“I’m proud of you,” Laura told her as they walked outside together. “Clara would have loved to hear that you have an art degree and you’re also talented with artistic things.” Clara smiled. “I’m sure she would have loved that.” She knew that Clarissa would have been delighted to have a twin sister who shared the same interests as her. “How long are you staying here?” Laura asked. “A few months,” Clara replied. “Is there any chance you wanted to come visit again when all of the family are here?” Laura questioned hopefully. “You’ve only met me and Ryan today. My husband is still at work and my other child is at an after-school club.” “I’ll consider it,” Clara said slowly. The visit to her foster mother hadn’t been as painful as she expected because she had already come to terms with her past actions. She was less comfortable with spending extra time with them though. Laura’s face lit up and Clara wondered if she would ever meet her again. “Thank you for coming over to
Clara was impressed with how quickly he had come to the correct conclusion. Xavier knew her personality well. “Yes, you’re right. I didn’t meet with you to catch up with you. I do want something from you,” she said. “Am I going to regret anything?” Xavier asked. “It involves Beckah Griffen,” Clara told him. Xavier levelled her with an analytical glance and she stared back at him. “I can punch her in the face if you like,” he said a moment later. “I’m always willing to do that. She would also get me in a lot of legal trouble for it.” Clara was amused by his willingness to punch her biggest bully. She wished he had been willing to do that when they were in high school. “That would be nice, however it’s not what I want. Would you be willing to introduce me to her as your girlfriend?” Xavier paused with his coffee cup halfway to his mouth and stared at her in shock. Clara had been expecting this reaction as she knew the request was very unexpected. “...Why?” was his event
Caiden turned up in the evening looking absolutely exhausted. Clara paused the show she was watching to give him her full attention. “Why are you back so late?” she asked. “Well, I had to follow Beckah around to establish her work schedule. She’s only just gone home,” the demon explained. Clara checked the time. It was now 8 in the evening which was a late time to work to. According to the information in recruitment adverts for Griffen Investments, the working hours were 8:30am to 5:30pm. She wondered if Beckah regularly worked overtime or if this was a special occasion. “What did she do today?” Clara questioned and picked up her notebook to take notes. “Boring things really,” Caiden said. “I’ve never been interested in human businesses and now I’m sure I would be very bored if I worked in an office. Most things she did were related to investment. She did take some calls that sounded personal about renting out warehouses.” Clara connected that up with something Beckah had said w
They walked down the busy city street and headed towards the restaurant where Beckah was intending to eat lunch. Their timing was perfect. They reached the front entrance at the same time that Beckah did. Clara tried not to show a visceral reaction to seeing Beckah in the flesh again. The bully still looked unabashedly confident and perfectly made up as she had in London. Clara was pleased to see the shocked look on her target’s face. “Hello, Beckah,” Xavier said coolly. “Are you eating here?” Beckah’s eyes zeroed in on their joined hands. “Xavier, are you dating Clarissa St. Clair?” she asked in surprise. Xavier held up their hands. “I am.” Clara felt the familiar prickle of Beckah’s gaze. This time Beckah was staring at her with an obvious look of hate. She wasn’t even bothering to hide her hate even with another person present. “You’ve got bad taste. I told you we should have dated in high school. I was the most popular girl after all,” she said and tossed her long blo
Beckah’s face went through a serious of changes. At first, she looked surprised, cold and then her expression was calculating. “I wondered why you felt so familiar,” she said eventually. “You two were twins all along. Your first names are similar as well.” Clara noticed that she hadn’t addressed the accusation of bullying. It felt like it was deliberate. Beckah looked at Xavier and nodded. “It also explains why you managed to snag Xavier,” she added. “He feels a lot of guilt for what happened in high school. He’s only dating you because he helped kill your sister.” Clara took Xavier’s hand before he could do anything. She was sensing that he was very angry at being goaded by Beckah. “Xavier and I have talked about the past situation with my sister and he admitted to being partially responsible. My grandfather has the police report from back then and your name was brought up during investigation. Of course, you and your friends got off any charges,” she said calmly. “Whatev
Clara had a whole series of petty tricks planned for Beckah. She had taken some inspiration from Beckah’s high school bullying tactics to make it feel more satisfying. “Your evil streak is showing,” Caiden said with a smirk. “She shouldn’t have driven me to death,” Clara said with a shrug. The taxi pulled over to the side of the road after the light turned green and Clara was pleased to see Beckah get out with a scowl on her face. “If she runs, she’s got time to get to the investment company,” Clara noted. Beckah was wearing practical shoes so it was possible to run. The US wasn’t as pedestrian friendly as the UK so it wouldn’t be an easy route to run. “No, she gets another taxi,” Caiden said. “I checked the future just now.” Beckah waved her hand frantically at a taxi that was going past and managed to flag it down. “That will be her only good luck today,” Clara vowed and started following behind. The taxi driver had clearly been told to drive fast judging by the wa
“It was a shame we couldn’t hang around to watch her reaction,” Clara said to Caiden. “You were worried about an unfamiliar car being noticed coming and going in the neighbourhood,” Caiden pointed out. “You can’t achieve revenge if you get arrested for stalking Beckah.” “I can get Arthur to hack her security cameras at some point so I can watch a video of her freaking out,” Clara said. “That’s something for when I’ve finished with my revenge.” It was odd to think she would get so much satisfaction through watching a video of Beckah sticking her hand into a dog poo, but that was how her life had turned out. “Are you planning to keep up the rat gifting?” the demon asked. “You have a whole box in the hotel fridge.” “Don’t remind me,” Clara said. “I’m hoping they don’t start to rot. I’ll send a few more in different ways.” This day was intended to be one of the worst for Beckah, but that didn’t mean she was going to let her off easily tomorrow. She still had over two years' worth o
“My work trip has been arranged for the second half of next month,” Arthur told her. “Does that work out for you?” “It’s perfect,” Clara said. “I do need your skills to help me.” “I’m glad I can be of assistance to you,” Arthur said. “I had already guessed that you went to the US to get revenge for your sister. Your face when we last met up said it all. Now you look like you're deep into planning something."Clara wondered exactly what else Arthur had guessed about her. She had asked him for lots of odd things over the years and he never said much until recently. “I have done some things already, but I need your expertise,” Clara told him. “I’ll pay for you to have a penthouse suite at the hotel I’m staying at. It’s very luxurious.” “Anyone would think you’re my sugar mother,” Arthur said with a laugh. “I look forward to my luxurious penthouse suite that I don’t have to pay for.” They made arrangements between them and Arthur caught her up with the London gossip. Clara told him a