The Joy of Revenge

CHAPTER 100 Stalker Joy | woke up to the startling sound of my doorbell rolled over in my bed, groaning at the incessant chimes echoing through my house, and opened one eye to look out my window. | was surprised to see that it was still dark outside although the first rays of the morning sun were already lighting up the h orizon Who in the world is ringing my doorbell so early in the morning?! While 1 covered my ears with a pillow to mu ffle the sounds, I rolled over again and grabbed my smartphone on my nightstand, noticing I didn’t have any messages nor did | have any missed calls. | quickly swiped the screen to check the CCTV footage, fighting the urge to just ignore the sound and fall back to sleep. However, | immediately sat up when | saw Cristos standing on my doorstep, pushing on the doorbell like his life depended on it. He was facing the yard, his back against my door, looking around as if he was waiting for something... or someone... to attack. | also noticed his other hand was inside his coat pocket. Apparently, he was armed.

Joget Joy, get out of bed. It's an emergency! Without putting & robe on, | hurriedly walked down the stairs in my skimpy pink silk pajamas. Cristos neededand | needed to help him.” Downstairs, | made my way to the front door, fumbling for the light switch. | figured with The lights on, whoever or whatever was causing Cristos to behave in such a way, would flee.

As soon as | unlocked the door, Cristos cberging in with all his luggage in tow. He pushedaside, closed the door and quickly punched in my code to arm the security system.

“Get down! Cristos instructed, pullingdown to the floor. “Stay away from any of the windows, keep your head down and when I tell you, go hide in your media room.” Crouching low himself, he swiftly went to each of my windows to untie the curtains, obstructing the view of anyone lurking outside.

| quietly obeyed Cristos instructions and crouched low, practically crawling to hide in between the stools underneath my kitchen island. My heart was beating madly against my chest while my zrozziness shifted into panic.

1/5 15:02 Sat, Mar 30 CHAPTER 100 Stalker “What's going on?” | asked nervously trying to make myself as small as possible so | wouldn't be seen through the cr acks of my curtains.

“I thought | saw someone in a track suit when my car entered the cul-de-sac. It was weird. One second that someone was there, the next, p oof, he was gone like a ghost. | saw him. move towards the tree in your front yard, but when | went to check, no one was there,” Cristos said.

| rolled my eyes. This kind of behavior was seriously going to blow our cover. | could already imagine what Old Man Tucket from across the street was thinking with Cristos barging into my house! “Chip, don’t you think you're overreacting? Maybe it was someone doing searly morning jogging... a neighbor of mine. Just check the CCTV footage around the neighborhood before you makedie of a heart attack,” | said before standing up from my hiding place. | headed to the kitchen, turned the lights on and began preparing to make us scoffee. This sort of paranoia was just absurd.

“Virtue, | said, get down!” Cristos hissed. “Most of your neighbors are elderly people and can’t move as fast as the person | saw a while ago.” “Noah can, his mother’s nurse can and oh... Old Man Tucket’s grandson can, | enumerated all of my young and capable neighbors from the top of my head. “All the windows in this house is made of security glass and | doubt if a person in a track suit can hide a high. powered weapon under his jacket. The sun is already rising and usually Old Man Tucket is up before dawn watching the neighborhood through his windows. That someone disappeared because he or she might get caught.” “But Pete-" “But Pete wantsdelivered to him on the day of the Spring Formal, so no, Chip, he won't hurt me,” | argued.

“Check the CCTV footage for a clearer view of whoever was here while | make us scoffee.” “Fine!” Cristos quickly stood up from his crouching position and fixed his coat, looking more.

irritated at himself than at me.

He grabbed his laptop bag on top of his carry-on, sat down at my dining table and began working his magic. In a matter of minutes, he was muttering something under his breath.

After t the coffee was done, | poured us each a cup and went to him to serve him his coffee. | peeked through the cr ack of my curtains to check if anyone was snooping before | sat down 2/5 beside him. | quietly began sipping my coffee, patiently waiting for him to speak.

“Seems you were right,” Cristos eventually said after clicking through all the footage from all the CCTV cameras they had placed in my neighborhood. “The person in the footage wasn’t here for you.

| heaved a small sigh of relief and leaned back on my chair, stretching my neck muscles to relax. Honestly, after yesterday’s.n ote courier fiasco, I've been on edge. Cristos barging in onlike this at six in the morning only fueled my anxiety.

| decided to find something for us to cat. Food was always comforting. | stood up and walked to my refrigerator to grab the box of croissants brought hwith me. | placed them all in the toaster oven and took out plates and utensils.

“How can you tell that person wasn’t here for me?” | asked, hoping he had an explanation.

