Chapter 2

Alex stared at the words on my screen, then glanced down at the Disability ID on the ground.

His smug expression vanished in an instant.

The people who'd been shouting the loudest seconds ago all clammed up.

The woman with the shopping bag stepped back and muttered, "She's mute? Then how does the voice match up?"

But Jessica kicked the Disability ID aside like it was trash.

"Alex, don't let her fool you," she snapped.

She jabbed a finger right at me and yelled, "It's easy to get a fake Disability ID these days. She made this up to get out of fraud charges. She's using it as a shield.

"Seriously, what real mute goes around using a phone to talk for them in public?

"She used it because she's got something to hide."

Alex's face clouded over again.

"Damn, you almost played me," he snarled, yanking my hair and forcing my head back. "Faking a Disability ID? That's another crime. You could be dead for all I care. You're giving me my money back."

My scalp burned from his grip. Ignoring the pain, I typed fast with one hand.

I shoved the phone right up in his face again.

[Are you brain-dead or what?

[If you can't even tell a real scammer from a fake, it's no surprise you lost 2 million dollars.]

Alex read the words on the screen, his whole body trembling with rage. "Do you have a death wish?"

His fist shot up, about to come crashing down.

"Hey! What's going on here?" a police officer barked.

The police siren wailed to a stop outside the supermarket. Two officers pushed through the crowd and strode in.

Alex's fist froze in midair.

Jessica immediately started playing the victim, rushing over and grabbing the officer's arm.

"Officers, perfect timing! This woman is an online scammer. She cheated us out of 2 million.

"Now she's trying to fake being mute with a phony ID. Arrest her!" she said.

The officer glanced at the Disability ID lying on the ground, picked it up, and opened it up.

He turned to me. "Are you Emily Lane?"

I nodded, pointed at my throat, then waved my hand.

Then I typed out a line on my phone and handed it to the officer.

[I was born with damaged vocal cords. The hospital downtown has every record of my visits. This ID is legit.]

The officer checked the photo and the security seal on the certificate.

"This is legit," the officer said, turning to Alex. "You say she's a scammer. What proof do you have?"

Alex, flustered, quickly pulled up the game app on his phone.

"Officer, it's this game account. She was always on voice chat, calling me 'babe' and coaxing me into buying her a house and a car.

"And at the checkout just now, her voice sounded exactly like it did in-game," Alex blurted.

The officer took the phone and scanned the screen.

"A similar voice isn't enough to convict someone," the officer said. "Do you have any other evidence?"

Alex's face was livid.

Jessica suddenly shouted, "Check the IP address! Officer, you can see the login IP in the game."

The officer tapped into the account info page.

"Last login was ten minutes ago. The IP address..." The officer paused, scanning the crowd. "It's near this supermarket."

Alex immediately got fired up.

"Hear that? She was right here in this supermarket ten minutes ago.

"You still dare say it wasn't you?" Jessica shouted.

She caught me off guard, lunging forward and snatching my phone right out of my hand.

I screamed in my head, trying to grab it back.

Jessica kicked me to the ground.

"Officer, check her phone," she said.

She forced my finger onto the sensor to unlock the screen, her fingers flying across the apps in a blur.

Suddenly, she stopped, waved the phone in the air, and cackled loudly. "Got it! It's this game."

The officer took the phone.

On the screen, an app called "Elysium Quest" was running in the background.

He tapped it open; the account was logged in.

And the game ID matched exactly with the one Alex had been showing.