Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Nine
Martin
 
     Martin was lying on the floor, bleeding, with a gun still in his hand. He regained consciousness; his ex-wife, Amy, had shot him. Before that incident, Amy was a talented surgeon who saved lives. She still blamed Martin for this cursed life, right when Martin was talking to Beatrice to clear everything up. Martin heard the sound of Beatrice and Amy crying and screaming. Struggling, he pressed his wound with one hand, breathing heavily, and thought to himself, "Is this miserable life going to end like this?" Despite everything, with the remaining strength he had, he decided to save Amy and Beatrice. So, he gripped the gun tightly with his other hand, got up unsteadily, and with blurred vision, moved towards the sounds. Finally, when he could see ahead, he noticed two assassins in the yard of his seemingly safe house, each pointing a gun at one of the women. Martin first saved Beatrice's life and at that moment realized he was out of bullets. So, he dropped the gun and, like a rugby player, attacked from behind. Although the assassin shot him in the arm, Martin managed to knock him down and subdue him with a few punches. When he picked up the assassin's gun, things got even worse because that bastard was there too; he laughed loudly and said, "Didn't think I'd find this place and come after you! Why don't you appreciate this miserable life of yours?" That bastard, Josh, said, "Not a good joke; didn't think you'd handle two assassins?"
   Martin hid the gun behind his back.
   Amy stepped forward and said, "Josh! I shot him as you wanted, keep your promise and don't harm Peter and Anna."
   "What do you mean?! I came to save you all, seems I was a bit late."
   Amy approached Martin and, while trying to stop the bleeding, said, "He needs care."
   "Then help him."
   "Aren't you stopping me? Didn't you send me pictures of Peter and Anna to threaten me?"
   Beatrice said, "Still threatening people?"
   Josh said, "I think these threats were Beatrice's doing." Then he turned towards Beatrice, gun in hand, and approached her.
   When Josh saw Beatrice smiling and completely calm, he said, "I can't believe how you're always so calm and even kill your own brother with ease?"
   "Is Scott really dead?!"
***
A few hours ago
     when Josh was behind the wheel driving back from his lawyer's office, his phone rang. He parked by the side of the road, hesitated for a moment, then touched the green answer button and heard Beatrice's voice saying, "Go to my house and save that idiot." Then she hung up.
   Josh said to himself, "What did you do, Scott? Are you okay? You shouldn't have gone to Beatrice." He then worriedly threw his phone into his bag, took a deep breath, and drove off to save his brother.
   When Josh entered the house that Beatrice had sent the address for, he noticed that Scott was sitting tied up on a wooden chair, appearing unconscious. Josh calmly looked at him for a few moments, then just as calmly took out black gloves from his bag and put them on. At that moment, he noticed a hidden tape recorder in the flower basket and turned it off. Then, with particular patience, he took out a gun and a silencer. It was real. When the gun was ready, he aimed at Scott's forehead and with a smile said, "Sleep well, dear brother. I promise I'll avenge your death from Beatrice." Then he shot; but he was still there and said, "You know, Scott, it was your fault; you reminded me that I'm a bad person and shouldn't play the role of a good person."
***
     Now that Josh was facing Beatrice, he shouted angrily, "You shot Scott in the head! Have you forgotten?" Then he smiled and said, "And I came here to avenge his death from you; also for Martin and Amy."
   "Do you really believe this is my fault?!"
   Josh, pointing the gun at Beatrice, said, "My belief doesn't matter; I have evidence. You confessed to Scott that this whole thing was a game designed by you; you said 'you enjoyed this game.' Don't you really remember?! Scott recorded your voice."
   "That's impossible, I erased that recording!"
   Josh said, "Contrary to what you think, you're not smart at all; there was a tape recorder hidden in that flower basket." Then he laughed and said, "I should thank you for clearly saying 'without evil, good has no meaning and you enjoyed this.'"
   "Those were your words, Josh."
   "But you are the main culprit in this, Beatrice."
   "It seems you believe that I'm the bad person and you're the good one."
   "That's the reality."
   "That's what you think; you always lie to yourself and deceive yourself this way."
   Josh said, "My thoughts are always close to reality, and if they're not, I make them reality. Martin is the one who killed Amy's children, he killed Peter's parents and took him to the orphanage. Beatrice, you are the one who framed Martin and killed Scott, but I am the one who—" Beatrice interrupted and said, "You are the one who wants to kill me."
   Josh, getting closer to Beatrice, said, "I am the one who made Peter Miller my successor in that company; I took care of Anna like my own daughter, helped her become the famous Anna Dixon." Then he holstered the gun and sighed, "I am the one who, despite what you did to Scott, is helping you leave this country; and I'll erase that recorded voice; what do you think?"
   Beatrice laughed and said, "Josh, how kind you've become?" Then she said, "What if I don't accept, what will you do?!"
   Josh shrugged and said, "What do you think, Beatrice?!"
   Beatrice calmly said, "Then shoot."
   Josh, placing the gun on Beatrice's forehead, said, "Do you think I can't shoot?!"
   "Just shoot."
   Amy shouted, "Don't do it."
   Josh said, "You shouldn't stop me from doing this; do you know Beatrice killed your husband? Scott is dead; why is the damned past so important to you? The past is dangerous. I have to kill you to bring peace back to my life." He stood facing Amy and said, "You ruined Scott's life." At that moment, Josh's left leg was shot; he lost his balance; a bullet hit the tree trunk, and the gun fell to the other side of the yard near Martin.
   Martin, who was standing and had shot Josh, said to Beatrice, "Search Josh's pockets; look for his phone or anything else carefully. Then come this way with Amy, behind me, cautiously." Then he said, "You found this place through that spy and even these hitmen and surprise." The two stood up with a smile and pointed their guns at Josh.
   Martin said, "They all work for me, and this was a real and dangerous show." He showed a picture of Christian on his phone and said, "We have an entertaining game for you, doesn't it look familiar? You have two choices; the first is that your wife is with my friends. If you want to save her life, you have to confess to the police what you did. By the way, from here to that house, whose location I will send you, your wife is there anyway, it's a four-hour drive, and you have two hours to get there and confess. If you don't do this, your wife will die, so run and drive fast."
   Josh said, "You filthy bastard." He got up with difficulty and tried to run with his injured leg.
   Martin said, "The second way is to confess right here, and she will still live."
   Josh said, "You should have drunk that coffee to die; I should have killed you myself." Then he laughed and said, "Okay, I confess. I sent those bastards; I planned for Martin; I set that house on fire and blamed Martin; I drowned the kids in my house's lake and then spread the rumor that Martin killed his kids; then I took William to the orphanage." He paused and said, "I raised Anna; I threatened Beatrice, who was against me from the beginning, that if she didn't leave the country, I would kill her too; I killed my brother Scott. I confess I enjoyed doing these things. Now, if I can kill you, I will be infinitely happy."
   Martin took a step forward and said, "You wanted to poison me? You threatened Amy to shoot me; you ruined my life, and now you are threatening my children's lives; you never stop, do you?" Then he aimed at Josh.
   Josh said worriedly, "I have to save her."
   Martin shot Josh in the head and killed him; he cried and said, "She went to Spain, don't worry about her." Then he fell to the ground from severe bleeding and lost consciousness.