As far as Ava was concerned, she had to be the most confused female on God's green planet. There was no other explanation for her behavior and whatever the hell it was that went on in her mind and made her act the way that she did after Derek confessed his feelings to her."I love you, Ava. I just thought that you should know that." Derek had told her.From the hopeful expression on his face, it was clear that he would have liked a reply from her, but there wasn't one to be had.How could it be that all this while, she had longed for Derek to say those three magic words that she had never heard from him, and then when he finally did say them, all she could do was freeze and stare at him like a deer caught in headlights?He was a good man … she knew he was, and for him to open his mouth and actually say those words, then he most probably meant them, so why was she still afraid to accept him back and tell him how much she loved him too?Apparently, the tables had turned and whereas Dere
Early the next morning, Amanda called Steve to find out if he was ready to leave, so that she could meet up with him at his place. When he replied in the affirmative, she set off for his place and not long after, arrived with a hefty man in tow.“Um … who the hell is that?” Steve asked as he and the stranger sized each other up.“He’s my friend, Logan. He’s going to be of big help to us.”“What the fuck is this, Amanda? It’s him I’m doing the job for?” Logan asked, clearly displeased.Amanda had some nerve. How dare she bring him to meet her boy toy with his pretty face without first giving him a warning.“Well, do you want the job or not? He’s going to pay you quite handsomely, aren't you, Steve?” Amanda asked Steve, smiling sweetly.“Uh-huh.” Steve replied non-committally, wondering what ‘the job’ was and deciding immediately that he was better off not knowing. Whatever it was, as long as it got him out of the predicament in which he found himself, then it was perfectly fine by him.
"Do you think this is a wise thing to do? I mean, what are …” Steve began a little fearfully as they made their way over to the house, but Amanda shushed him.“Shut up, Steve. I didn’t peg you for a wuss. I’m almost convinced that the person who took that video used to live here. We’re going to find out information on where they could currently be. It's as simple as that. It's not as though we're doing anything illegal or dangerous.” Amanda replied in that same bossy tone that she had had since she found out about all of this.The tone failed to calm Steve down this time around though, and his heart pounded a mile a minute as they walked together towards the closed front door of the house.He had a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach ... like all was not well, and death was imminent, but that was crazy and he was just being paranoid.Soon enough, they were in front of the door, and Amanda raised her hand and rapped on the door a few times. There was silence for a while, and then
The house was nothing like Steve remembered it. The pregnant lady offered them both glasses of water each, while Logan remained in the car.Steve wasn’t sure what role Logan was supposed to be playing, and he didn’t particularly care. He just wanted to leave. He and Amanda made small talk with the pregnant lady, whose demeanor had totally changed from the surly one she had when she opened the door.She chatted away with Amanda as though they were best of friends, and Steve realized that the woman was lonely.“I’m so sorry about the loss of your father-in-law,” Steve said again, for lack of words.“Oh, I actually don’t care that much. He didn’t let us get married because he didn’t want his son and me together. I imagine that he must be throwing a fit in his grave knowing that his son got me knocked up, married me, and I'm going to have our daughter pretty soon. Don’t tell my husband I said that though. He’ll be mad. He loved his Dad very much.”“Oh, you don’t have to worry about it. I
It was actually amazing how easy all of this had turned out to be, and Steve had to admit that luck was on his side.It was clear that Steve’s disguise didn’t fool the guy, because recognition dawned in his eyes the moment he set his eyes on Steve. The eyes went wide in surprise, and maybe even a little fear, and then his expression changed to one of defiance.Amanda immediately sent a text to Logan, who was still in the car to make his way over to the house, while Steve and the other guy appraised themselves silently. The guy's wife looked between all of them, wondering what the hell was wrong, and realizing that she must have made a mistake in allowing these strangers into her home.“You … what are you doing here?” The guy, whose name was Alan, asked in a tone that was supposed to sound belligerent, but instead, came out squeaky-sounding.For someone who had been pulling the stunts that he had been pulling for the past week, he was quite the coward. If he was looking as sc
“Great! Let’s try this again then. Does anyone know about any of this? Did you tell anyone?” Amanda asked.“No, no, I didn’t. I only found out about it myself less than two weeks ago. I won't tell anyone, I promise.”“Good, good, I believe you, and how exactly did you find out about it?”“I was going through and sorting my late father’s stuff and I found the videos there, then I printed out the pictures. He must have stumbled upon the crime scene or something, but for some reason, didn’t seem it necessary to report Steve … probably because they were friends. I just wanted justice to be served. I remember poor Victoria, and I liked her a lot back then. She used to buy me ice cream and was nice to me whenever my Dad wasn’t around and she saw me waiting outside the house for him to come back home. That was why I kept asking this guy to confess, but now, I realize that I should learn to mind my business.”“It’s a good thing that you’ve learned to mind your business, Alan, dear. I trus
