"Target locked. Vincent Bristol. Tall man in the black cape."
"Excellent, Sunny," Anthony "Now, execute the plan. Remember to make his death seem like an accident."
"Roger that," I said and closed my burner phone before shoving it inside my purse. "I'll make this quick, so I have enough time for dessert."
After all, this was the biggest party I had ever been to! This place was loaded with food, drinks, and dangerous men carrying guns. Every mafia, gangster, and thug was present here in the famous Louis Charmant's 80th birthday party, including my target today. This was an auspicious day. Vincent Bristol never showed up for events like this — wait, where did he go— oh, there he was. The target was on the move. Vincent Bristol made his way to the patio table further down the lawn with his two body guards behind him, though I couldn't see him since they were blocking the view like two giant boulders blocking off a secret hidden entrance to some locked treasure. He was speaking with Louis himself, a short man with a cane in his hand and hair as white as snow with matching thick brows. I looked at the tables full of delicious food with a small frown before sighing. Anthony promised me that I could get anything I wanted after my first big job was done; I was so going to ask for everything on the menu. For the rest of the year, he better pay for every one of my meals, or else I was going to bring Vincent Bristol back from the dead and make Anthony kill him himself. Anyway, the plan was simple, I thought as I slipped a glass of champagne off a tray that a nearby waiter was carrying. In my beautiful red dress that made me feel like a princess wrapped in a glamorous red carpet, I made my way to the key player of my plan with a bright smile as I walked past dangerous people along the way. This was... going to be a long day.
Daniel–Danny– Charmant, Louis' grandson, was a total social butterfly and woman lover. In fact,
I was sure he worshiped any woman who even walked past him and even held honorable
shrines after them. Whatever. This peculiar side of his was a good thing for me, a blessing in a
better disguise than the one I was in. Seriously? Just this elegant dress with nothing,
not even a fake mole to hide my face? Usually I wore all sorts of costumes to match the client I
was ordered to let loose my chaos on them. But today, I felt... Just like a princess ready who
was walking in a battlefield, ready to fight a veteran soldier who had more than just bullets. He had... armors, two of them, stuck to him like pillars to a house. Ha... what was Anthony thinking?
Anyway, the point was, there was no way I could defeat such a man without help. And Danny
was the perfect tactic I could think of for my victory. Even though I was the one wearing the high platforms, he was going to fall head over heels for me with a little help from the alcohol that he already had.
Besides the mysterious man I was here to kill, I had been watching Danny the entire afternoon
as well. In his white suit, he pranced around the green bed of grass like a golf ball rolling
around. Or maybe a pawn in this game. Either way, he was going to play a significant part in my
obviously well-thought-out plan that will be the end of this underworld's precious king.
Step One: Approach Danny.
I sashayed my way behind him as he talked with a waiter for running out of the guests' favorite,
the shrimp cocktails.
"I thought I told you we must order enough. It's always best to have more for the guests."
"Apologies, sir," the server said with a regretful frown. "What shall we do now?"
"Bring out more appetizers at once. Make sure the platters are filled before they get the chance to be empty."
"Right away." The server nodded.
"Serve more until the cook can arrange the shrimp cocktails once more."
"Of course!" With that the man rushed back into the mansion. When he was out of sight, Danny let go of a deep sigh before he flinched the second he turned to find me standing behind him the entire time with an awfully dramatic frown.
"There's no more shrimp?" I said, pouting as if I had any clue what those even tasted like. If I ever tried one, I'd be as good as dead as Vincent Bristol would be in a couple of minutes. But for now, my love for shrimp was as real as Santa in the eyes of little children. After all, I had been practicing my acting for weeks now how I always did before it was show time. This part was going to be a piece of cake.
"I'm sorry." He snapped out of it once it made sense to him that he was talking with a woman all of the sudden. So...the rumors must be true. Danny did have a soft spot for women. "But don't worry! We'll have some soon!"
"Really, that's a relief!" I pretended to swoon with a sigh of relief.
"May I ask, who are you? I don't think I've seen you around before."
That's right, because I wasn't in costume and stuck out like a sore thumb with this seductive dress on while everyone else... stuck with a darker theme. Oh well, nothing could be done about it. I didn't know about the dress code, and Anthony seemed to have
forgotten as well in the midst of everything. Tch. To wear red on a day like this...Snap out of it!
"Oh, I'm so sorry to bother you." I made my voice higher, sounding desperate like a damsel in distress. "I'm just a plus one. My boyfriend just ditched me for some other pretty girl,
and I came here to see if there were any shrimp cocktails that could comfort me..." Great, I was
doing just fine, I thought, wondering if this was believable enough to get him to take the bait. It
was embarrassing, but for Danny... It was perfect. I nearly smiled when I saw the corners of his
mouth frown and his eyes full of worry.
