Five Years of Lies: My Fiancé's Deadly Secret

1: 1

I woke up one morning with a lovesick system suddenly installed in my head.

It demanded that I stay hopelessly devoted to my boyfriend, Liam Vance, giving him whatever he asked for. If I refused, the system punished me until I wished I were dead.

The first time he brought my best friend, Bianca Swanson, home, I ignored the system and said I wanted to break up.

The result was a shock through my whole body, torture so severe I lost control of my bladder.

After that, the smallest flicker of dissatisfaction with anything he wanted brought the system's electric punishment down on me.

For five years I lived a life worse than death. I tried to kill myself to end it, but a stranger found me and rushed me to the hospital.

The doctor ran tests and uncovered a secret.

There's a chip implanted in your brain. It has a control system that can shock you remotely and invade your brainwaves, making you hear things that have been artificially programmed in.

My mind went blank with a rushing sound, my whole body turning cold, trembling before I could stop it.

So it had never been a system at all. It was a conspiracy, designed and aimed at me alone.

...........

Right then, Liam called.

It's this late and you're still not home cooking? Bianca wants buttered garlic shrimp. Hurry up, buy the groceries and get back here to make dinner.

Then Bianca's coy voice came through from his side. Oh, stop it, it's not me who wants it. It's clearly your son who wants it.

All right, all right, it's my son who wants it.

Listening to the two of them flirt, a wave of nausea rose in me. But I couldn't let my anger show, because the slightest hint of displeasure would bring down the so-called system's punishment and leave me wishing I were dead.

Remembering what the doctor had just said, I dug my nails deep into my palm and bit down hard on my lip, barely managing to stop myself from exposing the truth.

*Fluctuation in the host's emotions detected. You are about to deviate from the lovesick system. Correct this now, or you will be subject to system punishment.*

My whole body gave a light shudder. That feeling of being ruled by fear snapped me back to clarity in an instant.

Okay. I'm coming back right now.

When I hung up, I found my back already soaked with cold sweat, and as the room's chill hit it, I couldn't help shivering.

The doctor gave me one blank look, then stepped out and made a phone call.

Not long after, several people were shown in, their backs straight and their faces grave.

The man who spoke got right to the point.

We're from the National Security Bureau. We need your cooperation with our investigation. Please answer our questions honestly.

I nodded, and he went on. This kind of chip was invented by agents of a hostile foreign power to infiltrate our ranks. After it was discovered, every unit was destroyed. How could there be one in your brain?

I thought back carefully. The day before the system first appeared, my boyfriend had taken me somewhere for a physical therapy session. I'd fallen into a deep sleep, and when I woke up my scalp felt strange.

I'd suggested going to the hospital to have it checked, and Liam's eyes had flickered with panic for a second.

He said that was just how scalp massage treatments were, and I'd be fine after a night's sleep.

I didn't think much of it. The next day, this so-called system appeared.

The chip must have been implanted in my brain right then.

I told the man everything, and his expression sharpened with alarm.

It seems this may be even more serious than we thought. We were negligent back then.

We'll need you to cooperate with us in investigating this.

I nodded and agreed. It was something I had to do anyway.

Can the chip be taken out? That was what I cared about most right now, whether this chip could keep torturing me.

The man nodded. Yes, but I need time to prepare. We'll remove it in three days.

Okay.

In three days, I would be free.

2: 2

When I got home, Bianca was lounging on the couch watching a show, and Liam was fussing over her, feeding her fruit like she was made of glass.

The moment he saw me, he set the fruit plate down, and his face went cold. "Why are you back so late? Bianca's starving."

I didn't answer. I lowered my head and went to the kitchen to make dinner.

Five years ago, when we started dating, he treated me well. He gave me anything I wanted, and even Bianca, my best friend, used to say she envied me.

Back then I'd just lost my family, and I thought the two of them were my salvation. I never guessed the whole thing was a setup.

Bianca ate one shrimp, then suddenly clutched her stomach and cried out in pain.

Liam's hand cracked across my face. "Amber, you poisoned the food."

I held my cheek and shook my head. "I didn't."

Bianca clawed at his arm, her voice tight with pain. "Liam, take me to the hospital, hurry, save our baby."

He shot me one hate-filled look, then scooped her up and left.

I knew what this was. Another one of Bianca's little games. Every time she wanted something, she'd frame me for hurting her.

