He Locked Me in the Dark and Watched Me DieChapter 1

My boyfriend said he wanted to propose to me in a haunted house.

But the moment I stepped inside, he yanked every breaker and locked the door from the outside.

The claustrophobia I'd carried since being kidnapped as a child erupted all at once. A suffocating pressure clamped around my throat.

I collapsed to the floor, pounding on the door with everything I had.

"Allan... open the door, please. I'm scared..."

But what I heard from the other side wasn't his voice. It was a woman's — playful and coy.

"I can't believe she actually fell for it. You told her you'd propose in a haunted house on April Fools' Day, and she bought it."

"You won the bet. Tonight, I'm all yours."

Every drop of blood in my body went cold. I knew that voice. It belonged to the livestreamer Allan Fox had been obsessed with lately.

So that was what ten years of love amounted to — a tool to win another woman's affection.

But when I actually died in that pitch-black haunted house, what was there left for him to cry about?

——

My heart stopped beating. I lay on the freezing floor and watched my soul drift free from my body.

Outside the door, Allan was still laughing without a care in the world.

"Come on, Liv, you're just too much of a scaredy-cat. Think of it as exposure therapy."

"Once you get over your fear, you can join me and Pauline for all kinds of extreme sports."

I floated beside him, tears rolling down in heavy drops.

He'd forgotten I had a heart condition. Forgotten that something like this could actually kill me.

Pauline Henson started a livestream, swinging the camera toward herself and Allan, flashing a bright smile at her followers.

"Here's my special guest for the day."

"Pauline made a little bet with him — if he could trick his girlfriend, the one with the heart condition, into a haunted house on April Fools' Day..."

"Then tonight, I'm his."

The moment she finished, the chat exploded with praise.

"This guy literally sacrificed his girl for a beauty. What a legend."

"So are you two gonna sneak in some R-rated content tonight?"

Pauline shot Allan a bashful glance, her voice dipping into a whine.

"What are you guys even saying? This was just an April Fools' challenge. I lost the bet — what was I supposed to do, back out?"

Allan leaned in and kissed her.

"No backing out."