“What the hell?” Steve exclaimed, drawing back immediately, and staring at the body in horror.“What is the matter, pussy boy? You’ve never seen a body before, or what are you trying to say? I think those women you killed will beg to differ.” Logan growled at him.Fuck! The guy was one scary ass motherfucker. Steve didn't bother to tell the guy that he had only killed one woman because it didn’t matter. Instead, he gingerly stepped over Alan’s body.Alan had gotten what he deserved for failing to mind his business and trying to resurrect dead matters, no pun intended, and Steve actually felt a little relieved at the fact that the man wouldn’t be breathing a word of this to anyone.But then, there was the matter of Alan’s wife. Was she going to just keep her mouth shut after they murdered her husband? Steve highly doubted that.By the time they got to the living room, he saw that Amanda had ‘taken care’ of the lady. Alan’s wife was lying on the floor, and her chest was covered in
Derek and Ava had to postpone their vacation by another two weeks because Derek had to deal with some stuff at work urgently.At Harper’s request, they got permission from the parents of her new best friend in school, a little girl named Amy, to take their daughter along with them on a three-day trip to Disneyland for Harper’s birthday.Amy’s mother came with them, and she, in turn, invited Harper to Amy’s birthday party, which was going to be held a few days after they got back from vacation.Finally, the new scheduled date of their vacation arrived, and of they went for it. The novelty of the long-awaited vacation was drastically reduced for Ava because she was suddenly feeling a little under the weather.She wasn’t about to ruin the experience for her daughter, or even Derek, so she took some pills, plastered a smile on her face, and pretended like she was fine.She and Derek hadn't gone out together in public since they became cool with each other again, and so Ava had all but for
“It was by sheer luck, if not, they never would have found you on time, and what would have happened then does not bear thinking about. Apparently, they managed to arrest the guy that Amanda initially hired to do all this sometime yesterday.Once the asshole realized that there was no chance in hell that he would get out of this and that he was well and truly done for, he began to sing like a canary. He led the police right to the house, and the rest, as they say, is history. I'm so thankful we got there on time.” Damien said.“Yeah, me too. It’s still hard to believe that Amanda could be filled with so much hate in her heart and that she was willing to go to such lengths to harm Derek, me, and even our child who has done nothing to her.”“I was surprised as well. I always knew that she was a mean person, but I never imagined that she was downright evil. I'm glad you followed through on your instinct.”“Me too. So is Amanda still …” Ava asked, unable to finish the question.“Unfortuna
Mother and daughter hugged each other for what felt like decades, and when they finally pulled apart, Ava's arm was hurting where she had been shot."I'm so sorry, baby. No one will ever hurt you again, I promise. Not when I'm alive." Ava said, ruffling Harper's hair, and wincing when she saw where the area on her head that had been shaved because of an injury there."The bad woman hit me with a gun. She shot Uncle Steve with the gun. Uncle Steve wanted to run away with me and Gracie, Mom." Harper explained, noting that Ava's eyes were on the wound.Ava gulped and averted her gaze immediately, unable to imagine the horror that Harper and Gracie had been through. Little children like them should never have to see someone murdered in cold blood.Seeing such a thing messed with even grownups like her, not to talk of children.The girls were going to need loads of therapy. Once again, Ava damned Amanda and Denise to hell and back in her mind. Suddenly, she realized the implications o
Ava had grabbed Denise because she wanted to use her as a human shield, and her plan worked pretty well, as it was all that saved her from what would have been certain death.The bullets that Amanda had just fired hit Denise point blank and in rapid succession. She died quickly, although the other two women didn’t know it yet.Ava felt Denise’s body jerk with the force of the shots at the same time that she saw Amanda crumple to the ground as though in slow motion.That was confusing, and Ava stared at her in surprise, unable to fathom what had just happened.She glanced down at Denise, whom she still held, and who was clearly very dead, and let go of her body immediately, feeling extremely sickened.She needed to focus on not getting killed, which was what Amanda was bent on doing to her.Amanda was trying to get back up, but before she could manage to do that, someone tackled her, and hit the gun out of her hand,Within moments, policemen swarmed the room, and Ava collapsed in relie
