EDITED.
"In their nightmares, I'll be the shadow."~Araneae Ruber
~
LOUISA'S BRIGHT blue eyes widened like saucer pans. "How long have you been planning her demise?" Louisa asked the first question that came to her mind once she heard her mother's words.
"Since your father died." Nanette replied, telling no lies in her words. "These documents are all her transactions and business plans from over the years. I have slowly been changing the name of ownership and had Lewin to distract her from each document taken. I can't delay it anymore before she notices, and that is why she has to go… immediately".
Louisa's eyes lit up with excitement. Finally, the bane of all her worries and problems was finally going to be gone. Oh! How excited she was.
"Now, dear," Her mother said, walking around her table to meet her daughter. She placed her hands on her shoulders, hugging her from behind.
"Go rest and I will have the maid bring you ice to place on your ankle." Ushering her up, Nanette touched her back towards the door.
"Have a blessed night, my child," She smiled warmly as she watched her daughter limp away.
'Ah! The cowardly man who hurt my daughter will pay with his life' She uttered to herself, squeezing her palm into a fist. 'But first we will have to get rid of the one closest to us first'.
Going back to her seat, she sat like it was a throne made for her and her alone. Nanette folded her hand under her chin as she thought of her plans.
Snapping her fingers, four men dressed in black appeared beside her, two on her left, two on her right. They bowed to her as they waited for their master to give them their command.
These men were the secret assassins that work under the Van-Rensselaer dukedom.
And they are strictly loyal to their master.
Nanette Van-Rensselaer.
"How shall we be of service, master?" One of them asked. They were all covered with face mask, hooded cloak, and gloves. It showed zero to none of their appearance. They had hidden weapons tucked in their utility belt.
"I have two missions for you," She counted, lifting two of her fingers, demonstrating her point. They peeped into their ears and listened to her instruction.
"Firstly, Luella, we are getting rid of her tomorrow. I would have loved it to be later because of today's findings, but I can no longer bear to be around her presence."
"But there was a man—"
"A man?"
"A man. He had the nerve to hurt my precious child, and apparently Luella and this strange man know each other".
"So, the second plan is to find the man?"
"Yes. Search through Luella's office and her things tonight. Anything leading to a man or family I don't know, bring it to me by the morning".
"Yes, Ma'am!"
"And do it discreetly. No mess should be done to the office, and leave it the way it was when you met it. I can't have her getting suspicious of anything now that her death is close".
"Yes, Ma'am" And with that they all vanished into thin air.
Silence reined in the room. Shuffling through some documents in her drawer, she pulled a picture from it.
The picture was of a baby, small, and timid creature. Harmless and very easy to kill. But here the same rotten baby after twenty-one years later,is being a nuisance.
"Ah!! Luella, you have reached your life limit, and it is time for you to go. You have lusted after what is not yours, you have sat on the position that should have never being yours. And now it is time for you to leave," She chortled, stabbing baby Luella's picture with a fork. It stuck on the table as she laughed like a manic.
"I have a lot of work cut out for me because of you, little girl".
It was amusing.
That is the planned death of her daughter.
Strangely enough, even though Luella and Louisa were twin and were born on the same day, that stabbed photo on the table had only Luella on it.
__@__
Knuckles cracked, and punches flew towards the cloaked man.
Impossible.
It was impossible for Mr. Stranger to fight back, so he stayed in defense.
Punch after punch came flying toward him. If he defended his face, his father will punch his lower abdomen. If he defended his lower abdomen, his father will go for his face.
There was no stopping it.
When Mr. Stranger thought it would be the perfect time to go on an offense by kicking his father.
His father, instead, grabbed and lifted his leg and even though Mr. Stranger was slightly bigger in side, his father could still drop him to the ground.
He sat on his mid-section, digging his knees hard on his rib cage. With his arm drawn back, he began pounding on to his face. It didn't take long before blood began pooling around his head and part of his face began tearing.
"Your Grace, that is enough, please!!" The maid cried out as she tried to prevent the master from killing the young master.
But he didn't listen until Mr. Stranger's face was utterly bruised and unrecognizable. Pulling himself off Mr. Stranger, His father glared at his badly beating son. He flexed his bloody wrist.
"Next time, I give an order you listen" He hammered, pulling him by the collar of his cloak.
"You have two minutes to heal and meet me in my office. A second late, you will get another beating." Crossing over his limp body, he muttered angrily under his breath how he would rather have a wild animal than keep a son.
At the very least, the wild animal is attentive and would listen to instructions and if not, it can easily be killed and changed to another one.
'Have a son, they said it would be nice they said,' He cursed underneath his breath.
The head maid sighed as she tried lifting Mr. Stranger up. "Young Master…"
Her voice was low and soft, clearly in pain and pity for her master. She placed a wet towel over his face as she wiped his face. Now that his face was somewhat clean and a tad bit tidy.
Mr. Stranger lifted himself off the ground and stretched his body. As he stretched, his bones made cracking sounds like it was popping back into its right place.
He also flexed his jaw and his torn skin began healing. Also, the torn skin on his forehead and cheeks.
"Young Master~" The maid whined again as she watched him heal.
"It is alright, Brighter. It was worth it." He reassured the worried maid.
"Hmm" Brighter pouted nervously.
"Was it really worth it?" Another voice heard. This time it was from an unfamiliar voice — the butler—.
"Yes. One hundred percent worth it," Mr. Stranger smiled. Sighing, Brighter rubbed her temple as she ushered him toward his father's office.
"You better get going before His Grace comes out and gives you another beating"
His father sat crossed leg on a big chair, as he watched the wall clock as it ticked in time.
40 seconds left, and he would go back to beat the snot out of his son.
Knock, knock.
His father sighed, disappointed that his plan to thrash his son up had being muddled up by his son himself. He let out an aggravated sigh.
"How disappointing. I was hoping to pummel you up again," he said, with a laid back attitude.
Entering the room, he took confident strides into the room like he hadn't just been beaten to a pulp a few minutes ago.
"We wouldn't want that, would we?" Mr. Stranger responded, leaning his hips against the other only chair left in the room. It was clear the chair was out of place from the office, as it differed from the large chair his father was sitting on.
It looked like the chair was structured for a twelve-year-old or something.
"You wouldn't want that, but I do. I was really hoping you wouldn't make it in time."
Mr. Stranger shrugged his shoulders, "Well, we would never know now, would we?" He rubbed his hips on the chair, with one of his hands tucked into his pocket.
His father stared at him up and down. "What are you wearing? Take it off"
"Oh, this?" Mr. Stranger asked causally, spreading a side of his coat, stylishly checking himself out. "I believe it is a very cool combination"
His father furrowed his brows deeply as he listened to the nonsense that spilled from his son's mouth. The bones in his joints cracked as he felt the growing rage for his son.
"Take it off. I WILL NOT SAY IT AGAIN… OZED TAKE IT OFF"