Chapter 67 Chapter 66:
Anna:
Theo is fucking everything up.
Fuck, fuck, fuck. There he is on the stage, holding the microphone like he owns the world; everyone even has the audacity to keep quiet and listen to what he has to say. This is why I trust myself and myself only, also this is what happens when you put your trust on assholes like Theo Duncan, I should have known he was going to do this, I didn’t even know he was this soft.
Nevertheless, whatever he has to say, I don’t care. Everyone dies today, except me. So fuck him. A waiter passes by and I take a glass of champagne from his tray, he doesn’t seem the least bit happy about it but that’s on him, he’s going to be nothing but chunks and bones later today.
Alisha and her perfect husband, Jasper are just arriving, they are smiling for the camera. Seriously? Why did they show up? To be honest, when I called Alisha, I wasn’t really expecting her to come considering the fact that she is still mourning her father, but I guess it is what it is.
“Can I get everyone’s solid attention?” Theo is still saying, dragging everyone’s gaze towards him, my blood is pounding hard into my ears as I try to breathe in and out. No need to fret, Anna, he isn’t going to rat me out. “Okay, well. Thank you everyone.”
He takes a deep breath, looking at everyone. Our eyes meet for a brief minute and I desperately want to give him the middle finger, but he averts his eyes and there goes my middle finger, “There is a lot many of you don’t know about me,” another deep breath. “First of all, I was adopted. God bless the Duncans for taking good care of me, I am sure they are watching right now, probably inside their villa in Italy, sipping wine and laughing at how ridiculous I am right now.”
This attracts laughter from the crowd. Seriously? Is this a freaking comedy show right now?
“Okay, I’ll get to the point. I don’t really have much to live for; it has always been work for me but then just on a day, my work nemesis. I know we have one person in our job we don’t entirely like.” Another round of laughter, I think I see that influencer beaming. “Okay, so. She texted me for lunch but I dodged it, and then another lunch invitation, just so she could tell me we were half-siblings, imagine my shock, folks.”
Silence, even I am too frozen to take a sip of the champagne. Theo has a half-sibling?
“We talked and she invited me for dinner with her mom.”
Dinner. Dinner. Dinner. It strikes me, Daphne? I almost laugh at myself for being stupid, that is his half-sibling? I thought they were fucking.
“It was different having dinner with another family, her mom made me feel so damn comfortable that it almost made me cry on the seat.” I take a look at Daphne, who is just staring in shock but there’s something warm in her eyes, that kind of warmth you have when you are looking at your sibling.
I have never felt that kind of love before
“It made me rethink a lot of things, I am not a good man, I have done a lot of bad things that I wish I could withdraw which is why I have two announcements today, first of all. I would like to remove myself from the CEO election position, there you go, Devon Brookes. You win, though I do hope we can become friends in the near future and well, my second confession might come as a shock. I helped in covering up Kevin Lere’s death.”
Gasps emit from the crowds and my face pales. Oh boy, here we go.
“A few months ago, I got into a relationship with Anna Lere, Kevin is her husband, she killed him and I helped cover up his death, she made a post that her husband was in rehab. Later on, she frames Clara because I helped do it. So Clara is innocent and Anna and I are the guilty ones.”
Another round of gasps, oh spare me the crap. I drop the glass on the table before walking up the stage waving my eyes. Everyone is looking at me like I have gone insane, I probably have. When I get on the stage, I shoot Theo a dagger stare; I should have stabbed this bastard when I had the chance.
“Give me the microphone please.” My voice is anything but friendly, he hands it over to me without blinking. “Hey, everyone. Yeah, I am that Anna Lere who betrayed her best-friend, so in case you want to take a picture of me. This is your chance now.” I do a few poses but everyone just stares at me, mouth agape. Barbara meets my eyes and I wink. This is going to be pretty fun.
“Many of you already know me as a killer, but there’s more to the story. So here I go, I am Barbara Brookes and Julian Ford’s daughter,” another round of gasps. Alisha snaps her eyes towards me, something brewing in her eyes. “This isn’t a joke, Alisha darling; we are sisters, half-sisters I mean. If you don’t believe me, check our ears. We have the same exact mole that matches daddy’s own.” She widens her eyes, the day at the restaurant when she was looking at me weirdly; I was pretty sure she saw it.
Alisha is so shocked that her husband has to hold her for emotional and physical support. “I am sorry, but Julian Ford was a cheater. He cheated on his precious wife with my mother. When they gave birth to me, they gave me off to a family, can you imagine the pain of finding out about this? My half sister has all the attention; you are married to the perfect husband while I had a douchebag for a husband, so pardon me for turning him into mush with a bat.” I say, my voice dripping with absolute venom.
