Chapter 1The Perfect Boyfriend's Perfect Scam

While scrolling through Twitter late one night, I stumbled across a girl's post gushing about her sweet love story with her boyfriend.

But as I read it, something felt terribly wrong.

The guy she was describing in the post... why did he sound exactly like my boyfriend?!

* * *

Late at night, while scrolling through a popular relationship confession account on Twitter, I saw a girl's submission about her romance.

The post was dripping with sickeningly sweet details. She bragged about how her boyfriend, despite being broke, was incredibly considerate. He would rub her stomach when she had cramps, remember every single anniversary and holiday, and constantly cook different meals for her...

The comments below were a chorus of people whining about how single they were, complaining about getting hit in the face with this "cold, hard dog food" (PDA).

As I read, the corners of my mouth couldn't help but curve up.

Because my boyfriend, Ethan, was exactly like that.

Even though he didn't have much money, he was incredibly honest, kind, and driven. And he treated me incredibly well.

But as I kept reading, a chilling sense of wrongness crept over me.

Not only did the guy in the post share an uncanny personality resemblance with Ethan, but his height, weight, age, zodiac sign, and even his hometown were exactly the same.

This was way too much of a coincidence, wasn't it?!

I turned my head to look at Ethan sleeping next to me, my heart sinking like a stone.

It's impossible, I comforted myself. Ethan would never cheat on me.

But for some inexplicable reason, my chest tightened with panic.

If I didn't investigate this tonight, there was no way I was going to sleep.

I carefully reached over and took Ethan's phone. He never hid his passcode from me; he always let me look whenever I wanted.

It was the same this time. I scoured every single app and couldn't find a single suspicious thing.

I let out a sigh of relief, silently cursing myself for being paranoid. How could there possibly be such a coincidence?

Just as I was about to put the phone down and go back to sleep, I suddenly remembered that Ethan had borrowed my car yesterday.

When I asked him why, he said he had to go to the office for some overtime...

Driven by a ghost of a suspicion, I slipped out of bed, went to the bathroom, and pulled up the dashcam app on my phone.

I never checked my dashcam footage. But the moment I opened the log, my heart stopped.

All the previous footage had been completely wiped clean. The only recordings left were from yesterday.

Only Ethan had access to my phone. If the footage was wiped, he was the only one who could have done it.

But why would he need to delete the recordings?!

I took a deep breath and opened the only remaining footage from yesterday.

He had been exhausted today and passed out the second his head hit the pillow. He probably just hadn't had the chance to delete today's footage yet. I clicked on yesterday's date.

The fluorescent light in the bathroom was so bright it made my head spin.

I stood there in dead silence, watching the progress bar slowly move forward. After a short while, the car pulled into a residential complex I didn't recognize.

Then, the car parked in front of an apartment building, and the sound of the car door shutting echoed through the speaker.

No one spoke in the car, but almost immediately, the unmistakable sound of kissing filled the audio.

Then, a woman laughed coquettishly and said:

"When are you going to get the rest of the money?"

I froze.

That voice was so familiar. Wasn't that my coworker, Rachel?

Why was she in my car?

Ethan's voice rang out next:

"Soon! I just hit her up for another $15,000 yesterday. Combined with the $10,000 from before, we've already got half of it.

"I'll make up another excuse in a few days. I'll tell her the business went under and I lost everything, and ask her to give me more... Who knows, maybe your future husband can squeeze enough out of her to buy you a house too!"

Ethan slapped Rachel affectionately, judging by the sound, and laughed:

"We'll buy you that house in Oakwood Estates you love so much!"

Rachel scoffed playfully.

"She's so stupid and so obsessed with you, of course she'll give it to you!

"Chloe has the best background in our entire company. I heard her uncle is the director of the City Planning Bureau. You better not let this catch slip away!"

Rachel's tone then softened completely:

"Hubby, you've really suffered for us. If my parents weren't demanding a $50,000 dowry for my brother, you wouldn't have had to go seduce her..."

Ethan chuckled.

"She just got lucky being born into money, right? What does a woman need all that cash for anyway? She might as well let us spend it!

"I heard her dad is planning to buy her a house soon. God knows how much dirty money that old bastard has embezzled. When the time comes, I'll convince her to put my name on the deed, and then it'll all belong to us!"

I was paralyzed. I stood rooted to the spot, staring blankly at my phone screen.

Rachel was a coworker at my company.

When I first joined, she found out I was single and very enthusiastically introduced Ethan to me.

And I fell for him at first sight. We got together very quickly.

My hands were trembling so violently I could barely hold the phone. A freezing chill swept through my entire body.

Ethan and Rachel's voices echoed in my head like a demonic chant.

It turned out that beneath the skin of the honest, driven, and considerate man I thought I knew lay an entirely different, monstrous face.

My supposed "love at first sight" was nothing more than a calculated approach designed to steal my family's wealth.

Ethan only got together with me to scam me out of my money, all to satisfy the exorbitant dowry Rachel's family was demanding for her brother.

This was absolute, complete bullshit!

I collapsed onto the bathroom tiles, covering my burning, stinging eyes. Tears of pure, unadulterated humiliation streamed down my face.

Ethan and I were already talking about marriage. I genuinely thought he was a gift from God, a man perfectly tailored for me.

My parents had already started preparing my wedding fund.

They were very satisfied with Ethan and planned to give me a $30,000 cash gift and buy him a car.

But now...

I stared at the ceiling, my brain a chaotic, spiraling mess.

Just as I was paralyzed with shock and betrayal, the faint sound of footsteps came from outside the door. Ethan was up.

I instantly swiped away the app and stood up to splash cold water on my face.

Ethan pushed the door open, wrapping his arms around me from behind, his voice dripping with gentle concern.

"Why are you up washing your face in the middle of the night?"

I stared at him intently through the mirror.

I used to think heaven had taken pity on me, sending me such a perfect man.

I never imagined it was all an elaborate, malicious scam.

These two disgusting grifters had set this vicious trap just to drain my bank accounts!

And Rachel had the sheer, unmitigated audacity to go brag about it on Twitter!

The handsome face I once thought was flawless now looked twisted and repulsive.

I clenched my fists, a venomous hatred blooming in my chest.

These two pieces of trash. I was going to make them pay for this!

...

"What's wrong?" Ethan noticed my expression change, his face immediately shifting to concern.

He pressed the back of his hand against my forehead, looking incredibly worried:

"Do you have a fever?"

It took every ounce of strength in my body to suppress the urge to turn around and slap the life out of him. I forced a strained smile.

"I'm fine. It's just too hot, I was sweating and felt gross."

"Let me feel, are you really that sweaty?" Ethan laughed, slipping his hand under my shirt.

This absolute animal! Trying to steal my money and use my body!

I gritted my teeth so hard my jaw ached. I grabbed his hand, brushing him off dismissively:

"I don't feel well."

"...Okay then," he muttered, clearly disappointed. He pulled me out of the bathroom and back into bed.

Ethan lay next to me and was asleep again in minutes.

I, however, stared at the pitch-black ceiling, fury boiling in my veins.

I wasn't going to let them get away with this!