1 After my husband Asher and our son vanished, presumed dead, I refused to believe it. No bodies, no goodbyes. So I tore a hole in time, jumping five years into the future to find them. And I did. They were alive, but with no memory of me. I wept with joy, but as I reached for them, Asher’s voice stopped me cold. “The truth is, we never had amnesia. We just started a new family.” My eyes, bloodshot with disbelief, darted to my son, Noah. He just shrugged, adding casually, “It’s true. Our new mom is your best friend, Auntie Isla. We’ve been living here the whole time.” A roar filled my ears. I looked down at the three pale scars that circled my wrist, a souvenir from my suicide attempt, and felt my soul detach from my body. As if reading my mind, Asher’s tone turned scolding. “Why did you have to go and try to kill yourself? If you hadn’t done that, you wouldn’t have lost the baby.” “Be a good girl and go back,” he said. “When we’ve had enough of this life, we’ll come home.” Be a good girl? A broken laugh escaped my lips. There was no need to rush. If this time-jump mission failed, my memories would be wiped clean. In three days, at most, I would be sent back to my own time. And I would remember nothing of them. … Seeing me frozen there, my eyes burning red, Noah frowned. “Mom, what are you waiting for? Auntie Isla will be home soon. We don’t want to make her sad.” My heart felt like it had been run over by a train. After five years, his first thought was of someone else’s feelings. A fresh wave of red flooded my vision, but I clung to one last sliver of hope. “Noah, do you have any idea what my life has been like?” After they “died,” I became a pariah. People pointed and called me a jinx, a curse who’d destroyed her own husband and son. I spent a month in a daze, truly believing I was the one who had killed them. Finally, one night, I sliced my wrists open. If my mother hadn’t had a bad feeling and come to check on me, I’d be nothing but a pile of ash now. But Noah just turned his head away, indifferent. “Why would I want to know? You’re old and boring. I’m not interested.” A sharp pain lanced through my chest, like a blade carving me up, piece by piece. Asher saw the shock on my face and let out a short, harsh laugh. “Why are you arguing with a child?” “Besides, kids know who’s genuinely good to them. Isla never forces Noah to do anything he doesn’t want to. Not like you and your mother, with your suffocating, two-faced kindness.” The roaring in my head was deafening. The last thread of my control snapped. I lunged forward, grabbing his collar, my voice breaking. “Are you even human?! Do you know my mother died in a car accident looking for you? When they found her, she was still clutching the missing persons flyer with your faces on it!” I screamed, I accused, I expected some flicker of guilt. But the room was silent for two long seconds before he sighed with mild regret. “Of course, I knew. But she wasn’t watching the road. Who can you blame for that?” “You can’t pin a tragedy like that on me and my son.” He offered a troubled smile, but his eyes held no remorse, only a faint, weary annoyance. “I was going to visit you, but Isla happened to get sick right then. I couldn’t leave her.” “You couldn’t leave her?” I was laughing and crying at the same time, a shattered wreck of a person. Asher watched me for a few moments, a flicker of something like pity in his eyes. “Sera, listen to me. Now that you know the truth, when you go back, stop fighting with my mom. She didn’t have a choice.” “Take good care of her for me. I’ll make it up to you when I get back, I promise.” I froze, the taste of blood filling my mouth as I bit down on my lip. “Your mother… she knew about your plan the whole time?” Asher admitted it without hesitation, even offering a lazy smile. “If she didn’t, how else would you have been so willing to serve her?” I opened my mouth, but my vocal cords felt shredded. In the year after they “died,” I lived in hell. Because I was the one who had planned the cruise ship vacation, his mother, Meredith, tortured me relentlessly. She would stick me with needles every day, my arms, my legs—there wasn’t an inch of unblemished skin. My clothes were often soaked with blood. My own mother would weep seeing it and started fighting with her. But that only made Meredith more vicious. She grabbed a hammer and brought it down on my mother’s head. “You and your daughter are a curse! First my son, then my grandson! Why don’t you just die!” My mother was bleeding profusely, but even as they took her to the hospital, she stood in front of me, holding back tears. “From now on, if she wants to hit someone, she hits me. Let her take it all out on me.” From then on, I became Meredith’s slave. Because in my heart, I believed I was atoning for my sins. But now I knew. It was all a lie. The