My husband was "gamed" when he was younger. After the Gamer girl left, he was heartbroken and married me. But ten years later, she came back. My husband didn't hesitate to abandon me and our daughter to go back to her. I didn't cry. I didn't make a scene. In fact, I was relieved. Because I had been gamed, too. And the man who gamed me? He's my daughter's real father. Now, he's back. 1 The day Liam handed me the divorce papers, I wasn’t surprised. "Chloe and I were apart for ten years. Now she's back, and I... I don't have a choice." His voice was flat. "Sign this. You and Mia get everything—the house, the portfolio, all of it. For the last ten years... I don't think you can say it was a bad deal." Chloe, who had been smiling serenely at his side, suddenly frowned. "Everything? Liam, what are you talking about?" She was indignant. "You're one of the biggest actors in the world! She’s just some physicist, how much could she possibly make? You're literally giving away a decade's worth of your earnings!" Liam looked at her, his gaze heavy. I caught the briefest flash of exhaustion, of irony, before it was masked by something more complex. "You have me. Isn't that enough? "She was the one here for the last ten years. Where were you? This... this is what I owe her." The mention of that lost decade made Chloe shrink, just a little. Chloe is a Gamer. Ten years ago, she completed her "quest"—Liam—and chose to "exit" the world. Liam had a complete breakdown. He begged, he pleaded, he humiliated himself trying to make her stay. But she left, tossing off a casual, "You're just an NPC, you idiot. The whole point of 'gaining affinity' was to leave." Liam didn't believe her. He waited three years. In the fourth year, his hope finally shattered. His parents, desperate, set him up with me. The following year, our daughter, Mia, was born. I always knew he had a ghost in his heart, someone he could never forget. I just never thought she'd actually come back. Three days ago, Chloe returned. All it took was a single "I had my reasons," and Liam was ready to burn his entire life down to be with her again. "Fine... I guess she got lucky," Chloe muttered, pouting. "Consider it her paycheck for babysitting you all these years." A small, sharp pain went through my chest. Chloe had it backward. If anything, he was the one who took care of me. My research is all-consuming. Once I'm deep in a problem, the world outside fades. When Liam wasn't on set, he was the one holding our life together. He made sure I ate. He made our house a home. He was my anchor. But none of that mattered now. "Fine. I'll sign." I picked up the pen and signed my name—Sarah Jensen—on both copies. It was done. Liam was quiet, watching me with a heavy expression. "Sarah..." His voice was rough. "Take care of yourself." I didn't want to answer. I just wanted to get out of that room. But as I turned to leave, Chloe's voice, sharp with sudden interest, stopped me. "Wait. Sarah? Sarah Jensen? How do you spell that?" She snatched the agreement from Liam's hand, her eyes locking onto my signature. "Ha. I knew it." She looked up, her eyes dancing with a malicious, playful glint. "If I'm not mistaken... you know Ethan Cole, don't you?" Ethan Cole. The name hit me like a physical blow. The air punched out of my lungs. A cold shock raced up my spine, and my fingers started to tremble. Liam saw it instantly. His brow furrowed. "Who's Ethan Cole?" Chloe laughed, a smug, knowing sound. "Oh, Liam, don't worry about your ex-wife. Let's just say, Ethan Cole is to her what I am to you. He's the one who got under her skin. The one she could never, ever forget." She turned that cruel, bright gaze back to me, savoring every word. "And I thought you should know... "He's coming back, too." The instant she said it, Liam's head snapped toward me, his eyes wide with a new, sudden panic. His face darkened, a storm cloud passing over his features. 2 Ethan Cole was coming back. The news left me reeling, but I couldn't fall apart. Mia was waiting for me. I pulled myself together and got to her school just as the final bell rang. Mia came flying out, a little butterfly headed straight for me. Halfway across the lawn, she stopped. A group of moms was huddled by the gate, glued to their phones. "Oh my god, did you see? Liam Asher just posted!" "It's insane! They're saying it's his 'one true love' he lost years ago!" "Wait, I thought he was married? I read somewhere his wife was, like, a Nobel-track scientist?" "Please, that was just some rumor. This is official. Look at the picture, they're so romantic!" They were all fawning over the post—a black-and-white photo, artfully shot. A man's hand, strong and familiar, was clasped around a woman's, her nails perfect, blood-red. The caption: True love always finds its way back. In the seven years we were married, Liam had never once acknowledged my existence in public. Mia stood frozen for a moment, then slowly walked over, her face tilted up at me. "Mommy," she asked, her voice very small. "Does this mean... Daddy's not coming home for a while?" My heart felt like it was being