Three Lives With My Murderous Boyfriend

My online boyfriend of three years wants to finally meet me in person. In my first life, I refuse. I tell him I'm not mentally ready yet. He sends me a smiley face and says, "It's okay." That night, he breaks into my apartment, ties me to a chair, and strangles me to death. "You don't even have the courage to meet me. I knew you were seeing another man behind my back." In my second life, I learn from my mistake. I dress carefully and show up right on time. He studies me gently for a moment, then suddenly throws a cup of scalding coffee in my face. "A woman meeting a man she met online this late at night? You're cheap and far too easy." Then, claiming he's punishing an indecent woman, he drags me into an alley and brutally murders me. When I open my eyes again, I'm back at the exact moment he sends me the invitation to meet. My phone screen glows in the darkness. A message from him reads, "Baby, I'm downstairs. Come down and see me, okay?" Chapter 1 I stared at the message, my hands and feet going numb. In my first life, I turned the man down, and he strangled me to death after accusing me of cheating on him. In my second life, I said yes, only for him to drag me into an alley and stab me more than a dozen times. Saying yes would get me killed, and so would saying no. This time, I didn't reply. I immediately locked the door, shoved the dining table against it, then grabbed a kitchen knife and called the police. "Someone is trying to kill me. He's outside my apartment building right now." The dispatcher's tone immediately turned serious. "Who is he? Is he armed?" "His name is Caden Vane. He's my online boyfriend. He knows my exact address, and he has serious violent tendencies." "Have you ever met him in person?" I opened my mouth. I had. But that had been in my previous life. "No. But I have a photo of him." "Don't open the door. Officers are on their way." Every second of waiting seemed to stretch endlessly. I kept my eyes fixed on the front door, terrified that any moment, the lock would be forced open from the outside, just like it had been in my first life. Ten minutes later, there was finally a knock at the door. "Police. Please open the door." I didn't move right away. "Please hold your badges up to the peephole." Only after confirming their identities did I move the dining table aside. Two police officers and the building manager, Jack Marlon, were standing outside. Officer David Shaw, who was leading the response, took my phone and studied Caden's photo. "I've told security to watch the exits. You sure he's already here?" he asked. "I'm sure. He just sent me a message." The moment I finished speaking, my screen lit up again. The message read, "Baby, who's that man in uniform outside your door?" My blood ran cold. "He can see us!" David's expression changed. He immediately rushed toward the stairwell. The other officer knocked on my neighbor's door across the hall and checked the windows and balcony, while Jack contacted security and ordered them to block the parking garage exit. But after searching the entire floor, they found no one. More than ten minutes later, David returned from the stairwell. "We checked the roof, the stairwells, and the floors above and below. No one's there." "He must be hiding somewhere." "Let's check the security footage." They pulled up footage from the lobby, building entrance, elevators, and parking garage. There wasn't a single recording of Caden entering the complex from that afternoon until now. Jack frowned at me. "Miss, could he be messing with you? Someone you met online saying he's downstairs doesn't necessarily mean he actually is." "But he knew there was a police officer outside my door!" "You could've told him earlier." "I didn't!" David raised a hand, cutting us off. "Have you ever met him in person?" "I…" In my second life, I had seen his face clearly at the coffee shop. But in this life, we hadn't met offline yet. "No. We've only exchanged photos." "What about video calls?" "He always refuses. He says he doesn't look good on camera." Jack couldn't help muttering, "You've been together for three years, but you've never met him or even video-called? Are you sure that's actually him in the photo?" I wasn't in the mood to explain. I reached for my phone. "The messages are proof. Look at our chat history." But when I opened the conversation, both messages were gone. The most recent one was from half an hour ago. It read, "Baby, I'm kind of tired. I'm going to bed. Good night." I frantically refreshed the screen. "That's impossible! He just told me he was downstairs, and then he asked who the police officer outside my doorway was." I turned to David. "You had my phone the whole time. You saw it, didn't you?" David was silent for a few seconds. "I saw the screen light up, but I didn't read the message carefully." "But you ran to the stairwell because of that message!" "I went to check because you shouted that he could see us." A chill spread through my entire body. It was happening again. Something had clearly happened, yet there wasn't a single piece of evidence left behind. David handed my phone back. "Don't stay alone tonight. Stay