Chapter 1
When I received the email, my husband was downstairs celebrating his promotion, while I was upstairs reviewing a contract for him.
There was only one sentence in the email:
"Mom, if you still love me, leave Dad."
The sender was—
Sophie Carter, your daughter from ten years in the future.
I stared at the computer screen for three whole minutes.
Half the lights in the office were already turned off.
The coffee on my desk had gone completely cold, but I didn't reach for it.
Because the timestamp on the email made it impossible to convince myself this was just a prank.
2036.
Exactly ten years from now.
And the sender's name was indeed my daughter's.
Sophie.
My Sophie.
I clicked on the attachment.
A video began to play.
The girl on the screen was sitting in an unfamiliar room. She looked about seventeen, her hair loosely tied back, her eyes red as if she had just cried.
But I recognized her instantly.
That was my daughter.
There was a faint scar at the outer edge of her left eyebrow.
Left there when she fell off her bike at five years old.
I remembered it vividly.
Daniel was in an important meeting that day, so I ran to the hospital alone, cradling a crying Sophie.
The doctor said the cut wasn't deep, but she clung to my clothes and cried the entire way.
When Daniel finally came home, he only asked one thing:
"Who bought that bike?"
He didn't ask if Sophie was in pain.
He didn't ask if I was tired.
Back then, I still made excuses for him.
He said men handle family pressure differently than women.
I didn't know when I had started making a habit of rationalizing things for him.
In the video, Sophie looked into the camera, her voice trembling.
"Mom, if you're watching this, it means I successfully sent it back."
My hand on the mouse froze.
"I don't know if this will change the past, or if you'll even believe me."
She looked down to wipe away a tear.
"But I have to tell you—whatever you do, do not sign that divorce agreement."
My breath caught.
Divorce agreement?
Before I could process her words, my phone suddenly rang.
The screen read:
Daniel.
My husband.
I glanced at Sophie on the computer and pressed pause.
The video froze on her tear-streaked face.
I answered.
"Emily, why aren't you home yet?"
Daniel's voice was as gentle as always.
For the past seventeen years, his voice had been my favorite sound.
The year I graduated from college, I turned down an offer from a top law firm in New York to stay in our hometown and help him start his business.
All my friends said I was crazy.
They said a brilliant law graduate shouldn't throw away her future for love.
Back then, Daniel held my hand and told me:
"Emily, once I make it, I'll give you the best life in the world."
I believed him.
And he did succeed.
His company went public, and he became the golden boy of the media.
While I became the woman standing behind him.
Giving up my legal career, raising our child, and managing the household.
Every time someone asked why I didn't work anymore, I would smile and say:
"Daniel needs a stable home."
Looking back now, I didn't even know if I was comforting others or trying to convince myself.
"Emily?"
Daniel called my name.
I snapped out of it.
"I'm still at the office."
"Didn't we agree to have dinner together tonight?"
His tone carried a hint of blame.
"Vanessa and the board members are already here. Everyone is waiting for you."
Vanessa.
Hearing that name, I looked at the paused video.
Future Sophie had just said:
Do not sign the divorce agreement.
I gripped my phone tighter.
"Daniel, did you invite Vanessa tonight?"
There was a one-second pause on the other end of the line.
Extremely brief.
So brief that if I didn't know what I was about to lose, I probably wouldn't have even noticed it.
"She's a key executive of the company, why wouldn't she be here?"
His answer was perfectly natural.
"Emily, what's wrong with you today?"
I didn't answer.
Because I suddenly remembered all the details I had ignored over the past six months.
Daniel had started working late constantly.
He changed his phone passcode.
He stopped leaving his phone outside the bathroom when he showered.
He said the company had a lot of young employees, telling me not to be so paranoid.
And Vanessa was the VP he had personally hired three months ago.
A twenty-nine-year-old woman.
Beautiful, sharp, and vibrant.
The first time she met me, she held my hand and smiled.
"Emily, you're so lucky. Daniel talks about you at the office all the time."
At the time, I thought she was just sweet.
Thinking back now, she was telling the truth.
Daniel did talk about me often.
He talked about the wife who gave up her career for him, the one who would always stand behind him.
Someone easily replaced.
"Emily, are you even listening to me?"
Daniel interrupted my thoughts.
I stared at the computer screen.
In that paused video, future Sophie was still waiting for me.
Suddenly, I asked:
"Daniel, what would you do if one day you found out I wasn't the same Emily anymore?"
A chuckle came from the other end of the line.
"What are you overthinking now?"
His tone was light.
"You're you."
"No matter what happens, you will always be on my side."
Those words made my chest tighten.
Because for the past seventeen years, I really had always been on his side.
When the company was short on funds, I took out the savings my parents left me.
When his business failed, I stood by him as we started over.
When he was busy with his career, I raised Sophie on my own.
Even when Sophie asked me:
"Mom, why are you always waiting for Dad to come home?"
I would only smile and tell her:
"Because Dad works very hard."
But my future daughter was telling me otherwise.
She was telling me to leave him.
I hung up and hit play on the video again.
Sophie looked into the camera, almost as if she knew exactly what I had just gone through.
"Mom, I know you must be so confused right now."
"You'll think Dad is just tired. You'll think Vanessa is just a normal colleague."
She took a deep breath.
"Because I used to think so, too."
My hands slowly clenched.
The video continued.
"Until my eighteenth birthday, when I overheard Dad and Vanessa talking."
"Mom, you think Dad is ruining your marriage."
"But what you don't know is that he is ruining your entire life."
My heart began to race.
"Ten years ago, the day you signed that divorce agreement..."
Sophie paused.
Her tears spilled over.
"...was also the day you lost everything."
Suddenly, the screen flickered.
Video playback failed.
I immediately clicked play.
No response.
I refreshed the email.
The attachment was gone.
Even the email itself had vanished without a trace.
The computer screen reverted to a normal, empty inbox.
As if none of it had ever existed.
But then, my phone buzzed with a new text message.
From an unknown number.
Just one sentence.
"Mom, you only have seven days."
Beneath it was a photo.
I tapped it open.
In the photo, Daniel was standing at the airport terminal exit.
Standing next to him was Vanessa.
And Vanessa's hand was resting gently on her baby bump.
I stared at the photo, only one thought echoing in my mind.
What exactly was my husband keeping from me?