Maya's POV
The phone slipped from my hand and crashed onto the kitchen floor.
I stared at the screen, my heart pounding so hard I could hear it in my ears. The text message glowed up at me, impossible to unsee:
"Ask Jake about Emily. Ask him what really happened three months ago."
Unknown number. Sent at 11:47 PM. Right when Jake said he was at his mom's house.
My hands shook as I picked up the phone. I read the message again. And again. Who was Emily? Jake had never mentioned anyone named Emily. Not once in the three months we'd been together.
Three perfect months.
I thought about this morning—how Jake had brought me coffee in bed, exactly how I liked it. How he'd kissed my forehead and called me his "favorite person." How he'd laughed at my terrible jokes during breakfast and held my hand across the table.
My finger hovered over Jake's contact. I could call him right now. Ask him who Emily was.
But something stopped me. A cold, creeping feeling in my stomach.
Instead, I typed the name into my phone's search bar: "Emily Jake." Nothing useful came up. Just random social media profiles of people I didn't know.
I tried again: "Emily" plus Jake's last name, "Winters."
My screen loaded. Then my breath caught in my throat.
The first result was a news article from three months ago. The headline made my blood turn to ice:
"Local Woman Emily Chen Still Missing After Three Months. Boyfriend Jake Winters Questioned by Police."
No. No, no, no.
This couldn't be right. This had to be a different Jake Winters. It had to be.
But when I clicked the article, there was a photo. And the man in that photo, standing next to a police car with his head down, was definitely my Jake.
My Jake, who bought me flowers every Friday. My Jake, who remembered that I didn't like pickles on my burgers. My Jake, who had never, ever mentioned that his previous girlfriend had disappeared.
The article said Emily Chen, age twenty-six, had vanished without a trace. Her car was found abandoned near the river. Her apartment was empty, but there was no sign of a struggle. Police had questioned Jake multiple times because he was the last person to see her alive.
They'd gone on a date that night. Dinner at an Italian restaurant. Then they'd driven to the overlook point by the lake—the same overlook where Jake had taken me on our first date.
According to the article, Jake told police that Emily had been upset about something. They'd argued. She'd asked him to take her home, and he did. He dropped her off at her apartment around ten o'clock. That was the last time anyone saw her.
Police had searched Jake's house, his car, everything. They found nothing. No evidence of any crime. The case went cold after a few weeks.
Emily Chen was still listed as a missing person.
I set my phone down on the counter, my mind racing. Why hadn't Jake told me? How could he not mention that his ex-girlfriend had disappeared? That people thought he might have done something to her?
Maybe he was innocent. Maybe he didn't tell me because he knew it would scare me away. Maybe he was trying to protect me from gossip and suspicion.
Or maybe...
I couldn't finish that thought.
My phone buzzed again. Another text from the unknown number:
"He took me to the same restaurant. The same lake. He probably says the same things to you that he said to her. You're not special, Maya. You're just next."
My heart stopped. My hands went numb.
"Who is this?" I typed back with trembling fingers.
Three dots appeared. Someone was typing. Then they disappeared. Then appeared again.
Finally, the response came:
"Someone who's trying to save your life. Get out while you can."
I dropped the phone like it had burned me.
A key turned in the front door lock.
Jake was home early.
"Maya?" his voice called from the hallway. "You still up, babe?"
I grabbed my phone and shoved it in my pocket. My heart hammered against my ribs. Should I confront him? Should I pretend everything was fine?
Jake walked into the kitchen, smiling that warm smile that used to make me feel safe. Now it made my skin crawl.
"Hey, you okay?" he asked, tilting his head. "You look pale."
"I'm fine," I lied. "Just tired."
He moved closer, reaching out to touch my face. I forced myself not to flinch.
"You sure? You seem weird." His eyes searched mine, and for just a second, I saw something flicker there. Something cold. Something calculating.
Or was I imagining it?
"I'm sure," I said, trying to smile. "How's your mom?"
"She's good. Sends her love." Jake opened the refrigerator and pulled out a water bottle. "You know what? I was thinking. Let's go away this weekend. Just you and me. I know this perfect little cabin by the lake. Super private. No cell service or anything. We could really disconnect, you know?"
The lake. He wanted to take me to a lake.
Just like Emily.
"That sounds nice," I heard myself say, even though every instinct in my body was screaming at me to run.
Jake grinned and kissed my cheek. "Perfect. I'll make the arrangements tomorrow." He headed toward the bedroom. "Coming to bed?"
"In a minute. I just need to finish cleaning up."
As soon as he left the room, I pulled out my phone with shaking hands. I needed to search more. I needed to understand what was happening.
But my phone screen was black. Dead. The battery had been at sixty percent just minutes ago.
That was impossible.
Unless someone had installed something on my phone. Something that could drain the battery. Something that could track me.
I looked toward the bedroom, where I could hear Jake moving around. My loving boyfriend. The man I'd trusted completely.
The man whose last girlfriend had vanished into thin air.
My phone buzzed one last time before going completely dark. I looked at the final message, and my blood turned to ice:
"He's reading these messages too. He knows that you know. Whatever you do, don't go to that cabin. Don't go anywhere alone with him. He's been planning this since the day he met you."
Footsteps in the hallway. Jake was coming back.
I stood frozen in the kitchen, the dead phone in my hand, my mind screaming one terrible question:
Was the man I loved actually a monster?
And if he was, how was I going to survive the night?