Hooking the Big One (4)
The screen flickered once, then froze on that cold red warning. My fingers hovered over the keyboard, the faint glow of the monitor the only light in the room. Another dead end. The system—or whatever force was pulling the strings behind this twisted version of the Three Kingdoms—had thrown up another wall.
I leaned back in my chair, letting out a slow breath. So that's how it's going to be. Every time I got close to something big, the path glitched. Catching a prize like this wasn't going to be as simple as casting a line and reeling it in. The women of this world didn't just fall into your lap; they came with layers of intrigue, loyalty, and hidden daggers.
Still, the thrill was there. The same rush I used to feel when a massive shadow finally broke the surface of the water after hours of patient waiting. Only this time the stakes weren't a trophy fish. They were power, bodies, and the rewriting of history itself.
I closed the window and opened a new tab, fingers already moving across the keys. There were other ways in. There always were. If the front door was locked, I'd slip through the back—or burn the whole damn house down if I had to.
One way or another, that big catch was going to be mine.