Duplicity but better

Chapter 26 - Mali

"Please! Please forgive me! I'll do anything!" A shrill voice called out through my earpiece.

"We are over, Elizabeth!" A deep, harsh answered back. "If I never saw your face again I could die a happy death."

"Mark! Please!" Elizabeth sobbed out.

I rolled my eyes as I fiddled with my pen. When I was assigned to assassinate two rich socialites for the mafia I thought I would be having a little bit more fun. Instead all I've done is sneak around their offices and houses and gather information. The only time anything fun has happened was when I almost got caught putting a listening device in Mark's office.

Mark worked as a professor at a stuffy university and Elizabeth worked with the family company until about 13 years ago when she quit to raise her two sons. In other words the only interesting thing about them is that they screwed over the mafia recently.

I've had so many opportunities to just murder them but, my instructions are to wait until Friday night when they were both attending some fancy gala. It was only Wednesday so I had a little bit of time to wait.

"Mark! Please wait, I have to tell you something." Elizabeth's voice snapped me out of my thoughts again.

"Make it quick I have a lecture in 30 minutes." Mark sighed.

"It's about what happened in high school." Elizabeth said quietly. I heard something slam onto a table as Mark replied.

"We decided years ago that we wouldn't talk about that." They spoke in hushed voices like they were afraid of someone listening to them, little did they know I was sitting in a hotel room across town, soaking in every word.

"I've been keeping tabs on her but recently, she just disappeared. I can't find anything about her going back to a year and a half ago." Finally something juicy was happening! Who's this mysterious 'her' they're talking about.

"Why are you keeping tabs on her? I thought you moved on!" Mark answered.

"I-I can't just move on! She's my daughter!" Huh, a daughter. What did happen between them in high school?

"I'm done digging up the past with your Elizabeth. Do I need to call security or will you leave by yourself?" Mark asked calmly.

"How could you be so heartless!" Elizabeth yelled, her voice breaking. I heard a door slam and then complete silence fell over the room.

I took out the earpiece and leaned back in my chair. I sighed and ran my finger through my hair. It'd been a long day and all I wanted to do was get these two out of my head.

I took a shower, ordered room service and watched TV in bed but I still couldn't get their daughter off my mind. Was she even real? Was Elizabeth just trying to get Mark's attention again or is she genuinely concerned. I tried a few of those meditation tactics a prostitute taught me once and eventually drifted off to sleep.

The next morning I had nothing to do except pick up my dress for the gala tomorrow. I didn't technically need to pretend to be a guest, but I was a whore for fancy finger foods

The entire day I tried not to let Elizabeth's daughter haunt my thoughts. I was always the first to know secrets and new information, so not knowing was driving me crazy.

Finally I was fed up with not knowing. I grabbed my computer and used my awesome hacker skills to half into Elizabeth's laptop. I dug around a little bit until I found a website called "find ur kids again." I looked into her search history on it and clicked the name she had searched over and over again.

Oh shit-

•••

Friday night

The whole day I've been pacing the room, my thoughts racing about what I had learned last night. I barely slept and had to cover up my bags with a ton of concealer.

The limo that's supposed to take me to the gala showed up and I climbed in. A guy with brown curly hair sat in the driver's seat. I recognized him as a new  kid the mafia brought in a month or so ago.

"Hey Harry." I sighed, applying a fresh coat of lipstick.

"Ma'am." He answered quietly as we drove toward the ballroom.

I thanked him and stepped out when we reached the gala. I walked confidently into the building and into the ballroom. I grabbed a glass of champagne and started making small talk with the rich pieces of trash littering the room.

I kept my eyes on Mark and Elizabeth the whole time. Lucky for me they snuck off together about an hour into dinner. I excused myself and followed after them.

They walked out onto a balcony and I hid behind a wall listening to their conversation.

"Should I hire a detective? I'm really worried something happened to her." Elizabeth asked Mark.

"I don't care what you do, I've never even met the girl." Mark sipped on his drink as I creeped out, gun in hand.

"You have now." Their heads snapped to me. Elizabeth gasped and dropped her glass, I rolled my eyes. "You're so dramatic."

"Who are you?" Mark said, raising his voice to try and mask his fear.

"Your daughter, dickhead." I mocked him, his eyes widening.

"A-Amalie? Is it you?" Elizabeth asked. Approaching me slowly.

"Yeah it's me." I said shortly. Elizabeth reached me and gently reached out and touched my face.

"Oh my beautiful daughter. My greatest mistake in life was giving you up. There hasn't been a day where I haven't thought of you." Tears pricked in my eyes and I lowered my gun. Mark slowly came over and joined us.

"I've dismissed your existence all these years because I didn't want to admit to myself that I missed you." He pulled me in for a hug, Elizabeth wrapped her arms around me too. We pulled back with smiles on our faces.

"We could be a family, Amalie." Elizabeth took my hand and led me over the balcony. Mark followed and leaned on the railing, looking out at the stars.

"I'm so happy we're all together again." Mark smiled and kissed my forehead.

I nodded, shooting them both in the forehead.