Chapter 6
288 Vouchers
I hung up immediately, feeling a strange sense of satisfaction.
But it was too cold in the cemetery. I couldn’t take it and decided to head home.
As I reached the gate of my apartment complex, I saw the face I least wanted to see.
Viviana, with her little sidekick, was staring at me like predators.
I ignored them and tried to walk around, but she grabbed my shoulder, a mocking smile playing on her lips.
“Annie, I heard that you’ve been going around entertaining and sleeping with people for money over the past few years. They said that you would do anything as long as someone pays. Is that true?”
I shrugged her off, but she and her companion blocked my way.
“So, what’s the matter? Short on cash? Just tell me. The Clayton family has taken over all of your family’s old businesses, and I’m still sentimental. After all, my father used to work under yours, didn’t he?”
“Do you need cash? Just say so. The Clayton Group now controls all the businesses your family used to run. I’m still sentimental–you know, my dad used to work under yours.
“Oh, and I heard you’re renting here. Don’t the neighbors think it’s… bad luck?
“Tell me, if the mother’s a whore, does the daughter have to be one as well? And the places you’ve stayed in–don’t they need disinfecting so you
288 Vouchers
Chapter 6
don’t spread filth to the neighbors?”
“You’re courting death,” I thought.
I opened my backpack and pulled out a small sickle–the one I used for clearing weeds at the cemetery.
If she wanted to die, I would grant her wish.
“You’re crazy! How dare you!”
“Relax. She’s nothing but a paper tiger–all bark, no bite.”
I hadn’t intended to kill her, but giving her a little scare–or a scratch- was fair game.
The first swing went wide, grazing her arm. Screams erupted immediately, chaos everywhere.
I took a breath, steadied myself, and raised the sickle again.
“Anastasia! Calm down! Put the sickle down!”
Edward came running, missing a shoe, completely disheveled.
But too bad–he tripped.
He looked at me, yelling in disbelief, “Are you insane? Do you want to die or something?”
What a joke. I’d been ready to die long ago.
But before I died, I didn’t want to put up with her running her mouth in front of me.
I stared down at the fallen Viviana and stepped closer, driving the sickle down again.