"Oh no. What a bastard. Where is he? Shits like him need to learn to keep a woman happy."
"I'm afraid he already left the party," I said, putting a hand over my cheeks as I batted my lashes.
"If only he sweet-talked to me like you, Mister."
"What an ass!"
"If!"
"If?" He raised a brow.
"Ha..." I pretended to be shy. "I-I was just wondering... if you don't have anyone, would you like
to walk around with me?"
"You want me to walk around with you?" His eyes widened.
"Never mind!" I quickly said. "You must be so very busy!"
"No!" He almost yelled. Ha. The big fish took the bait just as I planned. Ha! And Anthony didn't believe that I could do it, that untrusting jerk! "I'm not busy! Let's walk around. I can show you around."
"Perfect..." I grinned as he drowned two more glasses of champagne down before leading the way.
Step Two: Get Danny to Fight.
Vincent Bristol did not get in anyone's business; everyone knew that, so when the fight breaks
out, he would be sitting right where he was. And that's when I was going to approach him. With
a drink in my hand and a entrancing smile on my lips. This very drink that was laced with a deadly poison that I had slipped inside when Danny was busy leading the way. They didn't call me Medusa for nothing. I was as slick and sneaky as the crown of snakes on her head... Ok no one called me that. But after today, everyone would see me as a goddess of some sorts. Anthony would make sure of it. And Vincent Bristol would gladly accept a drink from a woman- it was common courtesy in this world, even in this underworld. Ha, just imagining the look on his face would be priceless. Anthony would be so happy. And I... just wanted to leave this unfortunate site.
"So, what is your name?" Danny asked as we walked past some beautiful sapphire flowers. I
was so busy admiring their color under the sun that I almost didn't answer him.
"Oh, my name is Lily," I said.
"Lily." Danny smiled. It was a pretty smile, I couldn't lie. It was a little crooked that made the rest of him look a little less perfect and a lot more human. "I'm Daniel, but you can call me Danny."
"I know who you are," I said with a girly giggle. "You're very popular. Every girl should know you since you're so charming!" Ha... this might be a little too much even for me. The last thing I needed was his puppy-face coming after me next, but for the sake of the plan...
"Haha," he laughed nervously with his face turning red. Ah. So a man in this kind of occupation
could also make a face like that? Wait, I forgot. There was a reason why Danny was infamously
known amongst the very bald and grouchy men. Rumors had it, he was rather a big
softie. How cute... "You're being too kind."
"I'm not!" I really wasn't. He had quite the reputation with girls.
"So you like shrimp as well?" he asked, thankfully changing the subject for both of us.
"Haha, of course, I do," I lied. I loved them so much that I was allergic to them and all the other
fish in the sea. But he didn't need to know that. "But!"
"But?"
"But, my lover– my ex-lover– hated them, so he never let me have any." Alright, this should be
enough, right? I needed to hurry this along because who knew when Vincent Bristol would
leave. It could be any moment from the looks of it because I heard if you're ever late to an
event, you would never catch a glimpse of him. It was like he was a comet that only showed up
once in a lifetime that you must be prepared to see or else you would miss him. Well, that's how
it felt to me anyway.
"Seriously! What an ass. If I see him-"
"If you see him?" I turned to look at Danny, who, for some reason, was angrier at my fake boyfriend than I should be. Okay, I had to act even better now. The fate of this plan depended
on me. "I wish! I wish I had someone as brave and kind as you by my side, Danny."
"If I see your ex, I am going to–"
"Danny!" I ignored the fire in his eyes and pointed to a man named Steve Trevor in the distance.
That's right, the grandson of Charmant's biggest ex-rival and Danny's true nemesis. These two
families had bad blood between them before I was even born, so how easy would it be to use that as an advantage! And they had just begun to reconcile. That's why the Head of Bristol was here, really... Rumors had it that he only did show up to make sure at the end of the day, everyone held up an olive branch. And that things settle with an agreement on both sides. Maybe he was a big softie too... As if. He probably just didn't want anyone ruining his day, so he could ruin theirs first. It had to be. Anyway, all the stars were aligned for me when I found out that Louis had called the Trevors for an important discussion about reassigning turfs or something like that.
I really couldn't pay much attention to Anthony when he handed me his picture. Vincent Bristol. How could I... This... was the Head of Bristol? That's what I had thought with my
eyes narrowing on his face. No, it had to be a trick, my eyes hallucinating. That's what I thought.
No way the Head of Bristol looked like that. It had to have been Anthony's trick to make me agree to come here in the first place. This and many other things... a trick. All a trick. And foolish me took the bait. I had no other choice. Firstly, if the Vincent Bristol really looked like that, then I'd be even a bigger fool to not want to see such a face in person. I mean this man could practically be the eighth wonder of the world, if you asked me. No, probably the
first and only true wonderful wonder of the world. And secondly, if this was the man, then I most definitely should be the one to end him. After all, I unknowingly had a grudge against him too.