“The person was scoping one particular house. Noah's, Cristos said. That was unexpected. I'm sorry if | scared the bejeezus out of you so early in the morning, but since Pete has been sending people to scare us, you can't blme.” “Can you tell if that person is a woman?” | asked. Cristos looked atpuzzled. “I remember Nicole mentioning she saw someone at Noah's office. If it weren't for the person's long black hair, Nicole wouldn't have known it was a woman.” Cristos nodded his head at the possibility and began clicking away on his laptop.

“I can’t see the person's face or hair because of the hood of the track suit, but the sneakers. are most probably a girl's,” he said, leaning back on his chair and crossing his arms in front of his chest. “The sneakers are definitely smaller in size including the hands... the person’s hands are dainty. It's highly possible it's a girl.” “Well, | can always go next door and ask Old Man Tucket if he saw anything, but he might get suspicious,” | said, placing the warm croissants on a plate. | walked back to the dining table with the plate in my hand and a couple of forks in another. “Noah, | believe, has a stalker.” Cristos nodded his head in agreement.

“I won't be surprised if this person turns up to be Sarah Hughes or any of the women who went to high school with you guys,” Cristos said before biting into a croissant.

“Why do you say that?” | asked while covering my full mouth with my hand.

llowing Noth around after loy left.” he replied. | stared/5 CHAPTER 100 Stalker at him wide-eyed and surprised, not believing what | had just heard. | had always thought. Nicole disliked Noah when we were kids. She would laugh at his old Ford pickup truck when it cch ugging into the school parking lot and make snide comments at Noah when he would join their group before class started.

“I find that hard to believe,” | mumbled.

“That's not all. Nicole was crying her eyes out last night when Noah left her to cback to New Salem. She looked so pathetic. Her mascara was all over her face,” Cristos said, smirking. He raised his cup of coffee to his lips and took a sip, then raised his finger like he forgot to tellsomething. “Mmmm, | almost forgot... The biggest surprise was seeing Noah in a Armani suit and wearing expensive jewelry.” “What?!” | exclaimed, almost choking on my croissant. He pointed his fork at me.

“I had that sreaction,” he said. “And get this, he even bought more stuff at GiorArmani, Dolce and Gabbana, Bloomingdale's, and Nordstrom. He even bought sjewelry. from Harry Winston.” “Oh wow,” | said. “But if he has money to spend, why doesn’t he just buy a new truck instead?” “I have no idea. | asshe doesn’t want people to know he has money,” Cristos answered.

“I doubt if the money is from his business. If he’s doing jobs with Nicole, the money is most likely from smuggling meth across state lines.” “So I'm guessing you guys talked about Joy,” | said, going back to what he had mentioned earlier about Nicole following Noah after | had left. “What did they say?” “The topic on Joy kind of slipped when | asked why Noah wasn’t friends with them in grade school. Dan answered Noah had this stutter that only Joy could understand. | asked who she was and that’s when the conversation took an ugly turn. Nicole went on to explain Joy was the town’s wh o re who slept with everyone. Noah, | can tell you, didn’t like that. Not... one.....

bit.” “Noah finally grew a pair of balls, huh?” | said. Cristos laughed.

“He actually did. Noah said and | quote, “Joy was my bestfriend, Chip, and she never lied.” And he also pointed out that s hit could disappear with the right connections,” Cristos answered. “But there was something off. Noah was different. He was assertive, calculating even frightening, not the usual charming Noah we know who's a pushover. He made Dan and Nicole fidget uncomfortably in their seats. I've never seen that side of him...” Cristos’s voice Sat, Mardu.

CHAPTER 100 Stalker trailed away. “Unfortunately, he also toldto sway your decision. You have decided... yes?” “I have,” | said, chewing on my croissant. “I'm going to say yes.” He smiled brightly.

“Who convinced you?” Cristos asked.

“Bo,” | answered. “I've been waiting for Noah to show up on my doorstep, but | guess | wasn’t the reason why he chso soon in the first place. Actually, | don’t even know if he’s next door. | got hso late. Lou installed my security system at the shop yesterday and brought Dina.” “Ah. She's finally here. Oh, thank G od. I'll have her shadow X from now on. | am such an idiot for not getting her to csooner. If | had-" Cristos stopped mid-sentence hearing the unexpected chof the doorbell. He clicked on his laptop to access the CCTV feed.

y went into “It’s Noah!” He mouthed. He closed his laptop, picked up his luggage and quickly my den, closing the door quietly behind him.

| looked down at myself to find my nipples peaking through the flimsy cloth of my silk camisole. | quickly moved my long hair to the front of my body, fluffing it so | wasn’t exposed.

| inhaled deeply before opening the door.

Here we go....

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