She would never allow that to happen.


    So she had to be ruthless. She had to see this through.


    With that thought, Fiona raised the cushion she had grabbed from the sofa, her eyes zing with a savage light. She lifted her arms and pressed it down onto the face of the sleeping figure before her.


    "Ngh!"


    Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through her stomach.


    Fiona''s eyes widened. She looked down in disbelief to see a dagger pressed against her abdomen. Its sharp point had pierced through her clothes, and the tip seemed to have already broken her skin.


    Fiona was, after all, just an ordinary woman, not a trained assassin. She panicked. She instantly let go of the pillow and stumbled back, clutching her stomach.


    Amara pushed the cushion off her face, threw back the covers, and sat up. In her hand was the dagger, its tip now stained with blood. She stared coldly at Fiona. "You want to kill me?"


    Fiona was horrified.


    She took another two steps back, her eyes fixed on the dagger in Amara''s hand. It was a paring knife.


    Who sleeps with a paring knife? It was obvious Amara had known about her n and prepared for it. But how was that possible?


    Her n tonight had beenpletely spontaneous. She hadn''t told anyone. Amara wasn''t a mind reader, so how could she have known?


    Her n had been simple: suffocate Amara at the Everly estate.


    In theory, as Amara''s stepmother, she had no connection to the Everly family. If Amara died here, the police investigation would never lead back to her.


    With Amara dead, Larry would only have one heir left-Elowen. She and Elowen could then inherit the entire Sullivan family fortune.


    But now, her n had failed. What went wrong?


    Seeing Fiona''s incredulous stare, Amara sneered internally.


    Tonight, her source within the Sullivan household had told her Fiona had gone out. She figured she must be meeting Andrew, and since Andrew was staying at the Everly estate tonight, could Fiona being here to see him?


    Amara hadn''t slept at all. She had hidden behind the curtains and watched.


    Soon enough, she saw Andrew sneak out the front door and bring Fiona in. Their figures disappeared into the vi.


    Amara was stunned at that moment. Andrew actually brought Fiona to the Everly estate for a tryst. They were really ying with fire.


    Then a thought urred to her. Since Fiona was here, would she try to make a move against her?


    After all, Fiona had dropped her kind and virtuous act recently and was brazenly seizing her mother''s inheritance. She was bing more and more unhinged.


    Amara suspected Fiona might actually be crazy enough to try something, so she had to be on guard. More than just on guard—she had to set a trap for Fiona to walk into.


    Fiona probably didn''t know that the


    doors at the Everly estate were custom-made. If you turned the lock once from the inside it could be picked from the outside, but if you turned it twice, it was incredibly secure. A thief would have to take an axe to the door to get in.


    To avoid raising Fiona''s suspicions,


    she couldn''t leave the door unlocked, but she needed Fiona to get in so she could catch her in the act. So, she only turned the lock


    once, allowing Fiona to pick it.


    the


    Naturally, she had heard rumors that Fiona knew how to pick locks. If she was going


    to harm her, she would almost certainly do it that way.


    Amara looked up and down at Fiona, who stood there frozen in terror.


    Truth be told, she had only been five percent sure that Fiona would actually try to


    harm her. After all, murder was something most ordinary people only thought about but never dared tomit.