"Danny!"
"Yeah?" Danny asked, looking to where I was pointing. His face became pale, and then it scrunched as if he had taken a bite straight out of the lemons that adorned the very dead, cold fish lying on cold ice in a silver platter.
"That man, Steve Trevor! That is my ex! I can't believe he had the nerve to show up again after leaving me behind! I thought he left me, but he's right there! With her!" I forced
myself to let tears fall down my face. Lucky for me, Steve had a girl by his side, so it made
my story ten times more believable.
"Ha..." Danny said. "You're kidding right?"
Step Three: Wait for the Fight to Begin. Ting, Ting, Ting.
I knew this plan would be the best to get rid of Vincent Bristol. Tough men in the mafia are
always up for a fight- whether they throw the punches or just watch. And just how I envisioned it, a crowd formed around Danny and Steve as they held each other by the throats. Like moths to a flame, the bad guys who were invited to this party left whatever they were doing to see the fight. Except for Vincent Bristol, of course. Even old man Louis went, and Vincent Bristol let his men help him to where everyone was since it directly involved his grandson, leaving the Head of Bristol completely defenseless. Either he was overly arrogant about his
ability as the true hero of the underworld, or he was simply out of his mind. If he had one too many drinks already, which would serve me better than that man who forgot to stock up on extra shrimp for such an important day. Or maybe he was truly just an old man, being in his early thirties. Whatever may be the case, I must be lucky or something; I chuckled, scanning the premise with the glass in my hands trembling in excitement and fear. This was... the first time I had made a mess this big!
How the Fight Started:
After I pointed out Steve to Danny, Danny made his way over there after finishing another glass of champagne in one big gulp.
"I thought the lawn would be free of insects since it's almost winter, but I guess I see one
anyway," Danny said.
"Ooh!" I said in my head, my eyes sparkling. I had to admit, it was a nice opening. Who knew Danny was witty enough to make insults like that!
"What?" Steve said as he put his drink down. He suddenly had a fresh scowl on his face thanks to Danny– and me, me too! I had to take some credit. "You better not be talking to me."
Scoffing, Danny crossed his arms. "No one else here looks like a giant grasshopper but you, you bastard."
Steve immediately stood up. "I thought your old man said there would be no beef tonight. Did I
hear wrong?"
"Ha. My old man doesn't know shit. This is between us."
"Babe?" The tall girl who was next to Steve tried to pull him back, but he raised a hand to make her step back.
All this time, I stealthily made my way towards the real task at hand... Slowly by slowly, so that
no one detected my movements. Not that anyone cared. They were too busy hoping to see
blood tonight.
Danny was screaming so loud, I could hear him over the ghosts of million lawn mowers that
must've freshly cut the grass for old man Louis Charmant's sweet 80th.
"You really think you can break a girl's heart and trample all over her and then bring another girl to my grandpa's party?" Ha... he was so immature, it was delightful! The crowd began to gather just from the yelling. Anthony's men were the first to move towards the fight, encouraging others to do the same.
"What the fuck are you talking about?"
I peeked out from a tree and saw the veins popping from Danny's neck. Was he really this mad
about it? Or was that just because of the pre-existing resentment that he had for the Trevors?
Either way, lucky for me, he was doing a good job. If I had a gold star, we knew who would be getting it.
Me, of course. I was the true mastermind behind all of this.
"That girl, Lily. You just fucked her over and then bring another girl here!"
"Why does it matter what I do with my personal life?" Steve said, obviously pissed off.
"Oh, so you do remember her." Danny clutched his hands. I felt a little bad for
using him since this was probably not going to end well. He was hella drunk, and Steve was
hella pissed. But luckily, following Steve around for a whole week was not a complete waste of time. It turned out, there really was a girl Lily that Steve had been seeing. Using her name was also for a good cause, I promise.
"This Lily? Who is she?" The girl asked.
"Don't worry about it," Steve growled.
"Another woman, huh. Is she here?"
Oh no, I hid behind the tree again. This wouldn't end well for me if they figured me out.
"She left already," Danny said suddenly. "And even if she didn't, I wouldn't point her out. That's the kind of man I am-"
Before he could finish, the girl by Steve's side ran away, crying. And that's what really started the fight. Using her was also for a good cause, I reminded myself, turning a blind eye to her tears when I felt a faintest bit of guilt in my chest. Oh well, she would be alright. I was saving the world from Vincent Bristol after all!
"Trish!" Steve called out after her, but she was out of sight before anyone knew it.
"Haha, your fucking girl ran away," someone yelled.
"This is all your fault, fucking Charmant!" And just like that, the first punch was thrown.