Chapter 1

My boyfriend's birthday—my first time staying over at his place.

In the middle of the night, while he was sound asleep, I got up for a drink and accidentally bumped his computer.

The screen lit up, showing an Instagram post visible only to friends.

The bold title read:

[The Billionaire's True Love Game]

Eight months ago, this billionaire had started publicly documenting his operation to hunt down a Cinderella.

The post had plenty of followers. I scrolled to the latest comments.

"What's up with Ethan lately? No updates? Isn't the new target supposed to be dumb and clueless—difficulty level zero?"

I refreshed. A new reply appeared:

"Ethan already said he's taking this girl's virginity tonight. He's busy with that right now!"

I looked at the blogger's profile picture—unmistakably Ethan's profile.

That side view I could never mistake.

A bone-deep chill washed over me.

What I thought was true love was just a con.

He'd pretended to be a poor, hardworking, innocent boy—just bait tossed out by a wealthy playboy in his game.

I forced down my explosive emotions and posted from my Instagram burner account to ask strangers for advice.

Half an hour later, I'd made my decision.

I grabbed some chicken blood from the fridge and climbed back into bed.