Blood Is Thicker Than Water (A New Adult Dark Thriller Series of Mystery and Suspense) ( free series of thriller, mystery, suspense and horror) (Next Of Kin Book 1) (16 page)

“The people I’ve killed.  The bodies I’ve buried.  It’s catching up to me.  I’m becoming someone else.” Medina said.

“Who?” The priest asked.

“My sister.” Medina replied, dead eyes.

Price staked out the penthouse, slid the earpiece on and indulged in a heated conversation involving Chow and his wife.

“What do you mean she doesn’t exist?!  You let that bitch come into our house to slaughter our son!” Isis shrieked.

“He’s your son, has been since birth.” Chow said.

“Screw you!” Isis replied, her voice was earth shattering.

“You lost that game already, remember?” Chow said, smugly.

“You bastard!” Isis slapped him.

Price watched her hurl priceless heirlooms at his head from the window.

“That’s enough!” Chow ordered.

“Who is she?  What does she want?” Isis asked.

“Me.” Chow said.

      Price emerged from the shower stall with a plush towel wrapped around her, turned on the TV and witnessed the last twenty minutes of Khi’s funeral.  It was a media circus, swamped with reporters hounding the family about the details.  Isis was dressed in black, clutching a handkerchief that had supposedly been stained with her tears.  Chow was wearing a dark grey Hugo Boss suit, glasses to match.  He worked up a few tears for the cameras.  Although he was genuine, it looked rehearsed.  A police sketch appeared on the screen.  Price studied the curves of her face.

“This mysterious girl has not yet been found.  Needless to say the killer’s still at large.  The police are doing all they can to put her reign of terror to an end. All prayers go out to the Hung family for their severe loss.  I’m Aloha Williams reporting for KGMB.”

Immediately, Price was nauseous.  She felt something surge from her gut and into her throat.  Whatever she had ordered from room service was filing her mouth, she hurried to the bathroom, lifted up the toilet seat and freed up the foul stench within her.  This can’t be happening.  She thought, flushing the toilet.  Price splashed some cold water on her face and eyed the cold-hearted person staring back.
What did you do to me?

The idea of having a part of him growing inside sickened her.  The chunks rose back in her throat, taking in its putrid scent as Price kneeled beside the toilet, puking her guts out.  She didn’t need a pregnancy test to dictate her destiny.  Price was the definition of picture perfect health and Zoe raised her to be strong, maybe even stronger.  They didn’t break her.  Price didn’t accept fate or God. 
Another myth meant to brainwash little girls and boys into making the right choices.  If you do wrong you get punished.  If you do good deeds you’ll get saved.  What a crock.

33.

Chow and his wife had a new security system installed, and the only ones who knew the code were his new henchmen and his personal slave, Cyrus.  Chow trusted him and she used it to her advantage.  Judging from their previous conversations, Isis wasn’t aware of what happened but somehow she was a part of it. 
Maybe I’ll make it easy on her.  Then again... you are the company you keep. 

Price bided her time until he left and disarmed the guards.  She pulled out the wire cutters, mounted the pole, and then cut the power source and the phone line.

She shimmed down the pole and gained entry holding a flashlight. 

Price scaled upstairs and looked in several rooms.  She went downstairs and then located Isis in the favorite amenity in the house, the Indoor pool. 

Price shined a light on the water and then dove in.  Isis spotted her, grabbed her legs, took her to the deep end and attempted to drown her.  Isis scrambled to the top, grabbing the butcher knife at the edge of the pool.

“Stay away from me.  I called my husband.  He’ll be here soon.” Isis said. 

Price glanced at the cell phone.   There was no signal.

She moved toward her. 

“Don’t come any closer.” Isis said, hand shaking.  

Price snatched the knife out of her grasp and without hesitation she cut off her face.  Price pulled her to the deep end and held her down until there was no more life left inside her.  She saw the blood covering the pool as if it was the third sign of the plague.  Price ascended from the pool like she’s just been reborn.

As she vacated, Cyrus shot her from behind.  She struck him with everything she had before fleeing the scene.

When this was all over, could she be normal? Have a regular no-nonsense lifestyle like the rest of the drones?

Price was too far gone.  Hatred drove her.  She didn’t care about anyone, or anything.  Who she was, was just a memory. 

“Ah!” Cyrus winced from the pain.  The man Price thought was strong turned out to be the complete opposite when wounded.  She looked at him as weak.

“Be quiet.  It’s just a flesh wound.” Price said, patching him up.

“Flesh wound my ass.” Cyrus said.

“I had to make it believable didn’t I?”Price replied.

“Believable? You almost took my skin off.” Cyrus said.

“I’m almost done.  I thought you were tough.” Price said,

“No one’s immune to pain.” He replied.

“You can get used to anything if you’ve had it your whole life.” Price said.

“Do you believe in God?” He asked.

“There is no God.  There is only me.  God didn’t save my family.  I waited.  Nothing happened.  I grew up…and realized there is no higher power.  No heaven, no hell, just carnage.”Price said, wrapping the bandage around his arm.

“You’re forced to play the card’s your dealt.  It’s not God.  Not the devil.  It’s life.” He said.

“I don’t need saving.” Price said.

“You’re not as tough as you think you are Medina.  There’s still good in you.” He said.

“It’s too late for me.” Price said.

“There’s no such thing.”

34.

Price entered the bathroom soaking wet, tossed the clothes on the floor and the let the water run down her face, washing all the blood from her skin.  Thinking how her life would’ve turned out if everything was how it was supposed to be.  Thinking of how this all would end.  Will it be my ending or Chow’s? She thought.
Chow wasn’t a calculated killer.  He was a con artist looking for a quick buck until he stumbled onto Henry or Henry ran into him. 

