MIRANDA
I collected my coffee from the barista and rushed out of the coffee shop whilst slinging my bag over my arm. My time management could have used some work but I had spent an extra fifteen minutes in front of the bathroom mirror attempting to hide my raccoon eyes from the world. It worked, sort of, but not even the coffee I drank could expel the exhaustion I could feel deep in my bones.
My lips latched onto the straw and I took a long drag of the ice coffee I had ordered. The caffeine would have to do for now. I knew, if I went home I still wouldn't have been able to sleep. In the last few days sleep had escaped me. It was a rarity and my body was beginning to take a beating because of it. Even though I knew who had truly been watching me all this time my mind still wasn't at ease. I had taken a tough decision that afternoon that Agent Chambers had paid me a visit. He had put me in the spot but I knew what I had to d
ACE"Have you done it?" Jericho asked. over the receiver. Turned out, the cub wasn't completely useless when it came to my little predicament after all. It, admittedly, took him longer than I had anticipated for him to get back to me, but he eventually came up with a plan that I took pleasure in initiating."Yeah, I've done it," the corners of my lips kicked up in a knowing grin. It wouldn't be too long now. I'd have these assholes snared in this little trap that Jericho had thought of. Once I had them, I wouldn't release them from my clutches.Revenge was sweet but I wasn't just looking for revenge. My need to kill these cunts was deeply rooted. I had to be clever about this, though. These days I had to make decisions as if I were walking on eggshells. I still didn't know who was following me but what I did know what that for the last few days, I had seen the same blacked-out van following me but it
MIRANDA"Okay, okay. Geez, don't break my damn door down," I called to the person who hammered their fist against my apartment door.I had just gotten out of the shower, a silk gown wrapped around me and a towel swaddling my wet hair. Whoever stood at the opposite end of my door had been beating against the fragile wood for all but five minutes and continued doing so even after I had told them to stop.I marched across the open plan living room, fisting the door handle and throwing the door open with excessive force. I was fully ready to cuss out the impatient person until I met his deep blue orbs that glimmered at me in relief. My lips parted but the words I had ready to say lodged in my throat, refusing to be aired."You weren't answering my calls or texts," he breathed, threading his fingers into his curly dirty blonde locks.I hadn't expected to find my best friend's b
MIRANDA"He's up to something," I informed, gnawing at my bottom lip anxiously.Was I doing the right thing? It was too late now because I was in front of Agent Chambers giving up whatever information I had learned on Ace — which, admittedly, wasn't much. It wasn't as if Ace and I had heart to hearts on a daily basis where he just poured out his feelings and occasionally gave me a list of his latest targets."Care to elaborate?" Agent Chambers raised a bushy eyebrow at me while taking a long slurp of his black coffee.I cringed at the God-awful sound he created, pushing the sunglasses I wore further up my face so no one would see me with him. We had met across town because I didn't want to possibly run into Quinn or Ace. If Quinn found out what I was doing, she would feel betrayed. But, as much as I loved her like a sister, this had to be done and I didn't want to have her convincing
ACE “It's a beautiful day for some murder. It's a beautiful day to slaughter. It's a beautiful day, it's a beautiful day...” I gradually started whistling my made-up song as I picked up a switchblade, pressing my leather-clad index finger to the sharp point. A menacing grin split my lips at the muffled bitch-like screams that left the useless cunt tied to the chair beside me. I had gagged him with his sock — a fucking stinky one at that — and then used duct tape to seal his mouth shut. I never much liked a man that couldn't handle the punishment being served to them. My brother and I took shit like the men we were but not everyone had the arrogance of us two Astor brothers. And it was arrogance but we knew how to use that arrogance wisely. I shouldn't have been here, though. If I knew what was best for me or even my brother then I wouldn't have ever come here but I had a shit load of anger and the perfe
MIRANDA I pulled into the Astor's needlessly extravagant driveway while gnawing at my bottom lip. Quinn had asked me multiple times during our drive here if I was feeling okay. No matter how much I tried, I couldn't hide my anxiety. When I finally decided to go with Tory's plan, I thought it would work out. we would have a few drinks; Ace more than me, then we would go to my apartment and maybe he would give me some information that I could use. But no. Gunnar had to go and mess that up by suggesting we have a get-together at his home which was a two-hour drive away from the city. How was I supposed to get anything useful now? The thought of recording the conversation on my phone had crossed my mind but — on the off chance that Quinn decided to use my phone for something, I couldn't risk it. That meant I had to sit back, find a way to relax, and enjoy the night as it unfolded. I drew in a ragged b
MIRANDAI may have had too much to drink. Was it four martinis or six? I couldn't remember and either way, it didn't matter because we had done tequila shots in between.After dinner, we had retired to the living room. Gunnar wasn't that bad. He actually had a fun side to him that apparently, Quinn brought out. Ace continued with his advances but in a teasing manner. He got a kick out of riling me up.Stupid asshole.The room began to spin and everyone's voices meshed. Gunnar was busy telling us a story about — actually I couldn't remember what it was about but it had Ace and Quinn laughing. Their laughs bounced off the walls that made up my skull. The alcohol wasn't close to leaving my system and I could already feel a headache coming on.I brought my hand up to my temple and silently groaned to myself. My head felt heavy, as if someone unscrewed the top, took out m
MIRANDA I turned and instead of extending my arm to find empty, cool cotton sheets against my palm, I felt something warm, soft, and yet hard with ridges and bumps. My head felt heavy and my eyelids heavier but I forced them to peal open. I could remember most of last night. Quinn and I came to the Astor house to have dinner and drinks and I may have had too much to drink and over-extended my invite to the entire night. My vision was blurry when I opened my eyes, a bright light leaking through a sliver of space between the thick black curtains. I eventually focused on the man that resembled an angel sleeping beside me. The light hung around him as if it were a majestic halo, leaving only his silhouette in view. It was difficult to imagine this man planning and orchestrating so many murders. He was a serial killer, a mass murderer, but at this moment he looked as if he couldn't harm a fly. He slept on hi
MIRANDA "You seem distracted," Agent Chambers waved a hand in front of my eyes that were glued on a family photo on his desk. This was the first time I found myself in his office and the first time it felt disgustingly wrong for me to be here. After what had happened over the weekend, after hearing what Ace had done for me, I knew I couldn't sell him out like this. But I didn't know how to back out of this. What excuse could I possibly give them? I gulped down my resignations and focused on Agent Chambers' mossy green eyes. He had the standard corner office for an FBI agent in his league and I was sure that he was pretty proud of it. He probably wanted to keep this office with his beautiful view and to do that, he needed my help. However, I no longer saw Ace in the same light as him. "What if Ace isn't as bad as you think he is," I sat back and crossed my right leg ov