with a friend, or have a family member come over." It couldn't be a man. In my first life, Caden had killed me because he was convinced I was seeing someone else behind his back. I immediately called my best friend, Brielle Damon. "Can you come pick up?" "What happened?" "Caden came looking for me. He might be somewhere in the complex." Brielle gasped. "Don't open the door. I'm calling the police right now." "The police are already here. Don't come out through the main entrance. Drive straight into the underground garage on Level B2. I'll get there." "Okay. Wait for me." 20 minutes later, Brielle called. "I'm here. By the elevators in Section B." David went downstairs first to make sure it was safe. A few minutes later, he called me. "Your friend's the only person in the car. You can come down." I didn't pack anything. Taking only my ID and phone, I stepped into the elevator. Just as it reached Level B2, my phone suddenly lit up on its own. Caden had sent me a photo. In it, Brielle was sitting behind the wheel, her head turned toward the elevator. The photo had been taken from less than six feet away. Beneath it was a single message. "Baby, what makes you think I won't be able to find you just because you're sleeping somewhere else tonight?" Chapter 2 "Brielle, lock the doors!" I rushed out of the elevator. Startled, Brielle immediately hit the central locking button. "What's wrong?" "Someone was just standing next to your car taking a picture!" The officer who had come down with me instantly searched the nearby cars and called security to block the garage exits. But even after searching for half an hour, they still couldn't find Caden. Brielle went pale after seeing the photo. "This was just taken. Even the charm hanging in my car is exactly the same." David pointed to the angle of the photo. "Whoever took this would've been standing right outside the passenger-side window. You didn't notice anything?" "No." Brielle's voice rose with panic. "I was watching the elevators the entire time. If someone had been standing right beside me, how could I not have seen them?" Jack pulled up the parking garage footage again. From the moment Brielle drove into the garage until the moment I stepped out of the elevator, no one had gone anywhere near her car. I handed my phone to David. "Now you believe me, right?" But the photo had disappeared again. The chat was empty. I'd had the foresight to take a screenshot, but when I opened my photo gallery, the screenshot was nothing but a black screen. Brielle gasped. "Could he have hacked your phone?" "He must have." I immediately turned off the phone, removed the SIM card, and snapped it in half, then handed the phone over to the police. "I can't take this with me. As long as I have this phone, he'll know where I am." Brielle looked at me. "Then, where are we going?" "The hospital." "The hospital?" "The ER lobby is staffed 24 hours a day, and there are security guards and cameras everywhere. Even if he wants to hurt me, he won't dare try anything in front of that many people." To make sure we weren't followed, I didn't take Brielle's car. Instead, the two of us rode in the police car. We didn't use GPS or contact anyone along the way. When we arrived at the hospital, I deliberately chose a seat in the middle of the ER waiting room. Patients and their families filled the seats around us, and two security guards were stationed by the entrance. Brielle gripped my hand tightly. "With this many people around, there's no way he'd come in here and kill you, right?" "I don't know." I'd seen Caden twice. But even now, I still had no idea how he'd gotten into my apartment the first time or how he'd found the alley behind the coffee shop the second time. By 1:00 am, half the people in the waiting room had left. Suddenly, a little girl with her hair in pigtails ran up to me and held out a paper cup. "Here, miss. This is for you." My entire body went rigid. In my second life, Caden had thrown scalding coffee in my face. "Who told you to give me this?" The girl pointed toward the entrance. "A man wearing a cap." I shot to my feet and ran outside. There were only a few ambulances parked out front. The man she'd described was nowhere to be seen. Brielle lifted the lid off the cup and suddenly cried out, "Maisie, look!" There was no coffee inside, only a coin heated red-hot, pinning down a note. It read, "Running off with strangers this late at night? You're still as easy as ever." Brielle's hands began to shake. "How the hell did he find us here? Did he follow the police car?" David arrived soon after receiving the call. He had officers pull the security footage from our entire route, but there hadn't been a single suspicious vehicle following the police car. "The hospital's cameras hadn't captured any man wearing a cap either. Even stranger, the footage showed the little girl sitting beside her mother the entire time. She had never come anywhere near us." After hearing what happened, the girl's mother immediately pulled her daughter behind her. "Don't scare my daughter. When did she ever bring you coffee?" "It was her! Just now!" The little girl burst into tears. "Mommy, I didn't! I don't know