Page 26 of Beautiful Revenge

“It was a long day at work,” she finally says. “I’m a… doctor. I lost a mom and baby today. And my husband isn’t even home for me to talk about it with. He’s gone with the children. Thank god. They’ll be ok. Thank god. Take whatever you want. Take everything in our house. Just leave me be. Please.”

“Do you want to know something? Your husband hired me to come kill you.”

She goes still, taking a long time to process my words. “No. He wouldn’t.”

“He did. Jakob Anderson, your husband. Got laid off as a teacher. Resents you for making more than him. A real asshole in my opinion. Did you know that he took your money to pay me to do this? A hundred grand. In cash. Right out of your bank account. How pathetic and sad is that?”

“No,” she sobs, clutching her hand to her mouth. “No.”

“He did. He wants your insurance money. He thinks you don’t spend enough time with the kids. Fucker. You’re a surgeon. Who does he think he is?”

“Please don’t kill me. Please.”

There is a part of me that is tempted to leave Marie alone. Maybe I’d go kill Jakob just for shits and giggles.

But I’m not going to let Aria get to me. I’m still Finn Murphy, ruthless hitman.

And that’s who I’ll always be.

“Any last words, Marie?” I pull out my gun and point it at her.

“No, please.”

“You’re going to regret that as your last words. Anything better?”

“You can join my husband in hell.” There’s a fire in her eyes that reminds me so much of Aria.

Good. I always prefer killing people who have a backbone to them than pathetic ones.

“I’m already in hell, Marie.” Then I pull the trigger. The silencer hides the bulk of the noise.

The bullet hits Marie right in the head and she falls back onto the couch, not moving. She’ll never move again. I leave the TV going as I pick up her computer and a tablet and any jewelry I can find. I make a mess of things so the police will think it was a robbery gone wrong.

But if they ever find out Jakob was behind this, then fuck him. He can go to jail for all I care. I never use any identifying information that can be traced back to me.

Jakob has seen my face but I’m not in any police database. I’ve stayed off their radar for a long time and I intend to keep it that way. I can also always kill Jakob if he’s caught before he can talk to the police. Easy enough for me.

I leave out the backdoor and drive away from Marie and Jakob’s house. His kids are going to be devastated when they return home. I actually do feel the tiniest bit bad for them. I remember what it was like feeling helpless as a kid. How my father made me feel so afraid.

But I learned how to be tough and so will these kids. They’ll have no other choice. Their rich mom is dead and their dad is a fucking deadbeat who killed her.

I return to Aria. The sight of her naked on the bed is tempting. She’s asleep. She looks so peaceful compared to her usual scowl she wears around me. I smile to myself. She’s a spitfire and I fucking love it.

I grab her clothes from the dryer and toss them onto her. That wakes her up.

“Finn? What?”

“Get dressed.” I untie her. “We’re changing houses.”

“What? Why?”

“So Dante can’t find us. Get dressed.”

She doesn’t hesitate to slip her clothes back on but I notice that she doesn’t hide her body away from me as she does it. She stares right back at me, showing me she’s not afraid.

“You’re afraid of Dante?” she asks, looking smug.

I need to put her in her place. “I just killed a woman tonight. A doctor. Her husband hired me to kill her so I did.”

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