Chapter Forty Nine
Raya St Claire

one month later

The bell chimes behind me. I close the door, lifting my hand to turn the ‘open’ sign so that it would state that the shop was now closed. The owner didn’t even bother to look who decided to grace his presence—he only focused on counting the dollar bills that belong in the cash register.

I trace my finger over the long but locked cases of the jewellery store.

I eye each necklace and bracelet as I made my way to the paying side. I love that each of the jewellery pieces were made with precious stones—rubies, diamonds, emeralds, sapphires and more. I wanted to snatch some of them. My hand itched, but I made it to the counter without taking anything of value.

I wasn’t here for the precious jewellery anyways.

“Can I help you?” A man asks, his voice sending a jolt of electricity through my veins.

That’s how I know I have found him.

I lift my head, sliding the hoody over my head to show him my face.

He still looks at me like he doesn’t recognise me.

It’s time for me to enlighten him.

“I see you spent your money well.” I tell him, feeling my lip curl upward in a smile. “You know… the money you got from working with Winchester.”

He reaches behind the counter for something but I darted forward grabbing him behind the neck before I slammed his head into the glass counter enough for it to crack.

If I smashed his head any harder, his head would have gone straight through the glass.

He groans while the blood ran from his nose and onto the cracked glass counter.

“He’s dead, by the way.” I tell him, releasing his head so he could look at me. “Winchester has already been eaten by the worms.”

He doesn’t reach for something behind the counter again.

“W-who are you?” He sputters, wiping his bloodied nose with the back of his hand. “W-what do you want?”

“I want you dead.” I tell him, seeing him freeze on the spot. “I want your brains to be splattered across this fine jewellery.”

Even through the faint music playing in the background, I hear him suck in a deep breath.

He was afraid of me. He was afraid of what I might do to him.

Good.

His eyes were practically bulging out of his head.

He was unable to blink.

I rendered him speechless.

“H-how do you know Winchester?”

“Easy.” I shrug. “He murdered my family.”

He swallows hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down nervously. “You’re that little girl?”

I hiss, shaking my head at him. “As you can see,” I open my eyes again to look at him, “I am not that little girl anymore. The murder took place more than eight years ago, if not nine by now…”

“W-what do you want?” He asks again.

“Isn’t it obvious?” I ask him. “I want you dead.”

“Please.” He begs, shaking his head violently. “Please…”

I smile at him while his lips started to quiver. “Seeing that it’s barely eight in the morning, I need a cup of coffee first.” I tell him, looking down at the pool of blood spreading on the glass counter. “Do you have any coffee?” I let his head go, tilting my head to the side to look at him.

He nods. “Yes.”

“Then go make me some.”

“Yes.” He repeats again.

He turns around, but before his hand could touch the doorknob that led to the back of the store, I pulled out my gun and pulled the trigger.

Ezra let me use his silenced gun, so the sound of the gun going off didn’t even make that much of a noise. If there was any noise; the background music definitely would have drowned it out.

I smile, looking down at the body as it slid to the floor.

I stash the gun and leave the jewellery store, the bell chiming when the door closed behind me. I turn to look through the window, seeing the body still lying on the floor, starting to coat itself with his blood.

My job was now officially completed.

• • •

“The job is done.” I tell Archie when I entered his—my office.

He was busy packing his things into boxes. Most of the things that were on his desk were now in boxes. The only thing that remained was the photograph he had of us.

“You killed him?”

I nod.

I should’ve felt relieved somehow, but I didn’t.

Now that everyone I ever despised was dead, it felt as if I didn’t have a purpose to be here anymore. I joined the gang to find the people who murdered my family, but now that all of them are dead and one of them forgiven for what they did, I don’t have a purpose to be here anymore.

But the newcomer stayed after he got his little sister back.

I guess I should too.

“How do you feel?” Archie asks me, taking the photograph before he placed it in the box along with his other belongings. He tapes the box closed and looks at me.

I shrug. “I don’t know how I feel to be honest.” I tell him honestly. “I don’t feel anything right now. I should be relieved that they’re gone… but I’m not relieved. I didn’t feel relieved when I put a bullet in Winchester’s face, either. I just… it feels like I don’t have a meaning anymore.”

“I think it’s safe to say that it’s normal to feel like that, Ray.” He says. “You’ve been trying to find the people who murdered your family for almost nine years now. But now that they’re dead, it feels as if you’ve completed your job. You’re hollow because you don’t have anything to accomplish anymore, but we both know that it’s not true, there’s still lots for you to do, Ray.”

“There is just one thing I still want to accomplish right now.” I tell him, inhaling deeply before I exhaled sharply again. “I want to meet my brother, Archie. It’s time to face the music.”

“Are you sure that’s what you want to do, now? After everything?” He asks me.

I nod. “Yes, I want to meet him, Archie. It’s been too long.”