The Joy of Revenge

CHAPTER 143 Heart Shatter Joy | stared at myself in the mirror. | was wearing a black and white floral spaghetti strap midi dress under a three quarter sleeve black blazer. | decided to straighten my hair, allowing it to cascade down my back..

| gazed atreflection, the person staring back athad a little evil grin playing on her lips, yet there was a sadness in the depth of her eyes.

| was proud of myself. Earlier, | was stuck in a horrible situation where if | had been the sold Joy Taylor who left ten years ago, | would probably be at the mercy of the Angels of Darkness as of the moment.

Today, | gained Kiki's respect which madeproud.

However, there was now a rift betweenand Cristos which madefeel miserable.

From the other end of Terry’s Snack and Gas convenience store emerged two men with chains in their hands.

They were dripping sweat and smelled like they needed to take a bath. The suffocating stench from their armpits was so overwhelming, | had to cover my nose.

One of the men had dark hair, the color of midnight, while the other had bright auburn hair and looked like the younger of the two.

| decided I'd keep the redhead alive.

| dropped the bag of food items on the floor, appearing to be a damsel in distress.

| surreptitiously glanced through the windows and noticed Cristos was getting antsy. | saw him say something to Ki ki before walking towards the store.

“Stay away,” | told the two men in a panicky voice. “Or I'll... I'll scream.” The three men laughed, amused at my apparent despair.

“Go right ahead and scream, Missy, but you're friends won't hear you,” the old man smirked. “I got loud music playing on the outside. And forget about calling 911 because we own the police. So | suggest you be a good girl.

If you don’t put up a fight, | promise to put you in the clean cages.” 1/6 12:18 Wed, Apr 3 Mu CHAPTER 143 Heart Shatter 54% “What are you going to do with me?” | asked in a quivering voice as | slowly positioned my hand at the rear of my shorts.

| couldn’t see the old man’s hands. | had to make sure he wasn’t holding a gun. | figured if | continued acting scared, he wouldn't seeas a threat and lower his guard.

“Lately, my boss has been asking for blondes. Last week, we thought we hit the jackpot since. we got us syoung ladies who got holed up in here because of a storm. It was a pity when he only took the blondes and those with blue eyes,” he disclosed, disappointed things didn’t go his way. “But I'm sure he'll pay a pretty penny for you.” | gasped in aghast at his statement. “Yep, this here gas station’s a trap. The women we sell to our boss, the men we grind and sell as hotdogs while the cars we chop up into parts. Now, let's take a look at those. eyes of yours. If they're blue, you just earneda hundred grand.” He finally lifted his hands from underneath the counter... one hand holding a syringe.

“Please don’t hurt me, | cried out, backing away, my hand at the grip of my gun. “I'll... Ill... double whatever he’s promising you. Just letgo.” The old man laughed. “Sorry, Missy, but you don’t look like you have two hundred thousand on you and I... | have a business to run,” he uttered, disdainfully. “Men, hold her down while. 1-” | didn’t give him tto finish his sentence. | pulled out my gun and shot him in the eye.

| quickly turned around and shot the dark-haired man in the chest. He collapsed on top of the rack full of cookies, candies and other sweets.

| aimed my gun at the lone man standing in the convenience store, his auburn h sweat... daring him to move.

He abruptly stopped, dropping the chain he was holding, and raised his hands above head.

“No sudden movements,” | warned, “or you can kiss this world goodbye.” A sudden banging sound coming from outside the door made him flinch. | aimed my gunt his companion lying on the floor and squeezed the trigger.

“Again... no sudden movements,” | said through clenched teeth, aiming my gun at his head. “The next bullet that comes out from this gun will be going through your skull.” 2/6 12:18 Wed, Apr 3 Mu CHAPTER 143 Heart Shatter 054%0 | heard the unmistakable sound of a bullet hitting bulletproof glass as well as someone ramming against the door. The man in front of me, closed his eyes, frightened by the loud sounds. His sweat was dripping down the tip of his nose while his already fetid stench beceven more pungent as fear swept through his body.

“How the f uck do you open that door? And what's your name?” | asked calmly.

“T-There’s a-a button underneath the counter which automatically unlocks the door and m- my nis Douglas,” he answered quickly. He had an accent. European. Irish? No. He was Scottish.

“Thank you, Douglas,” | said before shooting him in the arm. He cried out and collapsed onto the floor in pain.

“You're lucky I'm going to keep you alive. | still need you to answer a few questions.” | reached over the counter and felt for the button, unlocking the door. K iki and Cristos burst in, both with worried expressions on their faces.

“Oh my G od! | thought we lost you!” Cristos exclaimed in utter relief, givinga kiss on the forehead. | saw the terror in his eyes which quickly turned into rage as soon as he saw Douglas writhing in pain. “What the f uck were they going to do to you?” Cristos asked, taking his gun out and aiming it at the poor b astard who was crying like a baby.

Ki ki rushed over to Douglas’ companion to check for a pulse. When she was satisfied he was dead, she went behind the counter.

“Douglas and his friends abduct women who happen to stop by the gas station on their way. to the camping sites,” | said, showing him the photo I took from the bulletin bo she look familiar to you?” Cristos took the picture, peering at it closely then shook his head in disbelief whe realized it was one of the women from Huff Hills Mansion. He suddenly kicked the the stomach. “F ucking sc umbag! | should kill you!” He kicked him again and again... again.

