CHAPTER 356: SCHEMER MEETS PREDATOR

Micah shook his head, running both hands through his hair until the strands stuck up in disarray. Moping wouldn’t solve anything. Clyde also had a life. Of course, he would go on a business trip.

Micah got out of bed and inhaled. He hardened his resolve and pulled out his notebook from the drawer. He flipped it open to the page where he had scrawled a messy list of names. He drew a line straight through Leo’s name. For all intents and purposes, he was done with him.

Whether Micah could help Leo or not, his future seemed bleak. Without influence, without the power of public support, Leo could never rise to superstardom. And if by some fluke he did get close to Darcy, like in the novel, dealing with him would be simple enough. Either he would end up an artist under his company or La Riviere, where Leo couldn’t run wild, or Twilight Entertainment would block him for good, leaving him a forgotten star.

And with the favour he secured, he was sure the instructor, Seth, would eventually put some sense into Leo’s head and keep him from making too much trouble for him or Darcy.

Still, Micah wanted to finish what he had started. That meant meeting with that black fan on Sunday.

He tapped the notebook with his pen and shifted to the next name: Archie.

The womaniser in their team was Zian, but as luck would have it, Zian was now in a stable relationship with Lulu. So he couldn’t use him to get close to Archie online anymore. The most straightforward option was to bombard Archie’s inbox with messages in the game. But the odds of Archie even noticing him were slim.

What if he used himself? Like asking Archie to carry his alias, pretending to be his own cousin? Nah. It was too risky. He might see through him.

Micah frowned. Maybe someone else. Wait Russell! Yes. He could ask him.

Micah quickly opened his phone and texted Russell.

RogueOverlord: Hey. My cousin wants to raise her rank. But I can’t help her. Can you carry her instead? And don’t tell anyone she’s related to me.

Russell called in a second. "Micah, what is this about?"

"Nothing. She has a rivalry with my other cousin. Can you teach her? My hands are full."

"What about asking Darcy instead?"

"He is busier than me."

"Fine." Russell agreed, finally.

"Oh, right," Micah added quickly. "Bring her to play with your older brother’s teams, too. She is a fan."

Russell grumbled and ended the call.

Micah smirked and moved to the third original male lead. Silas Durant.

His smile vanished. This troublesome one. The dangerous one.

He sighed in resignation and opened the app with dread.

Thank god the storm had passed. After his text, the villain sub had turned his attention elsewhere, picking fights with others instead. And Silas had gone completely silent. Micah wiped his non-existent sweat from his forehead.

Now came the real problem... how to get connected to that sub. Micah gripped his hair in frustration, tugging until his scalp ached. He couldn’t just suddenly start chatting like they were friends. And with how he had picked a fight with Micah, suddenly turning overly friendly would look more than suspicious.

He stared at the chat group in dismay. Then his eyes widened in disbelief. Silas sent a friend request to him. Again.

"What the fuck? Are you kidding me?" he yelled, shooting to his feet.

"I said I am a girl!"

How the hell could he still send him that, wanting to hook up with him?

Was there something he missed?

Micah rubbed his sweaty hands and stared at the screen again. He took a deep breath and tapped, "accept". His finger trembled as he typed.

BashfulWallFlower: Hello.

The reply came instantly.

MarqueesNemus

: I saw you were online.

There was a pause. Micah didn’t know how to reply to that. Tsk. Should he be delighted he had noticed himself? Wasn’t he a doctor? Why was he so free?!

Before he could decide how to respond, another message appeared.

MarqueesNemus: I set up a meeting. Look at that.

Micah groaned aloud. He really wanted to throw his phone away. Why was this bastard ordering him around? Shit! He hated this crap sub-dom dynamic. He couldn’t even fire back.

BashfulWallFlower: Like I said in the group before. I am a girl.

MarqueesNemus: That’s alright. I won’t touch you.

Micah’s eyes widened. Son of a bitch. Like hell he let him touch him!

BashfulWallFlower: I am sorry. It’s too soon for me to meet face to face. Even texting is...

How about that? Huh? Go away now! Creep! Micah thought.

MarqueesNemus: Even better.

Micah spat a string of curses. Why was he fixated on him? Micah kicked the leg of a chair violently.

*****

On the other side of the city, Silas stood in the hospital’s back garden, the evening air cool against his face. His gaze was fixed on the phone in his hand, brown eyes unblinking.

That day, when he had first encountered this so-called new sub in the group, he had gone still, instincts sharpening. It was too coincidental. According to the other Doms, it was rare, nearly impossible, for fresh prey to just wander in. Then another one joined too.

Suspicious. Far too suspicious.

He never trusted anyone. Trust was for weaklings, for those who hadn’t yet learned that human beings were inherently rotten. He had seen the rot first-hand, filth hiding behind smiling faces. He had dissected it in blood and bone until that lesson was carved into his marrow.

His first instinct had been simple: delete the app. Burn the bridge before anyone can cross it.

But then he thought better. Leaving potential enemies roaming in the dark was out of the question. They could reach him, perhaps even touch his carefully constructed world. He had even gotten too close to David already. That was a mistake.

So he decided to get close to one of them. Pull the enemy into the light. Control them. Break them.

Between BashfulWallFlower and TameMeifYouCan, the choice was obvious.

The latter was laughably transparent, flaunting a role Silas had broken a hundred times before. Too easy. Too boring.

But the former was more mysterious.

So he chose that bashful one. Then the account claimed to be a girl. His lips curled into a cold smile at that. They thought they were clever. They knew he could never touch a woman. His revulsion was too deep, too ingrained. A flaw they thought they could exploit. That only made him more certain this was a game.

More certain they were his enemy.

When the account went MIA for a week, it confirmed his suspicion. They went into hiding. Recalculation. The sudden appearance of another fresh sub had thrown their plan into disarray.

Now here they were again. Timid little words sent across the screen, with no clue how to play anymore.

Pathetic.

Silas slipped his gloves off finger by finger, tucking them neatly into his coat pocket. His reflection in the dark phone screen stared back, eyes flat and empty.

He would see this BashfulWallFlower sooner or later. He would make sure that it was all a coincidence or crush them if it wasn’t.

And the other one, TameMeifYouCan.

A cold smile spread on his face. After he played with them, he would break them completely. Strip away their illusions. Make them crawl. They thought they could use him? What a beautiful, desperate wish.

And how exquisite it would be to shatter it.