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| 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐀𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚 𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐜𝐞 |

Sean's still avoiding me and I'm relieved to know that I don't really care what he does at this point. It's best if we don't face each other.

On the other hand, I've got business to do.

"I need cover," I whisper to Riley.

She gives me a questioning look, asking what I'm going to do.

"Just come on." I nudge her and we both stand up from our chairs.

Riley announces to the rest of our friends at the cafeteria table that we're heading to the washroom.

"So?" She starts, getting in step beside me. "Who's in trouble?"

"We need to find Denys."

She furrows her eyebrows. "The junkie?"

I nod.

"What did he do?" She asks.

"Nothing yet," I respond. "I need him to do something."

"Do what?"

"You'll see."

"Holly." Riley stops me. She gives me a skeptical look. "Denys is bad news. Like the worst kind. What do you need him for?"

"You don't trust me?" I raise an eyebrow.

"I—" She bites her lip. "I just don't want you to do something seriously bad."

"Don't worry," I assure her. "It's only for someone who deserves it."

She continues giving me her unsure look but steps out of my way.

We resume walking to find Denys.

After fifteen minutes of checking every corner of the school, we finally find him outside the back.

"Stand watch," I tell Riley.

She shoots a look towards Denys which shows how much she doesn't want me talking to him. But she obliges anyway and heads inside the school to guard the door and warn me if anyone's coming outside.    

I look at Denys and find his black eyes already staring at me.

He's leaning against the wall, a joint in his mouth. His gaze flicks down from up, taking me in. Smoke puffs out of his mouth when his eyes find mine again.

I stride towards him, a grin sliding onto my face. "Smoking on school grounds is against the rules."

He takes a long drag of his joint then blows out smoke in the direction of my face, making a point that he doesn't care. I close my eyes, resisting the urge to cough.

A second later I open my eyes. Denys is a massive guy with black ink covering his skin from his wrists to his shoulders, curling up to his neck. His deep black hair falls over his dark eyes. A thick silver chain with multiple metal rings rests on the center of his huge chest.

He takes another drag from his joint. "Am I in trouble?" His deep gravelly voice sends a slithering tingle up my spine.

I cock my head. "Why would you say that?"

"People here know they're in deep shit if Holly Versace suddenly makes an appearance." He tilts his head at me. "What do you want?"

Straight to the point.

"I need you to do something for me," I state.

He waits for me to continue.

"Tonight at seven forty," I say. "In return, I'll give you the money for your dealer."

His face gives away nothing as he stares at me. He might be trying to figure out how I know about his dealership. He might be trying to figure out how to break my mouth. His tongue comes out, slowly sliding against his lower lip.

"How much?" He cocks up an eyebrow.

"How much are you in debt for?"

"One grand."

"Deal." 

A tiny flicker of surprise flashes through his eyes. He doesn't question me further about it though. All he says is, "In cash."

"Whatever you want." I nod. I give him a serious look. "The more you mess up, the more your payment reduces. Understood?"

"What's the job?"

"We have a prick to handle." I say, "Might wanna get some friends too. It's tough work."

For a moment, he doesn't say anything.

Then a grin curls his lips, making him look ten times more dangerous. "Whatever you want, you bloody troublemaker."

｡☆✼★━━━━━━━━━━━━★✼☆｡

Riley picks me up at exactly seven. I tell my parents I'm going with her for dance practice.

We're both wearing black clothes with our hair hidden beneath.

"Did you get the masks?" I ask her.

She nods. "Backseat."

I reach behind to pull a bag. Opening the zipper, I pull out two full-face black masks.

A laugh bubbles out of my mouth, excited and dark. "This is going to be so much fun."

Riley shoots me a look. "Does this person seriously deserve all this?"

"No," I say. "He deserves worse."

She stares at me before giving a shrug, muttering. "Anything for you."

She drives towards the seventh street.

"What are the masks for?" She asks.

"Two reasons. One, he shouldn't know who we are or else he might connect us back to Castle and hurt him again. Second, it'll make him piss his pants faster. Not knowing who's behind the masks will make him go crazy."