“C, sorry to rain on your parade, but this old coot has a small weapons cache under here. | don’t see any CCTV cameras, but he does have a CB raand a smartphone,” K iki said, stopping Cristos from kicking the shi t out of Douglas. She took both items and placed them. irin her backpack. “What | want to know is where did those two cfrom?” Ki ki asked.

FFrom the restroom door,” | told her. Ki ki jumped over the counter and quickly barricaded the door with one of the wooden racks.

3/6 12:18 Wed, Apr CHAPTER 143 Heart Shatter “Are there any more of you?” Cristos asked Douglas. He shook his head.

54% “The old man said his wife made the sandwiches,” | said. “I don’t see a house in the area, so | suspect they live in the basement.” “I don’t know about you guys, but personally | don’t want to find out if there are any more of them. Good thing you used a silencer, V. But the rack falling over should've gotten the attention of anyone and everyone down below unless this kind of raucous is normal,” K iki rationalized. “I say we burn the place down. All we need to do is let the gas flow out of the pumps and into the store.” K iki and Xavier were indeed siblings. They both loved arson.

“No, please, don’t. Don’t burn this place down,” Douglas pleaded, alerting us.

Of course. There were more of them downstairs.

Ki ki took out sduct tape from her backpack and taped his mouth. Cristos yanked him off of the floor and pushed him outside.

“V, you better head back to the truck. | got this,” K iki said, grabbing a bottle of whisky, a lighter and a dirty rag from behind the counter.

While Cristos handcuffed and chained a wounded Douglas inside the camper trailer, | watched Ki ki douse Terry's Snack and Gas with gasoline.

When she was done, Cristos and | climbed into the pickup truck, while K iki jumped he truck bed.

Cristos turned the ignition and drove off back to Bismarck. In the rear view mirror, throw a molotov co cktail into the gasoline, setting everything on fire..

We were already a good distance away when we heard an explosion. K iki suddenly knock on the roof, signaling for us to stop.

She jumped down and climbed into the backseat, laughing enthusiastically.

“G od da mn! Look at those fireworks!” She exclaimed, clapping her hands like a delighted little girl. “You know, when the Blood Disciples back hsaid you guys were having so much fun out here in the middle of nowhere, | thought they were joking. Man, was | f ucking wrong.” She leaned back on her seat and sighed. “Virtue, | was bout you. | thought you were just using my brother to get your revenge, but f uck, this is even bigger than | coutef 12:18 Wed, Apr3 mM 54%2 CHAPTER 143 Heart Shatter have ever imagined. She pattedon the shoulder. “You did good back there. And by the way, | am never leaving your side from now on... just as long as | get to do more sh it like that!” “K iki is right,” Cristos said, finally breaking the awkward silence between us. “You did good, Virtue.” He was obviously blaming himself for what had happened.

| was about to console him and convince him none of us could have known the gasoline station was a trap when Cristos phone suddenly rang.

| grimaced. It was Xavier.

“What the hell happened?! I've been trying to contact you for the past hour, Xavier bellowed. “Well, is someone going to tellwhat happened?!” Calm down, will yah?” K iki said indignantly. “The gas station, according to the data | found, was strategically placed in a dead zone, okay? | tried to put up my VSAT as fast as | could, but we got tangled into a bit of a mess.” “What kind of mess?” | heard the strain in Xavier's voice. “Chip? Virtue? You guys okay?” “Yes, we are Bo,” | answered. “We're going to head back to Mandan HQ to deliver a package.” “What happened this time?!” “The gas station was set up as a trap to lure in campers. The people who manne convenience store abduct women. Virtue found a picture of one of the women y saved at Huff Hills. She was abducted there. They almost abducted Virtue, but sh them except for one. He's in the camper trailer, tied up and bleeding. Unfortunate to burn the place down. There were more of them in the basement,” Cristos answer voice laced with guilt.

| see you at Mandan HQ,” Xavier replied gruffly and hung up.

When we arrived, a very worried and angry Xavier greeted us. Apparently, he was about to send out a search party for us when we couldn't be contacted.

“Cristos, this was why | wanted satellite images and information before engaging. You guys were only supposed to survey the area. What were you thinking?!” Xavier yelled at him. We were in an office room inside the warehouse. Xavier was pacing angrily in front of us while5/6 12:18 Wed, Apr 3 MO CHAPTER 143 Heart Shatter Cristos, K iki and | were seated on a sofa like children being scolded by their father.

54% “I'm sorry..... | wasn’t thinking,” Cristos said quietly, feeling small. He bowed his head low, placing his hands on the top of his head, like he just wanted everything to stop. When he raised his head, there were tears in his eyes.

“While | was ramming myself against the door, | actually thought Joy was dead. It scaredso much | literally thought my heart was going to stop. He wiped the tears from his eyes. “S hit just got real, Xavier. | don’t know if | can go through something like that again.” “What do you mean you don’t know if you can go through something like that again?” Xavier asked.

“I mean | can’t do this anymore,” Cristos answered. “I'm heading back to California. You can use my men at your disposal, Xavier.” He took my hands in his. “I hope you get your revenge, Joy, | really do. | love you so much, but | can’t do this anymore.” | felt my heart shatter as he uttered those words.

Chapter Comments Elizabeth Johnson that’s a shock, how can he leave???? Liz Boten 0g VIEW ALL 4 COMMENTS 4 SHARE POST COMMENT 6/6 Wed, Apr