Chapter 49
Melinda ducked behind her brothers, her face twitching with doubt. “You’re full of it, aren’t you? How could you even know a gang?”
Regina cast her an indifferent glance, her gaze calm but piercing.
Melinda watched her warily, her nerves clearly fraying.
Regina’s lips curled into a cryptic smile as she said nothing. Instead, she set her watch timer for three minutes.
“If I can’t get the evidence in three minutes, I’ll refund the money threefold,” she said with a confident smirk.
Melinda’s stomach twisted at that.
Regina dialed a number and put it on speaker.
It barely rang once before a slimy, familiar voice oozed out. “Well, well, look who it is–Queen Regina! What’s up, calling a guy like me?”
Melinda’s eyes shrank to pinpoints. Panic hit her like a truck.
She couldn’t believe Regina really knew someone from the Specters.
She’d gone to them because they were ghosts–impossible to track down.
Regina didn’t flinch. Her voice stayed even as she talked to the creep. “Your crew did a job downtown today. I know you record everything. Whatever they got paid, I’ll double it for the footage.”
The guy snickered, all sleazy–like. “Still throwing cash around, huh, Regina? The girl only shelled out twenty grand to hire us. You want the proof? That’ll be forty.”
The Mitchell family froze in shock, their eyes snapping to Melinda.
Everyone else in the room was equally stunned.
The details spilled over into their minds like a flood.
A young girl hired them? That screamed Melinda.
And it only cost twenty grand to nearly take Irene’s life.
Melinda hunched in her chair, her face outwardly calm but her mind racing. She discreetly reached for her phone to call someone to cover her tracks.
But Clive suddenly snatched the phone from her hands.
Her breath hitched as she turned to him in alarm. “Clive?”
Clive just stared at her, his gaze sharp and unyielding.
His handsome features twisted with restrained fury, his cybernetic arm humming faintly as it clenched her phone.
The phone cracked in her hand.
Then it shattered in his palm.
Melinda gaped at him, stunned and at a loss for words. “Why would you do that?”
He loomed over her, face blank but intense, his voice low and icy. “We’re waiting for Regina’s proof. If it clears you, you’re still our sweet little sister. But right now? Sit tight and don’t make a fuss.”
Melinda’s face drained of all color as her eyes darted toward Regina.
Regina, unfazed, swiftly transferred the money to the Specters. “I’ve sent the payment. Don’t hang up.”
The guy on the other end let out a gasp of delight. “Whoa! You’re loaded, Regina. Forty grand just like that. No fuss. Alright, I’ll send you the link. Save it quickly–it’ll self–destruct in an hour.”
Within seconds, the link arrived.
1/2
Chapter 49
Before he hung up, the guy chuckled “Oh, and today’s gig was wild. The girl just wanted us to knock the lady out–said she’d handle the rest. Funny
thing?
We stuck around when the ambulance rolled up. She’d stabbed that woman to swiss cheese. Girl’s got a meaner streak than us Specters!”
Melinda’s face turned deathly pale.
The room was heavy with tension.
Regina, unsurprised, hung up and downloaded the video. She lifted her phone and played the footage for everyone to see.
Melinda’s face appeared clearly in the video.
She was parked in some shady van, scowling, no clue she was being recorded.
Her voice cut through, cold and bossy. “You want the rest of your cash? Do it right. Make sure that woman’s out cold. Got it?”
The guy on the phone grinned through his words. “Relax, we’re pros at this.”
Melinda huffed, snatching his phone and tapping away. “Here’s her door code. She’s got two level–eight bodyguards posted up. Hack their cyberware eyes first. It’d be quicker to just drop them, but keep it quiet–no alarms.”
The guy grabbed his phone back. “Gotcha. But real quick–what’s your beef with this chick? You’ve got some serious hate going on.”
Melinda shot him a death stare. “She’s a nobody who’s holding up my inheritance. Quit yapping and just do the job. Take the cash and go.”
The screen froze.
The whole room fell silent.
Regina set her phone down and glanced at Hugh, who looked like he’d seen a ghost. “Like I said, evidence in three minutes flat. Sending it to you
now.”
Hugh stared blankly at her.
Regina tilted her head with a little smirk. “Congrats, Hugh. Eighteen years raising Melinda, and this is your big payoff.”
C
