The Princess and the Pauper (Arabella) novel Chapter 1745

"I've had people scouring the city and even Dawnstar for any sign of Martha, but she's nowhere to be found."

If Eunice ever got her hands on Martha, she'd give Martha a taste of her own medicine, with a good old-fashioned slap-fest and a no-holds-barred spanking.

The chaos in this household was Martha's handiwork, no doubt.

"There was this one time, I got a tip-off that someone had put a hit out on Bella. I managed to nab the hitman, but the guy was tight-lipped about who was behind it all. That is, until Bella showed up. Julian—well, he made the guy an offer. Spill the beans, and he'd get a shiny new identity complete with a faked death certificate."

Neither Kenneth nor Louisa could believe someone had tried to off Bella, let alone that she was cool as a cucumber, even negotiating with the hitman. Any other heiress would've been scared stiff.

Bella's nerves of steel were something else.

"Bella gave him two days to think it over. However, by the end of the second day, he was dead."

Kenneth and Louisa were in disbelief. How could such a coincidence happen? Was it foul play?

"Bella gave the hitman two days to decide, right? On the last day, the guy must've had an epiphany. He told one of my guys from the basement that he wanted to see Ms. Collins. My guy thought he meant Serena and sent for her. Then it was just Serena and him. No signs of a struggle at the scene, no fatal poison ingested. His hands and feet were still bound, but he definitely died from suffocation. I suspected Serena for a while until another guy from the Doom gang we had locked up—Hugh—wanted to save his own skin and spilled the beans. Turns out, the hitman had a change of heart that night, wanted a fresh start. When Serena showed up, he made it clear he wasn't looking for her, but another lady. Serena pulled out her phone, probably with Bella's photo, and he confirmed it was her."

"He asked if coming clean meant his freedom and a new identity. Serena had no clue what he was on about but played it cool, saying, 'That depends on you telling the whole truth.'"

"So he recounted the whole saga of being hired for the hit. Serena was petrified when she recognized the phone number he gave—it was one of Martha's burners, hardly known by anyone. To protect Martha, Serena covertly contacted her, and Martha instructed her to take out the hitman."

"But Serena had never done anything like that, especially not to a hitman. So, she followed Martha's script, claiming she and Martha were with Doom, dropping the gang's secret codes. She told the hitman he was marked for death for his failure. If he didn't die, everyone close to him would suffer."