Page 38 of Wicked Revenge (Ashby Crime Family)

Thomas spoke with confidence, and I appreciated that. Long ago, he’d stopped talking to me like I was some fragile fucking bird. That was when I started to treat him like he was more than just help.

He took my hand and helped me into the car, quiet and unassuming because he knew I needed a moment to myself.

Inevitably, my thoughts turned to that night.

* * *

I knewwhat would happen when I left the Manor. Maybe I knew about it three months ago when I got one of the cops on the payroll to give me a receipt for the nine-millimeter gun nestled in my black snake-skin clutch. Maybe it was the night I let Mueller degrade me for my own purposes.

Bonnie had been up to no good for too fucking long. I tried to let it slide because I loved Calvin and wanted him to be happy. I wanted Ava Rose to grow up with her mother. With a whole, happy family. But Bonnie made it impossible with her scheming and conniving.

That little cunt thought she could take me down. Better men and women have tried—and failed. There was no fucking way I’d let some scared little church mouse be the instrument of my demise.

No. Fucking. Way.

The only good thing that came from letting Mueller fuck me and come all over my face was getting that fucking drive that outlined just what the church girl had been up to.

When the police arrested her for killing her pastor and her parents disowned her without any fucking evidence, who took her in? The Ashby family. When she got strung out on drugs, my family once again helped her get clean. Who cleaned up the messes she made in search of her next fix? We kept her safe from The Crusaders when turning her in would have been easier.

And she didn’t appreciate it. None of it.

I followed her when she left the house, and I did it alone. There would be no one for the police to lean on to get the details of my movements that night. Oliver had driven Bonnie to a small café about three blocks from the hotel, and she slipped inside for a cup of tea before casually walking to the hotel.

Mueller greeted her with a warm smile and a hug, probably for anyone who might recognize either of them. From the outside, they appeared to be old friends who’d run into each other unexpectedly, chatting easily while I slipped around a side entrance out of view of the cameras.

It was a secret only the rich and infamous knew about and tonight, I used it to my advantage. I knew where they’d meet because this city would always operate on cold hard cash. A few bills here and there, and I knew exactly how to get where I needed to be.

And for a few Benjamins, I got an untraceable keycard.

Cillian was right, money didn’t buy happiness, but it bought the tools that brought happiness.

I stepped inside the room and was startled at the figure standing by the lone source of light. “Jasper? What are you doing here?”

Arms folded, he glared at me. “What do you think I’m doing here? Trying to prevent you from doing something you’ll regret.”

“Regret?” I laughed. “They both have this coming, Jas. They earned it multiple times over. Fuck, they should both be grateful they made it another week. Or two.” I hadn’t told Jasper about my meeting with Mueller because he would have advised against it and tried to talk me out of it.

“Ma, this is a bad fucking idea.”

“Maybe, but it is also inevitable. This needs to be done and tonight it will be.” My mind was made up.

“Why?”

“I’ll tell you later, now get the fuck out of here. I came alone for a reason.”

“Unacceptable,” he growled as the electronic lock sounded.

At that sound, I grabbed the nickel-plated gun from my clutch and removed the safety.

Mueller walked in first, Bonnie just a beat behind him. They both wore conspiratorial smiles, so proud of themselves, thinking they were safe. Clear and free of the Ashby family.

They were wrong.

I had a whole fucking speech planned, but the look of shock and fear on Bonnie’s face was enough for me. She knew she’d been caught and would have to pay the price.

“Sad—”

Before my name was out of her mouth for the last fucking time, I squeezed the trigger. One bullet, straight to the head.

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