Riley shakes her head. "You really are something."

"Thanks." I beam at her.

Within twenty minutes, we reach our destination.

I spot Denys and two other guys standing across the street against a wall.

Picking up my mask and my bag, Riley and I cross over to them.

There's a cigarette in Denys's mouth. He wears a black hoodie with the hood pulled over his head, almost to his eyes.

The other two guys dress the same.

One of them with blue eyes and a scar on his chin grins at me. "Damn, I can't believe it! It's really you!" His gaze rakes against my body. "Holly Versace. It's an honour to do your dirty work." He makes a bow as if I'm some princess.

"Cut it, Ashton." The other guy says, annoyed.

"How are you not surprised, Blake?" Ashton exclaims. "I mean I did hear rumours that she ruins people, but she hasn't been caught even once. Now she's standing here right fucking in front of us, proving all the rumours. How are you not—"

"Let's get to business." I interrupt.

Blake smirks at Ashton's sad expression at being cut off. His eyes flick to me, taking me in too. He looks at Riley next—and stares. It barely registers to me that a different look enters his face.

"We're going to first draw the man out who lives in that house," I say. "After taking care of him, we're going to ruin some stuff while making him watch all of it. Got it?"

"We get to break stuff?" Ashton's face lights up. He hugs himself before throwing his arms up. "Oh, bloody Mary with sweet cum! This is the best day of my life!"

I raise an eyebrow at Denys.

He gives a one-shoulder shrug. "He usually behaves."

"He never behaves." Blake snaps.

"Good thing I brought Alice." Ashton claps his hands before pulling out a giant hammer from his rucksack.

"You named your hammer Alice?" Riley scrunches her eyebrows.

"Isn't she pretty?" Ashton runs his finger lovingly over the hammer's brown rusty head.

Riley shrugs, looking away from him.

"Okay. Let's get to work." I announce.

We all pick up our stuff, before walking across the street towards the house. That little fucker has no chance to get out of this. I'll make sure that he pays for every single time he raised his hand on Castle. I'll make sure he never forgets this day.

｡☆✼★━━━━━━━━━━━━★✼☆｡

Ashton rings the doorbell. He lets down his hood for now, displaying his green and blue coloured hair.

A few seconds later, the door opens.

My eyes sharpen when I take in the slender man standing at the door. He's dressed in casual wear. His face is narrow with high cheekbones. When I look at his dark lips and his bright eyes, there's no doubt he's Castle's father. They share the same features.

Ashton flashes him a smile. "I think there's something wrong with your car outside. Some oily stuff is leaking out of it."

Castle's father furrows his eyebrows, looking at Ashton's unusual coloured hair to the scar on his chin. He looks back at his face. "Really?"

Ashton nods. "It smells too. I mean it might be nothing but dude, I live across the street. If that oily thing is some kind of fuel or something and it explodes? I don't wanna die, man. So can you please check it?"

Castle's father gives him an skeptical look before nodding and heading inside to get his car keys.

Riley, I and the rest are hidden behind the car, crouching.

A few moments later, Castle's father emerges, walking down the porch steps.

Ashton skips down behind him, a boyish look on his face. "What's your name, by the way? Your watch looks like really cool." He bends down to peer at the shiny golden watch on Castle's father's wrist.

He shifts his arm away slightly, muttering, "Nathaniel."

"Hi, Nathaniel. I'm Ashton. But people call me the Shark Slayer. You can call me that too."

They're nearing the car.

Ashton rambles on. "Guess what I got for my seventeenth birthday? And yes, I just turned seventeen. Don't think of me easy though. I've got guns that can break bones and snap—"

"Where's the leakage?" Nathaniel cuts him off, looking at the car.

Ashton peers at the ground, then a frown comes on his face. "Hmm. That's weird. There was a big pool of shit-looking oily stuff on the ground here just a moment ago. Let's check around."

Nathaniel furrows his eyebrows and follows Ashton around the car. He crosses the front, and when he appears on the other side—a gasp leaves his lips when he sees three hooded figures.

