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I smirk. She watches me skeptically. She and I both eye the assortment of knives on the counter. Beside them is the very lighter my father once owned. It was a trophy to her, and I’d been so blinded, I never realized it was under my nose the entire time.
“I’m not the one with a need to apologize.” The voice doesn’t even sound like my own.
Realization dawns on her, and tension crackles in the air. She lunges for a knife, but I’m already on top of her, so she reaches back and grabs the gun from beneath her jacket. I push her hand that’s holding the gun out of the way, narrowly missing being shot, as she thrusts a flip knife from her pocket toward my stomach. I dodge it and slam her wrist against the edge of the counter, satisfied by the snapping noise.
She screams as I snatch one of the other knives and plunge it into her gut. She’s shocked, hunched over me as she tries to grapple for my face. I lean back as I fight her for the gun and shove her back.
She’s holding her stomach now, glaring at me.
I look at the gun and then her. “No worries, I didn’t pierce anywhere you’ll bleed out immediately. You taught us well, after all.”
“You ungrateful little bitch!” she says with shallow breaths. I drag the set of knives away from her reach and place the gun beside me.
I grab one of the knives and flip it in the air. “I only came for an explanation.”
“You’re choosing that fucker over your own family?” she seethes.
My eyebrows shoot up. “No, actually, I’m choosing my family. My real family, which you took away from me.”
She seems to go a shade paler and then that scornful, twisted expression appears. “I knew I should’ve killed that fucker the moment I realized he was looking into me.”
I throw another knife into her leg, and she screams as she drops to one knee. She pulls it out and throws it back at me. I dodge it, and it impales the wall behind me.
And we both know if she pulls the one out of her stomach, she’ll bleed to death.
“It would appear that you’ve become senile in your old age after all. Why did you kill our parents, Meredith?”
She stares at me, a smile blossoming on her lips, and then she tries to laugh. It’s short lived as she coughs in pain. “You both always thought you were so clever. But you were just two traumatized little kids who couldn’t even remember your parents’ faces.
“I didn’t lie when I told you it was only so I could do dealings with the Italians in town. No deeper meaning at all. Your parents simply moved into the wrong house and caught my attention, so I befriended them. Killed them. Took you two ungrateful shits in. The only reason I handed the auctions over to you was because I’d found myself in some strife, forcing me to step down. So I thought, why not have you two take my place and flip me a fortune.” She sneers. “Not as mysterious as you were hoping?” She chuckles, and blood leaks from between her lips.
An inner turmoil twists in my stomach, but I’m past the point of acting on it or questioning it. I’m sure to most it’s painful to hear, unbearable to know. But I have been empty for a very long time. Becoming an orphan will not change that.
Meredith is a predator.
Unfortunately for her, the cubs that she trained have far surpassed her.
“I think this is the most honest you’ve ever been,” I say as I flip another knife and then smile. “How I’m going to cling to your every scream, you old bitch. Try your best to haunt me for the rest of my days and hinder any kind of happiness I might have like you already have.”
I step closer, pocketing my father’s lighter. Because once I’m done with this old bitch, this place is going up in flames.
For the first time in my life, I see a sweep of fear cross her expression, and it fills me with satisfaction.
“It would appear, Meredith, that you’ve lost your touch.”
CHAPTER 47
River
Iwatch through the security cameras as Anya’s car comes up the driveway. When it stops and she steps out, I’m grateful Michael has taken my mother out to buy groceries for dinner.
I’m down the stairs and opening the door as she stops in front of me, covered in blood and soot. She looks like she’s crawled out of hell itself, but knowing her, she was the one who caused the havoc.
But she came back to me. She looks empty almost, that lethal resolve evaporated from hours ago. Her showing up as bloody as this fills my heart because she came here first.
“Meredith?” I ask as I stand in the doorway. Because who knows, she might be here to put a bullet straight in my brain afterward.
“Who?” she says, that little bit of bite in her tone.
