Chapter 3

Eri heard someone knocking on the door. Duke must come to pick her up, let her in and see how Aiden was living.

But when Eri opened the door, it wasn't Duke standing in front of her, but Fred, Duke's new driver.

"I'm here to take you home."

"I'm not going home, you better go." 

The man put his foot between the frame and the door before Eri could close it. Eri's eyes widened as the man pushed the door with considerable force.

"Go away."

"You should go home, before I force you," Fred said, acting like he was the ruler of the streets.

"You've crossed the line, I'm your boss's daughter." Eri tried to hold the door. Pushing it was useless, she wasn't strong enough.

"Maybe you forgot, Duke ordered me to take you home." Fred pushed harder and Eri fell. She sighed, the corner of her lips twitching in annoyance.

"I'm not being disrespectful, but you're slowing down my work." Fred squatted down, his face lowered. "Remember, I'm not your stupid boyfriend."

"You know Aiden."

Fred laughed. "Of course I know him well, he's a sneaky guy." 

After the video and the game session yesterday, Eri got another clue. Eri should have realized that Aiden could betray her in the future if they got married.

"Let's go." Fred tugged at Eri's arm.

They left Aiden's apartment when it was already dark. Fred pushed Eri to sit in the front. Just as the car was leaving, someone broke the doorknob of Aiden's apartment, then put it back the way it was. Then a flare was thrown at the open window of Aiden's apartment.

There was a small explosion that startled the residents of the apartment. The fire began to burn the bed, slowly getting bigger. Smoke began to fill the room, infiltrating through the gap under the door, drifting out the window.

"Eri." Aiden managed to break down the door. But he couldn't see because the room was full of smoke. 

Aiden kept calling for Eri when the firefighters finally got there.

"What are you doing? Get out, let us handle this." The man pulled Aiden, but Aiden didn't want to leave.

"No, Eri, my girlfriend, I can't find her."

The fire was getting bigger, the temperature was rising, and Aiden saw the bed burning. He was scared but didn't dare to get closer. The firefighters asked Aiden to get out before he got hurt.

"We'll find her, please come out. Take him out," the man said. Another officer pulled Aiden out of the building.

From below, he could see his apartment filled with smoke. Aiden sucked in as much air as he could, his chest feeling heavy. If Eri died, he wouldn't have a chance to get back to the office. He'd be back on the streets in no time.

After almost an hour, the fire was put out. Some people went back to their apartments, some were still happily chatting, Aiden was almost entirely quiet. 

"Sir." A firefighter approached Aiden who was sitting.

Aiden stood up and dusted off his pants, ready to hear everything from the man.

"We didn't find anyone there."

"No way, I left Eri inside."

"Try calling her, she might be outside." The firefighter left.

Aiden walked back into his apartment, everything on fire. All the clothes and important documents. It was dark and stuffy, smoke still filled the room.

Aiden took out his cell phone and called Eri, but the call went unanswered. He walked to the bed that had turned black. On the bed he saw Eri's cell phone on fire. Near the bed Aiden found an upside-down book. 

He read the writing, the rest was burnt.

"Ai, I think we should end this relationship."

Aiden didn't need to read the rest, he knew that Eri wanted to end their relationship. He couldn't stay in the apartment. He also had no friends to stay with.

Aiden just walked around. The tall buildings in New York didn't guarantee him a good night's sleep. It was raining all of a sudden. He ran under the bridge, there was a homeless man on a cardboard box.

Aiden finally sat up, leaned his head and stared straight ahead.

"Who did this?" He thought of many things, but there was no one he could suspect.

The firefighter pointed to the evidence, a glass bottle.

"I think someone deliberately set fire to your apartment."

"How come?"

"This." The man lifted the broken bottle slightly. "It's a Molotov cocktail, a homemade bomb, the smell is still there." He smelled the scent of the bottle.

Aiden didn't know who to blame, but it was possible that someone wanted to harm him.

"Do you want to report this to the police?"

"I can take care of that later. Thank you."

Aiden didn't need the police, he would judge that person himself. But before that, he needed to find out who was behind the fire.

Bright light, piercing Aiden's eyelids, he sat up and looked around, it was morning.

"I'm getting out of here. You should go, there's no food here," said a man with a thin build and long curly hair. The homeless man packed up his things.

"I'm not a bum like you," Aiden said irritably.

"That young man doesn't accept his fate."

Aiden pulled out his hair. Then he remembered something in an alley where he was lying after being hit by a car. The man slipped something into his pocket. Aiden kept the card in his wallet.

Aiden got up, ran in dirty and smelly clothes, he browsed the shops and found an internet café.

"In moments of pain, we seek revenge." Quote by Ami Ayalon.

That was the sentence written on the card. Aiden retyped it to G****e and there was no explanation. He stared at the picture on the back. There was only a picture of a cat-faced clown.

Aiden took his cell phone and pointed the camera at the picture. The phone automatically scanned the image and instantly moved to a website.

"What is this?" Aiden was surprised to see so many characters trying to harm the Queen.

When Aiden typed the site onto his computer, the network showed that it was unavailable.

A pop-up appeared, "Install the app or forget about revenge."

Aiden thought for a moment and then pressed 'forget about revenge'. He didn't have time to get involved with silly games.

"Are you sure?" They included a video of Aiden getting beat up by several people.

Yes or No.

Aiden suddenly felt horrible. Where did this site get that video from? He looked around, someone must have been following him.

Aiden walked outside, wondering what would happen if he pressed the Yes button. Aiden wanted to go back inside and ask the people in the café.

"You have 30 seconds."

Aiden had to make a decision, time was ticking down. He pressed the Yes button, then the screen went dark. Then a rather loud laugh rang out from his phone and Aiden couldn't turn the volume down.

A picture of a cat with big eyeballs and a wicked smile appeared on the screen. 

"You must stab this woman." A picture of an Asian woman appeared.

What the hell, Aiden wasn't going to comply with that crazy request. He bumped into someone for not paying attention to the road, his cell phone fell. The person saw it. Aiden quickly picked up the phone and walked away quickly.

"Each stab is worth 500 dollars."

"If you refuse, you will be stabbed."

Aiden's face instantly became tense. He didn't expect to be dealing with a crazy website. There was a field to reply to the message.

"That's crazy, why would I do that," Aiden typed, then sent.

Aiden sat on a park bench waiting for a reply. He looked around, hoping no one would catch him.

Then a message popped up that left Aiden scratching his head. This site had trapped him.