this lady." "The cup is still on the table." I spun around. The table was completely empty. The paper cup, the coin, and the note were all gone. I grabbed Brielle's hand. "You saw them, didn't you? You even read what was written on the note!" Everyone turned to look at her. Brielle's face was pale. Her lips moved a few times before she finally spoke, "I think I saw a cup, but what was inside it… I didn't get a good look." "You saw it perfectly clearly!" "Maisie, I was terrified. Maybe I just thought I saw it because you did." The way David looked at me gradually changed. "How have you been sleeping lately?" "You think I'm hallucinating?" "I'm only suggesting that you get checked out." "Brielle saw it too!" "She isn't certain about what she saw." I was about to argue when the phone at the ER reception desk suddenly rang. A nurse answered it. After listening for a few seconds, she looked over at us in confusion. "Is there a Maisie here?" My heart sank. The nurse held out the receiver. "A man is asking for you." I pressed the phone to my ear. Caden's gentle voice came through the line, "Baby, did you really think I couldn't hear you just because you stopped using your own phone?" Chapter 3 "Didn't you want to meet me?" I gripped the receiver tightly. "I'll meet you." Caden laughed. "Really?" "Tomorrow at 2:00 pm. The coffee shop where we were supposed to meet for the first time." "Baby, don't bring any other men with you this time." The call disconnected. David immediately had someone trace the call. But after checking the system, hospital staff told us the phone could only make internal calls. It couldn't receive calls from outside the hospital at all. There was no record of the call in the communications system either. I stared at the phone, a chill slowly settling over me. Caden wasn't following me. He was like an invisible pair of eyes, watching my every move. … The next afternoon, the police had officers in position around the coffee shop well in advance. They wouldn't let me show myself. Instead, they brought in a female officer with a similar build. She put on my coat and a face mask, then took a seat by the window. I stayed inside a surveillance van parked nearby. There were eight plainclothes officers positioned inside and around the coffee shop. No matter which direction Caden came from, there was no way he could escape. At exactly 2:00 pm, he didn't show. By 2:10 pm, there was still nothing unusual at the coffee shop. Just as I started to think he wasn't coming, the spare phone the police had given me suddenly rang. "Baby, why did you send another woman to meet me instead?" I held the screen out to David. "He knows." The tech team immediately traced the signal. It had been sent from inside the coffee shop. All eight plainclothes officers moved at once, checking every customer in the place one by one. But Caden wasn't there. The number that had sent the message couldn't be called back either. The system showed that it didn't exist. Just then, Brielle called me. She was crying so hard she could barely breathe. "Maisie, someone broke into my house!" "Lock yourself in your bedroom and call the police right now!" "He didn't hurt me, but he wrote something on the wall." She sent me a photo. Across the white living room wall, someone had written in red paint, "Anyone who meets me in her place will be punished." My mind went blank. "Brielle, don't wait for the police. Get downstairs now!" The police immediately sent officers to her house. But just as Brielle ran out of her apartment complex, an electric scooter came speeding around the corner and slammed into her, knocking her to the ground. The rider abandoned the scooter and fled. A bouquet of red roses sat in the front basket. The card contained only two words. "First punishment." Brielle suffered a broken arm and was taken to the hospital. When her mother, Marissa Heaton, arrived, she slapped me across the face. "You're the one who got involved with that lunatic! Why should Brielle have to suffer because of you?" My cheek burned. "Mrs. Damon, I'm sorry." "Stay away from my daughter!" Brielle lay in the hospital bed, her forehead covered in a cold sweat from the pain. "Mom, this isn't Maisie's fault." "How is it not her fault? She dated someone online for three years without ever meeting him, and now that there's trouble, you're the one being dragged into it!" I didn't argue. She was right. Anyone who helped me would be punished by Caden. I couldn't let anyone else put themselves at risk for me. I went to David myself. "Let me meet him in person." "No." "He's already started hurting the people around me." "Which is exactly why we can't let you expose yourself." "Then, tell me—what else am I supposed to do?" David fell silent. In the end, the police agreed to let me enter the coffee shop wearing a stab-resistant vest and carrying a tracker and recording device. Plainclothes officers were positioned all around the area, and a sniper had already secured a vantage point across the street. By 2:40 pm, Caden still hadn't appeared. A server approached with a cup of coffee. Just as he passed me, his foot suddenly slipped. The entire cup of scalding coffee came flying