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Kidnappers, Please Bill My Girlfriend Separately
Kidnappers, Please Bill My Girlfriend Separately
Author: Cedar Creek

Chapter 1

Author: Cedar Creek
The livestream footage was grainy and unstable, capturing the raw, concrete walls of an abandoned factory in the background.

My girlfriend, Selena Jenkins, was tied to a chair with her hands bound behind her back. Her hair was a mess, yet she was fearless.

She was looking down at a mobile phone, her face bathed in the stark glow of its screen. Then, a smile crept onto her face.

The livestream chat exploded in an instant.

"Are my eyes playing tricks on me? Did she just smile? How can she smile at a time like this?"

"To the person who just commented, haven't you seen the news? Her boyfriend just split the ransom 50-50 with the kidnappers! He's making her pay her own share of 35,550 dollars!"

"??? The award for the most baffling behavior of the year goes to... What kind of world-class trash is this guy?"

"Girl, run! Why are you still with him? He'd probably ask you to split the bill for his own funeral!"

My phone vibrated nonstop, with messages from friends demanding answers, along with links to the livestream. However, I paid them no mind.

I opened the chat window with the kidnappers and sent another message. "I've prepared my share of 75,000 dollars. Please provide me with your account details. Selena's share—35,550 dollars—is her personal debt; it has nothing to do with me. I suggest you contact her or her family directly."

The kidnappers on the other end of the line must have been driven mad. A voice message came through almost instantaneously.

"What the hell is wrong with you? This is a kidnapping, not a dinner party! Who the hell splits a ransom? Believe it or not, I will kill the hostage right now! I swear, I have never seen a freak like you in my entire life!"

I turned down the volume before replying. "Killing the hostage benefits you in no way. It'll only infinitely increase your risk and leave you with zero profit. Calm down and think about it. My proposal is your best solution right now."

Just then, my other phone rang. It was Vivian Murray.

The moment I picked up, her frantic voice came through against a backdrop of noisy background static. "I just saw the news, Ollie! Are you okay? H-how could something so horrible happen to Selena? Whatever you do, don't make rash decisions!"

I massaged my temples. "I'm fine. I'm perfectly calm."

"I knew you'd keep a level head!" Vivian's voice instantly softened with admiration.

"Unlike those netizens who are judging you without knowing the full story. They don't understand that this has always been how you and Selena handled your finances. That was the agreement between the two of you. You didn't do anything wrong!"

She paused before adding in a tone that was equally sympathetic and provocative, "It's just… I wonder if Selena will understand where you're coming from. Girls usually want their boyfriends to save the day at times like this and take care of everything."

She sighed before continuing, "I'm to blame. If I hadn't asked you to help fix my computer a few days ago and taken up your time, perhaps you would've been with her. Then, none of this would've happened… This is all my fault—"

I cut her off. "This has nothing to do with you."

After hanging up on Vivian, I shifted my attention back to the livestream. The number of viewers online had already crossed ten million.

Selena seemed to have grown accustomed to the camera. Despite having her hands bound behind her back, she even shifted her posture to find a better angle for the camera.

One of the kidnappers, who had most likely received my message, stormed up to her and shoved his phone in her face. "Look at the crap your boyfriend's spewing! He wants you to pay your own share! Selena Jenkins, I swear, I have seen it all today!"

Looking at the screen, a smile spread across Selena's face. She lifted her head, her gaze unerringly finding the camera's lens, as if she were staring right at me through the screen.

When she parted her lips, her voice wasn't loud, yet it echoed with crystal clarity across the entire stream. "Alright, chat, stop flaming him. He's so stingy that it's almost like he's treating it like an art form."

Selena tilted her head, giving them a cheeky wink. "Let's just call it… tuition for life lessons. After all, where else can one attend such a vivid lesson on financial risk management?"

Her tone was so nonchalant that she might as well have been telling someone else's story. My heart suddenly thudded against my ribs as a sliver of unease rose within me.

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  • Kidnappers, Please Bill My Girlfriend Separately   Chapter 10

    I had no idea how I had left Rivergate 18. The words "fiance" and "Novis Smith" looped in my head. Like two jagged steel needles, they stabbed repeatedly into my nerves. It turned out that I wasn't even qualified to be the antagonist in her story. From the very beginning, I was nothing more than an insignificant NPC in the script of her life, existing solely to advance the plot. I was a background prop, a joke. I returned to the shoebox apartment I was renting, where the air was thick with a damp, musty smell. I booted up my computer and logged into the backend of that already abandoned SplitMate app. It was the last backdoor I had left for myself as the developer. I wanted to delete it. I wanted to erase all the quantified fragments of my past with Selena. Yet, when I clicked the delete button, the system popped up a window I had never seen before. "Project 'Love' is about to be terminated. Would you like to trigger the final retrospective report?" As if guided by some uns

