My breath caught. "Alright? What do you mean, alright?"

"I mean, yes, Ava. If you come back, we can talk about that. Seriously."

The small, sterile voice of The Navigator pinged in my mind. Anomaly detected. Rejection protocol compromised.

I stared at Julian, my carefully constructed world tilting.

"You... you would?"

"I would," he confirmed, that calm smile still in place.

Panic, cold and sharp, shot through me. This wasn't supposed to happen. This was very, very bad.

The Navigator was silent now, probably recalibrating. My own mind was racing.

Ninety-nine was supposed to be easy. Now it was a "yes."

How was I supposed to get to one hundred if he started agreeing to things?

The rules of the program were absolute. One hundred rejections from Julian Vance. No substitutes, no loopholes.

He couldn' t suddenly decide he liked me. Not now. Not when I was so close.

I forced a shaky smile. "Okay. Well, something to think about."

He nodded, then his phone buzzed. "Excuse me, Ava. Important call."

He turned back to the window, his voice dropping as he spoke into his phone.

I stood there, feeling the exhaustion of my shift mix with a new, potent wave of dread.

This game just got a lot harder.