As I headed down the last part of the hallway before I reached my destination, I prepared myself for what I might walk in on. My target today was Bond’s brother, a pig of a man known for his predilection for young boys. I had to remind myself why I was here – to get in, make the kill, and then get out. As much as his preference sickened me, and I’d prefer to bring him a world of pain today rather than simply end his life, it wasn’t part of my plan.

I keyed in the code to his room and entered. He was still asleep. Thank fuck. I moved to his side of the bed and removed his gun from the bedside table. After placing it in his chest of drawers, I made sure there were no other weapons in his reach. When I was convinced there were none, I tapped my gun on his head. “Wake up, motherfucker.”

He was a deep sleeper and only stirred slightly, so I moved my mouth closer to his ear, tapped his head harder and said louder than before, “Wake up, Richard. The devil’s calling today.”

His eyes blinked open and he scrambled to a sitting position. Staring at me, he snapped, “What the fuck?”

The element of surprise was a wonderful tool, and I had my hand wrapped around his throat before he even formed a thought to defend himself. Shoving him hard against the headboard of his bed, I placed my gun to his forehead, and said, “I’ve got a message from all the boys whose lives you’ve fucked up. Your dick won’t get to ruin anyone else’s life.” I moved my gun, aimed it at his dick and fired.

He screamed in pain – a glorious fucking sound as far as I was concerned – and yelled some obscenity at me. I hardly heard him. Death had come calling and the thirst for blood had overtaken me.

The thirst for vengeance.

A chance to right so many wrongs.

As the adrenalin flowed through my body, and the need for violence overtook me, I fought not to go there – fought not to let the hunger for revenge consume me. I’d never suffered at the hands of a paedophile but I had an extreme level of hate towards anyone who subjected children to that.

I’ve got ten minutes.

I need to get out of here.

I took a few steps back, pointed the gun at his chest and without any further thought or conversation, pulled the trigger. The way his eyes widened with fear and the knowledge he was about to die would stay with me, and I had no issues with that. A small price to pay for ridding the world of another piece of scum.

As I backed away further, I aimed the gun at his head and fired again. Then, satisfied he’d taken his last breath, I tucked my gun into my jeans, shrugged the backpack off my back and quickly ripped my shirt off. I had another one on underneath it – one that was clean of blood. As I shoved the blood-splattered shirt in my backpack, I began to make my way out of the house. I’d planned to run into more guards, however none bothered me, and I decided Christmas Day was a good day for this type of work.

Ten minutes later, I was on my way home.

And Danny had his proof I meant every word I’d said.

I never made promises I didn’t intend to keep.

9

Sophia

I sat at Josie’s table feeling overwhelmed. In all of my twenty-nine years, I’d never experienced a Christmas Day lunch like the one she’d just given me. And it wasn’t just about the food. Josie had given me the whole package – amazing food, good company, a beautifully decorated table, thoughtful gifts, and friendship and care on a day that was supposed to be all about those things.

She’d treasured me.

Tears pricked my eyes, and I blinked rapidly in an attempt to stop them from falling. When I stopped blinking, I looked up to find Josie watching me closely. She smiled at me and nodded.

She knows what she’s given me.

I returned her smile before standing and saying, “I’ll be back in a moment.”

She nodded. “Take your time, dear.”

Looking around the table at the five other guests, I found them nodding at me, too, with similar expressions on their faces as Josie had on hers. They understood, but of course they did. We were all orphans in one way or another.

I headed outside to sit on Josie’s verandah, and as I pushed through her front door, Griff came up the front stairs.

He slowed when he saw me and narrowed his eyes. “Are you okay?” he asked, and I heard the concern in his voice.

I wiped my face; I hadn’t been able to stop the tears once I’d left the table, and they flowed down my face now. Nodding, I assured him, “Yes, I just had a moment, but I’ll be okay in a minute or so.”

He took another few steps up and a moment later he stood next to me. Good God, he smelt good today – sandalwood and something else, and whatever it was, I wanted to buy it by the dozen. I took in his towel-dried hair, the scruff on his face, his dark grey t-shirt and jeans that hugged his muscles, and aviators, and I felt weak in the knees. The fact he stood so close to me didn’t help, but it did take my mind off how overwhelmed I’d felt right before he arrived.

“Josie’s something else, isn’t she?” he said in the gentlest voice I’d ever heard from his lips.

“Yeah, she really is. You’re lucky to have her in your life.”

“I’ll give you some space,” he said, and took a step towards the door.

“You don’t have to.”

He paused, mid-stride. “Yeah, I do.” His eyes were trained on mine, and the way he looked at me gave me shivers.

He made no sense to me so I simply nodded and let him go.

I found a chair and sat, letting my thoughts consume me again. Josie had phoned me a couple of days ago and invited me to Christmas lunch. I’d hoped Magan would come with me, but she’d told me she was spending the day with her boyfriend. I’d worked out she spent a lot of time with him, and I only hoped he was a good guy. When I was her age, I’d had terrible taste in guys, and had accepted less than I deserved. Hell, even in my twenties, I still had trouble picking good guys. I was working on that, and had gone on a lot of first dates that didn’t eventuate into anything more.