Chapter 2

Eva POV:

Three days. That was all I had left. The life support from the simulation, the one I'd fought tooth and nail to survive, the one that had stolen five years of my life, was running out. Three days. And Derek, the man I' d clung to like a prayer in that digital hell, just sealed my tomb.

In that "parallel reality," that twisted survival game, I had faced unspeakable horrors. I had seen friends die, battled monstrous creatures, and endured starvation, all while holding onto the memory of Derek. He was my anchor, my reason. I had refused every temptation, every opportunity to escape the game by betraying my loyalty to him. I was a queen, a warrior, a lover in that world, but I was always Eva, Derek's Eva.

I' d even purposely failed the final mission, risking my "life" in the simulation, just to trigger the emergency exit protocol. Because the game promised a return to my reality, to him. And I knew, with every fiber of my being, that my life support, the actual medical equipment sustaining me in the real world, would expire in exactly seventy-two hours. I needed to get back. I needed to see him one last time.

The dust settled, gritty and metallic in my mouth. My lungs burned. My broken ankle throbbed, a dull, insistent ache that threatened to pull me back into the blackness. But I pushed through it. I had to.

I dragged myself up, leaning heavily against the newly formed rockslide. My voice rasped, raw and broken.

"Derek! Why?" My throat was on fire. "Why would you do this? Five years! You promised to search for five years! You swore you'd never give up on me!"

He didn't move. His gaze was fixed somewhere beyond me, his jaw clenched so tight it looked like it might shatter.

"Help me, Derek. Please. I only have three days left. The life support... it's failing." My voice cracked. I watched his face for any flicker of recognition, any sign that the man I loved was still in there.

Silence. Heavy, suffocating silence.

Then, his hand moved again. This time, it reached behind him, finding another hand. A woman' s hand. Small, delicate, resting possessively in his.

My breath hitched. My eyes, still blurry from tears and debris, focused. Standing just behind Derek, half-hidden by his broad frame, was a woman. She was pale, her features soft, almost childlike. And then I recognized her. Casey. My former lab assistant.

Casey, the timid junior, clinging to Derek as if her life depended on it.

Derek squeezed her hand, his knuckles white. His eyes, when they finally met mine, were cold, distant.

"I can't, Eva," he said, his voice flat. No emotion. No regret. Just a stark, brutal finality.

My gaze dropped, drawn by an almost imperceptible swelling beneath Casey's loose-fitting blouse. A faint roundness. A baby bump.

My stomach churned. The world tilted.

Casey whimpered, her gaze darting between me and Derek. Her eyes welled up, big and innocent. "Eva," she whispered, her voice trembling. "How could you? Why now?"

She looked at me, then at Derek, then back at me, her eyes brimming with tears. "You always did this, Eva. Always. You always tried to ruin everything for me."

My head reeled. "Ruin what?" I managed to croak.

"My career, my reputation," she sobbed, grabbing Derek's arm, burying her face into his shoulder. Her voice was muffled, but clear enough. "You stole my research proposal, claimed it as your own. You took my spot on the deep-sea mission that should have been mine. And now... now you come back to take my family, my children, the father of my children?"

She pulled back, her eyes blazing with an artificial fury, clutching her belly protectively. "I have a three-year-old, Eva! Our son! And another baby on the way! What kind of monster are you, to come back now and destroy everything?"

Derek looked at Casey, his expression softening. He pulled her closer, stroking her hair. He turned to me, his face hardened by a contempt that felt colder than the deepest ocean.

"I knew it, Eva," he said, his voice laced with disgust. "I knew you were always cruel to Casey. I tried to warn you. But you never listened. You always thought you were above everyone else."

He looked at Casey's belly, then back at me. His voice dropped, low and menacing. "I won't let you hurt her, Eva. Not again. Not ever."

He squeezed Casey's hand again, then looked at the sealed cave entrance. "Wait three days," he repeated, his voice devoid of any real remorse. "Just three days. Our wedding is on Saturday. After that, I'll come back. And we can talk."

He bent down, gently kissing Casey's forehead, then her lips. A long, tender kiss. A kiss that stole the last breath from my lungs. My legs felt like lead, rooted to the spot. I couldn't move. I couldn't scream. I couldn't even blink.