I fix my mask on my face, a glare sliding onto my face when my eyes make contact with his. "Get him."

Nathaniel's eyes dart to all our masked faces and he stumbles back, turning around to run. Denys appears behind him, making Nathaniel run into his chest instead.

He staggers back. He has to crane his head up to look at Denys.

"W-what is going on?" He asks, looking around him while we slowly circle him.

"What the fuck is going on?" He yells this time, to look braver. It doesn't hide the slight tremors in his hands though.

That's another similarity between Castle and him. Castle's hand tremors always give him away about how he's feeling. I hate that this man has so much in common with Castle.

"Who are you people?" Nathaniel yells. "What the fuck is going on? I'm going to call the police!"

Ashton swings his hammer at Nathaniel's back. Not hard. Just a warning hit.

Nathaniel spins around to face him with wide eyes.

"No yelling, please." Ashton grins. "Alice gets mad."

"Get to work already," I say. "I want to hear him scream until he can't anymore." Like how did to Castle.

Nathaniel's eyes widen at my words. "You can't be serious. I don't even know you, people. What's going on? What did I do—"

Ashton slams his hammer on his shoulder. Nathaniel lets out a howl of pain, clutching his shoulder.

I wince. "Too noisy."

"You got it," Riley says before pulling out a handkerchief from her pocket. She nears him to stuff the handkerchief in his mouth, but Nathaniel makes a swing at her face. She barely dodges his fist before a strong hand clamps on Nathaniel's wrist.

"Don't you dare raise your hand on her." Blake warns, a gruff to his tone as he squeezes Nathaniel's wrist.

"Woah." Riley lets out. She looks back at me, hooking a thumb in Blake's direction. "He's hot."

I grin at her in agreement but forget that she can't see my grin through the mask.

Riley turns back around, and this time Blake has both of Nathaniel's arms behind his back. She stuffs the handkerchief in his mouth and pushes it in with two of her fingers, making sure it goes down to his throat.

I step towards him, cracking my knuckles. Before he even sees it coming, my fist flies toward his face, smashing against his nose. His head snaps back. His cry gets muffled by the handkerchief.

I don't give him time to adjust before throwing another punch at his jaw. Tears spring to his eyes.

"Hey! I wanna throw some punches too!" Ashton jumps behind me. I tilt away to indicate he can have his go.

He doesn't throw any punches though. Instead, he swings his hammer upwards, smashing it against the underside of Nathaniel's jaw.

Crack.

Nathaniel makes a horrible sound of pain. He struggles to free his hands, but Blake has them in a tight grip.

"You said you wanted to throw a punch." I raise an eyebrow at Ashton.

He shrugs. "'changed my mind."

"It's my turn now," Riley says, stepping ahead. Instead of punching though, she whirls and does a hook kick straight to the side of Nathaniel's head.

"Ooo I like it!" Ashton claps his hands. "Wasn't that cool, Blake?"

Blake nods, eyeing Riley with a glint in his eye. And Riley, who very much acknowledged it, shoots a smirk in his direction.

"Let's get to actual work," Denys says and steps ahead.

He grabs Nathaniel's shoulder with one hand and delivers a punch with another. Before Nathaniel can regain from that, Denys brings up his knee and slams it against his stomach. One after the other, Denys slams fists upon fists until Nathaniel is pasted against the car.

Blood gushes down Nathaniel's nose as he slides down to a heap on the floor. Muffled moans of pain come from him. He looks up at us through blurry water-filled eyes.

He hasn't felt real pain. Not yet.

"The glass bottle," I say and Riley zips open her bag, pulling out a big wine bottle. I take the bottle from her and walk towards him. Fisting his shirt, I half-pull him up before raising my hand and smashing the bottle on his head.

Glass explodes and wine spills everywhere. It covers Nathaniel's head and drips down his face along with his blood. He screams through the handkerchief.

It's not enough.

I grab his head in my hands and push it down, dragging his face against the broken glass pieces back and forth. He struggles against my grip, but Blake appears behind again, grabbing his hands.

