Chapter 116: Ross 

Ross‘ POV 

After I went inside the bathroom… 

The ropes were cutting into my wrists, burning like firebrands with every twitch. My muscles ached from being bound so tightly, but I kept still, listening as the door creaked shut behind me. Selena–my ever–so–smug ex–stepmother–thought she d won. Thought I was just some defeated boy she could parade around like her own personal prisoner. 

But she didn’t know everything. 

Because I had a secret weapon. 

My brand–new robotic hand. 

The flashbacks of the past began to flood my mind. The sharp, metallic scent, the searing pain that shot up my arm and into my chest. Lucy’s beautifully terrified face, her eyes cold as she laid beneath me. The knife, still slick with blood. 

I snap back to the present, “Come on, Ross. Focus.” 

I dropped to the cold bathroom floor like a puppet with snapped strings, twisting and squirming, every movement agony. My hands were tied behind my back–made the job hellishly difficult–but desperation makes for incredible motivation. I writhed like a dying earthworm doused in salt, skin scraping tile, breaths sharp and ragged. Inch by inch, I worked the joint of the robotic wrist, trying to detach it. 

It took everything I had. 

And then–click. 

The prosthetic detached. The ropes instantly loosened as the anchor point disappeared. With one hand gone, slipping out of the bindings was almost easy. I pulled free, heart hammering in my chest as I stared at my exposed wrist stump. 

Victory. 

I picked up the detached hand, snapped it back in place with practiced ease, and flexed the cool metal fingers. They responded instantly–twitching like the memory of a human limb still lingered in the circuits. 

Now I was free. 

And I had unfinished business. 

The moment my hand collided with Selena’s skull was–perfection. A sharp metallic crack echoed through the hallway, dulling into the sick thud of flesh and bone. Her body folded like paper. She didn’t even get to scream–just a soft gasp before gravity dragged her down. 

I watched her collapse, eyes wide in disbelief, blood matting her perfect hair. That look–that moment when her arrogance cracked–was worth everything. 

She thought she could control me. 

She thought she’d won. 

She never even knew she was part of my game. 

I could’ve played with her longer–strung her along, made her beg–but I held back. Not because I’m merciful. 

Because there’s someone else I’m saving that energy for. 

Lucy. 

The one who started this all. 

My real doll. 

I stepped over Selena’s limp form like she was nothing more than broken furniture, not bothering to check if she was alive. I didn’t need to. The blow was surgical–brutal and calculated. That hand of mine? It’s not just steel and wires. 

It’s a damn weapon. 

Winter Soldier’s got nothing on me. 

I glanced down at it–sleek, obsidian black with chrome joints. The metal gleamed under the dim bathroom light, cold and heartless. The fingers flexed again on their own is a musste romansharing what it used to be. 

It’ll never feel like skin. 

But it’s better than flesh. 

It’s control. 

It’s power. 

1/3 

Successfully unlocked! 

Chapter 116 Ross 

Into the Woods…. 

The sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon, bleeding gold and crimson into the mast–laced trees. Shadows stretched like long, dark fingers across the forest floor. I crouched low behind a thick oak, blending into the underbrush Be a predator stalking its prey. My breath was steady, heart calm–every muscle in my body coiled, ready 

Just beyond the tree line, the cabin sat nestled like a secret waiting to be cracked open. It looked peaceful Quiet Butt knew better. The storm was brewing inside. And I was its eye. 

Lucy. 

She was in there–with some girl named Barbara. A lesbian psychopath, apparently. I already hate her though I have never met her. But it’s okay. It won’t matter. 

Because soon, I would be there, to protect her from that lesbian. 

A rustling sound caught my ear. I shifted just enough to peer around the tree–and there he was. 

Kaiden. 

The golden boy. 

Apparently Lucy’s stepbrother–the one she now loves to fuck. 

I clenched my robotic hand, the metal fingers tightening with a quiet hiss. How ironic. Back when Lucy was my stepsister, he paraded around like some sanctified saint–noble, untouchable, pure as a snowflake on a mountaintop. And now? She’s tangled in bedsheets with him. Shameless. 

My jaw ticked as I made a mental note. “She will get punished for her bizarre duality.” 

Just outside the cabin, Kaiden was locked in a silent struggle with a man built like a wall of concrete–a hulking brute stationed at the door like a statue with a heartbeat. Kaiden moved with the precision of a trained predator, each shift of his body calculated, deliberate. He was trying to choke the guy out–clean, quiet, without alerting the girls inside. 

How touching. 

How foolish. 

How perfectly convenient. 

I bit down on my tongue, suppressing a laugh that still managed to escape as a low, rasping chuckle in my throat. Poor Kaiden. So honorable. So tragically predictable. He was playing the knight in shining armor, but the kingdom he thought he was protecting had already been poisoned. 

He had no idea he was paving the way for me–clearing the path so I could walk in without resistance. He was doing all the hard work, thinking he was saving the day, when in reality, he was just setting the stage for his own downfall. 

I could almost see it–Kaiden’s expression freezing mid–breath as the realization hit him like a blade between the ribs. That while he was locked in that silent struggle, muscles burning, sweat trailing down his jaw, every move precise and desperate to keep things quiet… I was already slipping past him like a shadow. Taking Lucy. Stealing the one girl he thought he was protecting. The one thing he was fighting for. 

Oh, the way his face would twist–eyebrows knotting in confusion, lips parting in disbelief, those golden–hazel eyes wide with shock, flickering helplessly as the truth sank in–I would just simply enjoy it. 

The image bloomed in my mind like a beautiful disaster–chaotic, cruel, and perfect–and I could feel the grin stretch across my face, slow and satisfied. 

Poor, poor Kaiden. 

To Lucy, he might be a hero. 

But in this story? 

I’m the one holding the pen. 

And this isn’t a story of a movie. It’s not some fairytale romance with a noble climax. 

It’s a story of a twisted game. 

And in this game? 

I’m always ten moves ahead. 

To be continued…