Page 92 of Sweet Revenge
“You were the person I heard coming in when she said she had to go,” Evie said. Oh God. She’d talked to her mother minutes before her murder.
“Oh, that was you she was on the phone with.” Nessa’s eyes lit with excitement. “Somehow that makes it even sweeter.” She closed her eyes as if relishing this new piece of information. “No wonder you showed up so fast. Guess I shouldn’t have sent that text. In a way, though, I’m glad you were the one who found them.”
Evie raised her gun, aiming it straight at her sister’s chest. “Give me one good reason, Nessa.”
“Don’t you want to hear the rest? Hmm.” She tapped her chin with her finger. “Maybe it’s not that interesting. I snapped. Even after ten years, I couldn’t get away from you. She told me I was being childish for hounding her, and when she turned around, I grabbed a knife out of the block and shut her up. Forever.”
Evie’s finger flexed on the trigger. “And Dad?”
Nessa mimed holding a phone up to her ear. When she spoke, her voice was shaky, afraid. “Dad, I think Mom fell or something. She’s not moving. You need to come home, quick!”
“And you waited for him.”
“Yes, now you’re following. And when he got there, I…” She mimed firing a gun.
“What was it for, Nessa?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know, but it made me feel better. Until you showed up. Then you ruined everything. Again. I tried to get rid of you. With the notes and the tire, but you would not go. And then Declan had you under his roof, and what was I supposed to do then? Stroll up to Glenmore House and stab you to death?”
“So you put out the hit with the Italians knowing we’d think it was Peter.”
“Yes. Clever of me, wasn’t it?”
“A bit overdramatic,” Evie replied.
Temper sparked in Nessa’s eyes. “You never did appreciate my talents. It doesn’t matter. I got to take one more thing you loved.” Her eyes drifted over Evie’s shoulder at Maura’s slumped-over form. “And that’s enough to last me for a very long time. Although killing you would be much more satisfying.”
She grinned when Evie took a step closer. “You don’t have the guts to shoot me, sis. I guess you really are the better twin.”
Nessa reached for her own weapon, and Evie lunged forward, smacking it out of her hand. When her sister bent to retrieve the gun, Evie swung her foot up into Nessa’s face, taking no small measure of satisfaction at Nessa’s strangled scream. Gun forgotten on the floor, Nessa rushed her, stumbling forward when Evie danced out of the way.
“You’re going to pay for that,” Nessa spat, wiping blood from her mouth with the back of her hand.
When Nessa surged forward again, Evie rotated, ramming her elbow into Nessa’s face, snapping her head back. Anger hummed through her body and, right or wrong, she wanted to see her sister bleed for what she’d done. She wanted to make her pay.
While Nessa struggled to regain her balance, Evie spun and kicked her in the chest, suddenly grateful for all of those self-defense classes she’d taken a few summers ago to pass the time while she cased a job.
She wasn’t prepared for the way Nessa spun behind her, though, gripping her hair and giving it a vicious tug, her other arm coming down hard on Evie’s elbow and forcing her gun to the floor. Evie kicked back with her foot, hitting Nessa in the knee cap and stumbling forward when she released her grip.
Rotating, Evie narrowly missed landing a blow to Nessa’s jaw but took a right hook that had pain exploding across her cheek. Her blood glistened on the ring on Nessa’s little finger.
“What do you think I should do with Mom and Dad’s house once I kill you?” Nessa spat blood on the ground. “Burn it for the insurance money? Oooh, you’d hate that, wouldn’t you?” Nessa wondered when Evie’s eyes darkened.
Evie vibrated with rage, rushing forward and landing first one, then two punches into Nessa’s stomach until she doubled over, gasping for breath. Evie gripped Nessa’s head and brought her knee up to her sister’s face. Something deep inside of her delighted at the crack of bone, the rush of blood.
When Nessa straightened, face bloodied, Evie pivoted to kick again, swearing when Nessa gripped her foot and twisted. She stumbled forward, hissing out a breath when Nessa landed a punch to her shoulder and another to her kidney.
Eyeing the gun on the floor as she turned, Evie threw a fist into Nessa’s jaw and then extended her leg so Nessa tripped backward over it, landing on the ground with a grunt. Before Evie could get clear, Nessa swept her leg out, knocking Evie to the floor. In anticipation, Evie rolled, fingers closing over the butt of her gun.
Panting, Evie pushed to her feet and loomed over her sister where she lay sprawled on the dirty carpet. Nessa’s battered face grinned up at her.
“I always knew you’d be the death of me.” She laughed, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Maybe you do have the guts after all.”
“Go to hell.”
Evie fired a single shot into the center of her sister’s forehead, watching as her body relaxed into death. Suddenly she felt like all the air had been sucked out of the room, and she wheeled away from Nessa’s staring eyes, doubling over to catch her breath.
Maura. She hadn’t moved, and Evie had to force her legs to eat up the space between them. She tugged at the bindings on Maura’s wrists and ankles with trembling fingers, carefully lowering Maura to the floor.
