Chapter 1

Three years after my best friend vanished, eighteen skeletons were unearthed beneath Harmony Creek.

One of them was the worst—180 stab wounds, each one cutting to the bone.

Clutched tightly in her hand was a single, folded note.

“Don’t be scared. I just went home. If you can’t hold on, come back too.”

The system’s alert blared in my mind: “Affection and Love Progress values have dropped to ten percent. Host, please expedite your demise and return to your original world.”

That night, I put on my wedding dress and sent my suicide note to the family group chat on SnapChat.

My adopted sister’s fiancé, who was with her, simply texted back: “Are you out of your mind?”

My actress mother called me repeatedly, ordering me to take off the dress and apologize to Isabella.

My brother, Arthur, a police officer, was furious.

“You know Isabella can't handle the news of you marrying Lucas since her memory loss, yet you deliberately wear a wedding dress to provoke her, hoping to worsen her condition, don't you?”

No one paid any attention to my suicide note.

They didn’t know I was wearing the wedding dress not to marry Lucas.

But to lure out the serial killer who murdered my best friend.

And to finally break free from this world that had trapped me for twenty-five years.

Only my lawyer brother, Daniel, sent multiple voice messages on SnapChat.

“Vera, do you know something?”

“Is that body Summer’s? Was that note she left for you?”

I didn't reply to anyone. I just clutched Summer's photo, her image a blur through my tears.

With plainclothes police officers following discreetly behind, I headed for the hotel.