toward my face. I instinctively turned my head away. The coffee splashed all over my protective vest. The plainclothes officers immediately rushed over and pinned the server to the floor. "It wasn't me!" The server's face went white with fear. "Something suddenly tripped me! I swear I didn't do it on purpose!" The police checked the floor. There was nothing there. The server was just an ordinary college student with no connection to Caden whatsoever. The next second, the familiar laughter came through the earpiece hidden beneath my clothes. "Baby, you came to see me and still brought all these men with you. You're disgusting." I clenched my teeth. "Caden, is hiding all you know how to do?" "Today, it was just coffee." His voice turned cold. "Next time, it'll be a knife." The police locked down the coffee shop again. But no one else had heard the conversation. And when they checked the recording device I was wearing, all it had captured was harsh static. Chapter 4 The case was soon transferred to the cybercrime unit. Detective Silas Mercer, who was assigned to the investigation, didn't immediately dismiss my story. Instead, he went back through everything that had happened from the beginning. "You refused to meet him, and he knew. You called the police, and he knew. You went to the hospital, and he knew that too." "Yes." "Every time he managed to find you, what did you have with you?" "My phone." "What about at the hospital?" "The police had taken my phone." "Your clothes, keys, jewelry… Was there anything you had with you every time?" I paused. "I didn't notice." Silas decided to conduct a completely controlled test. They took away my clothes, phone, keys, and jewelry. The police gave me an entirely new set of clothes and placed me in a windowless room with no connection to any outside network. Even the test phone was taken out of its sealed box right in front of me. Silas slid the phone across the table. "Use a new account to contact Caden." "He won't accept the request." "Try anyway." I created a new messaging account, searched for Caden's profile, and sent him a friend request. I typed, "This is Maisie. I'm willing to meet you." One minute passed without a response. Then ten. Still nothing. I sent another request, this time including the room number, the floor, and even the door code. Caden never appeared. The test continued for a full 20 hours. For the first time since I came back to life, I didn't receive a single message from him. Silas placed the test results in front of me. "There's no malware on your phone, and there are no records of any unusual logins to your messaging account. No one tried to contact you during the controlled test either." "Because he knew the police were here." "How would he know that?" I couldn't answer. Silas continued, "There were no traces of the red writing at Brielle's house, and the server at the coffee shop simply slipped by accident. As for the electric scooter, we haven't been able to identify the rider yet." "So you think I'm crazy too?" "I didn't say that." "But that's what you mean." Silas was silent for a moment. "Maisie, you haven't had a proper night's sleep in days. When someone is under extreme fear and stress, they can misinterpret things." "He's coming to kill me at midnight." "Do you have any proof?" My lips parted, but no words came out. That message had disappeared too. Silas glanced at the time. "Maisie, we can't keep everyone here waiting because of a message that no longer exists." I dug my nails into my palm. There were only 15 minutes left until midnight. The police no longer believed me. Brielle was lying in a hospital bed because of me. If I couldn't figure out how Caden was watching me, I was going to die for a third time. A staff member brought in my personal belongings. My phone, keys, earbuds, and several sealed evidence bags were placed on the table one by one. Silas signed the handover form. "During the test, we kept all of these in a shielded storage cabinet outside the room to eliminate any possible interference. Check everything. If there's nothing wrong, sign here." The moment my old phone was placed on the table, the screen suddenly lit up. Caden had sent me a message. "Baby, I'm here to pick you up." Below it was a bright red countdown. 14:59. 14:58. I stared at the numbers ticking down as everything that had happened over the past few days flashed through my mind. Calling the police hadn't worked. Changing locations hadn't worked. Getting rid of my phone hadn't worked. Even the police sting hadn't been enough to force him to show himself. I'd kept changing my choices. But no matter where I ran, Caden always found me first. Except during those 20 hours. He hadn't sent me a single message. And now, the moment the test was over, he had appeared again. There was no way that was a coincidence. The countdown kept ticking. 14:32. 14:31. If I didn't change something, I would die at his hands in 15 minutes, just as I had in my previous two lives. But this time, something was different. I stared at the items on the table, mentally piecing together every detail from the past few days. Then, it hit me. I snapped my head up. "I know how he's doing it."