Page 145 of Retribution

“The hit man you hired? I paid him off, a lot more than you were willing to pay, it was pitiful to be honest, finding out how little I was worth to you. But that’s when it sparked the initiation of this entire project.”

I can’t even meet Indies stare anymore, I focus my eyes on Allie, her green eyes dancing with triumph.

“Obviously, I faked my own death. But it took a lot of effort, you know? We orchestrated the accident, caused it, whatever you want to call it. The plan went a bit off track, and I got a lot more injured than I was meant to. But, my lovely Lottie flew me straight over to the best surgeons in the world, right here in Dubai.” She smiles over at my sister fondly.

“She paid off the hospital staff and your P.I came in incredibly handy to formulate our new identities, the cadaver for the funeral, the death certificate blah blah, you get the point. Mommy and daddy were so relieved to find out I was alive and thriving halfway across the other side of the world, and they were more than happy to help bring my daughter back to me.” She toys with the gun in her hands.

“Britney too. But she fumbled with her duties last minute. Do you remember the night of your honeymoon? Well, my sister was meant to board a flight with Willow and bring her right to me, but she had some sort of ‘moral dilemma’ and backed out. Then we had to think fast, cue the formulation of the DNA report arriving at the end of the court hearing. I must admit it was a desperate grab, but you were all stupid enough not to challenge it and we seized the victory!” She claps excitedly.

“Aw, the little ‘I love you Willow Breckenridge’ at the end was touching, quite the show,” she mocks and I grimace.

Indie

“But, little miss Indie Thorne in my ass over here, couldn’t keep her nose out, could she?” She spits at me, rolling her eyes.

“The contract really was a clever idea, Reed. It worked exactly how you wanted it to, she fell in love with your sad, pathetic self. I suppose you have me to thank for that, you couldn’t have come up with that without the custody battle.”

My heart is being torn apart, blown up, shattered, destroyed, massacred, stabbed.

“The cards idea was more of Lottie’s thing, she wanted to mess with you, get in your head, throw you off course because you began to look into my death. We had the P.I hack into all of your devices and that’s when I discovered your obsession with me.”

Obsession?

“I was honored by the ‘Swan’ reference, truly. If I had been dead, that would have been nice. But if there’s anything I know about you, Indie, it’s how much you love Willow. I could tell that long before, even when you were just her ballet teacher. And that for me, didn’t fit my agenda. I think Willow had grown used to you acting as a mother to her and began to forget about me, which I didn’t like. So, we turned things up a notch, we pulled the plans forward and instead of waiting until the court trial was over, we ran with it.”

I shake my tears away, not wanting to look like a blubbering baby.

I don’t want to be weak, I want to take her down.

“I knew neither of you would give up Willow that easily, you’d start to raise suspicions with the state, and the last thing we need is the FBI up our asses. Lottie planted her seed in you and look around, it blossomed right into the colorful thorn bush that we wanted.”

I gulp, we walked right into their trap, they weren’t a step ahead at all. They were fucking conducting the whole show.

We were the puppets on the strings.

“I really couldn’t have orchestrated it better, you two are just so damn fierce, aren’t you? You arrived here, just as expected. I had my people tracking you, making sure nothing was going amiss, we swapped out your driver with one of my guys, but made sure you still had your requested weapon of choice, we didn’t want to drop the ball early. This is so much more fun.” Her smile is haunting, it’s like her body is here but she is dead inside.

“I am awfully sorry about your miscarriage Indie. It must have been awful. Being so desperate to put the final nail in my coffin, to give Willow the one thing I couldn’t, a precious sibling.” The mention of the miscarriage makes my heart ache, the instinct to press my hand to my stomach protectively to shield her evil from it.

“We’d been polluting your water tank in your office for a while with anti-neoplastic drugs, a relatively low dosage so it flew under the radar but enough to render your womb uninhabitable. It’s amazing the access you have to drugs over here in Dubai.” She laughs.

I.

Can’t.

Fucking.

Breathe.

I can’t breathe.

Icannotbreathe.

My body begins to shake violently as I choke. Their attention turns to Reed as he rushes to get up.

“Sit your fucking ass down.” She points the gun at Reed.

I thrash against my restraints, desperate to be released from them.

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