Price took a breath, stared at her stomach and put one hand over it as if she could feel it kicking. A baby did not fall into her perfect plan and Price didn’t know if she wanted to be a mother.  Would she learn to love it?  Would she be capable of loving anyone again?

Price surfaced from the shower, refreshed with the vast amount of cold steam surrounding her and the glow she couldn’t keep secret. 

As her feet hit the carpet, Chow smashed the back of her head with his pistol and rendered her unconscious.  Price fell to the floor, her body exposed.

“Crazy bitch.” Chow said, standing over her, sizing her up with a mixture of disgust and desire.

“Get her dressed.” Chow walked away, barking his orders at Cyrus.

“It’s nothing personal, just business.” Cyrus said to her unconscious body.

Price came to as she heard the sound of Chow’s voice, overhearing the phone conversation.  Before straining her eyes to focus, she endured another blow.

Price woke up in an abandoned warehouse; duct taped to a chair, the throbbing pain eating away at her sanity. She eyed the setting. The building was on borderline destruction. 

“Good.  You’re awake.  Surprised?” Chow asked, approaching.

“I’m as surprised as the look on your wife’s face.” Price said.

Chow’s expression was grim while his eyes were filled with rage.  He pulled back his arm, clenching his fist; he threw it forward with a force that jerked her head back when connected.

“I never hit a woman until now.  Did that hurt?” Chow asked.

“Did it hurt when I gutted your son like a fish?” Medina asked, spit blood on his shoe.  Chow swung another punch toward her face, the impact almost knocking her out of the chair.

“You’re getting better.” Medina said.

“Unfortunately for you, the best is yet to come.  Your mother deserved to die.  And now so do you.” Chow replied, walking towards her until there was a small wedge of space between them.

“You don’t want to play this game.” Medina said.

“Ah, how we soon forget.” Chow replied with a sardonic smile.

“Don’t do this.” Medina said.

“I never pegged you for the begging type.” Chow said.

“Not me. You.” Medina replied.

“Watch her.” Another order he roared at Cyrus. 

Cyrus made a huge mistake trusting him and made a bigger one double crossing her, 

Chow was a wealthy man who wouldn’t be alive for much longer.  He wasn’t a gangster but knew enough not to carry around dead weight.  He didn’t need Cyrus anymore and couldn’t trust him.  Cyrus made his bed and had to rot in it.  It was as simple as that and it didn’t take a genius to see that they lived by the same rules; the same code.

Chow was brought up in Youngstown.  So was someone else which brought her back to the source.  Henry.  They didn’t just meet by chance
. 
There was a reason for everything, cause and effect. 
Have we met someplace before? 
Price traveled back in her mind, trying desperately to remember.  SLOWLY it came RUSHING back, in bits and pieces.  She HAD met him.  Two years prior to her mother’s murder.  Henry introduced them.  Zoe shook his hand, greeting him with an audacious smile.  Price didn’t think much of him at the time.  He was Henry’s colleague.  They knew each other growing up.

Henry needed a man he could trust. 
But why pay him off? 
Chow didn’t seem like a man who had a squeaky-clean reputation. 
What did he have on him?

“Henry poisoned his father.  Chow had proof and threatened to go public with it.” Cyrus said, eagerly confessing.

“We don’t have much time.” Cyrus blurted out, rushed to remove the tape from her legs and made his way to her arms.  The butt of a gun dangled from his pants.  Medina lunged for it… 

BANG!  The bullet merely grazed her skin as Cyrus crumbed to the ground in a dead silence. 

Price stared at the cold steel taking over his hand.

“Leaving so soon?  I got you a surprise.” Chow said.

The door creaked open and Henry waltzed in.

“Hi honey.  You still have your mother’s eyes.” Henry said, holding a gun.

“And my father’s cunning.” Price said.

“I’m sorry to hear about Issy.  She should’ve offed herself years ago.” Henry said.

“Let’s finish this.” Chow growled, cocking his gun.

“Gladly.” Henry uttered then shot him in the temple.

35.

Price detached the duct tape as Henry faced her, aiming the gun in his direction.

“Trust me, you won’t feel a thing.” Henry said.

He placed his finger on the trigger.  Price got the gun of off Cyrus’s body. This was how things were settled out in the west.  Price knew it would come to this.

Shots were fired.  Henry staggered back, disclosing the bullet holes in his shirt. The slug punctured his chest and his heart would soon be next. 

He died instantly, like a rabid dog in the street.

Price knew he had something to do with it.  Henry didn’t have a motive.  He did it because he could get away with it.  He was a monster but she still believed he had an ounce of morality left in him.  Instead of being like her mother, she ended up as the beast he created.

Price looked at the last man standing.  Chow was still alive. 

She had to put an end to this and knew just how to do it.  She raised the gun but someone forced it out of her hands.  It was Jordyss.  She came through the back entrance.
What stake does she have in this?
She thought as Jordyss popped two bullets in her.  The pellets penetrated Price’s insides as she stumbled to the floor. 

“You think I don’t have other reinforcements?  Foolish girl.” Chow chuckled, crawling on the floor.

“I warned you.” Jordyss said with a sardonic smile.

“Finish her!” Chow ordered.

Before she fired, Price kicked her and the gun spewed out of her hand.  Price pummeled her to the ground and scrambled to get the pistol.  Jordyss tackled her from behind and wrestled her to the ground.