Contract Heist

Ava grabbed fistfuls of her hair. "I have to kill Eva! I HAVE TO!"

Adelle gasped theatrically, covering her mouth like she was witnessing a tragic opera. "My lady... please don't..."

She paused, eyes glistening dramatically — and then her expression completely shifted into a bright, eager smile. "Don't wait any longer."

Before Ava could even process, Adelle pulled out a suspiciously thick notebook from absolutely nowhere, like she'd been waiting for this day.

"I've got notes!" she chirped. "We just need to poison her food. Thallium and arsenic are classic choices! Both mimic natural death causes... very clean, very elegant."

She flipped the pages, pointing out diagrams and chemical formulas with the enthusiasm of a student at a science fair. "Or if you're feeling bold, we can go old-school: belladonna tea! Lethal and fabulous!"

Ava blinked at her. "Adelle... how... how do you know all this?!"

Adelle gave her a bright, innocent smile. "I read books."

Ava took a slow step back. "What kind of books?!"

Adelle shrugged, flipping to a section titled 'Accidents That Don't Look Like Murder — For Dummies'

"The fun kind."

"Oh, sister!"

Ava nearly jumped out of her skin as Eva's voice rang out and knocked on her bedroom door with the elegance of someone who absolutely deserved jail time.

"I don't like waiting," Eva sang sweetly through the door, "but since you're my sister, and I love you — and you did give me the brilliant idea of finding someone to replace me for this wedding — I'll give you ten minutes to process everything, okay?"

There was a pause.

"You're smart, my darling sister. You'll understand everything fast," Eva finished with a dark little chuckle that sounded like it came with a free thunderclap and lightning bolt.

Then, they heard her footsteps retreating down the hallway, each click of her heels sounding like doom.

Ava groaned and flopped onto the bed, staring at the ceiling like it had personally betrayed her. "There's no way we can kill that bitch before the wedding," she muttered, turning to Adelle.

Adelle, still clutching her murder notebook, blinked. "Why not, my lady?"

Ava exhaled sharply, her nose scrunching in frustration. "Bad weeds do not easily die."

She sat up and rubbed her face. "Honestly, I'd like to say I'll handle Helen first — since I'm convinced she's the real mastermind here — but I can't. I can't hurt her parents."

Adelle tilted her head. "Mr. and Mrs. Florettes?"

Ava nodded, sighing. "They're the ones who took care of Eva and me after that car accident when we disappeared for a month when we were kids. Fed us, sheltered us... even taught Eva how to hold a spoon without looking stupid."

She scratched the back of her head, groaning. "Apparently, Helen got real cozy with Eva during that time and decided her life mission was to enable her idiocy. I knew she was shady, but I didn't expect she'd be this... evil. Like... textbook evil. Like 'Disney villain sidekick audition winner' evil!"

Ava groaned again, burying her face in a pillow. "And I am about to marry Zeke Sinner Ford because of it. Can I use that arsenic on me? No?"

"Are you saying you're giving up, my lady?" Adelle clutched her chest with the exact dramatic precision of a stage actress auditioning for a tragic opera.

Ava sighed and placed both hands neatly on her lap like she was hosting an etiquette class for emotionally unstable people. "Don't be silly. Of course not." Her brows furrowed in serious plotting mode.

"The wedding will be in a few days — two days, to be exact — so that gives us exactly forty-eight hours to steal that contract from Eva, delete every single piece of evidence, and set her entire life on fire."

Adelle nodded furiously, already scribbling notes in her murder notebook. "How many should I hire, my lady? Mercenaries? Ninjas? Maybe an exorcist for Helen?"

Ava's eyes narrowed into slits. "None."

Adelle gasped like a Victorian lady discovering her corset was too tight. "None?! But...but who's going to carry out the heist?!"

Ava shook her head with grim determination. "I can't let anyone know about this, Adelle. If anything goes wrong and I have to — heaven forbid — marry that walking sin of a Casanova, then I'll have to act as Eva. That way, I can still salvage my life after the wedding. In the law of the land, whoever's name is on the marriage contract is the one who's officially married. That's basic marriage 101."

Adelle's nose flared, eyes blinking rapidly as her brain short-circuited. "Come again, my lady? I didn't quite get that... are you telling me... you'll have to act stupid? Y-You can do that?"

Ava's eye twitched. "If I'm left with no choice!" She flung her arms up dramatically. "We can easily fool my parents. Heck, they once mistook Eva for me for an entire week when I was out of town and they forgot. They only noticed it wasn't me when Eva ate soup with a fork. But Helen? She's the real final boss. If I tell my parents what Eva did — that I foolishly signed a contract with that devil — Helen will step in, and knowing her, it'll only spiral into something far worse. Scandal. Headlines. Damage control that never ends. And if our sponsors catch even a whisper of this, they'll pull out for good. I've already cracked the glass; I can't shatter it completely. Too many people are counting on me. My employees need me. I can't let them down."

Adelle sighed. Of course, she understood. Ava might be a perfectionist — a demanding, sometimes grumpy diva — but her heart had always been with her people. She cared for her employees more fiercely than she had ever cared for her crooked twin sister… the same sister who did nothing but tarnish the family name and leave Ava to pick up the broken pieces.

Ava cleared her throat. "So if Plan A fails, I need you to distract Helen with everything you've got. Charm her, confuse her, teach her salsa dancing — I don't care! Just keep her attention off that marriage contract."

She inhaled deeply, her voice dropping into a conspiratorial whisper. "Meanwhile, I'll be forging Eva's name and signature on the official contract. That way, legally and spiritually, it'll still be Eva married to Zeke... not me."

Adelle's eyes sparkled with admiration and mild panic. "My lady... you're a genius! A scary, terrifying genius! But what if... what if Helen finds out?!"

Ava's smile turned feral. "Then I'll have to do what I have to do."

"Dispose of her?"

"Yes, and then move to North Pole and become Santa's reindeer."

"Oh."