Page 63 of Dreaming

“I named her after my brother who took down six attackers before dying trying to protect me and my father. He insisted on helping Dad who felt responsible for putting my name in circulation.” She shook her head. “You know nothing about anything. All your assumptions are wrong.”

“I know you’re gonna be dead, Nia. I know they’re gonna take you out! You and your ugly bitch of a moth…”

“Shut your goddamn mouth about my mother!” Nia screamed so loudly that Vi jumped and Nicki stilled. “I’ll listen to you rant about me, about Dennis, because we can take it. If you say one more word about my mother, I will shoot you myself.”

Reaching into her purse, Nia removed her service weapon. “Sit your bitch ass down, Nicole.”

Nicki dropped hard into the chair behind her.

“I’ve had enough. I’m sick of you. Sick of you. You’re a poisonous viper. If our father was alive, he would have disowned you. David would never even speak to someone like you. The sad part is, you were already like this before they died but hid most of it. You tortured my mother for years. Did everything you could to hurt her.”

Walking forward, Nia perched on the edge of the chair opposite Nicki and pulled a silencer from her purse. She casually attached it to her weapon. Her sister’s eyes were huge.

“I like the muffled sound. Less painful on the ears. Now, you’re going to shut your fucking disrespectful mouth and listen carefully.”

“Wh-what?”

“You have one chance. Tell me how you connected your scumbag boyfriend to the Malaysian syndicate.”

Nicki stared at the gun and back to Nia’s face. “You’re crazy. You c-can’t just shoot me.”

Clicking the safety off, Nia turned the weapon and shot the leg of the chair one foot to the left of her sister’s leg.

Nicki started screaming.

“Let me explain something to you, Nicole. I’m not who you think I am. I never have been. I knew you were horrible. I did not know you were so horrible that you would send five armed men into a bar to kill dozens of people after they killed your sister. I didn’t know you were that horrible.”

Nia’s smile was tight. “Now that I know, I don’t consider you any different than the four men I killed that night.”

Nicki’s mouth dropped open. “That’s a lie…”

“No, it isn’t. I walked into Dennis’ bar and killed four, captured one.”

“That can’t be true…”

“It is though, Nicole. I then dedicated my life to obliterating their entire organization. Two-hundred-seven people either jailed or killed in ten months.”

“Y-you’re making shit up…”

“She’s not,” Vi said above her. “She shot four men dead with five rounds, disbanded a syndicate, and took every goddamn dime of their money.”

Nia stared at her sister. “Do you know why I did that, Nicki? I did that, at risk to my own health, to make sure you, my mother, and Dennis were safe. They held a gun to his head to get him to text me. They were going to kill one person every minute until he did it. Until I showed up so they could torture and kill me.”

Lifting her chin, her sister said, “I don’t care.”

“I know you don’t.” Nia smiled. “And now, I don’t care about you. You aren’t my priority. I don’t provide housing, cars, and cash to someone who wants me dead. I don’t claim someone as a sister who is cruel to my mother or who wants that sweet, gentle woman dead.”

“That bitch…”

Nia shot the right side of the chair and Nicki screamed for a long time.

“This house, like so many built fifty years ago, is solid. Good bones, as Dad used to say. Scream as much as you want.”

When no one reacted, Nicki’s screams trailed away. “What the fuck do you want, Nia?”

“I told you what I want. How did you connect your lowlife boyfriend to the Malaysian syndicate? The syndicate that no longer exists…the boyfriend who no longer exists.”

“What…?”

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