Chapter 1The Wrong Road to a Perfect Revenge

I was poking my son’s chubby cheeks, the smell of blueberry pancakes still lingering in the kitchen, when I asked that cliché, hypothetical question.

"Hey, Mark? If the car went into a lake and you could only pull one of us out—me or the kid—who’s it gonna be?"

Mark didn’t even look up from his coffee. "You. Always you."

Our son, Toby, puffed out his chest. I expected a toddler tantrum, but he just looked at me with those big, serious eyes. "It’s okay, Mommy. I’m a good swimmer. I’ll save you myself."

Three hours later, the world fell apart.

A massive landslide had sheared off the side of the mountain pass. I wasn’t just a wife then; I was the lead emergency transport driver for the county’s Search and Rescue team. I was the first responder on the scene.

Mark’s voice came through my headset, a jagged, hysterical wreck of a sound. "The West Road, Nora! Toby is on the West Road! The car... it’s hanging off the ridge! Get to the West Road!"

My heart hammered against my ribs like a trapped bird. I slammed the steering wheel hard to the left, tires screaming against the asphalt.

But then, something impossible happened.

Translucent lines of text began flickering across my vision, glowing like a HUD in a fighter jet, scrolling over the windshield.

[God, she has no idea she’s being played.]

[The kid trapped on the West Road is his mistress’s son. If Nora goes West, Toby is going to die waiting on the East Road.]

[The worst part? After she saves the other kid, Mark is going to report her for ‘maliciously’ taking the wrong route. She’ll believe it was her fault. She’ll jump from the hospital roof in three days.]

[And Mark? He marries the mistress. The kid she saves grows up to be a millionaire while Toby’s grave stays cold.]

I stared at the flickering text, my breath hitching. Mark was still screaming in my ear: "WEST ROAD! NORA, PLEASE!"

I hesitated. Just for a heartbeat.

Then, I yanked the wheel back. Hard.