DEBBIE'S HEAD WHIPPED around as the rumble of a bike approaching her father's house faded and finally died. The heavy footsteps slamming against the asphalt grew more aggressive and louder with each passing second, as did the pounding on the heavy door a moment later, which grew more demanding.

"Shit! What do we do?", the brunette asked with a hiss in her desperate voice, her fingers clamping around her brown waves as she looked at her father with wide eyes. "You know he has no problem killing us both!"

"Keep your voice down", Arthur snarled, his blue eyes filled with madness and desperation as he tugged at his blonde hair. "Get rid of him, I'll make sure Josy and her nosy friend won't make a sound."

"But howᅳ", Debbie snorted as Arthur ran up the stairs without another word to her, skipping a step at a time. "Thanks for the help", she uttered under her breath before she took a deep breath and made her way towards the door.

With a plastic smile on her red lips, pretending not to know who was standing at the door, she swung the door open. Only then did she slowly let her smile fall and twist her face in disgust, her chin tilted upwards. "I didn't know that the lower class even knows where Roseville is located."

Happy just snorted disparagingly as he stared at Debbie with disgust and pushed past her the next moment, roughly pushing the brunette aside. His wild gaze wandered through the luxurious house, everything here so sterile that it could be a hospital.

"Where's Josy?!" While he was still turning around, he grabbed Debbie's arm, who was trying to reach for the phone. A dark expression lay in his now black eyes while a deep growl tore through his throat. "Don't even think about it, bitch. Where's my wife?"

"Don't fuckin' touch me!" Debbie panicked as Happy's grip on her arm tightened, sure to leave some bruises in its wake. "What are you talking about? Have you completely lost your mind now? Josy is dead, remember?"

The next moment, a painful yelp escaped Debbie's lips as she was thrown and pressed against the nearest wall. The pressure of Happy's forearm shoved against her throat immediately increased as the edges of the picture frames pressed into her back.

"You better use your smart mouth on someone else, not me", he said threateningly, his tone low and intimidating, his face so close to hers that his hot breath brushed her skin. "Where's Josy? I'm not asking again, Debbie."

"Fuck you!" A shrill, frustrating sound left Debbie's throat and with all her strength she pushed the man who looked like he was about to tear her apart away from her. She gasped apathetically, her delicate fingers wrapped around her throat. "I'm not going to tell you shit and if you really love Josy you'll finally let her go!"

Happy laughed, but it was a dark, dangerous laugh. The tall biker licked his lower lip as he approached Debbie again, the leather of his gloves squeaking as he pumped his hands into fists.

"Why? Why the fuck did you try to kill her just to keep her away from me?" Sniffing aggressively, he pushed the brunette against the wall again, listening to her soft whimpers. "Have I ever done anything to you fuckin' snobs? Because I can't remember."

"You want to know why?" Debbie chuckled flatly, watching the Killer closely as a spark of madness flashed in her brown eyes. "Because you're a fuckin' monster, Happy."

"I'm the monster?" With a sardonic twist of his lips, Happy reached for the next heavy object close to him. "You've never seen the monster that I can beᅳ until today."

Debbie's lips parted, but before she could mutter a word, the heavy object hit her temple, knocking her to the ground. Happy wasted no time in tying the limp wrists and ankles together with cable ties that he had shoved into his jeans pocket before he left Charmingᅳ after all, he had expected that Arthur and Debbie wouldn't be cooperative.

"Josy!" His loud, urgent voice boomed through the silent house as his long legs carried him up the stairs. There was a dull thud that came from one of the rooms that he immediately followed.

And he didn't like what he found at all. Arthur's hand collided with Josy's cheek as he entered the room, knocking the petite woman to the ground. Tape covered her mouth and made it hard for her to call for help. Her wrists were tied behind her back with a tie, as were her ankles.

Next to her on the floor lay a young brunette woman, about Josy's age. Happy immediately guessed that this had to be Summer, the woman who had called him earlier. Now her body lay motionless on the beige carpet, her eyes wide open and a large pool of blood around her head, the thick liquid seeping into the carpet.

Fuck, she was dead without a doubt and Josy was completely distraught. Her bloodshot eyes met Happy's, her stifled crying and hysterical sobs muffled by the tape over her mouth while tears streamed down her face.

At an opportune moment, Arthur tried to run, but Happy was faster, no matter how focused he was on Josy. Shaking with rage, he stormed towards the blonde man and pulled him to the ground. With pure hatred coursing through his veins, Happy deformed Arthur's face with one punch after another within minutes, letting out all his anger.

"You're not taking my wife away from me again!" Happy spat in the man's face, the liquid immediately mixing with the blood that was running all over Arthur's deformed face. "But I'm taking everything from you this time, every fuckin' little thing!"

Barely able to function at all, let alone keep his eyes open, Arthur heaved his last words. "She.. she's..mᅳ mine."

"She was never yours, you fuckin' bastard." Happy drew his knife and as much as he wanted to take his time and enjoy inflicting pain on the man, he let the blade slide across his father-in-law's throat.

He watched in fascination as the blood spurted from the cut and painted everything around him red, listening to the gurgling as Arthur choked on his own blood, his eyes wide with shock as his hands tried to stop the bleeding.

Only when Arthur stopped wriggling like a fish on land and the blood was now even seeping into Happy's jeans did he stand up, kicking the lifeless body one last time before spitting on it.