suffering my mother and I endured was nothing but a sick joke. I finally broke, my hands flying, slapping his face again and again like a hailstorm. “How could you do this to me?” Asher didn’t fight back. He just closed his eyes and took it. “Sera!” A sharp cry cut through the air. Isla stood in the doorway, her face pale as she stared at us. I froze, my gaze falling to her swollen, pregnant belly. Instantly, Asher and Noah moved to shield her. “This has nothing to do with Isla. If you have a problem, you take it up with me.” “If you dare hurt Auntie Isla, you’re not my mother anymore!” Father and son roared at me in unison. Tears streamed down Isla’s face as she shook her head. “No, it’s my fault. Sera, I’m the one who stole your family. Whatever you want to do to me, I’ll accept it.” The three of them, protecting each other. A perfect family unit. And me? The legal wife, the biological mother? I was nothing. A giant hand seemed to squeeze my heart, the pain so intense I doubled over. My voice trembled, my eyes filled with hatred. “Asher, this is bigamy. I’m calling the police!” He just watched as I fumbled with my phone, not a trace of panic on his face. Only when my thumb hovered over the final digit did he speak, his voice casual. “You probably don’t know what they do to time travelers they catch these days.” “What?” My hand froze mid-air, my heart hammering against my ribs. “First, they drug you. Strap you to an operating table for observation.” “Then comes the electroshock, to see how your brain chemistry reacts.” “Finally, they scoop out your brain and preserve it as a specimen for study.” Asher looked at me with something akin to pity. “Trust me, Sera,” he whispered. “You don’t want to go through that.” He smiled, a cruel, cutting thing, and suddenly I was back on our honeymoon. We were in a foreign country when we were mugged. We let them take all our money. But as they were leaving, one of them reached for me with a leering grin. In a flash, Asher was on them, a whirlwind of fists and fury against three men. Blood sprayed the air, and he screamed at me to run. By the time the police arrived, his brow was split open, his leg was broken, and he had a bullet in his side. He was barely breathing, but he smiled without a single regret. “Sera, I would rather die than let anyone lay a finger on you.” Looking at the man in front of me now, I slapped him again, but this time, pathetic tears streamed down my face. Asher understood my pain. He clenched his jaw, his voice almost a plea. “Sera, a part of me will always love you. But Isla… she’s been through so much. Can’t you just find it in your heart to pity her? Please?” I lifted my tear-streaked face, my voice choked with agony. “Why did it have to be her?” “Because she’s not just your best friend. She’s your half-sister!” My mouth fell open. I was frozen to the spot. Suddenly, Isla’s eyes welled with red, and she dropped to her knees before me. “Sera, I always wanted to tell you, but I was so scared! My mom and your dad separated a long time ago, and I never, ever wanted to take his love from you.” “But if you’re angry, please, take it all out on me.” Isla knelt there, her pregnant belly prominent, her shoulders trembling. Asher’s eyes turned crimson with rage, and he roared at me. “Are you even human?! She’s on her knees in front of you! What more do you want?” “Honey, please don’t fight with Sera because of me, I’m begging you!” Isla sobbed, clutching his leg. The blood in my veins turned to ice. A wave of nausea washed over me, and I couldn’t stop myself from vomiting. Everything was a lie. My best friend, my husband… even the father I had revered for thirty years. All of it, fake. Noah watched the scene with dark, cold eyes. He suddenly charged at me, shoving me hard. “Go away! We don’t want you here! Why did you have to make Auntie Isla sad?” I stumbled and fell, landing in the mess I’d just made. Isla rushed to Noah, hugging him, her voice thick with tears. “You can’t treat her like that. She’s your real mother. The one who gave birth to you.” “No! I don’t want her! You’re my mom! I only want you!” Noah didn’t even glance at me, his disgust for me on full display. I wiped the tears from my face, slowly pulling myself to my feet and walking towards the door. I never wanted to see them again. Not for a single second. Maybe it was a side effect of the time jump, or maybe my mind had just reached its breaking point. My vision went black, and I collapsed. The last thing I saw before the world disappeared was Asher’s worried face rushing towards me. When I woke up, only Isla was in the room. She smiled at me gently, but her voice was glacial. “Don’t bother looking. They went out.” With them gone, Isla dropped the act completely. Her eyes raked over me with contempt. “My mother stole your father, and I stole Asher. You and your