I pick his head up and repeatedly slam his face against the glass pieces, earning a muffled scream with every thud and crunch.

When I feel like I'm finally done, I let go of his head, wiping my hands against my hoodie as I step back.

"Do your thing," I say and Denys and Ashton step forward.

For the next couple of minutes, they take their turns punching, kicking and hammering until Nathaniel's face is covered with blood and other substances. The night is filled with sounds of thuds, slaps and muffled screams.

Beside me Riley slightly squirms in her place, not comfortable with this sort of violence.

"Bitch, I really do hope he deserves all that." She hisses at me.

I nod. "He does."

A couple of minutes later, Denys and Ashton stop, standing up and dusting their hands. Blake pulls out a cigarette from his back pocket, lighting it up.

I frown at them. "Why did you people stop?"

Denys gives me a blank look.

"What do you mean?" Ashton asks.

"It's not enough," I say.

Ashton looks down at Nathaniel before scrunching his eyebrows. "Girl, how much more do you want? He's down to a pulp."

A fierce look comes on my face. "I didn't hear a single bone break."

Denys raises his eyebrows. "'Didn't know you wanted to go that far."

"I want it to go more than far," I state.

He gives a tired look as if he's bored. "Anything for the money I guess." He mumbles before picking Nathaniel by the arm. Nathaniel barely looks like he can breathe, much less stand. His face is disfigured under all that blood and wine.

Denys grabs his wrist and upper arm. Without wasting any second, he brings up his knee and slams Nathaniel's elbow down on it. A horrifying snap echoes into the night followed by a muffled blood-curdling scream.

The moment Denys lets go of Nathaniel's arm, he falls to the ground and starts weeping. He moves his arm and howls in pain.

Blake blows out smoke rings from his mouth, before crouching down and crushing the butt of his cigarette on Nathaniel's forehead. Nathaniel jerks but he's unable to move more than that.

It's not enough. It's still not enough.

"His leg." I grit out. "I want his legs broken." So he can't walk to Castle's home.

Ashton looks hesitant this time. "I think we've done enough damage—"

"His legs," I demand. "Now."

Blake tilts his head at me. "You should just kill him instead if he bothers you that much."

"That'd be a crime then. I don't want to go to jail."

"Uh, Ho—" Riley speaks up but clamps her mouth shut when I shoot her a warning look. She realizes she almost outed my name to Nathaniel.

She gives me a sheepish look before speaking. "You've already done things that you would go to jail for."

"Yeah." I put my hands in my pocket. "But this one would be hard to get out of."

Denys gives me a skeptical look. "What did he do to you?"

"Why do you care? You're getting money to do this. Just do your job." I give him a hard look.

He raises an eyebrow.

"I haven't beaten someone this much." Ashton gazes at Nathaniel. "I don't know if I'm enjoying this or feel sick. What about you?" He looks at Blake.

Blake shrugs as if he doesn't care, lighting another cigarette in his mouth.

"Why do I find him lighting his cigarette so hot?" Riley whispers beside me.

I look at her. "Let me guess? You wanna fuck him."

"Obviously, I do! Look at his hands. Oh my god!"

I shake my head at her, grinning.

Ashton, Denys and Blake are looking at each other with some kind of serious look on their faces.

Riley and I stare at them in confusion trying to figure out what the heck are they doing.

Ashton blinks and immediately groans, throwing his hands up. "Not fair! There was dust flying about."

"Fucking liar." Blake brings his cigarette to his mouth. "There's no wind tonight."

"Get to work." Denys orders making Ashton groan again.

I blink at them. Were they doing a who-blinks-first challenge?

Ashton dramatically picks up his hammer as if it's costing his back to lift it even an inch. "You both always make me do all the work." He grumbles. "Hold him now."

Instead of bending down, Denys places his thick muscular leg on Nathaniel's ankle which seemed to do a better job than using his hands.

Nathaniel's eyes widen when he realizes what's about to happen. He starts struggling, squirming about on the ground. He can't move much without feeling the pain of what we did to him.

