Page 147 of Revenge

Bonus. This is going to be even better than I thought. She wasn’t supposed to be here. It was supposed to be the nanny. I walk in and immediately see her and Aisling further from the door. I don’t see anyone else in the room with them. Ava’s back is to me, so she doesn’t see me at first. I don’t say anything to avoid giving myself away. I hid a gun between the folds of the towels when I picked them up. I am glad of it, because it means I can end this once and for all. My father always says, “if you want something done right, do it yourself.” I will finally get her out of the picture.

“Come in. How can I help you?” Ava asks, turning around. I cover my face with a stack of towels.

“Someone asked for fresh towels,” I say, disguising my voice.

“Thanks. You can leave them in the bathroom.”

She goes back to her task of putting earrings on.

Aisling says, “Momma.” For some odd reason, it bothers me. Ava isn’t her mother. But I quickly recover. I’m not interested in being her mother anyway. When everything is done, she’ll be the nanny’s problem.

I set the towels down in the bathroom but hold onto the gun. Luckily, it has a silencer. I couldn’t be happier at this moment. My father taught me well. I exit and see Ava pick up Aisling, who is giggling.

“You know she isn’t your daughter, right?” I sneer.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” She holds Aisling closer, protectively.

“I came to get what belongs to me. If you howl, I’ll kill you both. Hand her over.”

“You wouldn’t. She’s your flesh and blood, and you wouldn’t do that to Viktor. You love him. It will drive him insane.” She tries to reason, but nothing she can say will save her.

I laugh. “I don’t love Viktor, and she isn’t his daughter, either. It’s funny that no one has noticed she looks nothing like him.” She looks at Aisling, then at me.

“You’re lying.”

“Am I?”

“Fiona, please don’t do this. Tell me what you want.” Aisling is now crying.

“For you to die. You don’t understand how many people have tried and failed to kill you. But I won’t fail. Your time is up.” I walk closer to her, only the bed between us now. “I won’t say it again. Hand her over.”

“No.”

I move around to the side of the bed where she’s holding Aisling.

“I’ll shoot. Trust me when I tell you I’ll not miss.” But she doesn’t hand Aisling over. She holds her closer. I pull the trigger, and the vase beside her shatters.

“Don’t do this.” Aisling is now crying properly.

“Shut her up.” There’s a knock at the door. “You’d better say everything is fine, or Aisling will pay the price, and I doubt you want any harm come to her.”

“Ms. O’Brien, is everything okay?” I point the gun at Aisling this time to make my point.

“Yes. Just dropped a vase. Everything is fine. It just scared Aisling.”

“Would you like some help?” I look at her.

“No. Everything is fine. The housekeeper is here.”

“Good job. Now set her down if you want her to live.”

“You don’t want to hurt her.”

“See, the thing is, I don’t really give a shit about Aisling. She was a means to an end. She’s a useless handbag now. If you don’t want her to die, you know what to do.” Ava shoves Aisling to the floor. I’m going to say more when the window from the right shatters.

“What the fuck?” I ask myself.

The fucking hitman finally did his job. Suddenly the door behind me opens, and men blaze in. Before I can react, I feel the first bullet hit me, making me fall to my knees. I try shooting at them, but I find myself weak.

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