Chapter 1

Rain hammered the windows, and the motion light in the hallway flickered on and off.

My best friend Janice Fox was blocking the doorway, holding a half-spilled takeout container, jabbing her finger at the delivery driver outside and screaming at the top of her lungs:

"Half an hour late is one thing, but the soup's all spilled. Are you blind?"

"You think I won't complain right now and get your deposit docked and your account banned outright?"

The driver kept his head down. The oversized yellow raincoat and hood covered most of his face. He said nothing.

I was about to step in and calm things down when my phone screen suddenly lit up, a glaring local breaking-news alert popping up.

【Home Invasion Horror! Two Women Killed by Delivery Driver, Scene Too Gruesome to Watch!】

My breath caught. I stared at the photo attached to the story.

It was blurred out, but that bloodsoaked "Welcome" mat by the door, I knew it.

It was the one I'd just bought online yesterday.

I glanced up at the publication time on the story.

Eight tomorrow morning.

At the doorway, Janice was still shrieking, refusing to let it go:

"Playing the pitiful act? This isn't over. Don't even think about leaving!"

...

"Janice, is a bowl of takeout really worth making this big a deal?"

I grabbed her wrist and held on tight, dragging her back inside with everything I had.

At the same time, I kept nodding at the driver in the doorway.

"Sir, I'm so sorry!"

"My friend's just been in a bad mood lately. Everything she said just now, she was only joking with you."

"Go on and get to your next delivery. Don't let us hold you up!"

Janice yanked her hand out of mine and spun around, staring at me like I'd lost my mind.

"Glenda Pruitt, is your head full of water? Who was joking with him?"

She pointed at the mess on the floor, her voice shrill.

"I waited almost an hour, and all I got was an empty plastic box!"

"I'm not making him pay, and what, now I'm supposed to send him a tip and worship him?"

"Normally you'll argue with a vendor for half an hour if your fruit's underweight. And now you're playing the saint?"

Her rapid-fire questions left me with nothing to say.

She was right. Given my usual temper, there was no way I'd let something like this slide.

But right now I had no room in my head to explain it to her.

Going by that alert.

Which meant Janice and I would end up as two corpses lying in a pool of blood.

And the killer was the "delivery driver."

Right now that extremely dangerous man was standing less than half a meter outside the threshold.

He kept his head down, saying nothing.

The wide hood hid most of his face. All I could see were his hands, hanging at his sides.

"You hear me? Playing deaf and dumb, are you?"

When the driver still didn't react, Janice's temper flared right back up.

She whipped out her phone and shoved the screen toward him.

"Fine. You won't pay, and you won't apologize."

"I'm filing for a refund right now, plus a one-star review with my real name attached!"

"You wouldn't let me have this meal, so I'll make you work this whole month for nothing!"

"Don't! Janice!"

My heart clenched, and a cold dread shot from the soles of my feet straight to the top of my skull.

I threw myself at her without hesitation, trying to grab the phone.

Janice dodged nimbly to the side. Her screen was already lit up on the delivery app's review page.

"Glenda, are you sick? You keep getting in my way, I'll start cursing you out too!"

Janice roared, furious.

"My ex who did delivery just scammed me out of ten grand, so now I want to puke every time I see a delivery guy!"

"He walked right into it today. Tough luck for him!"

I was sweating cold, shaking all over.

Janice had no idea that every single word out of her mouth was pushing Death's patience to the edge.

I turned to look outside the door.

The driver was still standing in the same spot.

What made my scalp crawl was his right hand, slowly slipping into the pocket of his raincoat.

That pocket bulged, and as his hand moved, the faint outline of something sharp pressed through.

"Janice, I'll send you two hundred! Just don't file the complaint!"

I reached for her arm again, my voice openly begging now.

Janice shoved me off, her eyes full of contempt.

"Get off me! This isn't about the money! It's about attitude!"

"Look at the way he's acting. Today I'm going to teach him how to be a decent human being!"

With that she lowered her head, her thumb jabbing down hard on the review option.

The instant she hit submit, the phone in my pocket buzzed hard.

Hands trembling, I pulled it out. A new alert had refreshed onto the screen.

【Woman Leaves Delivery Driver a One-Star Review, Dies Horribly on the Spot!】