Chapter 65

Dark clouds swallowed the once-bright moon, and a chilly drizzle fell through the air.

In the damp, bone-cold dungeon, two shadowy figures huddled close. The stench of mildew filled their lungs.

"Wyatt, I'm freezing..." Molly's voice was soft and trembling, almost like a whisper carried by the wind.

Wyatt looked her way, his face stone cold and tinged with disgust. "Get away from me, you filthy woman."

She crawled to him, clutching his knees with shaking hands. "Wyatt, it's all Megan! She set me up! If it weren't for her, none of this would've happened!"

Tears slid down her cheeks, her pitiful look almost too tragic to bear. "Wyatt, I love you. Everything I did-it was all for you!"

"Get lost!" Wyatt barked, kicking her to the ground."I never wanna see you again! Don't act like I don't know about the other guys you've been with!"

Molly's heart skipped a beat. He knew?

Still, she kept up the act, eyes brimming with tears."Please, Wyatt. You have to believe me. Please!"

Right then, footsteps echoed sharply down the hallway.

The prison door creaked open. Two tall men stepped inside,without a word dragged Wyatt off.

Molly didn't make a sound-she held her breath and pressed closer to the wall, terrified she might be next.

As the door clanged shut behind them, she curled into a ball in the corner, arms wrapped tight around her legs,teeth clenched from fear and cold.

She couldn't stop thinking about Megan.

Last night, she had trailed a waiter and Rachel down the hallway to a hotel room.

Then-footsteps behind her. As she turned, she saw Megan's twisted smile.

Megan's arm came up, and everything went black.

When Molly came to, an unfamiliar man was on top of her. Her body reacted helplessly. That cursed hunger took over.

She had already blocked out the part where the whole thing might've been broadcasted on a giant screen.

Now,trembling from head to toe, she burst into tears.

She had no idea where Wyatt was taken, but none of that mattered-she just wanted to survive. She'd do whatever it took.

Wyatt was dragged down a long, narrow corridor and into a luxuriously decorated room. A Persian rug cushioned his knees as he was thrown to the floor.

Seated on a plush chair, legs crossed, was a man wearing a custom-tailored suit and a creepy clown mask.

As they forced Wyatt down, pain shot from the wound in his abdomen. His brows pulled tight, sweat dripping from his forehead.

His hair was yanked back, forcing his eyes up to meet the masked man.

The man uncrossed his legs, leaned forward slightly,head tilted, and let out a quiet chuckle. "Remind me..what exactly are you good for? Because so far, you've been pretty useless."

Wyatt's pupils shrank with panic. His voice trembled."P-please... just give me another shot. Next time-l swear I won't fail."

The man scoffed, "Why did I ever put my trust in someone like you? If I'd counted on you from the start, Tristan could stillbe standing."

Wyatt was gasping now, heart pounding like crazy.

He'd seen firsthand what this man did to people who didn't measure up.

Human puppets. That's what they called them. Arms and legs hacked off, eyes gouged, ears sealed with molten bronze, throats fed with drugs to silence their screams, vocals destroyed. Even the nose-gone. It was brutal. Completely inhuman. The mere thought of it made Wyatt's soul shake.

"Anything," he stammered. "I'll do anything. Just don't kill me."

The corners of the mask man's mouth tugged up."Fine, one more job. Do it right, and you'll be rewarded. Screw it up again, and..."

Before he could even finish, Wyatt blurted out, "I'll get it done! I swear!"The masked man waved a hand,and Wyatt was taken away.

He slowly pulled the mask off his face, picked up the crystal glass of red wine from the coffee table, and casually walked over to the window.

Rain was falling harder and harder outside, a steady,relentless downpour.

He took a slow sip, narrowing his sharp, almond-shaped eyes. "Megan ? Now that's interesting. The game's only just begun. Let's see how far you can last."

At the old Reid estate.

Sophia sat dazed in the middle of an empty room, her mind replaying the moment Nathan had forced her to sign the divorce papers and pack up her things.

Tears streamed down her cheeks. Why was Nathan as cold as ever, like a stone that just wouldn't warm no matter how long she held it? All these years, he hadn't spared her a second glance. So what if she was the one who wrecked his marriage with that woman Henrietta back then? Was it such a crime to love him, to want him for herself?

After all these years, what did she even gain?

Only a son, Wyatt, and even he had never truly been accepted.

He was the result of that one time she drugged Nathan.

Her heart boiled with resentment-why was she never the one who got love?

Why had all her devotion meant nothing?

If it weren't for Tristan, her son would be the heir of the Reid family.

If Megan hadn't taken advantage of the chaos, Wyatt wouldn't have disappeared from the face of the earth.

The more she thought about it, the angrier she got.

She clenched the bedsheet tightly, grinding her teeth with fury.

Then, she opened a drawer, pulled out an old-school mobile phone-one that couldn't be tracked, unlike her current one being monitored by the police. After all,who knew whether the so-called kidnappers didn't actually help Molly and Wyatt escape?

She dialed a number.

"I need something that kills without a trace. You got it?"

"Okay. I'll be there tomorrow, on time."

Right after she hung up, Evelyn's call came through on that same phone.

Sophia answered quickly. "Evelyn, what are we going to do about Wyatt?"

Evelyn replied, "Cousin, if they grabbed Wyatt, that means he's still useful to them. They won't hurt him.Try not to overthink it-maybe they even saved him."

"I can't help worrying," Sophia said with a trembling voice. "Just thinking about them ruining my son makes my blood boil."

"You're right. Ever since that little tramp came into the Reid family, it's been nothing but chaos," Evelyn sighed.

Sophia took a breath and said coldly, "That's why I reached out to that person again."

"What? You're not planning to go down that road again, are you?" Evelyn asked, alarmed.

"There won't be any problems," Sophia said firmly."Back then, I got a poison from that person and slipped it in that woman Henrietta's food. That's why she died so fast. No one ever suspected a thing.Everyone just thought she had some random illness.Now they're throwing me out of the Reid family. If I don't act soon, I won't get another shot."

"Just promise me you'll be careful," Evelyn urged.

Sophia gripped the phone tighter, excitement building in her chest. The thought of getting rid of those people, one by one, gave her an indescribable thrill. Unbeknownst to her, this very moment had been seen -every expression and movement-by Megan, who couldn't fall asleep that night.

She had never imagined the person behind Tristan's mother's sudden death was Sophia.

An accidental discovery had just blown the lid off a murder buried for years.

Guess karma really does come around. Bad deeds don't stay hidden forever.

She glanced back at the man sleeping soundly beside her, and wondered-what would he do if he ever found out his mother didn't die of illness,but was murdered?

Megan lowered her gaze, lost in thought for a long time. In the end, she decided to wait-wait until the moment Sophia was caught red-handed, then tell him the truth.