Then Liam would step in on her behalf, and if I refused, it would trigger the punishment. I'd be tormented half to death, and end up handing over whatever she wanted with both hands.

Sure enough, the moment Bianca was discharged, Liam opened his mouth. "Didn't your mother leave you a family heirloom pendant, the kind that wards off bad luck and protects a pregnancy? Take it out and give it to Bianca."

"You nearly killed her. She can't sleep now. She needs that pendant to keep the baby safe."

That pendant was the last thing my mother left me. She said it had been passed down from my grandmother. It was the most precious thing I owned, and I'd kept it locked in a safe-deposit box at the bank the whole time. How could he possibly know about it?

He saw the shock on my face, and his eyes turned mocking. "If the renewal bill for the safe-deposit box hadn't come to the house, I never would've known you were hiding something that good."

Then, in a burst of anger, he clamped his hand around my throat. "You watched Bianca suffer through morning sickness, and you didn't take it out for her? That's cold. She's your best friend, and she's carrying your boyfriend's child."

Shameless, every word of it. My face flushed under his grip, my breath thinning, but I still couldn't stop myself from throwing it back at him.

"You call yourself my boyfriend, but what have you actually done? Why should I hand over the pendant to protect her pregnancy?"

The words were barely out when that mechanical voice went off in my head again.

"Host emotional fluctuation detected. Setting for lovesick devotion violated. Punishment will now be administered."

"1, 2, 3."

My whole body seized at once, and the color drained from my face.

Liam let go with a sneer. I hit the floor and started convulsing, wretched and shaking, foam bubbling at my lips.

"Amber, we're doing this to help you. You told me yourself, you've got a lovesick system inside you. The only way to make it disappear is to turn you into a true lovesick devotee."

"Just agree to give the pendant to Bianca now, and you won't have to suffer."

Bianca chimed in too, all fake sincerity. "Amber, I sold myself out just to help you get free of that lovesick system as fast as possible. You can't be this stingy."

Back when the voice first started up in my head, I told Liam about it.

I thought it would make him love me more, keep me from getting hurt. Instead he brought Bianca home right away, and dressed it up as helping me shake off the lovesick system faster.

And I believed his story. I fought with him over it, and all it ever got me was a worse round of torment.

I never imagined it was all just an excuse, a way to torture me.

Disgusting, all of it. I'd bitten my lip open, and my palms were full of little bloody holes where my own nails had dug in.

"I'll give it to you."

3: 3

The shocks finally stopped.

"Agree at the start and you'd spare yourself the whole ordeal. But no, every single time you have to drag it out this far. What a stubborn wretch."

Shaking, I called the bank and gave them the security key.

"You can go collect it now."

Liam narrowed his eyes and looked me over, suspicious. "Usually I have to nearly kill you before you'll give up anything I ask for. Why the sudden cooperation this time? That's the most important thing your mother ever left you."

He was starting to doubt me.

My palms were damp with nerves. I put on a cautious, timid look. "I just don't want to be tortured anymore. I'm handing you the whole company. What's one pendant next to that?"

Three days ago, Liam had used the child in Bianca's belly as an excuse, telling me to sign the company over to him as compensation. I refused. So he used the chip in my brain to put me through the shocks.

More than ten hours of it, until I lost control of my bladder and every bone in my body felt scorched.

I couldn't take it, so I pretended to agree. Then I stalled for days, using the paperwork as a cover. In the end, when there was nothing left to try, I wrote a will, donated every asset in my name to the state, and prepared to end it all.

I never expected a stranger to pull me back from the edge, and that was how I finally found out the truth.

"It's just... that's the only thing my mother left me. I hope you'll take good care of it."

Bianca gave a smug little smile. "Don't worry. I'm your best friend. What's yours is mine. I'll take very good care of it."

Then she tugged at Liam's sleeve. "Stop overthinking it. It's been five years. She's finally learned her place."

Only then did Liam let go of his suspicion. He turned to me with that put-on look of his. "Amber, looks like we're almost there. Soon we can pull that lovesick system right out of your body. You'll be free."

Bianca pulled him back before he could say more. "Go get the pendant already. My stomach's acting up again."

I watched them walk toward the door, then slipped into the study.

I opened his computer, remembering how Liam had once said his password had to mean something to him.

I tried several and none worked. In the end I used the date the chip was implanted in me, and the computer opened right up.