  • Kidnappers, Please Bill My Girlfriend Separately   Chapter 9

    I returned to the apartment that had already been cleared out. Using the last bit of access I still had, I logged into SplitMate's backend. There, I exported a bill of all the financial transactions between Vivian and me. Yes, I'd created this ledger ages ago. In my perfectly logical universe, everything could be tracked and calculated. Every time I had helped Vivian, I had quietly logged it."May 2022. Provided data support for Vivian's graduation thesis. Time spent: 12 hours. Market value: Six thousand dollars. Note: Personal favor; waived for now.""January 2023. Advanced one thousand dollars for Vivian's apartment deposit. Note: Verbally agreed to pay me back next month. Later, the other party used the excuse that 'money is tight' and did not return it.""September 2023. Vivian went through a breakup. Provided 72 hours of emotional support. Valued at professional counseling rates…"Looking at these entries, I found it absurd. I used to believe this ledger was proof of my in

  • Kidnappers, Please Bill My Girlfriend Separately   Chapter 8

    By the time I found Vivian, she was trapped inside a cafe by two men in suits and leather shoes. I recognized them. They were Mr. Smith's assistants. "Mr. Newman," they greeted me politely when they saw me. Vivian spotted me and, as if she had seen her savior, rushed over to hide behind me. "They're trying to arrest me, Ollie! They claim I slandered Sel, and now they're going to put me behind bars."The lead assistant adjusted his glasses with a blank expression. "Mind your language, Ms. Murray. We are merely here to serve you with a cease-and-desist letter and inform you that your actions have caused serious damage to Ms. Jenkins' reputation. We reserve all rights to pursue full legal action against you." "I did not. Everything I said was the truth!" she shrieked from behind me. "Selena's a gold digger. She's the one who wronged Oliver! I was just exposing her!" I looked at her face, which was distorted with anger, and for the first time, felt a sudden pang of alienation and

  • Kidnappers, Please Bill My Girlfriend Separately   Chapter 7

    I began to look for Selena like a man possessed. I didn't want to defend myself or confront her; I merely wanted to see her face-to-face and ask a single question. Why? Why did she put up with me for three long years? I showed up at Novis Capital, only for the receptionist to politely inform me, "Ms. Jenkins doesn't accept visitors without an appointment." I went to her hotel, only to be told, "Ms. Jenkins has already checked out." I camped outside her family's company building for three days and three nights. Yet, all I got to see was her Maserati pulling in and out. Its windows were heavily tinted, so I couldn't see who was inside.I was like a bug discarded by the system. I was completely erased from her world.In my despair, I thought of Jace. I dialed his number, and he picked up with his trademark mockery. "Well, well, well, if it isn't the great actuary, Oliver. What's the matter? Did you hit a liquidity crisis and need a loan? "Mind you, interest is 0.5% a day. Ta

  • Kidnappers, Please Bill My Girlfriend Separately   Chapter 6

    Sitting in the middle of my hollowed-out apartment, I was surrounded by half-packed cardboard boxes. Vivian had come over again with a thermos flask filled with her homemade soup. "Eat up, Ollie. You've gone the whole day without food." She ladled the soup into a bowl and slid it toward me. "Don't worry. Everything will be fine. You can always find another job and rent a smaller apartment. As long as we're together, we can get through anything!"Her words were gentle, carrying an air of unconditional reliance and support. In the past, I would've been moved by such irrational warmth. But now, all I felt was an overwhelming sense of irony. Looking at her, I blurted out, "Vivian, if you were the one who got kidnapped, and the ransom was a million dollars, what would you want me to do?" Vivian froze for a moment and, without a second thought, answered, "Of course I'd want you to come and save me! Even if it meant losing everything you own! Because you're my man!" Right after say

  • Kidnappers, Please Bill My Girlfriend Separately   Chapter 5

    "Illegal profits? We developed those models together!" I argued, grasping at straws. "We developed them together?" Selena dropped her mocking facade, narrowing her eyes. "Be honest with yourself, Oliver. Every single time the model hit a bottleneck, who stayed up three nights in a row to uncover the flaws in the underlying logic? Every time an algorithm iterated, who provided the core code? "And every single time you took the final solution to your boss to claim credit and earn your performance bonuses, did you ever give me a single dime?"I parted my lips, but I couldn't find my voice because she was telling the truth. In our ledger, she had classified these intellectual contributions as "unquantifiable emotional support", and they were never factored into the bills. I had always thought this was a tacit understanding between us. I had assumed that she, like me, disdained putting a price tag on things like that. "What, cat got your tongue?" Selena closed the distance betwee

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