"This recession is going to be the death of me, Ellyos. I don't know how much longer I can go on with not having a thing to our names. When will it end?" Suzette Nightlock ran her hands through her coal-colored hair.
"I know, darling. As of right now, I don't believe it will end. And to whom do we owe this? None other than that nasty Whittaker Monroe, that's who!" Ellyos touched his wife's face tenderly, despite his anger.
"We have to end this, Ellyos. We have to get Anastasia and Mercy away from here. We can get Sparkle and Illyriad to run with us. We can take our boat and sail to England and Monroe nor his spies could ever catch us. Could we do it?" She kissed his cheek as his eyes pooled with tears and one spilled down his cheek to land on his soft lips.
"Not 'Can we?' The question is 'Will we?'" He pulled his wife into his arms and buried his face into her hair.
"And the answer?" Suzette pulled back and looked into her husband's eyes, searching for the answer with her emerald eyes.
"We will." He kissed her lips with all the passion he could muster, showing her how much he loved her with his lips and the shortness of breath her kiss caused.
The kiss was cut short by the sound of glass shattering in their kitchen. Suzette couldn't speak due to the fear clogging her throat. They had broken the first rule: Do Not Criticize Monroe. Now they would die for it.
Her husband's voice softened to a whisper. "Suzette, go lock the children's bedroom door and slip the key beneath it. Hurry!"
Suzette obeyed her husband, running with the silence and grace of a jungle cat to protect her babies. She locked the door and slid the key as far as she could beneath it.
A groan came from the living room and she shot up to her feet and ran to her husband. She stepped into the family room and her toes touched something warm and wet. She was standing in her husband's blood, staring at the woman who killed him. She looked down at the love of her life, his lifeless eyes still open and staring at her. She dropped to her knees, hot tears falling down her cheeks, and kissed his face.
She looked back to the face of Monroe's spy, their attacker, and suddenly felt three searing stabs of pain in her back. She looked behind her and saw a male spy. He was holding a fourth dagger; the one that would ensure her death. The man released the dagger into her chest, allowing it to plunge into her heart. Her gaze shifted to Ellyos and then everything went black.
*******************************************
I watched from the crack under the door as my parents died. Wracking with silent sobs, I clutched the key to my heart. The door was jerked off its hinges and I jumped, falling backward. I looked up to see the woman who killed my father.
"Come with me and get your baby sister. You're going to live with your aunt and uncle."
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