mother are both pathetic losers, always have been.” “Shut up! You don’t get to talk about my mother!” Isla was in a wonderful mood, a cheerful smile playing on her lips. “So much fire. Just like your useless mother.” She paused, then continued in a lazy drawl. “You probably didn’t know, but your mother came to see mine once. She barely said two words before she burst into tears, begging my mom not to steal her man. It was so pathetic. My mom and I still laugh until our stomachs hurt whenever we think about it.” My fists clenched so tight my nails dug into my palms. Isla didn’t notice. She wiped a tear of mirth from her eye. “So you can imagine how sorry I felt for you when I realized you thought I was your best friend! Ahh—” Her words were cut off as I tackled her to the ground, my face a mask of triumphant rage. “You deserve this! I was so happy when I heard your mother was dead!” Something inside me snapped. I saw red. I grabbed her hair and slammed her head against the floor. Once, twice. Isla’s screams were sharp and piercing. The door burst open with a loud bang. Asher and Noah hadn’t left after all. Seeing what I was doing, Asher’s eyes widened in fury. “You bitch!” A vicious slap sent me flying, my body crashing hard against a cabinet. Isla was crying pitifully, clutching her bruised forehead. “Don’t hit her,” she trembled. “It’s okay. Let her get her anger out.” Noah burst into tears. “Auntie Isla, you’re too kind! Your head is bleeding, and you’re still defending that awful woman!” “It doesn’t hurt,” Isla said softly, like a true mother. “It’s my fault. I made your mom angry.” But then, her expression changed. She clutched her stomach. “Ah, the pain! Asher, our baby… I think…” Asher’s face went white. He swept Isla into his arms and shot me a look of pure loathing. “Be gone before we get back. If anything happens to Isla’s baby, you’ll pay with your life.” The door slammed shut, and they were gone. They never noticed the small knife embedded in my abdomen, or the growing pool of blood beneath me. Isla had stabbed me during our struggle. My face was pale as I glanced at the time. Six hours left. Then I would disappear. I just had to hold on. My legs were weak as I fumbled for some gauze, tying it tightly around the wound to stop the bleeding. But as I used the wall to pull myself up, I fainted again. I don’t know how much time passed before Asher’s deep voice woke me. “What are you doing?! Why is there so much blood? Are you trying to kill yourself for attention?” “No… my stomach… I was…” Before I could finish, Asher hauled me to my feet, dragging me out of the room like a dog. “Isla’s in trouble. She needs a blood transfusion, and she said you have the same blood type. Let’s go.” My legs could barely hold me, and a cold sweat drenched my forehead from the pain, but I pushed against him with all my might. “I’m not going!” Asher stopped, his eyes filled with disgust. “It’s a matter of life and death. You don’t have a choice!” Ignoring my screams, he took out a rope and tied my hands tightly. The pressure made my wound bleed afresh. Noah’s face paled. He saw the begging in my eyes, hesitated for a second, then quickly looked away. In that instant, my heart turned to ash. As they pushed me towards the operating room, Asher grabbed my hand. “Sera, help me this one time, and I’ll do anything you ask after this. Be good. I’ll be waiting for you when you get out.” A tear slid from the corner of my eye. I stopped struggling. Inside the operating room, Isla stood waiting, a smug smile on her face. She didn’t look like she’d been injured at all. A chill shot up my spine. She spoke slowly, her hands running over my body with satisfaction. “I didn’t bring you here for a transfusion. I brought you here to give my mother a new kidney.” “If you want to blame someone, blame your own bad luck. And your stupidity.” Just then, a doctor exclaimed, “Miss, one of her kidneys is failing.” Isla frowned for a moment, then shrugged it off with a smile. “Then take the other one.” “But… she’ll die.” “So what? She brought this on herself.” Isla commanded coldly, “Get it done. Now.” My body was tense, my bound hands frantically working a tiny nail clipper against the ropes. Faster, faster. The surgeon raised a scalpel, poising it over my stomach. Just as he was about to make the cut, my ropes fell away. I lunged for the door. Isla’s face contorted in fury. “Stop her!” she shrieked. “Kill her if you have to, but don’t let her get out!” In that life-or-death moment, a primal survival instinct kicked in. I kicked the doctor over and threw open the operating room doors. The next second, a searing pain erupted in my back. I fell to my knees, and in the last moment before my eyes closed, I saw Asher and Noah, their faces masks of horror, screaming my name.
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