Author's Note: A very special thanks to Night Revenant for the revenge idea that Gran suggests in this part.

Jade scanned the shelves, a slight wrinkle forming between her eyebrows. It should be here. Where is that book? she thought. Murphy’s Law in action: If you have the money for the item you want, you won’t be able to find it.

“Hey, Iris! Oh, wow, I haven’t seen you in years!” a familiar voice exclaimed. Jade scowled, recognizing the voice. You, she thought angrily. You sure have some brass ones to be talking to me.

She turned slowly and found herself face to face with Rachel Diggory, Dunstan’s younger cousin, and her former friend and classmate. Jade glared at the woman. Rachel reached out to hug her, but Jade shrugged the woman’s hands away and backed up.

“So, what have you been up to since you graduated?” Rachel chirped.

“I double-majored, journalism and psychology, and teach an intro-level course at North Oakdale to make some extra cash,” Jade replied, frowning. “But I heard all about what you did.”

“What did you hear?” Rachel asked.

“I’ll get to that shortly,” Jade said. “But first, there’s something I’ve been wanting to say to you for years.”

“Yeah? What’s that?”

“I seriously think that cruelty runs in your family. You set me up with Dunstan, knowing what a total ***hole he was. When I tried to tell you and Holly about it, about how he slapped me around, verbally abused me, and did all kinds of other horrible things to me, what did you two do? You guys just ignored me and said I was so lucky to have such a good-looking rich boyfriend.” Jade smirked a little. “But I’ve always believed that everyone gets what they deserve, and my beliefs have been justified. I understand that within a year of graduation, you and Holly both got knocked up and had to marry the guy. And Rachel, I hear that your family disowned you, on top of all that other junk.”


Rachel rolled her eyes and said, “You’re looking down on me again. Why am I not surprised? You always looked down on me and Holly. Always thought you were better than us, Little Miss Never-Been-Kissed-Overachiever.”

“You thought you could knock me down a notch by getting me involved with Dunstan, huh? But guess what, Rach. I bet you are suffering right now; you’ve always had all the guys fighting over you, always had everything handed to you. You never had to work a day in your life. Tell me, Rach, how many dead-end jobs have you been fired from? How many kids have you popped out since graduation, and with how many guys? Meanwhile, I learned early on that nothing worth having comes easily. I worked hard to get where I am. I’ve made something of myself. So, which of us do you feel has actually been screwed over?” Jade narrowed her eyes and smirked a little. “I never had to do a thing to get revenge on you or Holly; people like you always manage to punish yourselves.”

Rachel glared at Jade, hands clenched into fists. Oh, if we weren’t in a public place, I swear, I would smack her silly! Rachel thought angrily.

Jade peered at Rachel, a strange look on her face. To Rachel, it was like the kind of expression a cat had when it was watching a mouse, preparing to pounce at any second. “By the way,” Jade added, “Tell Dunstan I said hi.” She turned and walked away, leaving Rachel looking stunned.


“So, what do you have for us?” Tacita asked.

Ophelia sighed and tapped at the laptop keyboard. “Well,” she said slowly, “as you know, I created a website asking for revenge methods against Dunstan, without identifying him by name, and described everything he’s done.”

“And?” Valo asked.

Ophelia smirked a little and looked at the others. “The most common suggestion has been castration.”

“That’s what we suggested!” Valo and Jade exclaimed.

“So, we’re back at square one,” Tacita grumbled.

Ophelia leaned back in her chair and said slowly, “I think we need to find a new idea. Something we haven’t thought of yet.”

“Any suggestions?” Valo asked.

Ophelia grinned broadly. “As a matter of fact, there is someone I have in mind who is extremely smart and can probably give us a suggestion that will probably work.”

“Who?” Jade asked.


“Well,” Ms. Gibson sighed, “that really is quite a story, ladies.”

“Right,” Valo said. “So, do you have any suggestions, ma'am?”

Ms. Gibson was silent for several seconds, carefully contemplating the situation. Her grandmother, who had been leaning against the wall nearby, listening to the discussion, frowned and flopped into a nearby chair.

“If I may,” Gran mused slowly, “I may have a solution that you girls might not have considered.”

“What’s that?” Jade asked. Ms. Gibson raised an eyebrow, giving her grandmother a puzzled look.

“Physical punishments, like castration and putting snakes in his bed and things like that, they won’t work on a man like this,” Gran murmured. “For someone like this, you will want to use psychological torture. Something that will leave a lasting effect on him. Mental scars last longer than physical ones.”

Ophelia, Jade, Tacita, and Valo all nodded in agreement.


“What is his weakness?” Gran asked.

“I… I don’t know,” Tacita replied.

“Cute underage girls,” Ophelia piped up.

“Is there any girl in particular he has a strong connection to?” Gran asked.

“What do you mean?” Jade asked.

“Who does he care the most about?”

“What, you mean besides himself?” Valo asked.

“Yes. For instance, which of you has he dated longest?”

Tacita raised her hands up and said defensively, “Never dated him, never wanted to. And I’m damn glad about it.”

Ophelia looked away in response, and Valo blurted out, “Two months.”

They all looked at Jade, who bowed her head and muttered, “Year and a half.”

“Has he tried to contact you since then?” Gran asked.

“Unfortunately,” Jade grumbled. “He apparently hired detectives to track me down too. What’s that got to do with anything?”

Gran grinned at her and responded, “It’s simple. Consider this, sweetie: why would a guy who is so known from going from woman to woman… well… invest so much time into seeking you out?” Jade shrugged. “Tell me, was the breakup a nasty one?”

“Kind of,” Jade said slowly. “He let his dad totally trash talk me behind my back. That, on top of all the abuse he put me through, made me decide that enough was enough. I ended it with him.”

“Is he usually the type to end things with women?” Gran asked.

“Yeah,” Ophelia and Valo replied simultaneously. Jade, Valo, and Tacita looked over at Ophelia, a bit surprised.

“Once he gets sick of a chick, he ends it with them, if the chick doesn't get fed up with him first,” Valo replied. “I swear, with all the chicks he goes through, we should start a club or something.”

“Dunstan’s Exes Anonymous,” Jade quipped wryly. “But, getting back to the whole revenge thing, what are you getting at?”

Gran leaned back and said, “It’s simple, honey. Obviously, he still has some feelings for you. You can use that to your advantage.”

“How’s that?” Valo asked.

Ophelia’s eyes widened slowly and she blurted out, “You want Jade to basically use her hold on Dunstan to her advantage, to hurt him.”

“Exactly,” Gran nodded.

“Christ, you sound like Miss Havisham from Great Expectations,” Jade remarked.

“Whatever works, right?” Gran asked. “You wanted revenge on him.”

“True,” Jade agreed. “But… wow. Kind of extreme, huh?”

“Desperate times call for desperate measures,” Gran, Ms. Gibson, and Ophelia all intoned.


They all talked for several more minutes before the girls decided it was time to leave. On the way out, Ophelia said shyly to Gran, “Excuse me, but where did you get the scars on your face? They look painful.”

Gran grimaced a bit and replied, “Abusive relationship.”