It's often been said that love comes to you when you're least expecting it and isn't that the truth?

Our story wasn't your typical meet-cute or whatever stupid name the kids are calling it these days.

In fact, I wasn't even planning on falling in love. Romance wasn't a word in my vocabulary. If you asked my brothers if I had any interest in romance or men, they would've laughed at you and asked if you were fucking kidding.

It was why some people assumed I was lesbian, but let me make this clear. I might not have been attracted to men, but I sure as hell was not attracted to women either.

Before I met Percy, I just wasn't attracted to anyone. Romance and all that mush were not on my radar.

I was trying to start my career, which had eluded me for several years. I didn't have time to also be chasing after a man, who would probably end up being a disappointment when all was said and done.

Even in high school and before, I never dated anyone. My studies were the only thing I had eyes for. Because I mistakenly believed that having a high GPA would get me a scholarship to a top university, which would then get me an internship, which then would land me my dream job. I was never good at math, but this equation made sense, right? A plus B plus C equaled D.

But as we all know, even the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry. Otherwise, you wouldn't be reading this story.

See, what I didn't account for was a global pandemic followed by one of the worst recessions while I was in college. So whatever internships I could've landed dried up like water in a desert.

And that was how I ended up working at a fucking call center despite having a bachelor's and master's.

Now I'm sure this is where you'll ask, "But Jade, you're a Salvador. Your family practically bleeds gold. Why were you working at a call center? Why were you working at all?!"

And you're right. I didn't have to work. But let me explain something. I'm not a lazy person, and I never have been. You don't graduate at twenty-two with a master's if you're lazy. You don't commit murders and meticulously hide any evidence if you're lazy.

Sloth, to me, was probably the deadliest of sins, and for good reason. I despise being bored.

Growing up, my brothers always made sure I was enrolled in extracurricular activities. Ballet, swimming, soccer, dance, theater, etc. Because despite their many, many faults, they weren't lazy. Sure, they were partying, hedonistic fuck boys but they were successful at what they did. They made names for themselves.

Here's another equation for you. Being a Salvador equaled being a success.

And being the youngest Salvador was no exception.

Just because I was the baby of the family and the only girl didn't mean anything. Just because I lost my parents before I lost my first baby tooth didn't mean my brothers were going to go easy on me.

So you can imagine how they must've felt when they saw the project they spent over twenty years investing in and ended up working in a dead-end job that had nothing to do with her degrees.

And they made their feelings known.

A lot.

I can practically hear the questions in your mind at this point. "But Jade, your family had the connections, the resources to get you the job you wanted! Why were you working at a call center?"

And to that, dear reader, all I have to say is, can you not tell my deadly sin is pride?

Though my brothers never said it, I often imagined them telling me, "You wouldn't have any of that if it weren't for us."

I'd rather them slap me. That would sting far less.

But if they had ever said that, they wouldn't have been wrong. Many of my accomplishments wouldn't have happened without my family's wealth or name.

And that is exactly what led me to do what I did.

When I first decided to head down this path, murder had never even crossed my mind. In fact, I was the staunchest advocate AGAINST murder because of my devout interest in true crime and criminal justice.

I had wanted to become a criminal profiler. That had been my dream.

Ironic, huh?

But somewhere along the way, things went wrong, and I couldn't have been further from that dream. Here I was, having just turned twenty-four and I had never been more dissatisfied with my life.

Little did I know my life was about to be upended forever.

At that time, I had no idea Percy Belrose even existed on this planet. All I knew was that I needed to make a drastic change in my life. I tried to escape the monotony by writing and reading and journaling, but those hobbies had gotten stale. They weren't hitting the same.

So I decided to try a little online dating. But not because I was lonely or desperate like those who downloaded those pathetic apps.

This was more like fishing... specifically catfishing.

Originally, I wanted to go into criminal profiling to help prevent future victims of rape and sexual assault and bring those who committed such vile acts to justice.

Since that clearly wasn't happening, I decided to take matters into my own hands.

You know how they say never trust what you read online? Well, let this be a lesson to people on both sides, victims and perpetrators. The child you think you're DMing might not be a child. They could be a forty-year-old married man who's also a father of two.

Or in my case, they could be a twenty-four-year-old woman who looked much younger than her age.

So this is what I meant when I said it didn't start off with luring men just to kill them. I wanted to expose them.

It was surprisingly easy to create online profiles centered around a teenage girl. I already looked younger than my actual age, and with the wonders of Photoshop, I could easily pass as a fifteen or sixteen-year-old.

You'd think these dating apps and social media platforms would have better safeguards to prevent children from accessing them. But nope.

It didn't even take an hour after the fake profile was created for messages to start flooding in.

Many of them were explicit.

Many of them from grown men.

I'm sure many of you are familiar with the show To Catch A Predator. Think of this as something like that.

But instead of meeting up with them in person because I wasn't that much of an idiot, I would screenshot the messages and send them to these guys' wives, girlfriends, and bosses. I would even write anonymous reviews where they worked, giving them 1 star because "they employed pedophiles."

You would think if they were going to commit a crime, they would hide their identities better, but hey, it worked out better for me.

For a few weeks, this was how it went. Chatting with predators at work or whenever I could, and then exposing their disgusting selves anonymously.

It made me feel good. It made me feel important for once in my miserable adult life.

Like I was finally accomplishing something meaningful.

But of course, things didn't stay this way for long.

Because on one cold night in early March, I did something stupid. For reasons I'm still unsure of, I decided to meet up with one of these guys in person.

And now that I've set the scene, this story can finally begin.