Chapter 1Time Knows I Loved You, and Always Have

After just eight hours on a train, I woke to a world fifteen years in the future. My wife, who once sold trinkets on the street, was now CEO of the Astra Group. Yet, I couldn't call her. Because on the day I boarded that train—our anniversary—I saw her with her first love.

“Your parents passed away ten years ago,” an officer said gently. Passed away? I’d just spoken to them yesterday.

Swallowing my grief, I gave him her number. “The number is no longer in service,” he said, pity in his eyes.

Then I leapt up, pointing at a skyscraper’s digital billboard. “That’s my wife! She can come for me!”

The entire station fell silent, every officer staring at me.

* * *

It was a story straight out of science fiction, but staring at the bustling police precinct and the forest of gleaming towers outside, I had to accept the impossible truth. Me, and everyone else on that train, had traveled through time.

“Is it… is it really 2025?” I asked, my voice trembling.

“Yes, sir. It’s October 1st, 2025.” The young officer handling my case looked at me with a profound sense of sympathy.

My eyes scanned the chaotic room. There were over three hundred of us from that train, all being processed, all giving statements. At first, none of us believed the police, just as they hadn’t believed us. We all looked the same as when we’d boarded. How could a single night have stolen fifteen years?

But the proof was undeniable—the futuristic IDs, the technology that was like something out of a movie. We had no choice but to accept reality.

“So, besides your parents, is there anyone else we can call to come pick you up?”

On the verge of a complete breakdown, I’d instinctively recited Ava’s number. The moment it left my lips, I regretted it. The woman who had promised to love me for a lifetime had already betrayed our marriage.

“I’m sorry, the number you have dialed is no longer in service…”

No longer in service. Of course. She must have disconnected it, started a new life with Ethan.

A sharp, unexpected pain seized my heart, a brutal ache that stole my breath. In this time, a person could be declared legally dead after being missing for three years, their spouse free to remarry. I’d been gone for fifteen.

“Sir, if there’s really no one who can come for you, we’ll have to…”

“Her! She can get me!” I shouted, pointing at the hundred-foot screen outside.

Ava was up there, wrapped in an elegant white dress. The faint scar on her forehead was still visible—a souvenir from our junior year of high school, when she’d taken a beer bottle to the head protecting me from some punks.

Back then, she was a firecracker, a tomboy with a chip on her shoulder who radiated a “don’t mess with me” aura. She was gloriously chaotic, and besides me, no guy could get near her. The woman on that screen, poised and graceful, was like a different person entirely.

I suppose this new Ava was a better match for Ethan. The hell-raiser finally tamed by her cool, unattainable dream guy.

But why the hell did that make me, the husband, feel like the other man?

That’s why I refused to call anyone else. I wanted Ava to come. I wanted to crash into their perfect life, to be a thorn in their side, to make them as sick as they’d made me. They had let me bask in the warm glow of a happy marriage, only to force me to watch it all burn down.

“Are you… are you sure, sir?” the officer asked, his voice laced with concern.

At the same time, a hush fell over the precinct. Every officer paused, their gazes fixed on me. I saw it all in their eyes: mockery, disbelief, and a flicker of envy.

It confirmed my suspicion. Ava hadn’t just done well for herself; she was a titan. You don’t get your face on a screen that big unless you own the damn city.

“I’m sure,” I said, my voice firm. “The day I got on that train, she was my legal wife.”

My certainty was enough. The officer got to work. Getting in touch with this new, powerful Ava wasn’t easy. It took a flurry of calls, supervisors, and an entire hour before a connection was finally made. But the voice on the other end wasn’t hers.