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**Chapter 260:
🕑 Added 2025-05-08 22:48:56 +0000 UTCA small cabin in the woods.
“I choose to have loving parents, a happy childhood, and a warm family.”
Amy Wonder murmured.
“You still have the chance to make that choice,” Juno said with a smile. “As long as you want to.”
“What should I do?”
Amy Wonder looked at Juno eagerly.
“This book, Gone Lover, is your turning point.”
Juno grinned. “When the time comes, it will be published under your name. You won’t have to kill your long-time backup lover, intimidate your future husband, or go through all that trouble to make a name for yourself. If you want it, in just a few months, you’ll be the real Amy Wonder—not the one from your parents' book, but your own person.”
“Under my name?”
Amy Wonder was stunned.
“Yes.”
Juno looked at her. “You don’t want to?”
“I do, I do!”
Amy Wonder nodded eagerly but then hesitated. “But what about the scene where the ex-boyfriend assaults the protagonist?”
“That has to stay, of course,” Juno said with amusement. “It’s an important part of the story. It shows that the male lead isn’t the first victim and elevates the female protagonist’s character development.”
“…Alright.”
Amy Wonder lowered her head slightly.
“Don’t worry.”
Juno’s eyes narrowed. “If there’s controversy, that’s a good thing. We can frame it as giving women a voice, making all men cautious about how they treat women. We may seem weak in our daily lives, but when pushed to the limit, even we fear how ruthless we can be.”
Amy Wonder looked up at Juno, a mix of surprise and anticipation in her gaze.
This angle was intriguing.
“As for your ex-boyfriend…”
Juno smirked. “You can say that this experience is what inspired you to write the book. Imagine—if your ex had read Gone Lover, would he have dared to assault you?
Even if it goes to court, there’s nothing to fear. He’s broke, and you have money—you’re naturally in an unbeatable position. Plus, it’ll keep the public interest high, boost your reputation. As long as the world never learns your true inner thoughts, there’s no problem at all…”
At that moment, Juno gave Amy Wonder a knowing smirk.
Amy Wonder suddenly remembered the moment she had blurted out her deepest thoughts under pressure. Her face turned pale.
She wasn’t stupid—she could guess that Juno had probably recorded everything.
And sure, there were a lot of benefits. But was there really no downside?
Of course, that was impossible.
The protagonist in the book was basically a reflection of herself, with many details that matched her real life. If the book became a hit, her ex-boyfriend would surely come forward with accusations, maybe even take legal action.
Money beats lack of money—winning a lawsuit would be easy.
But how would the world see her?
Would people really believe it was “just a novel, purely fictional”?
What a joke.
Once the truth got out, no one would dare get close to someone as ruthless as her. It would be social death.
“You’re really giving this to me?”
Suppressing her shock, Amy Wonder still found it hard to believe.
With her keen eye, she could tell that once Gone Lover was published, paired with the explosive real-life backstory, it would definitely become a sensation. And it was perfect for a film adaptation—the profits would be astronomical.
With enough money, even social death could be reversed.
“You’ll get the fame.”
Juno smiled. “But most of the profits must be donated. Since we’re claiming to advocate for women’s rights, we need to take action. That way, your reputation will be even stronger. Even if only a small portion of the profits go to you, it will still be a lot.”
Amy Wonder’s face stiffened.
She knew Juno wouldn’t leave such a glaring loophole.
For the rest of the day, Juno alternated between the scalpel and the carrot, continuously molding Amy Wonder.
Heather was stunned.
Under her gaze, Amy Wonder’s eyes began to resemble Karen’s when she looked at Juno.
Karen, on the other hand, was burning with jealousy. But since Juno had warned her in advance, she couldn’t say anything. She could only stew in frustration, pouting.
Eventually—
Juno stopped the drip of the sedative and waited for Amy Wonder to fully regain control of her body. Holding a scalpel in one hand and pulling open her pocket with the other, Juno smiled.
“What’s your choice?”
This was a classic prison ritual—pulling someone’s pocket meant acknowledging them as one’s “bitch,” a complete act of submission.
Amy Wonder was taller than Juno, yet without hesitation, she crouched down, grabbed Juno’s pocket, and even knelt, kissing the tip of Juno’s shoe. Then she looked up at Juno, her face full of admiration.
“Very good.”
Juno nodded approvingly.
Amy Wonder smiled joyfully in return.
But the next second, her smile froze. She reached for her throat, eyes wide with shock and confusion as she stared at Juno.
“You overacted.”
Juno flicked the blood from the scalpel.
Amy Wonder’s eyes filled with venomous hatred as she collapsed to the ground, convulsing. In mere seconds, she lay still, eyes wide open in death.
“What just happened?”
The turn of events was so sudden that Heather was completely dumbfounded.
“I failed.”
Juno sighed. “Amy Wonder truly lived up to her name. She progressed too quickly. We were the ones who opened the door to a new world for her—she evolved into the final version of herself from the book ahead of schedule. Someone like that could never be controlled. I was too confident.”
“You mean she was acting the whole time?”
Heather was in disbelief. “But her eyes… they looked at you just like Karen does!”
“That’s exactly why I couldn’t keep her alive.”
Juno looked wistful. “Originally, I planned to control her with a mix of persuasion and coercion, then release her, allowing weekly visits to gradually reshape her into the person we wanted her to be.
But in just two days, she managed to fool even you two. I only asked her to pull my pocket as a sign of submission—yet she went as far as kneeling and kissing my shoe.
If she had truly been reformed, she wouldn’t have made that extra move. It looked like deeper submission, but it actually showed she still had her own thoughts.”
“But… what if she really was convinced?”
Heather hesitated.
“No way.”
Juno shook her head. “The time frame was too short. Maybe for a regular person, it would work. But she was Amy Wonder—a top graduate from Harvard’s psychology department. She couldn’t have changed that much.”
And there was another reason—her instincts.
Amy Wonder had progressed rapidly under extreme circumstances, acting flawlessly, even deceiving with her eyes. But Juno’s intuition had been warning her the whole time.
And in the final moment, Amy Wonder’s gaze confirmed everything.
Juno’s instincts had never been wrong.
And indeed—
After enduring several crushing blows, Amy Wonder hadn’t crumbled. Instead, she awakened her true talent, effortlessly playing along with Juno’s script.
But in reality, she preferred writing her own.
If she had escaped, it would have become her legendary story.
When she pulled Juno’s pocket, the reason she added that extra kneeling and kissing gesture wasn’t just to show submission. More importantly, it was to mask and adjust the uncontrollable joy she felt at what she thought was her success.
But talent couldn’t beat experience.
Juno saw through her act—and in a cruel twist of irony, ended her life with a sudden slash to the throat, just like in Gone Lover, when the protagonist seduced her backup lover, only to slit his throat in his moment of peak pleasure.
It was just as sudden. Just as terrifying.
A grim joke with deep irony.
And in her final moment, Amy Wonder felt it—then came the overwhelming fury, flashing in her eyes one last time…
*(End of Chapter)*
