Chapter 2

The sound of the alarm was a violent intrusion.

My head throbbed in rhythm with the beeping. I slammed my hand down on my phone, silencing it. For a moment, I just lay there, the cheap sheets of the bed scratching against my skin. My body ached, a deep, bone-weary exhaustion from standing for hours in heels and a fake smile. The humiliation from the party clung to me like a bad smell.

I forced myself out of bed and into the shower, letting the hot water sluice over me, trying to wash away the feeling of Roderick Vance' s angry glare and Leo' s cold satisfaction. It didn' t work.

My phone buzzed on the counter. A news alert. I glanced at it, my stomach twisting.

"Sterling' s Shadow: Who is Ava Reed, the Mystery Woman Behind the Tech Titan?"

The article was a smear piece, cleverly disguised as a profile. It painted me as a gold-digging nobody, a beautiful but empty shell who had latched onto Leo for his money and power. It quoted anonymous "friends" who described me as ambitious and manipulative. It was Leo' s work, I knew it. He was controlling the public' s perception of me, defining me before I could define myself. It made me easier to manage, easier to discard.

"Just a commodity," he' d said once. The words echoed in my head.

I threw the phone onto the bed, disgusted.

A soft chime, different from a normal notification, sounded in the room. A transparent blue screen materialized in the air in front of me.

[System Alert: User identity in current world is being publicly solidified. This may affect emotional stability. Proceed with caution.]

I stared at the anodyne words. This system, this strange, otherworldly force, was the reason I was here. I wasn't from this world of ruthless billionaires and glittering galas. My world was quieter, softer. It was a small art studio filled with the smell of turpentine and the soft light of a lazy afternoon. It was a world that held Ethan.

The system had found me in my darkest moment, sitting by Ethan' s bedside after the accident, the doctors telling me there was nothing more they could do. He was in a coma, his mind lost somewhere I couldn't reach.

Then the offer came. "Enter a new world. Complete the mission. The energy generated by your success can heal the target subject."

The mission was to "conquer" a high-value individual in another reality. I had to make him fall completely, obsessively in love with me, and then, at the peak of his emotional attachment, I had to shatter his heart and soul by leaving. The resulting "disillusionment" I generated in him would be converted into the energy needed to save Ethan.

The system chose Leo Sterling for me. It said his capacity for obsession and cruelty made him a prime target for generating a massive amount of disillusionment. I was supposed to be a predator, a siren luring him to his emotional doom.

I was supposed to be faking it.

For three years, I had played my part. I became the woman I thought Leo would want: beautiful, compliant, and seemingly devoted. I suppressed my own personality, my art, my very being, to become a mirror that reflected his own desires back at him. It was a long, slow, grinding process.

But the system had warned me about this. [Warning: Prolonged immersion can lead to emotional transference. The user may develop genuine feelings for the target.]

I sank onto the edge of the bed. Had I? In the quiet moments, in the rare times Leo showed a flicker of something other than cold possession, had a part of me responded? I thought of the time he' d found me sketching in a notebook and, instead of mocking me, had just watched in silence for a full minute, a strange, unreadable expression on his face.

I shook my head, angry with myself. No. It was a lie. It had to be a lie. Any warmth from him was just another tool of manipulation. My feelings were for Ethan, and Ethan alone. That was the anchor that kept me sane.

The choice was clear, but it felt like standing on a cliff edge.

On one side was Ethan, my past, my true love, my entire world. To get back to him, I had to be colder than Leo, more ruthless in my own way. I had to use his cruelty as a weapon, turning it back on itself to generate the points I needed. I had to become a monster to fight one.

On the other side was… what? A creeping, insidious Stockholm syndrome? A pathetic gratitude for the gilded cage Leo had built around me? The thought was terrifying. It meant I was losing myself. It meant I might fail.

And if I failed, Ethan would die.

I stood up, my resolve hardening into a cold, sharp point. I would not fail. I would not let this world, or Leo Sterling, break me. I would see this through to the end.

I picked up my phone again and deleted the news alert without another thought. The public could think whatever they wanted. I knew the truth. My name is Ava Reed, and I will do whatever it takes to get home.