Title: The Warning on the Receipt 🧾😨

I turned the receipt over.

Two words were written in shaky handwriting:

“DON’T LEAVE.”

I looked at the waitress.

She quickly glanced toward my date, then whispered, “Pretend everything is normal.”

I sat back down.

My date smiled. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah,” I said, forcing a smile.

Then I noticed something strange.

He wasn’t looking at me.

He was staring at the waitress.

A few seconds later, my phone buzzed.

A message from an unknown number:

“We know who he is.”

Before I could reply, my date suddenly stood up.

“I need to make a call,” he said.

He walked toward the exit.

The waitress grabbed my hand.

“Don’t let him leave with you.”

My heart started racing.

Then the restaurant manager locked the front door.

My date turned around.

His smile disappeared.

The police entered through the back door.

That’s when I finally understood why the waitress had lied.

My date wasn’t broke.

He was wanted.

And this wasn’t his first date at that restaurant.

It was his seventh.