The Joy of Revenge

CHAPTER 32 Keepsake Lisa up from “Lisa, honey, it’s tto go home,” Cris said gently from behind me. | gingerly stood. my barstool and gathered my things. It was one of the few nights I've gone ha bit sober.

“Night, Virtue. I'll see you in the morning,” | said, placing the strap of my bag on my shoulder. “I really had fun tonight.” “I had fun tonight too, Lisa. We should do this again, but with coffee,” she replied with such a charming smile, | smiled back in return.

Cris placed his arm around my shoulders and | waved goodbye to Virtue, Noah and Chip as he ledoutside.

When we exited the pub, | noticed Dan and Nicole drive off while a drunk Liam stumbled into the backseat of his black BMW. The window of the driver's side was rolled down and I noticed Theodore Cohen's trusted driver, Henry, waiting for Liam to get his drunk as s into the car. Liam rarely drank to get drunk, but | guess tonight was one of those rare nights.

Cris opened the passenger's side and waited forto be seated comfortably before closing the door and climbing into the driver's side of our SUV.

Virtue made an offer to buy the house last year even though she wasn’t ready to move in. She said she fell in love with the house and the location and decided to buy the house so it would be taken off the market.

| met with her in Bismarck a couple of months ago to discuss the renovations she wanted. done and | found her to be warm and friendly. After our meeting, | felt excessively guilty for selling her a hin a town where a lu natic mayor sits on the throne.

Since she was still finalizing the sale of her hin Nevada, she askedto oversee renovations, sendinghuge amounts of money, tellingten percent was allotted to me, just as long as renovations would be done by the tshe arrives. We would chat on the phone from tto tand | found her polite and down-to-earth which is rare coming from such a beautiful woman as herself. Usually women like her were demanding and completely stuck up, but she never acted in such a waypeghich madeadmire her more.

Honestly, it amazesso much, seeing her carry herself with such humility.” | glanced at Cris who was focused on driving us home. We looked like the perfect couple, but 1/5 13:32 Mon, Mar CHAPTER 32 Keepsake in reality, we could no longer stand being with each other. For the sake of appearances, we still lived in the same.

house together, but we slept in separate rooms. We've been sleeping seperately ever since | caught him f ucking his secretary on his desk.

“I think you surprised everyone, Lisa. We were all expecting an old woman to move into the old Taylor house,” Cris suddenly said, breaking the ice..

“What made you guys think that?” | asked, confused..

“Remember | asked you who was moving into that house that one night at the pub and you mumbled ‘swoman,” he answered. “We all expected it to be sretiree. You know, someone else who could get along with all the old folks at Taylor Loop.” He paused and shrugged his shoulders. “Well, it seems you found a new friend.

And | like how she’s a positive influence on you.” 1 quietly scoffed at him.

Whatever Cris...

“I'm actually happy | met her, Cris,” | murmured, “I-I'm just concerned for her safety. To tell you honestly, | feel guilty.” Guilty? Why Lisa?” He asked. “Does this have something to do with Liam?” “Maybe,” | said, not wanting to say it out loud. | feared voicing out my concerns would make it a reality and | wanted to live in Never Never Land just a bit longer.

| heard Cris sigh. “I know what is going through your mind, Lisa.” “Is there anything you can do, Cris?” | asked hoping he would offer to help, but | knew he had his hands tied.

“Well, Dan is trying to convince Liam that she would make an exceptional wife. Fm hoping Dan will get through to him and make him realize Virtue is an asset and not a liability,” he answered.

“If there is anything you can do to help, | would be very grateful,” | replied. “You know, Cris, | really want us to be friends. You and I, we make a great team.” “We do, Lisa,” he said, agreeing with me. “I know this may not mean anything to you, do love you and I'll always will. I know I'm a terrible husband, but Lisa, you can count on to be a friend.” but | 2/5 CHAPTER 32 Keepsake cheek. Thanks, Cris. You'll always be special totoo, | sniffed, a tear falling down my This was actually the first twe have spoken civilly to each other ever since we decided to sleep in different bedrooms. It was a breakthrough for both us.

Once we got home, | kissed him on the cheek and went straight to my bedroom to take a shower. After putting on my pajamas, | sat on the edge of my bed feeling a bit nostalgic.

My eyes went to the three picture frames on my nightstand and | gazed lovingly at the photos staring back at me.

One was a photo ofand my parents during my college graduation, the other was a wedding photo ofand Cris, while the third photo was taken during the spring formal of my junior year... my only keepsake of my friendship with Joy Taylor.

| picked it up and ran my fingers along the glazing of the frame, wistfully yearning for the young girl, who had her arms wrapped around my teenage self as she grinned happily at the camera, to appear.

