Serenity Snow - The Poison of Bitterness

Published by EVERNIGHT PUBLISHING at Smashwords

www.evernightpublishing.com

Copyright 2020

ISBN: 978-0-3695-0224-7

Cover Artist: Jay Aheer

Editor: CA Clauson

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Serenity Snow

Copyright 2020

The hacker seated behind the desk laughed. The numbers were dead on, he said and slapped his hands together.

How much? the blond male asked, his blood pumping furiously in excitement. He hadnt thought it would be this easy to begin exacting his revenge on the people responsible for putting his father in jail.

Theyd ruined him, taken his good name, and most of his savings had gone to fighting the charges. His father had lost his business and the respect of his colleagues. He was broken and not just in his own eyes, but in the eyes of the community.

Those women hadnt just taken his fathers life but had sliced through his family leaving him and his mother the subject of gossip and dirty looks.

A million, the hacker told him. The other account has another mill in it. Im going to see if I can get into it, too.

Not yet, he said quickly. Wait another day. Then, go for it, and Ill pay you then, before we move ahead with our next break in. Shell have to replace that money for payroll.

The hacker gave him an annoyed look. She might have changed the codes by then if shes smart. Getting back in wont be so easy.

You can do it, he snapped. Thats why I brought you in.

You brought me in because you thought I was good, and I am, but the system she has in place is boss, man. I couldnt break it and even her back doors are traps. Well need to strike while the iron is hot.

Im sure the next go round will be harder, the blond man said, lips pulling into a hard line. But youll have to pull it off to get paid.

Thats why I say lets just do it now and walk away before it turns into a game we cant win.

No, the blond man snapped, staring into the cold brown eyes of a man hed known as a teenager. Listen to me. I want this to hurt her as badly as its hurting me.

I know you want revenge, but thats a sword that cuts both ways, his friend muttered.

This wasnt going to cost him anything, it was only going to purge him of the rage building up inside him more and more every day. His family was on the edge of destruction and it was up to him to do something to salvage what he couldhis sanity.

Did you send that note like I asked you to?

Yeah, the lawyers got it, he said with a confused look. Why are we fooling with that when shes right here, right now? The more variables you introduce the harder the outcome will be to control.

The blond man smiled. Ashbury had been on the verge of closing out a deal with some old employees, but hed made sure that didnt happen. Their lawyers had to be certain by now that Ashbury meant to fuck them over in their settlement.

Good, he said with a grin. Now

Wed have to go down there in order to wreak further havoc, though, the hacker said.

I knowwell deal with that later, he replied. What about the girlfriend? Anything in her past we can use to rip Ashburys life apart? Anything that points to her as the person who actually got this all started?

The other man looked at him, shaking his head, a lock of hair falling over his forehead. I havent found a digital footprint, so if her father sent her info and told her to do this, it was by snail mail.

The blond man blew out a breath. What about her life though? Any exes we could entice out of the woodwork?

Shes not much for social media, man. Her FB account was deleted, she has no Instagram, and her Twitter is sparse. She doesnt talk about her personal life much. Id have to go down to

where she lived and detective shit aint my forte.

I can get one of the guys to do it.

His agency was small, but a few loyal employees remained working cases and bringing in a little money. One of them was a good friend of his. Hed send him down to Mississippi to check things out.

Hey, where are we on finding the other one? Ava Murrow, the woman hed thought had started all this, seemed to have disappeared off the face of the earth.

The woman hed thought was her, wasnt. She was just a woman whose name happened to be the same as his quarry.

Nowhere, the hacker replied. Without a real target, I cant hack into anything. Shes like hunting for a ghost in a haunted house.

Shes out there, he said. Find her. I want her dead for opening this can of worms.

I cant find her, Lang Washington told Remi Ashbury as she faced him across the table in the restaurant of her casino.

She held a cup of coffee in one hand, her thoughts coming to a complete stop. The Murrow girl had been of interest to her for two months. After the trial of the men whod killed their fathers, Remi had been intent on finding the other woman.

In part, she wanted to thank her and partially because she wanted to know why the woman had wanted to open the old wounds of their childhood.

Both of their fathers had been convicted of embezzlement and murder. Hers had been innocent as it turns out. Was Avas?

What do you mean? Remi asked of the brown eyed man. Why? She couldnt have just vanished off the face of the earth.

I didnt say she did, he answered. I merely said I couldnt find her.

Remi blinked. Lang was the owner of a successful security firm out of Texas, but hed come down here to handle her case personally after sending some of his men to protect her lover and train the casinos security staff.

Okay. She thought his words over again. What are you going to do about it?

Im going to keep looking, he told her. She was sent to her relatives after her fathers death.

That had been the best thing despite how hard it had been. Living in a small town where they were the anomalies to be pointed at and whispered about behind their backs hadnt been any way for either of them to live.

Id like to talk to her in this century, Lang, she told him. So, find her.

Im going to, Remi, he replied with a hint of a smile. Just be patient. How is security working out for you?

Fine, she replied. My fianc is comfortable with the guys because she knows them. Id like to keep them on.

Theyre willing to stay another few months, but, Remi, these are men used to action. They wont stay beyond that, so Ive already started looking for replacements.