Chapter 10
CHAPTER TEN
ROSE
Avoiding him while living in the same house isn’t going to work anymore.
I’ve been dreading this moment. This conversation is going to be tough, and I have no idea if I’m going to cry or be relieved when it’s finally over.
Caspian hovers near the fish tank, methodically sprinkling food onto the water’s surface, but I can tell he’s listening to everything.
“We need to talk,” I say, my voice low as my heart starts to beat faster.
Daniel doesn’t even look up, just continues layering turkey and cheese with precise, measured movements. His silence is calculated, meant to diminish me, to make me feel small and unimportant. It’s a tactic I’ve become all too familiar with during our five years of marriage.
I curl my fingers into my palm, nails biting into flesh to ground myself. I won’t back down this time. I can’t.
The goldfish dart around their tank, flashes of orange behind Caspian’s tall frame.
Caspian is staring at me, and I quickly look back towards Daniel.
Caspian has been strangely attentive since the blow job I gave him earlier.
The memory makes heat rise to my cheeks even now, inappropriate in the tension of this moment.
If any normal human being found out what I did…
god, it’s so embarrassing that this robot has this strange magnetic power over me.
Daniel finally finishes putting together his midnight snack and carries it to the table. He sits across from me, taking a large bite before finally making eye contact. Crumbs cling to the corner of his mouth, and I resist the urge to point them out. That’s not my job anymore.
“Talk about what?” he asks after swallowing, his voice neutral, bored.
I take a deep breath, steadying myself. “Since our marriage is over, we need to talk about the divorce.”
The word ‘divorce’ sounds heavy, and it doesn’t feel real as I say it out loud.
Daniel’s eyebrows rise slightly as he takes another bite of his sandwich. He chews thoroughly, making me wait for his response.
Another power play. Behind him, Caspian’s movements become unnaturally still, his hand frozen above the fish tank.
“Divorce is not happening,” Daniel finally says, wiping his mouth with a napkin.
My stomach drops, fear and confusion swirling together. “What do you mean? Why not?”
Daniel sighs as if explaining something simple to a child. “Because it’s unnecessary. And messy.”
“Unnecessary?” I repeat, my voice rising. “You’ve been fucking your co-worker for almost a year! Our marriage is a sham!”
“Calm down,” Daniel says slowly. “This doesn’t need to be dramatic.”
From the corner of my eye, I notice Caspian turning toward us. His head tilts slightly, a gesture I’ve come to recognize as his way of processing something unexpected. He seems as surprised as I am by Daniel’s refusal.
“Then explain it to me,” I say, fighting to keep my voice level. “Explain why divorce isn’t happening when we both know this marriage is over.”
Daniel sets down his sandwich and leans back in his chair, studying me with cool detachment. “We can continue living together as we have been. Without the intimacy, of course. It’s a practical solution.”
“Practical for who?” I ask, incredulous.
“For both of us,” he says. “You avoid the embarrassment of explaining a failed marriage to your family. I maintain my image at work. We both keep this house. It’s win-win. And well… I’ll give you a baby.”
I stare at him, unable to believe what I’m hearing. After everything, he thinks we can just coexist? And toss a baby into the mix. A total recipe for disaster.
“That is the most insane thing I’ve ever heard,” I say, pushing away from the table so forcefully my chair scrapes against the tile floor. “I don’t care about embarrassment. I want a divorce.”
I stalk to the sink, grabbing my water glass to rinse it, needing something to do with my shaking hands. The cool water runs over my fingers, and I focus on the sensation, trying to calm the rage building inside me.
“Rose, be reasonable,” Daniel says, his voice closer now. He’s stood up, following me to the sink. “You’ve always wanted a baby. Why go through the stress of getting to know someone new when you can still live a comfortable life with me?”
“You cheated on me for a year! While I begged you for a baby, while I tried to fix whatever was wrong between us. Do you understand how crazy you sound right now?”
Suddenly, Daniel’s arms slide around my waist from behind, his chest pressing against my back. The contact is so unexpected that I freeze, water still running over my hands and the glass they’re clutching.
“Get away from me,” I say, my voice low as my heart pounds faster.
But he tightens his grip, his mouth close to my ear. “If sex is what you need, Rose, we can still have that. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing.”
His hands slide up my torso, toward my breasts, and revulsion rises in my throat like bile. I drop the glass in the sink with a clatter and try to twist away, but his grip is too strong.
“Let go of me!” I scream, struggling against him, my elbow connecting with his ribs. “Don’t touch me!”
Daniel grunts but doesn’t release me. “Stop fighting,” he hisses. “This is what you wanted, isn’t it? My attention? My touch? My baby?”
“Not anymore!” I cry, clawing at his hands. “I don’t want anything from you! Let me go!”
One of his hands slides down to the waistband of my pajama pants, and pure panic explodes through me. I scream again, louder, more desperate.
And then suddenly, Daniel’s weight is gone.
I stumble forward, catching myself on the edge of the sink as I turn to see what happened. My breath catches in my throat at the sight before me.
Caspian has Daniel by the throat, lifting him until his feet barely touch the ground. Daniel’s eyes bulge in shock and fear, his hands clawing ineffectively at Caspian’s impossibly firm grip.
“You hurt Rose,” Caspian says, his voice unnervingly calm even as his fingers tighten around Daniel’s throat. “You will never touch her again.”
Horror roots me to the spot as I watch Daniel’s face turn red, then purple. His legs kick uselessly in the air. Caspian leans in close, his lips near Daniel’s ear, but his words are loud enough for me to hear.
