Page 13 of The Revenge Plan

“You’re that desperate for more clothes?”

She sighed, “Are you going to continue to interrogate me or let me sleep.”

She was hiding something. It was so obvious, but I was too tired to suss it out. “Goodnight, Hailey.”

???

The following weeks with my new wife were as uneventful as that of any newly wedded couple could get. I was busy at work with the new acquisition. Julian had been terrible at managing it, and like I had thought, Celeste could do better than it was currently doing. It needed to be dusted up and change its marketing to target the younger and overseas crowd. Its in-store experience was nice. I had to give them that. But that was the only good thing the division was doing. The rest was a shit show. We would need a large marketing budget to start with. And this was why I was leaving home early and coming back late. I hardly had any time at home, which suited me well.

As for Hailey, I did not know what she was up to all day. She had refused her own town car when I offered her one.

“So your lackey can report my daily habits to you? No thanks,” she had said. She had then said she didn’t need it, which was probably true. For someone who had a reputation for partying, she was always home when I left and there when I came back.

Today, however, was going to be different. It wasthatday. I glanced at my phone and the clock said three o’clock. It was time to go. Layla, my assistant, raised her head from her computer when I got out of the office, “Are you leaving already?”

“Yes.”

She stood up and handed me the bouquet of red roses on her desk, “I knew today was the thirteenth anniversary so I,” she hesitated, “I don’t know if it’s appropriate. I wanted to do something for you.”

The roses were beautiful and looked expensive. She was thoughtful, and she had class, that’s what I liked about her. I accepted them, “Thank you. You can clock out too if you’re done.”

His grave was next to mom’s. Her final request before she died a few years ago was to be buried next to her son. I passed by a florist and bought another bouquet for her. When I arrived at the site, a single yellow flower lay on my brother’s grave. I made this visit every year and no one except me left flowers. It was puzzling, but it was the anniversary and maybe someone, an old friend, might have thought to pass by. Or maybe it was Ax, but I couldn’t see him leaving a flower. A face flashed in my mind. No. It wasn’t her. She never came to the funeral service and had instead chosen to stand from afar when he was buried like a guilty person. Hailey had shown me then that she hadn’t cared at all about him. He had seen her as his light. She had seen him as someone to use.

I laid the flowers on both graves and did what I did every year. I took out a packet of gummy bears and sat against a tombstone marked Liam Scott.

“I can’t believe I kept your stupid promise,” I said. “They taste like shit.”

I ate the candy and told him of what I was happening in my life, “I’m this close to getting revenge on that piece of shit family. You should have seen the way they scrambled when their bullshit was exposed. They are so desperate; Julian sold his only daughter to me. The spoiled brat is my wife if you can believe it,” I paused, “I know you liked her, but trust me when I say you would have grown to hate her. I’m destroying them little by little and they think I’m their savior. Their ignorance is beautiful to watch. When I use her against them, they won’t know what hit them. But her, I’m going to save for last. She needs to pay for what she did to you.”

I sat there for a while thinking about all how long it had been since he was gone. Most memories of him were fading and seeming further and further away. They were getting hazier the older I got. What was even sadder was that she was there in most of them? For the type of person she was, and she was a certified bully, she had loved my brother. Or at least that’s what I thought. They had hung out together ever since they were young. They had grown up together as well. He shouldn’t have fallen for him. He was a sensitive soul that could be easily bruised, and she was hard as stone. I had been fooled by her once and quickly got over it after my brother paid the price of loving her with his life. I promised myself never to go down that path with her or anyone else.

The candy was long finished by the time I left. The sun was setting, and it was still a little early for me to go home, but I was tired.

The apartment was silent when I got there. There were no signs of Hailey being there. She was probably wherever she spent her days; I thought as I went upstairs to my room. My body was demanding the sleep I had denied it for so long when I heard quiet noises coming from my room. Someone was in there. I marched a little faster and opened the door. It was Hailey. Her back was to me, so she didn’t see me coming in. She was bent over the bedside table. Her long hair covered whatever she was looking at. I had a pretty good idea what it was, however. I closed the space between us and snatched the shoe box she had opened. She jolted in reaction.

Her eyes were wet, but I didn’t care. Her grubby hands were on Liam’s things, sullying my memory of him.

“Get out.” I tried to keep my voice calm, but I couldn’t strip away the heavy emotion I was feeling.

“I’m sorry, I saw—”

“I said get out and never come in here again!”

She dropped the photo she had been holding and rushed out. I picked it up and put it back into the shoe box. It was a Polaroid photo of her and I. I knew what was written behind it, ‘In this photo, we see that Hailey—’ I shoved it back into the box.

6

Icame back from work to an empty apartment like always. Caiden worked hard. Maybe a little too hard. Not that I was complaining. It meant that we didn’t have to bump into each other often which was fine by me. I could live without having to endure his hatred for me.

I went to the kitchen. I hadn’t eaten the entire day today, and I was feeling like my stomach would bottom out at any moment. It was a busy day at the office and I had spent the entire day trying to make sure the new funds we had gained would reach our Asian division. At least I was no longer a useless body. I had done something, even though most of that had been because of Caiden. It was his money that had made it possible. But for the first time in a long time, I felt useful.

I opened the fridge. It had nothing I could eat. It had food, that was true, but it was stuff that needed to be cooked, boiled, grilled or whatever. All of which were skills I did not have. My stomach grumbled. I took out a banana and gobbled it in a few bites. It did nothing to my hunger, might even have worsened it. My phone chimed. I groaned when I saw the name.

It was my brother.

Bryce: What have you found so far.

I rolled my eyes.

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