Perverse Riches

Chapter 9

The first missed me by a mile while the other staggered me to my knees. Blood gushed from my side, staining the shirt I was wearing. Oh no, she didn't. I forced myself to my feet and turned around. Leo was restraining her hands, the gun lying near her feet. I grabbed it, and knelt in front of her.

"Such a small thing. Hard to believe it's lethal, isn't it?" I pointed the gun at her temple and both people looked at me in shock. Leo didn't move, afraid I'd pull the trigger by accident. She paled considerably. "I could kill you right now. I could slice your artery and watch you bleed to death. I could blow your brains against my door." Her eyes turned to him, pleading, then back to me. I smiled, feeling cold right down to my bones.

"I could torture you with the knowledge you're going to die." It was only pure shock that kept Leo from reacting now. He never believed I had this side of me. Guess that makes two of us.

"I could even cut your throat and choke you to death." She started whimpering, smart girl. The gun lowered.

"But I won't do any of that, despite how much I ache to hurt someone as badly as I've been hurt." She started crying in relief. "Do you know why?" Trembling, she shook her head negatively.

"Because despite all the pain and blood, I have a daughter, and she already has a bad mother in jail." I pressed the gun to her head again.

"So from now on, every day you breathe, whether you're in jail or not, feel free to thank your god, or lucky stars or whatever you believe in, for not having harmed my daughter, otherwise not even a legion of your old co-workers could stop me. And if you ever get near us again, I will kill you, I swear to you on my life. And if you speak with Courier, tell them that too. I will kill to protect. You got that?" She nodded frantically despite the painful injuries and I got up, with the gun still in my hand. I hoped she knew I was serious, because I was. Leo let go long enough to grab a small cellphone, an old-fashioned flip phone, press a button, and call his back up, telling them what happened with the least amount of words possible.

In five minutes, several cars stopped in front of my house, along with an ambulance. It might as well have been five years. The blood slowly trickled down my leg and as suddenly as the cold feeling rose in me, it went away, leaving me tired and dizzy. Leo was sitting on the couch, pale like death warmed over clutching the hole in his shoulder. His ex was on the ground, in fetal curl as she waited for her old friends, the ones she deceived to kill me, to take her to the hospital and then to jail. The hilarity, the absurdity, of the situation took hold of me and I started laughing. It was hysterical! Leo looked my way wearily and the woman didn't move at all.

Let's see, my parents, tried to kill me, I lost Leo, I lost the manor, I rebuilt my life just to gain a daughter, be forced into proximity with Leo, and suffer attempted murder again. Was this crazy or what?! Ok, so maybe it only seemed funny because I was losing blood from the back of my leg and my side, but I couldn't stop laughing. Even funnier, Leo jumped in front of a bullet for me. He risked his life to save me! The laughter tapered off. Why would he?

I was going to ask that but the door opened and the officers gazed at their own with shock. The surrounding floor was smeared with slick blood, the coffee table was turned on its side, when did this happen?!, and Leo and I were still bleeding. The surprise turned to ruthlessness as they entered and scoured the house top to bottom in search for an assassin they refused to see at first. When, after a long minute, their minds caught up to betrayal, their former member was dragged to her feet and made to walk into the ambulance with a hand on each arm keeping her so high her feet barely touched the ground. Leo swayed. Compared to each other, he had the worst wound and lost more blood. I regretted having made him hold me back, and the violence I was capable of did indeed scare and apale me to the very last cell in my body, but I couldn't bring myself to regret what I did. I didn't make me feel better, but it definitely didn't make me feel worse.