squeezed in a vise. I knelt and pulled her tiny body into a hug. "Daddy has... a lot of work to do right now. But he'll come see you as soon as he can." Mia was quiet in my arms, processing. Then she nodded, her small face serious. "It's okay, Mommy." She pulled back, her eyes clear and frighteningly perceptive. "From now on, whoever is nice to you is my Daddy." My heart just broke. She's too smart, too aware. Maybe she sensed it the moment Liam brought Chloe to the house three days ago. The sky, which had been clear, suddenly darkened. A low rumble of thunder. Fat raindrops began to spatter the pavement. I scooped Mia into my arms, looking around for shelter. Just then, a black umbrella opened above our heads. The chaotic sound of the rain instantly muted to a dull, rhythmic drumming. I looked up. Through the curtain of rain, I met his eyes. Eyes I hadn't seen in seven years. A face that was seared into my memory. Ethan. 3 Chloe said he was coming back. She didn't say today. He stood there, holding the umbrella, his voice rougher than I remembered. "Sarah. Long time, no see." I just stared, lost in a flashback. Mia tugged on my shirt. "Mommy, who is this man?" Ethan's gaze dropped to her. He crouched down, and a smile—that devastating, familiar smile—spread across his face. "I'm an old friend of your mom's. You must be Mia, right? How old are you?" Before I could stop her, Mia answered in her clear, proud voice. "I'm six!" "Six..." The smile on Ethan's face froze. He studied her, really studied her. He looked at her eyes—his eyes, with that slight upward tilt at the corners. He looked at the bridge of her nose, at the tiny, faint freckle there, identical to his own. His head snapped up, his eyes wide with a dawning, horrified realization. "When I left... were you already pregnant?" 4 I couldn't deny it. Mia looks nothing like Liam. She is Ethan's mirror image. Just like Chloe, Ethan was a Player from another world. His target... was me. In college, I was the definition of a nerd. Awkward, quiet, buried in textbooks. Ethan was my polar opposite. He was fire, and he seemed hell-bent on melting my ice. For two years, he pursued me in a relentless, campus-wide campaign. He brought me coffee in the library, he was the first one to defend me when a TA belittled my research, he took me to my first concert, he sat under the stars and played terribly-tuned guitar for me... All of my firsts were with him. If Chloe was Liam's "perfect memory," Ethan was my sun. I thought we had forever. Until that night on the beach, seven years ago. He got down on one knee, holding a ring. The second I whispered "Yes"... A shimmering, blue-green tear appeared in the air behind him. An eye opening in reality. He told me his mission was complete. He was going home. "What about me?" I was never a crier, never hysterical, but the tears were choking me. His face tightened. He looked... pained, but his resolve was steel. "I'm sorry, Sarah. You're just an NPC." Just an NPC. Then why did my heart feel like it was being physically ripped in half? I lunged for him, tried to grab him, to follow him into that... thing. But the Rift was only open for a second. He stepped through, and it snapped shut, winking out of existence. Leaving me alone on the beach. He was gone. A few weeks later, I found out I was pregnant. My parents, thinking I was just suffering from a bad breakup, introduced me to their friend's son, Liam Asher. Back then, he was just a struggling actor. He'd waited three years for Chloe and had finally given up. He was a wreck. I was a wreck. Two broken people, clinging to each other in the cold. We got married. Mia was born. We raised her together. We poured ourselves into our careers. Life... moved on. But for me, that feeling—of being used, of being discarded—never went away. Sometimes I'd look at Mia and wonder if I'd imagined him. But her face was a constant, living reminder. "I'm sorry, I didn't know..." Ethan was pale, his eyes wide with panic and regret. "I... I had to leave. I had family back in my world, I..." He was rambling, trying to explain. "I've been thinking about you every single day. I've been trying to get back, but there was no way. "Then... the System reopened. It gave 'returners' a chance to come back, to... to choose again. I took it. I came back immediately." He stepped toward me, his eyes red-rimmed, trying to take my hand. "Sarah, I don't want to lose you again. And now... a child. Our child. You're already divorced from Liam, so maybe we could..." I snatched my hand away before he could touch me. "What is wrong with you Players?" My voice was low, colder than the rain. "Is this some kind of group tour? "You come and go as you please. You break things, you break people, and then you just... show up again? "A 'good reason'? A flimsy 'I regret it'? Do you think that erases seven years of damage?" I looked him dead in the eye. "Ethan, what in God's name makes you think I'd still be standing here, waiting for you?"
? Continue the story here ?? ? Download the "MotoNovel" app ? search for "385741", and watch the full series ✨! #MotoNovel