“What? Why the surprised faces?” I let out a dry cackle, they already painted me as the villain so I am going to own that shit. “I killed them, my parents, all it took was messing with the engine of their car hence an accident and I killed Julian Ford, I shot that asshole multiple times and burned that freaking dump.”
“You killed my father?! You bitch!” Alisha screams from the crowd. I knew this was going to happen. Her husband tries to hold her in place but she struggles out of his firm grip and is now running to me. When she gets to the stage, she attempts to grab my hair (Why does everyone go for the hair?) I shove her aside so roughly, she almost stumbles down the stage.
Her goody two shoes husband rushes towards her, lifting her up gently.
“Don’t fuck with me, Alisha. In fact, I am not done. Everyone has their own secret right? Why don’t you go ahead and tell your husband that you’ve never loved him and that you planned on dumping him so you can go for Devon Brookes?”
The look Jasper Young gives his wife is so heartbroken and so, so sad, even I feel pity for him.
“Is this true, Alisha?” he asks, his voice small and scared, like he’s afraid of even believing this is true.
“I never loved you, Jasper, I am so sorry for lying to you.” Her makeup is stained with tears, she looks like she just survived a horror movie, she tries to reach out for him but he steps back, his face scrunched up in hurt and betrayal.
For a moment, I feel like the asshole dropping the whole news like this but seconds ago, she wanted to rip my hair out of my scalp. “I am sorry, Jasper, she had the whole divorce agreement planned out.” I say to him watching his face break the more, I really don’t know him but I can tell he’s one of the good ones.
“I-I just can’t believe this.” Jasper says and the whole damn paparazzi still has the guts to take pictures of his heartbroken face.
“And finally, Barbara’s confessions. This is actually getting interesting. She killed Kate, the late Mrs. Brookes, and she killed her own husband Robert Brookes,”
This earns the most shocking gasps from the crowd, even Alisha is staring at Barbara like she has just seen a ghost.
“You don’t have any fucking proof!” Barbara yells from the crowd, walking towards the stage with those very high heels.
“I might not have proof against what you did to Kate Brookes, but I have proof of what you did to Robert.” I smirk, to let her know that whatever happens, I will always have the upper hand. I pull out my phone, playing our recordings where she confessed to me that she killed Roberts. She looks at me, all colour drained out of her face. “This is what you get for abandoning me, mom.”
Devon stares at Barbara with cold eyes. The hall erupts into murmurings like we are in a noisy high school or something. It makes me smile secretly. “Well, anyway. I have planted a bomb everywhere in this house and it has ten minutes before it explodes and all of you turn into chunks of bone. So have fun running out of the exit, motherfuckers!” I laugh hysterically, I am not even done with my statement when everyone starts rushing to the exit, struggling to get to the door.
White smoke starts filling the whole room, it didn’t cost much though, all it just took was to pay someone to set it all up, all thanks to Theo’s bank account, of course.
It’s getting really hard to see with the whole fog and all but I know what I am doing. I bring out the knife from my pocket, watching it glistening against the light. Let us get this over with before I actually decide to change my mind.
I can’t even see Theo right now, I am sure the fool is running towards the exit right now. I jump down from the stage, finding someone particular in mind; it’s not hard to sight her because she’s wearing a gold dress that literally shines as she runs for her life.
I yank Alisha’s hair backwards with so much force that she almost stumbles to the floor, when she sees me, her eyes pale. I think it’s the knife though that makes all the colour drain from her pretty face.
It won’t be pretty in the next five minutes.
“I guess this is where it all ends, isn’t it?” I say, my voice is dry as sandpaper. Damn, I need water right now. “I’m going to end all of you all including Catherine and Barbara, my childhood was ruined because of all you guys!” I scream harshly, “Too much talk. Go join your father in hell, Alisha.” With one full motion, I reach out and slit her throat.
Alisha gasps in disbelief, staring at me with that look I won’t be able to get out of my mind. Her hands quickly fly to her neck as blood pours between her fingers. She staggers back, reaching out for me to hold out but I just watch as she gurgles violently. I guess we don’t always have each other back, do we?
I watch as Alisha collapses to the floor, blood pooling beneath her.
“You stole the life I was supposed to live; of course, you got what’s coming to you.” I look at her, she looks dead alright. Okay, case closed.
Without waiting, I run out of the hall through the back exit. No one has the mindset to come here; luckily my motorbike is exactly where I kept it this morning. Without hesitation, I rip open my gown at the sides, revealing the black jeans and tank top I had underneath. My gown drops to the floor and I kick it away.
I hop on my motorbike, staring at the huge hall, waiting and waiting but nothing happens, I laugh out loud, it really is easy to fool people. Bomb, like seriously? Do you know how expensive those are? Of course, I just needed them to get the fuck out of the hall so I can kill Alisha and now that it’s achieved, it’s time to go kill my next target.
I kick the engine into motion, driving out of the premises.