Ashton raises his hammer, stepping closer toward Nathaniel's legs. He flexes his hands to get a better grip. A shudder goes through him, and he laughs. "Shucks. I can feel how much this is going to hurt."

Nathaniel is still trying to get his ankle free. His arm is lying beside him at a weird angle, but it still doesn't satisfy me. He needs to suffer more. He needs to hurt more. His screams haven't died down yet. There's still fight in him. I want him to give up and die the way he killed Castle all those years back. He killed Castle's soul, his will to live, his esteem. I want to kill him the same way. I want to torture him until he feels humiliated and can't look at himself in the mirror.

We're all engrossed in the moment, waiting for the second Ashton's hammer drops, that's why we don't hear the front door open.

"Dad! What happened to our car? Dinner's getting cold. Where are you?"

We all freeze.

Dad?

My eyebrows furrow as I look at Nathaniel. He has another son?

His voice sounded familiar...

Gravel crunches as the person who called out to Nathaniel walks in our direction.

"What do we do?" Riley hisses at me. Denys, Ashton, and Blake are looking at me, waiting for my instructions.

My mind is still stuck on the person's voice though. It sounded familiar. Really familiar. For some reason, Castle's frightened face from a long time ago appears in my mind the harder I try to think.

The footsteps get louder and everyone's still staring at me for me to say something.

I wanna know who it is. So I step out from behind the car.

"Hol—stop! What are you doing?" Riley whisper-shouts behind me.

But I'm halting in my place when my eyes meet the owner of the voice.

I've seen him before. I've talked to him before. I know him.

"Who the fuck are you?" He stops mid-step, a frown appearing on his face.

Ethan. The guy from the park who was bullying Castle when I went to get ice cream and hot chocolate. The guy who Castle lied to me about.

I knew it. He does have a connection with Castle! But if he called Nathaniel dad then does that mean...my eyes widen.

Is he Castle's brother?

Ethan looks from me to the car I stepped out from. He looks back at me. "Who are you? Where's my father?"

I'm still staring at him, trying to figure out if my assumption is right or not.

"Is he really your father?" I cock my head.

His eyebrows shoot up in surprise. "You're a girl?"

My black mask is still on with my hair hidden beneath my hood.

"Is he really your father?" I ask again.

"Who the fuck are you?" He snaps back at me. He reaches towards me, raising his hand. Before he even touches me, I grab his wrist and spin us around, slamming his front against the car and pinning his arm behind his back.

"What the fuck?" He shouts, trying to wiggle free. "What's going on? Who the fuck are you?"

"Answer my question," I demand, pressing into his back with his arm, threatening to snap it off his socket.

He jerks under me when the pain gets too much. "Ow! What the fuck? Why do you wanna know that? He's not my real dad. He's my stepdad."

Stepdad. Meaning he's Castle's stepbrother. Not his actual one.

A breath of relief escapes me. He means nothing to Castle then.

"Listen here, Golden Boy." I snap, pressing his arm further into his back, making him yelp. "You're going to walk quietly to the back of this car without making a sound. Alright? A hiss from you and I'll break your legs and end your football career. Got it?"

He struggles against me. "I don't get it. Who are you?"

"Not a word," I warn, before pulling him off the car and pushing him toward the back. He immediately sees an opportunity to escape and spins to yank his arm out. He raises his fist to punch me, but before he can, a hammer falls on his head.

"TINGGG!" Ashton hollers as if he just gonged a bell.

Ethan goes down in a blink. He lies sprawled on the ground and doesn't move. My eyes widen.

I look up at Ashton. "Did you kill him?"

He looks down at Ethan, a wary look appearing on his face. "I...think so?"

We both stare at Ethan for a while, before shrugging and going back around the car.

Nathaniel is still on the ground, his breaths coming out in short bursts. The handkerchief is out of his mouth and from it, low moans of pain puff out. Tears leak from his eyes, forming a pool on the ground.

"His legs are broken," Denys says. "We're done here."

