Chapter 4
683words
For him, currently in unbearable pain, this isn't just a payment reminder.
This is a divine prophecy.
And also mockery—you found fake medicine, and it's even poisonous.
"Get out! Get out of here!"
A distorted roar comes through the headphones.
"You fraud! How could you possibly be Siren! Get out!"
"Theodore, let me explain..."
"GET OUT!!!"
Bang.
The door slams shut.
Immediately after, Theodore's trembling, tearful voice comes through the headphones.
He's talking to himself, like an abandoned child.
"Don't go... Siren, please, don't go..."
"She's fake, you're real. I know I was wrong..."
Ding.
My phone screen lights up.
Bank transfer notification.
Fifty million.
Instantly deposited.
You see, this is Theodore.
In real life, he wouldn't give me a penny until the divorce, when he finally offered two million as settlement.
Yet online, for just one word from me, he'd spend his entire fortune.
A fair exchange.
Looking at that life-saving figure, I take a deep breath.
Just then, a voice call request lights up.
Mr. M.
I don't answer immediately.
I wait a full ten seconds.
Until I predict he's about to break down and harm himself.
I answer.
"Mr. M."
Siren's distinctive voice.
Deep, languid, with a textured quality.
"Hello."
"Siren..." He sounds exhausted, his voice hoarse.
"Where are you? I was wrong, I shouldn't have trusted others... only your voice can save me."
"Shh."
I gently interrupt.
"Put on your headphones. Close your eyes."
"Since the money has arrived, I'll fulfill my promise."
"Where are you? I want to see you..."
"Listen to me."
I lower my voice.
This is the command tone he can least resist in the livestream room.
"Shut up and listen to me."
Theodore instantly goes quiet, like a tamed vicious dog.
I lean against the cold wall of the nanny's room.
Into the microphone, I softly hum a melody.
It's a lullaby my mother used to sing to me when I was little.
In the headphones, the agitated breathing gradually steadies.
It's a long-absent, deep sleep.
I glance at the time.
Five minutes.
Service completed.
I'm about to hang up the phone and leave.
But something unexpected happens.
I'm packing my suitcase.
The window isn't fully closed.
A stray cat, shivering in the rain, jumps in.
Landing right at my feet.
It's startled by the suitcase in my hand.
"Meow—"
A sharp, piercing cat cry explodes in the quiet room.
Through the high-performance microphone, the cat's meow transmits clearly and unmistakably to Theodore's headphones.
What's worse.
The nanny's room is directly below the master bedroom.
This cat's meow doesn't just sound in the headphones.
It also sounds beneath Theodore's floor.
The breathing in the headphones suddenly stops.
A spine-chilling intuition crawls up his back along with the electric current.
Theodore is startled awake.
Or perhaps he never fully fell asleep.
"This cat..."
Theodore's voice becomes unusually soft, like the sea before a storm.
"This three-legged stray cat was raised by my mute ex-wife."
I quickly reach out to hang up the phone.
Too late.
A hair-raising chuckle comes through the headphones.
"The same rain background sound."
"The same cat meow."
"One sound in the headphones, one sound downstairs."
"Siren... so you've been living right below my bedroom?"
Bang!
A loud noise comes from upstairs.
The hardwood floor is stomped on violently.
Hurried footsteps, rushing toward the stairway.
He is running wildly.
Destination: the nanny's room.
I throw down my computer!
Grab my suitcase and dash out!
My hand touches the doorknob.
The door just opens a crack.
A pale, powerful hand suddenly pulls the door open from outside!
I look up in terror.
Theodore stands before me, his bloodshot eyes staring at me with horrifying intensity.
He's still clutching his phone in his hand.
The screen still displays the call interface with Siren.
"You took my money, said goodnight, and thought you could run?"
He approaches step by step.
Casting his tall, dark shadow over me.
His voice hoarse, permeating with bone-chilling coldness.
"Since you're my medicine, you should obediently stay in the medicine cabinet."
