Chapter 1

The last thing I saw was the gray, unforgiving concrete of the Queensboro Bridge rushing up to meet me. The last thing I heard was the online chorus of hate, a digital lynch mob led by Madison Clark. They called me a fraud, a plagiarist, a nobody from Queens who tried to steal from a genius.

My name is Chloe Evans, C.C. to my friends. I was a filmmaker. My short films, gritty and real, had a small but loyal following. They were my life. Until Madison, the newly discovered heiress to the Clark fortune, posted crude, unfinished versions of my work online, always exactly three days before my official releases.

She did the same to my friends. Leo Martinez, a musician from Brooklyn whose lyrics could break your heart, had his career destroyed. Anya Sharma, a street photographer who saw the soul of the city, was ruined.

The lawsuits bankrupted me. The hate broke me. So I jumped.

But I didn't hit the water.

I woke up with a gasp, my hands clutching the sheets of my bed in my small Queens apartment. The air was thick with the smell of old pizza and ambition. I looked at my laptop. The screen was open to the Sundance Film Festival submission page. My breakthrough film, "Asphalt Bloom," was ready to upload. The deadline was midnight.

The date on the screen sent a cold shock through my body. It was the day before it all started. The day before I submitted the film that would lead to my ruin.

My first life wasn't a dream. It was a warning.

Without a second thought, I moved the cursor and clicked "Withdraw Submission." The confirmation box popped up. I clicked "Yes." A wave of relief washed over me, so intense it made me dizzy.

Then, a new feeling. A strange, prickling sensation at the back of my mind. It was a voice, but not a voice. A thought, but not my own.

System, confirm upload of "Asphalt Bloom" concept storyboard to Obscure-Art-Forum dot net.

The thought was clear, precise, and laced with an arrogant confidence. It wasn't mine. It was Madison Clark's. I knew it in my bones.

Confirmation complete, Madison. Posted under username "TrueGenius22." Timestamp is three days prior to the original Sundance deadline.

My blood ran cold. She was doing it again. Right now. But this time, I could hear her. I could hear the cheat.

I scrambled out of bed, my fingers flying across the keyboard. I found the forum. And there it was. A pathetic, low-quality storyboard version of my film, my soul, posted by "TrueGenius22."

The trap was already set. But this time, I wasn't walking into it.

This time, I was going to burn it all down.