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CHAPTER SIX. a house in need of haunting
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VIENNA WINDSOR knew in order to survive in a world as cruel and cutthroat as the one she lived in now, she had to change.
Now she never liked the idea of change. She always wanted to be herself; kind and compassionate. But sometimes kindness and compassion was only good for one thing and one thing only, and that was getting you killed. Vienna didn't want to change who she had always been, to allow her hands to become stained with the blood of her enemies, but she had no other choice if it meant protecting herself and her son from any form of harm, and an even more painful death. She felt guilty for every life she took. Even if they did deserved it. However, she knew it was done for all of the right reasons.
The force to change wasn't all that surprising either. Especially after twenty years spent living in fear of what horrors lurked around each and every corner. But it was safe to say that she was shocked to see the people she once knew turn into something they're simply not. It had been just over two years since her son abandoned her one dark night, and in the span of those two and a half years, he had matured. He could hold a gun without fumbling with the weapon in his trembling hands. He could use that same gun to point it at a child's head without feeling guilty, nor did he feel remotely apologetic. She wondered what changed him to become the survivor he was today.
Then there was her son's burning hate for her every time he looked into her direction. Vienna understood why. She scared him when he watched her murder his father, and resented her for it ever since. The woman knew her son's hate for her was an easy fix. She could just tell him the truth about the monster behind the face of what seemed like a kind and loving man. But although her husband's death was the root buried deep in the soil of the resentment Ezra Windsor felt for his mother, it only seemed to grow overtime after watching her take multiple lives in a brutal and violent manner. The way he viewed her was already tarnished and broken.
However, the way he viewed his father remained intact. Jack never once allowed his son to see the real him, and continued to be the perfect father until the moment he took his very last breath. Vienna didn't want to destroy that. She would sacrifice her son's love for her if it meant he could still maintain the one part of his life that represented innocence. She often found amusement in it. Even in death, Jack Lawson still had his hands wrapped around her throat, squeezing tightly until her neck would eventually snap. Even a ghost had the power to ruin the one good thing she had — her son.
