Shadows.

•6•

Ava.

It was now 5:30pm and as expected, Mrs. Rovera was parking her car in front of her two bedroom home.

Earlier today, after befriending her at the gym, I found an excuse to leave before she returned to her house. And I was thankful she was nice to me,  and didn't hate me or my........annoyingness.

I wouldn't exactly say she was suspicious of me, but it was sort of a close call. She was actually nice, that alone was dangerous, both for me and her.

I had twenty minutes to install cameras into her house before she came home.

But instead of rejoining her at the gym, I studied everything about her house. From how many stairs she had, how many knives, where her exits and entrances were, hell even down to her damn smoke detector.

I had to know all the details because that could cost me my life in the long run.

I sat quietly as I watched her enter through the front door. My car was parked three houses down, a decoy, just in case she grew suspicious of my real car following her.

"Okay, let's see what you're up to Michelle." I muttered, sipping on my latté.

I had turned my phone off, like I  always do,but this time, out of force,only because Tarick kept ringing my phone.

I couldn't deal with him now, I had to focus on the task at hand.

And, as my father once said, keep bitches on their toes.

Michelle had locked her door from the inside, I'll just have to get my bobby pins, much harmless than a pocketknife.

She then proceeds to turn her lights on in her medium sized kitchen. I watched closely as Mrs.Rovera unhooked her waist trainer and her trainers.

She grabbed one of her many stainless steel pot, half filled it with water, turned on her stove and put the pot over the beam of red flames.

I bit my my tongue as she paused from walking to her dining room. Glancing at an old picture of her dead husband.

I gulped, it must be hard losing your other half.

Cocking my 9mm, I breathed, a halcyon that I've mastered over the years.

I spent an extra thirty minutes watching her as she moved around in her home.

By now she had boiled her pasta and stir fried her vegetables. Changed out of her gym wear, showered and had on one of her husband's tee shirts.

Michelle had just grabbed her plate of food and a bottled water. She walked to her sofa and grabbed her laptop, turning it on and waiting a few minutes.

I sat forward in my seat, looking at all the cameras to identify the person she was video chatting.

Michelle sat back eating her food as a smile broke out on her wrinkled face.

It wasn't exactly clear but I was ninety nine percent sure it was a male.

And I had got my confirmation when he spoke.

"It's been a while Michelle. I expected better from you." he said, his eyes focused on her.

I squinted to get a better look at him but through my laptop, it was blurry. Though I could see his light brown complexion, jet black hair and his sleeves of tatts,it didn't help much. I couldn't identify him. And my father didn't include anyone else in her file, anyone that she would relate to.