Introduction

The ER waiting room hummed with a familiar, sickly glow.

But tonight, I wasn't the paramedic on call.

I was just Andrew, a guy in a hoodie, staring at my phone.

My fiancée, Jennifer, lay supposedly critical after a hit-and-run.

They said she needed emergency brain surgery.

The nurse demanded payment upfront.

With a cold, practiced mask, I showed them my banking app.

"$17.42."

That's all I had left, I claimed.

It was after a "sophisticated online scam" wiped me out.

Jennifer' s "parents" - two actors she' d hired - wailed.

They begged me to save her.

They even proposed a monstrous deal.

Their son' s heart for my sick mother' s life.

The world watched as a good Samaritan nurse started a GoFundMe.

She was painting me as a heartless monster who' d let his fiancée die.

The video went viral.

Donations poured in, "saving" Jennifer.

Meanwhile, my career and reputation crumbled.

Every phone call from my chief was a stab.

Every hateful comment online was a stab.

But I didn't care.

They called me a sociopath, a villain.

How could I let them believe such a lie?

How could I be so callous, so indifferent to the woman I was supposed to marry?

My mother's fragile heart.

My ruined career.

It all felt like a twisted nightmare.

But this wasn't my first time living this nightmare.

In another life, I was the fool who fell for it all.

I watched my mother die because of Jennifer' s cruel "loyalty test."

This time, I knew the game.

This time, I was ready to play my own hand.