Chapter 1

"Sure, I'll go meet your online girlfriend for you."

My cousin Jared Trent's face flashed with disbelief. "I set it up for Saturday afternoon at Corwin Plaza. You're really going? Don't you work overtime every Saturday? Are you seriously into this AI catfish? She's gotta be hideous under all those filters!"

I did not bother looking at him and started packing up the things on my desk. Jared rolled his eyes and ribbed me.

"Fine, go ahead, then. Women are all the same with the lights off anyway. But you'd better pray she's not some whale, or you'll really be getting the short end of the stick!"

He laughed, then turned and headed out to grab food. Only then did I stare in the direction he had left, my eyes filled with nothing but hate.

I never could have imagined that I would be given a second chance at life.

Last time, all I had done was refuse to go meet his online girlfriend in his place. Then he saw her real photos surface on the gaming forum and found out she truly was gorgeous.

He lost his mind and shoved me off the building. He had been too much of a coward to go himself, afraid she would turn out to be ugly, yet he pinned every bit of the blame on me.

Jared had no idea what it felt like to have your neck snap and your bones puncture through organs. It had hurt so, so much.

Every ounce of pain I went through, I would make him repay a thousandfold.

He blamed me for costing him his future wife, so far be it from me to disappoint.

…

Saturday came quickly. I waited outside Corwin Plaza with a small gift I had prepared.

A few minutes later, the girl from the photos strolled in, fashionably late. When she spotted me already waiting at our meeting spot, she flashed me a smile.

"Well, looks like you've got some manners after all. You know not to keep a girl waiting."

She was even prettier in person than in her photos, with a voice as bright and clear as a bell. I scratched the back of my head, a little embarrassed, and held out the gift with a shy grin.

"I got you a little something. I wasn't sure what to pick, so I went with that lipstick everyone's been raving about. Hope you like it."

When she saw the designer lipstick, she froze for a second, then waved her hands. "This is way too nice. We've only known each other for two weeks. I can't..."

She would not take it, so I nudged the bag toward her again. "Don't overthink where we started. At least right now, we're friends, right? There's nothing wrong with a gift between friends."

I gave her a warm, genuine smile.

She smiled back sweetly, took the bag, and held out her hand. "You're really not what I expected. I'm Chloe Atherton. You can call me Chlo."

Jared had told me his online girlfriend's name was Claire Moore, so she had clearly been using a fake name the whole time.

I took Chloe's hand and gave it a gentle shake.

"I'm Mason Kendall. Mace's fine."

The rest of the date went smoothly. We caught a movie, grabbed dinner, and discovered we had a surprising number of hobbies in common.

"I mean, I only agreed to date you online because you were insane at the game, but you're actually a pretty great guy in person too. Did I just luck out?" Chloe hooked her arm through mine, playful as ever.

I could not help but laugh. I reached over to ruffle her hair. "With someone as fun as you? I'm the lucky one."