Denise and Ava stared warily at each other after Amanda left the room, and a few seconds later, Ava decided to try to reason with the other woman, even though she wasn’t sure that Denise was going to listen to her. “Denise, please, let us go. I promise not to press charges against you. You must know from all indications that there’s no way the both of you are going to get out of this unscathed. It doesn’t matter what Amanda says now. I can see in your eyes that you know it.” Ava tried to get to Denise. It was all she could do not to rush straight at Denise and grab Harper, who was whimpering in fear and trying not to move so that the knife would not nick her, away from the woman. She could see the fear and indecision in Denise’s face. Apparently, she was wise to realize what Amanda clearly failed to realize, which was that Ava was right and there was no way she and Amanda going to get out of this without being apprehended by the police. “Shut up!” Denise muttered. “Think abou
Ava didn’t wait to see what would happen next. She rushed straight at Amanda, faintly aware that her arm was hurting weirdly, but her adrenaline was too great for her to think anything of the pain right then. She had taken self-defense classes several times in the past, and although it had been a long time since she took them, those classes came in handy at that moment. Her life, as well as those of Harper and the other little girl, Gracie, depended on her. She couldn't let them down. She began to try to wrestle the gun away from Amanda, who struggled fiercely with her. As they struggled with the gun, it kept discharging, but by some miracle, neither of them was hit. Finally, the gun was out of bullets, and Amanda let go of it while yelling for Denise to come at the same time. Ava wasn’t done with her, though. She thought of poor Harper and her friend who were somewhere in that house, scared to death and definitely not in the best shape. She thought about Derek, who had been throug
Adrenaline pumped through Ava’s entire body, and utter rage filled her entire being. She was right! She had been right all along. These evil women were the ones who had abducted her daughter and another innocent child. She would have called for help, but there was no service on her phone, and she could only hope that Damien and the police would be somehow able to find her and soon too, before something bad happened to her or the girls. Had it been she had thought things through earlier, she would have gotten a car tracker before coming on this solo adventure. Unfortunately, never in her wildest dreams had she imagined what the night would bring, and so she had failed to take this necessary precaution. One moment, she was standing outside the house in fear, and the next moment, she found herself beside the door. Without caring what was waiting on the other side of the door, she threw herself against it as hard as she could. She thought fleetingly of the poor soul that was growing in
Ava didn’t go back home after driving away from Denise’s place. Instead, she parked her car the next block away from Denise’s house in a spot where her car would not easily be detected.Then she waited for what felt like an eternity for Denise to leave her house because she had every intention of following the woman to wherever it was that she was going.Her phone was blowing up with calls from Damien, who had left her several messages, asking her not to do anything drastic that could cause Denise to have the power to get her arrested or something.She ignored the messages and continued to wait. After a while, she saw a car, which she recognized as one of Amanda’s cars, come from the opposite direction and drive towards Denise’s house.Ava’s heart immediately began to beat really fast. Amanda was picking Denise up? Where the hell were both of them headed by that time of the night? Several minutes later, the car appeared again and drove off into the night.Ava let a few minutes pass, a
Ava sat in her idling car outside Denise’s house, her nerves failing her now that she was here.What was she thinking, sneaking out of her house like a thief in the night and coming here to the house of her sworn enemy?She just couldn't continue to sit at home, wringing her hands and crying while waiting for something positive to happen.She wasn’t sure what to do now that she was here, but she had to do something.Taking a deep breath, she took her phone and texted Damien to tell him where she was, just in case somehow, her hunch was right.If it was, then it would be incredibly dangerous and foolhardy to just walk into Denise’s waiting arms without telling anyone where she was.Even though it was only a little past eight in the evening, the streets were deserted, and there was no one around.Ava was about to open her car door and get out of the car when the lights in Denise’s house went off. Apparently, she was preparing to go to sleep.Ava sat still for a few minutes, wondering wh
It had been several days since Amanda and Denise paid their so-called courtesy call to Ava at her house … a move that Denise thought was incredibly stupid and dangerous.After all, the three women weren't friends and all of their acquaintances knew that, so it was surely going to look weird and suspicious that Denise and Amanda decided to visit Ava.Unfortunately, once Amanda put her mind to something, especially in recent times, it was practically impossible to change her mind, and so Denise had no choice but to go along with whatever she wanted, even if she thought it was foolhardy.“I’ve got a bad feeling, Amanda,” Denise said.“About what?” Amanda, who was in a terribly foul mood asked.It was now common knowledge that Derek had not only survived the gunshots but had also gone on to regain consciousness. Ever since this news broke out, Amanda had been unconsolable and had even taken out her frustration on Derek’s daughter, whom she still held captive.“I don’t know … I’ve got a ba