Bounty's End (Bounty for Hire) by AJ Wiliams Read Free Book Online Page A

wonderful eyes were for her.
    “Bad?” She heard the words rush from her mouth.
    She held her breath, waiting for him to say something, anything. It wasn’t until he placed his hands on her shoulder that he finally spoke.
    “Could be worse, but overall, there is some damage. I didn’t see the clock, so I can only assume that whoever was here, got it. Good news, maybe now they will leave you alone. Bad news, you have a cleanup you need to deal with.”
    Wen nodded, not able to look at him anymore. She focused her stare at her front door. Cops were already on the way to her house for the now missing clock. She needed to access the damage and make a claim to her insurance. This was not what she had in mind for the day.
    She was not going to cry, not at all. Tears would be shed, but later. Much later, after a whole bottle of wine and when Thomas was gone.
    “Okay, let’s do this.”
    “Wen, we need to wait for the cops to get here.”
    “No, Thomas, I need to see the inside of my god damn house. I need to check on Peaches, because if those inconsiderate jerks did anything to my baby, there is going to be hell to pay. That is what I need. Then, when the cops finally show up, I will deal with them. But right now, I want to see the inside of my damn house!” she yelled. She knew it was a little overboard, but she could not rein in her anger.
    She noticed that Thomas wanted to say something, but when she watched his mouth open and then close right back up, she knew that she had won the argument.
    Steeling her shoulders back, Wen marched up her driveway, up the two concrete steps and saw the mess. Her couch was flipped over, her 32” plasma television was thrown off the wall and smashed into several pieces from the fall. Walking through the front living room, she took in everything else. Chairs and pillows on the floor. She turned the corner to enter into her dining room and it was the same. The large solid oak refurbished antique table and chairs were turned over. Her china cabinet doors were open. She walked over, expecting to find that the china had been destroyed, only to thank the thieves for not busting her antique 1940s plates that she held near and dear to her heart.
    Those plates were her first antique find. They were what got her started. Wen found her hand reaching in the cabinet to pick up one of the plates.
    It was a beautiful vintage piece. They were white dishes with platinum trim with a spray of bluebells and pink columbine flowers decorating the center of the dishes from one point to the next. This was part of an original 81-piece set. Yet, she only had four dinner plates and four desert plates. Wen also had in her possession four small bowls along with four cups and saucers. They were Noritake Nippon Toki Kaisha china, but marked as ‘Made in Occupied Japan’ during the years 1947–1949.
    Each piece was unharmed. Thank God for small miracles. She could feel her eyes gathering moisture and forced herself to place the dinner plate back into the cabinet and close the doors before she turned to examine the wall that held the clock.
    This situation seemed like it was something to watch during movies or television shows. Feeling it, however, really feeling it, was something she hoped she never would have had to face. But, here she was facing it. She knew she wasn’t alone, but that was how she felt. Wen wanted to run to her room, slam the door shut and hide from all this.
    As much as that called to her, she understood that hiding would not solve the problem that she faced. This mess needed to get taken care of and she was the only one to do it.
    “Did they get anywhere else in the house?”
    “Nah, babe, it looks like the majority of the damage was done here in your living room.”
     
    * * *
     
    Thomas hated that she was going through this. Hated that he could do nothing to make the anger and hurt that showed in her eyes disappear. Nonetheless, he could be there for her. Support her, help her in any way