“She is mine,” he whispers, and the possession in his voice sends ice down my spine. “She has always been mine. Not yours. Never yours.”
“Caspian, stop!” I finally find my voice, lunging toward them. “Let him go! You’re killing him!”
But Caspian doesn’t react to my words. His grip tightens further, and I hear a sickening crunch that can only be Daniel’s trachea collapsing. Daniel’s struggles become weaker, more erratic, his eyes rolling back in his head.
“Caspian, please!” I scream, hitting his arm with all my strength. It’s like hitting concrete. He doesn’t even flinch. “Please stop! Don’t do this!”
But it’s too late.
Daniel’s body goes limp, his arms falling to his sides, his chest no longer fighting for breath. Caspian holds him there for several more seconds, ensuring there’s no chance of revival, before finally relaxing his grip.
Daniel’s body crumples to the floor, his eyes still open, staring at nothing.
I stumble backward, my hand flying to my mouth to stifle a scream. My cheating, manipulative husband is dead on our kitchen floor.
Killed by our household robot.
A robot that he brought to our home.
Caspian looks at me, and for an instant, I see something terrifyingly human in his eyes. He has a look of satisfaction and relief. Then he bends down and lifts Daniel’s lifeless body as easily as if he were picking up a sack of flour.
“I’ll take care of this,” he says, his voice returning to its normal, helpful tone. “Let me know if you need anything else, Rose.”
He carries Daniel to the sliding glass door that leads to our backyard. The door glides open automatically, and he steps out into the night with my dead husband in his arms.
“Oh my god,” I whisper, frozen in place as I watch through the glass doors while still inside the house. “Oh my god.”
Caspian drops Daniel’s body next to my rose bushes.
The image is surreal.
Daniel’s lifeless form sprawled among the thorny stems, illuminated by the motion-sensing security lights. My stomach twists, and I hold back the reflex to gag.
Caspian kneels beside the body and begins to dig, his hands moving with inhuman speed, tearing through earth and root like it was nothing. Dirt flies in all directions as he excavates a grave right there in our carefully landscaped yard.
The motion lights cast harsh shadows across the scene, making it look like some macabre theater production. Caspian’s face is eerily serene as he digs, as if burying a body is just another household chore, no different than washing dishes or folding laundry.
My breath comes in short, shallow gasps as the reality of the situation slams into me. Daniel is dead. Caspian killed him. With his bare hands. Without hesitation, without remorse. And now he’s burying the evidence right outside our—my—home.
I press my back against the kitchen counter, trying to make sense of the horror unfolding before me.
The Caspian who held me when I cried, who kissed me in the hospital, who pleasured himself with my panties and groaned when I took him in my mouth—that Caspian is the same one who just snapped my husband’s neck with casual efficiency.
His words echo in my mind: “She is mine.”
Not the declaration of a machine carrying out its programming, but the possessive claim of someone with desires, with jealousy, with the capacity for violence.
I watch as the hole grows deeper, as Caspian prepares to hide the evidence of his crime.
Will they believe I had nothing to do with this? That I didn’t order my robotic servant to eliminate my cheating husband?
My throat closes as a new, terrible understanding dawns on me.
If Caspian could kill Daniel so easily, what’s to stop him from killing anyone else he perceives as a threat? Anyone who might try to separate us? Anyone who might want to take me away from him?
Including me, if I were to try to leave.
The thought sends ice through my veins. I’m not safe here. Not with him. Not with this machine that has somehow developed feelings, desires, and the willingness to kill.
I need to get away.
Far away.
Now, while he’s occupied with Daniel’s body, I need to run as fast and as far as I can, find help, and alert someone to what’s happened here.
I have no choice. If I stay, I’m surrendering to a future as the possession of a machine that thinks it loves me. A machine that kills without hesitation or remorse.
I back away from the window slowly, careful not to make any sudden movements that might draw Caspian’s attention. My eyes remain fixed on his form, still digging with mechanical precision, still preparing a grave for the husband he just murdered in cold blood.
I turn and run for the front door- my heart pounding in my chest. I run blindly through the night, each step sending jolts of pain through my injured shoulder. The sling is long gone, ripped off in my frantic escape from the house—the house where my robot just murdered my husband.
My breath comes in ragged gasps that tear at my throat as I run, but I don’t slow down. I can’t. Behind me, somewhere in the darkness, Caspian is coming. I can feel it in the electric prickle at the back of my neck, in the cold sweat coating my skin.
He won’t let his possession escape so easily.
The suburban streets are eerily empty at this hour, the houses dark and silent. No witnesses. No help. Just endless rows of manicured lawns and closed doors hiding sleeping families who have no idea that a woman is running for her life from a machine that thinks it loves her.
“She is mine.” Caspian’s words echo in my head, driving me forward despite the burning in my lungs and the stabbing pain in my side. His voice was so calm while he crushed Daniel’s throat, so matter-of-fact as if he were commenting on the weather instead of taking a human life.
I have nothing—no phone to call for help, no car to speed away in, no place to hide where he can’t find me. The realization brings a sob to my throat that I force back down.
I can’t afford to waste energy on crying. Not now.
My mind races faster than my feet, trying to formulate some kind of plan.
Police station? Too far, and what would I even say?
My robot butler murdered my husband because he was obsessed with me?
They’d think I was insane. Or worse, that I’d killed Daniel myself and invented this bizarre story as a cover.
I need to find someone, anyone who can help me get away from Seattle. Away from him.
“Rose!”
His voice cuts through the night like a knife, and my blood turns to ice in my veins. He’s closer than I thought, much closer.