"Not quiet." I stop him. "We have to destroy this car. Do as much damage as we can."

He gives me another bored look. For the next thirty minutes, we grab rocks and whatever we can to damage this car. I want this fucker to feel like he lost in every way possible. Headlights are broken, windows, mirrors, tires, and the engine. Riley takes out her car keys and drags them against the car paint.

When the car is done, I pull the zipper of my backpack open and take out a big can of gasoline.

Riley tilts her head at me, a troubled look coming on her face. "Uh...what are you doing?" She asks warily.

"I'm going to light this house on fire," I reply.

Her mouth drops open along with Ashton's. Blake and Denys raise their eyebrows.

"Girl, that's going too far," Ashton claims, shaking his head. "You can't light someone's house on fire."

"Why not?" I question. "You're not supposed to beat up people. But here we are." I state, throwing a glance at Nathaniel.

"Those are different things." Riley steps forward, "There might be other people in the house. You can't light it on fire."

I know. But fuck, I'm furious. This fucker destroyed someone else's home and made a new home here. It's not fair to let this home stand.

I tighten my grip on the gasoline can, pressing my lips together. They all must've seen the determination in my eyes because Denys steps forward, a warning look on his face.

"If you try to burn this house," he says, "I'll stop you. Even if I have to break your hand." And I no doubt he will. Even if I know how to fight, I'm no match for his height and muscles. "I don't know how far you wanna go, but beating up this guy over here is far enough."

A glare slides on my face as I straighten to face him. Even with my mask, there's no doubt he can feel my glare.

We both stand, almost toe to toe, waiting to see who makes the first move.

There's still anger coursing through me. I can still feel Castle's face pressed up against my neck, his cries jarring my heart. The guy who always hides his emotions broke down in front of me.

There are always going to be people one step stronger than you. It's a common thing in the world now. The strong abuses the weak.

Nathaniel thought he got away with ruining his son's life. He thought he'd have his happily ever after by traumatizing a child. I wanna make him suffer right now for all those times he thought he can abuse Castle and not face the consequences of it.

In this case, he's not the stronger one here. He's not anymore...but neither am I.

Denys is still staring at me, his hands ready to grab me if I move. There's challenge in his eyes and a hardness to his jaw.

I know damn well these people will gang up on me if I don't listen to them. And while I think of myself as invincible, I have to realize that I can't take all of them at once.

To my dissatisfaction, I give in.

"We burn down the car then," I state.

Denys stares at me for a couple seconds before giving a nod, stepping back.

"What do we do about these two?" Ashton asks pointing at Ethan and Nathaniel on the ground.

"Let them rot for all I care," I mutter, packing up my bag.

After all this, I dare this fucker to ever step foot into Castle's house. If he even breathes in Castle's direction, I'll do so much worse damage than this. The house will burn too.

Right when I start pouring gasoline all over the car, my phone pings with a text. I take it out and my anger immediately simmers down when I see who it is.

Castle: you didn't tell me you were hanging out with Riley tonight

Castle: all good though don't worry

Castle: I'm baking with your dad

Castle: see you when you get home

A smile comes on my face as I read his texts.

Behind me, Blake throws his lighter and before anyone can even blink, the car erupts into flames.

"Damn!" Ashton exclaims, giving a loud whistle.

After cleaning up all the traces of our presence here, we pack and scatter as quickly as we can before anyone from outside notices us.

Riley and I are halfway toward her car before she stops and turns around.

"Let me go get his number real quick!" She calls out before running across the street towards Blake where he's sliding into the driver's seat of his truck.

Guess both Riley and I are getting busy tonight. For completely different reasons.

★・・・・・・★

I kinda felt like this wasn't enough. Like I wanted something MORE to happen to Nathaniel. But Holly can't really "kill" him, because that's not the kind of theme I'm going towards in this book. Nathaniel's face, arms and legs are broken. I guess that's...enough?

What do you people think of Castle and Holly's relationship? Do you think they're possibly falling in love? Do you think their relationship needs to develop more???

Words: 4,400

Date of publishing: 4th June 2023