"Useless piece of shit", he growled lowly before he crossed the room and crouched down in front of Josy, the bloody knife back in its holster.

The adrenaline rush slowly subsided and his heart clenched as he saw the sheer horror in Josy's eyes, her green lenses trained on her father's corpse while not even a whimper hit the tape covering her mouth.

"You shouldn't have seen that", he finally grumbled, carefully holding out his hand. The redhead flinched as she returned to reality, staring at him. Without hurting her, Happy pulled the tape from her mouth, his eyebrows pointing downward in sympathy as Josy's loud sobs filled the room. "I'm sorry, baby. But it had to be done."

But Josy wasn't crying because of her dead father, not after what he did to her and her family. Not after what he did to Summer just because she wanted to check on her. Cold-blooded and without remorse, Arthur had shot her best friend in the head, the gun still lying on the pink bedsheet.

"Hᅳ he..he just killed her", she choked out between sobs, her crying becoming so hysterical that she began to dry heave. "She didn't..deserve this.."

"I know, baby. Come here." With gentle touches, Happy pulled his wife into his arms and just stayed with her on the floor for a while, holding her close. "I'm sorry I wasn't here sooner."

"Not your fault", she whimpered against his chest, the gray shirt under his kutte now soaked with her tears. Her whole body was shaking with exhaustion and shock, a deep ache in her chest as she stared numbly in Arthur's direction. "Where's Debbie?"

"Downstairs, unconscious", Happy grunted against the top of her head before running his large hand over it, his head dipped slightly to the side so he could look at her. "You want her dead too?"

Not that Happy was really going to be convinced to keep Debbie alive, but he still preferred to have his wife's consent.

"I want her gone, Happy", she whispered, a flood of new waves rolling down her pale cheeks. He could tell she was battling with her conscience, that the good side of her refused to allow itᅳ but justice had to be done and even a good soul like Josy knew that. "She deserves it..after all the pain she's put you and me through."

"I'll take care of it", he promised in a croak, lifting her chin after placing two fingers under it. "We'll make sure your friend gets a proper funeral, an honorable send-off that she deserves."

Josy's lips trembled, another heartbreaking sound slipping past her lips as she managed to nod. "The most beautiful one there could be."

"You wanna stay up here while I take care of your sister?", he asked tenderly, cupping the side of her face in his hand.

"Yes..please..I wanna say goodbye to Summer", she choked out, sniffling as she quickly wiped tears from the tip of her nose with the back of her hand and slowly pulled away from Happy. "But..how do we explain all this?"

"Self-defense..and then we'll explain everything to the cops in detail, including what happened back then. That's the only way to make sure you don't count as dead anymore", he explained calmly as he stroked her hair again before he slowly stood up. "I'll be downstairs if you need me."

"Thanks, Happy", she whispered, completely exhausted. But soon everything would be over, the whole nightmare.

ᅳ

AFTER THE POLICE TOOK Josy's and Happy's statements at the station, both were released, but weren't allowed to leave California until the case was completely closed. The murders were actually self-defense, but only because Josy had claimed that she was the one who killed her father and sister after she managed to free herself from the ties.

One of the cops was skeptical at first, but after he had the evidence and the original medical records, the last doubts that Josy simply wanted to inherit money disappeared. Summer Mayer's body was also proof enough of how much the captured women must've suffered in the last few hours.

The young woman's tormented face showed that she was actually traumatized and the cops assured her that she probably wouldn't have to face a prison sentenceᅳ but they couldn't promise anything.

Happy would never have advised her to make that statement if he didn't know exactly how the system works. He would rather have left Charming with her and Esmee and started a new life in another state or even country.

Josy trusted him completely and even if she got a fine, she would be able to live with it as long as she knew that neither she nor her family could ever become one of Arthur's or Debbie's victims again. Nevertheless, she would seek psychological help to process all the traumatizing events. From the planned accident to all the lies and the attempt to separate her from her family again.

"Are you sure you can ride with me?" Happy looked down at his Old Lady with concern as he placed the helmet on her head and closed the fastener properly. "I can call a prospect to pick you up."

"No, I just wanna be with you", the redhead murmured, still upset and exhausted. "And I wanna get home to my baby as soon as possible."

"Okay", the SAA grunted, rubbing his thumb against Josy's now clean cheek. "You ready?"

Like him, they had been given clean replacement clothes. Happy had only been given a new pair of jeans, while Josy was dressed in grey sweatpants, a white shirt and sneakers, her hair sitting in a low bun at the nape of her neck.

The situation may have been fucked up, but Happy hadn't felt such inner peace in ages. Knowing that Arthur and Debbie were dead was a relief not only for him but also for Josy. The fact that his family was no longer in any danger was enough for the Killer to allow himself to breathe again and look forward.

"Yeah, I'm ready", Josy assured him with a weak nod and a brave, slight smile.

The images of her best friend being shot and falling lifeless to the ground next to her, then her father's slit throat and Debbie's broken neck were still flashing in front of her eyes as she climbed onto Happy's bike after him and used his shoulder as support.

As his large hand gripped her thigh and pulled her closer against his back, Josy wrapped her arms around his torso and placed her cheek against his back, the leather cool against her skin in contrast to the rising sun in the sky.

"Hold on and let me know if you need a break", he called over the engine. The bike rumbled to life and after feeling her nod, he left the police station parking lot and took the two of them back to Charming.

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