"Today… This day shall go down in history! Had we wedded, today would have been our anniversary, but instead… today is mother's death anniversary. And today is the day you also…"
"We can sort this out in a more sensible way Issa." Oliva pleaded.
"Were you sensible enough when you made away with my money in your own private bank account? ... Was Howel sensible when she let ma die?"
"But…" Howel was tongue-tied.
"Who do you think was behind you losing your job? A very committed IT indeed!"
She kicked his thigh and he groaned more and lost his balance.
"You even dared to ask me out!"
He kicked him again and he groaned even more.
Howel stood up and began to rant, "You want to kill us? Do it... do it now!"
She was provoking her,
"I don't care what happens, do it." She whimpered.
"Just kill us already." She wasn't being defiant, she was begging for her death.
"I have nothing against you Howel… but… but…You killed mother! You killed her!" Olivia muttered and pointed the gun at Howel.
She stared at her squarely in the face.
She painfully recalled and narrated how she had run in the rain to get medicine only to get back and hold her dying mother.
"I wasn't mad at you when you made away with her fortune, but her death! It's unforgivable. I didn't even give her a proper send-off, you know."
Tears were streaming down her cheeks.
She took Howel by her right hand and held the gun in the other. She mercilessly dragged her to where she buried her mother.
"Ma, I promised to avenge your death." She knelt and scooped some earth from the ground and threw it at Howel,
"Here is where you deserve to die!"
She pulled the trigger but what happened at that time as far as their overwrought minds could judge was unexpected. Time did not exist. Olivia could swear she had shot.
However, Howel didn't fall to the ground. She just stood there; numb and frozen in fear.
Her eyes were wide in horror. Olivia had shot or did she? Yes, she had shot, but why didn't Howel scowl in pain? Why didn't she bleed? Olivia had shot into the air. The birds perched on the trees flew away.
"Drop the gun now!" Oliva was armed behind her with a piece of the broken glass which he held to her neck. "Now!" He had profound stamina as if his pain had vanished into thin air.
"Hands in the air." He kicked the gun towards Howel who without further ado, picked it up.
"Let me tell you something, my dear Issabelle... or should I say, Olivia? You chose quite a good name. Olivia - Oliva! Were you pretty enough then? You weren't bad to look at really, a bit dumpy around the stomach perhaps but a more enjoyable "job" than working in some office or on a building site. I'd be your fiancé' for as long as it took to drain your bank account. I loved it when you walked or stuck around to be my servant, I didn't care which. But once I found my next mark...
"You'd just be gone with my cash in your private accounts." Olivia interrupted.
"Yes, I canceled our wedding and so what? That wedding thing was just a lie! I would put it off and be your fiancé' for as long as it took to drain your bank account. Ha-ha-ha!" He laughed. "Ha-ha-ha-ha! I never knew it would be that easy but..." He continued laughing.
"So you rejected my advance just for that inept Conrad? Ha?" He held the broken glass closer to her neck.
"No! For someone more deserving than you bastard!" She dared to speak up.
"And who could this unlucky person be?"
Out of nowhere, a dark figure appeared and pounced on Oliva then wrestled him to the ground.
"That unlucky person is me, mister!" He took off his face mask, revealing his face.
"Arnold?" Oliva was shocked.
"Yes. Unlucky Arnold Parker, I am!" Arnold knocked his thigh thereby letting him go of Olivia.
"We've made quite some profit with the data transfer thing. Haven't we darling?"
"Yes we have, Arnold."
He hit Oliva's head, knocking him out.
"I followed a trail of blood here." He explained when Olivia looked at him inquisitively.
"Tah!" Howel fell to the ground. This time it was real. She was shot right in her head. Olivia turned her head.
"She was going to shoot you!" Oliva interposed. "Hurry, let's get out of here.
"What about the car?" Olivia posed.
"It's Oliva's. The police won't suspect arson. Let's leave now. They'll be here anytime soon." He planted the gun in his hand on Oliva's hand before both of them fled away.
*********************
Having changed her appearance and identity, Issabelle Fernandez posed as Olivia Lopez. She wanted to forget about her past life but the thirst for revenge couldn't let her. She had sworn to avenge her mother's death. Could she let that go? This is what she had planned and it worked. Oliva was arrested for Howel's death and neither Issabelle nor Arnold got to be suspects. As a matter of fact, she gave her stepsister a decent burial; to avoid any kind of suspicion whatsoever. She also married Arnold Parker on the seventh of July two thousand and twenty-three.