I laughed coldly inside. So the day my suffering began really was worth commemorating.

I started searching for what I needed. Liam was as arrogant as ever. Every encrypted file on the machine used that same date as its key.

Reading through the files he'd buried, I could barely contain the surge inside me.

This was more than enough to send Liam straight to hell.

I sent it all out, then wiped every trace. I'd just stepped out of the study when I heard a noise at the front door.

Bianca had a phoenix jade pendant hanging around her neck. It was the most precious thing my mother had left me.

I gripped the hem of my clothes, my fingertips going white with the pressure, wanting nothing more than to snap her neck on the spot.

Catching my expression, Bianca stroked the pendant and looked at me, pleased with herself. "Amber, don't you want me wearing it?"

Liam's face went cold at once.

I shook my head. "Of course not. Seeing it just made me think of my mother. I got lost in it for a second."

Just then the study door drifted open a crack. I must not have shut it all the way.

Liam's gaze snapped to the study behind me. He came toward me slowly, cruelty and murder in his eyes.

"You were in my study?"

4: 4

His killing intent hit me so hard my palms went damp and a tremor ran through me that I couldn't stop.

His footsteps came closer, slow, as if he were treading right on my heart, until I could barely breathe.

I stumbled back a step, and when I caught myself I snatched up the file I'd already prepared in my hand.

"I went to the study to look for the ink pad. This transfer document still needs my thumbprint, after all."

"It's just that I hadn't been in the study in so long, I didn't know where it was kept."

The moment he heard "transfer contract," he let out a breath and grabbed the file out of my hand. "Didn't you say it would take you several days to get ready? How did you finish so fast?"

"The sooner I get the company signed over to you, the sooner I can rest properly."

"Let's set the date for three days from now. I've already sent word to the company group chat. We'll hold a press event, and the company will be yours."

His fingers tightened on the contract, trembling slightly, disbelief in his eyes. "You're really deciding just like that, no fuss?"

I nodded. "I've already drawn up the contract. You still don't believe me?"

He decided the chip had finally broken me in, and he let his guard down completely.

"There's no problem with the contract. As for the thumbprint and signature, let's do it at the event three days from now, in front of everyone, so no one thinks I forced you into it."

"Fine."

After that, Liam and Bianca threw themselves into preparing the signing ceremony three days out and stopped bothering me.

I stayed home, resting easy, quietly waiting for the moment to arrive.

On the third day I made a trip to the hospital and had the chip that had controlled me for five years removed.

That night I slept the soundest I had in five years.

Then came the signing ceremony for the company handover. You could tell Liam really cared about my company. He'd made the reception this lavish and brought in this many reporters.

He couldn't wait to pull out the contract and hold it out to me. "Amber, sign your name, and you'll never have to worry about the company again."

I looked at how smug and satisfied he was, and stood there on the stage without moving.

The reporters' cameras all swung toward me. "Why isn't Amber signing? Isn't she the lovesick fool who'd do anything for Liam?"

"Was she being forced all along? Is this some silent act of resistance?"

Liam heard the murmurs too, and his expression slowly went cold. "Didn't you agree to this yourself? What are you playing at now? Hurry up and sign."

Bianca looked at me too, the threat plain in her eyes. "You're not afraid of being punished again?"

"With this many people here, if you go rolling around on the floor like some pathetic mess, it'll be humiliating."

But still I didn't move.

Seeing this, Liam stepped closer to me, his voice coaxing. "Amber, I know you've always wanted to be free of this lovesickness system. You're almost there."

"If you defy me now, aren't you afraid of being tormented by this system for the rest of your life?"

"Haven't you had enough these five years? Don't you want your freedom?"

Bianca sneered. "Some people are just born to grovel. Liam, why waste your breath on her? Just make her lose control of herself in front of everyone and see what she does then."

Liam pressed his finger lightly against the watch on his wrist. "I'm giving you one last chance. Are you signing or not?"

I knew that was the control switch. The moment he pressed it, the so-called system would speak, and then it would punish me.

But now he couldn't threaten me anymore.

I glanced down at the latest message on my phone, a cold smile pulling at the corner of my mouth, and took the contract from his hand.

He thought I was going to sign. Smugness curled at his lips. "See, if you'd just been this obedient from the start. Had to make a scene."

The next second, I tore the contract to shreds and hurled it at him with all my strength.

"I'm not signing this. Liam, you can forget about it for good."