Chapter 4

The day the robot was delivered, the afternoon was bright with sun.

When the delivery crew carefully opened the huge metal crate, I was struck all over again by how real he looked.

He stood quietly in the living room, and apart from a hidden charging port and power switch at the back of his neck, there was nothing to tell him apart from an ordinary human.

"Hello, I'm Winona Fox. This is my son, Howie," I said, testing the waters.

He gave a slight bow, his voice low and rich.

"Miss Fox, Young Master Howie. Hello. I'm bionic unit zero-nine. You may give me a human name."

"Let's call you... Ace. As in honest, as in loyal," I said.

"Understood. Ace, at your service."

For the next month, I learned what it meant to live in heaven.

Ace was nothing short of a miracle.

Every morning at six-thirty on the dot, he had a full breakfast ready.

When I woke, my clothes were already pressed and hanging by the bed, and even the water was set to forty-five degrees, exactly the temperature I liked.

He took Howie to school, rain or shine.

He helped Howie with his homework, and no matter how tricky or childish the question, he never lost his gentle smile, patiently coaxing the answer out of him.

The floors gleamed every day, and even the food in the fridge somehow always stayed at its freshest.

I was pulled clean out of that swamp. I even took the top sales spot at the company this year.

I thought my life had finally seen a break of daylight.

Until the day I came home from work.

I'd barely stepped off the elevator when I heard someone pounding hard on my door.

"Winona! You shameless little slut! Get out here!"

It was Rick's voice.

My face darkened, and I quickened my pace.

Rick reeked of liquor, kicking at my security door, one blow after another.

His mother stood off to the side, holding two big woven bags. Clearly they'd come to move in.

"What do you two want?" I said coldly.

Rick turned, saw me, and charged straight over, jabbing a finger in my face and cursing.

"Don't play dumb! I've heard all about it. You've come into money lately, haven't you? Took some huge bonus from the company!"

His mother chimed right in. "That's right! You made money, so you split it! Ricky used to live in this place. Why should we be stuck renting some dump out there while you sit pretty?"

"This is my home. We're divorced. Get out." I pointed at the elevator, sparing them nothing.

"So what if we're divorced? You're single now, and I'm moving in today!"

Rick dropped all pretense and, counting on being stronger than me, shoved me aside and reached for the fingerprint lock.

That was when the door opened from the inside.

Ace stood there in a light gray set of house clothes, a bundle of freshly washed greens still in his hand, quiet in the doorway.

Rick froze, his eyes sweeping over that face that could belong to a movie star, then went a livid gray.

"So that's it, Winona! No wonder you were so eager to divorce. You already had a pretty boy on the side!"

Rick flew into a rage like a cat with its tail stepped on.

He drew back his fist and swung it straight at Ace's face.

"You freeloading dog, I'll finish you today!"

It startled me, and I was about to cry out.

The next second, time seemed to stop.

Ace didn't dodge at all.

He simply raised his other hand and caught Rick's swinging wrist with perfect precision.

The movement looked effortless, yet it carried an irresistible, metal force.

"Warning. Violent intent detected. Initiating defense and removal protocol."

Ace's voice was still gentle, but there was nothing human in his eyes.

"Ow! It hurts! It hurts, it hurts, let go!"

Rick let out a squeal like a pig at slaughter, sinking slowly to his knees under the pressure of Ace's grip.

His face went white in an instant, cold sweat beading on his forehead in fat drops.

"You... what are you doing! Let go of my son!" His mother threw down the woven bags in fright and lunged to claw at Ace.

Ace only gave her a light push, and she dropped to the floor, unable to get back up for a long moment.

"Miss Fox, shall I call the police?" Ace turned to me, his expression respectful.

I stood behind him, looking at Rick on his knees in the dirt of his own making, and something I'd never felt before rose up in me, sharp and satisfying.

"Get out."

I looked down at Rick. "Set one foot in here again, and I'll have him beat you into a cripple."

Rick scrambled up, dragged his mother along, and fled.

I let out a long breath and turned to Ace.

"Thank you, Ace."

Ace gave a small smile. "Keeping you safe is my core directive."

In that moment, I truly felt those three-point-two-eight million had been worth every cent.