1 often ask myself why. Why did | listen to Nicole? Why didn’t | go back for Joy? WHY DIDN'T | DO SOMETHING...

ANYTHING?! hat kind of a sick person am 1? 0 many questions... none of them with answers. Poor Joy. It has been ten long painful years and no one knew where she was.

| tried calling her aunt in California, hoping for sinformation, but she said she had no idea where the Taylor family could have gone.

| tried looking for her through social media, but there were so many women with the sname, it was impossible forto find her.

| tried keeping the old Taylor house in the market, hoping one day, they would return and Joy would hugtightly and tellall is forgiven.

“I didn’t know, Joy. Honestly, | thought it was just a prank. | really didn’t know,” | whispered. to the young girl with chestnut colored hair and stunning aquamarine eyes.

get ssleep. | | placed the picture frback on my nightstand and prepared myself to get sighed, remembering my night.

Virtue Sullivan remindedof Joy. They both had the ssultry voice and the ssing- 3/5 CHAPTER 32 Keepsake song laugh. They were both optimistic and hardly spoke an unkind word to anyone.

| closed my eyes, allowing myself to drift off to sleep, feeling a heavy burden has been lifted. from my shoulders knowing Cris stood besidein a way.

loy “Chip, how far do you live from here?” | asked as we exited the pub with Noah in tow. We left Patrick, the bartender, to lock up for the night. Everyone went hearly and we were fortunate to leave at half past midnight.

“About a twenty minute drive that way,” Cristos said, pointing to the direction of Old Man Eugene's house.

Old Man Eugene's family and my dad’s family were pioneers in this town. Back in the day, my dad's family was well-off, but a string of misfortunes plagued the family. After his parents died, all he inherited was our house located on acres of property and the grocery store.

statue at New Salem Park where a Summers and a Taylor stood hand in hand ther. | did sresearch when | was in high school and saw an article on the mysterious death of Mayor Owen Summers. His successor, Ethan Cohen, was believed to have bought his way in, but no one could ever prove it. Ethan Cohen went on to say the malicious. accusations were made by his detractors who wanted a Summers or a Taylor in town hall.

The Cohens arrived during the prohibition period together with their unexplainable wealth. After Ethan Cohen seized power, no other Summers or Taylor was ever elected again. Instead, the mayoralty was handed from a Cohen patriarch to son.

Their mansion is perched atop Prairie’s Peak, a hill overlooking town hall. It was secluded and well-guarded.

“Well, mine is five minutes away in that direction,” | said, pointing the other way, as he helpeddrag Noah to his bronze Range Rover, | whistled. | should get one.

“Uhm, my car costs as much as your car, so you shouldn't be impressed,” Cristos said, practically pushing Noah into the backseat of the luxury SUV and slamming the door, clearly irritated. “Although, mine IS new. Fine, go ahead and be impressed.” He opened the passenger door forand | climbed in, checking out its interior. Nice, I waited for him to slide into the driver's seat before we talked cars.

4/5 13:32 Mon, Mar 25 M SE L CHAPTER 32 Keepsake “I was thinking of getting one... | mean an SUV. What does Dom and Bo drive?” | asked.

“You and Dom have the staste. He has a Mercedes SUV while Bo, who is more. masculine, drives a Land Rover Defender. | was about to buy one. It’s a real beaut,” he said, driving towards the direction of my house.

“I can imagine,” | said, knowing Xavier. | glanced through the rearview mirror and noticed there was another car behind us. | turned in my chair to take a closer look and saw a BMW emblem.

“You noticed too, huh?” Cristos said, looking through the rear view mirror. “Let's get Noah hfirst, shall we?” Cristos drove calmly, but he opened the center console to have his gun readily available if needed.

We dropped off Noah first. Cristos had to shake him awake because there was no way in hell and we could carry him. Then, Cristos parked his SUV in front of my house. He took his gun placed it in his leather sling bag while | readied my knife before exiting the car.

Liam’s BMW was parked near the trees at the entrance of the cul-de-sac.

calling Dom and Bo,” Cristos said walking into the house while dialing his phone. “You ould get on the phone and call the police.” | took out my gun from a kitchen caband placed it behind a throw pillow of my sofa before calling the Sheriff.

The hsecurity consultant | hired would be arriving tomorrow. | had to wait until construction on the house was finished since | didn’t trust Lisa to oversee the installation.

| just didn’t expect Liam to begin stalkingso soon.

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