{"id":2509,"date":"2025-10-02T10:57:38","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T10:57:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/?p=2509"},"modified":"2025-10-02T10:57:42","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T10:57:42","slug":"one-last-client","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/one-last-client\/2509\/","title":{"rendered":"One last client"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

You know what?<\/em> she thought. Fuck it, one more time. But no more after this.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She threw her phone onto the bed after replying yes and hitting send, disgusted with herself, then turned to look in the full-length mirror by her dresser, sighing. She\u2019d promised Thomas that the last time really had <\/em>been it, that she wouldn\u2019t do it anymore. They didn\u2019t need to any more money, she didn\u2019t need to put herself at risk…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But this was too incredible an opportunity to turn down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The man was one of those obnoxiously wealthy politician types, fingers in loads of different pies, and apparently some unpleasant vices. He\u2019d made his fortune\u2014from what she could gather from her research, at least\u2014in oil, property, and telecoms, then branched out into more shady practices; weapons dealing to proscribed terror organisations, specialist dark web sites trading in narcotics and other less salubrious goods, and there were hints of things even worse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

 She reached into her wardrobe, pulling out the LBD that had worked so well on previous occasions, and hung it on the door. Next came the stilettoes, and from the top shelf, she drew out her makeup. She wasn\u2019t going to plaster it on, he didn’t seem the type to appreciate that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By half past seven, she was ready when the doorbell went. She wrote a quick note to her husband, then slipped on her coat before heading out to the cab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

—<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ninety minutes later, she was leaning against the bar when he arrived. The party was in full swing, lines of coke on the tables, shot glasses piled high, and the serving staff attempting to turn a blind eye to the debauchery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He swept in on a cloud of expensive aftershave, and she clocked the exact moment he noticed her; he smiled wolfishly, excused himself from his conversation, and made a beeline for her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m Grant,\u201d he said by way of introduction, looking her up and down like a lion eyeing a particularly tasty gazelle. \u201cNice shoes. And you are?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSomeone,\u201d she replied, winking, \u201cthat knows exactly what you need.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His grin widened. \u201cI like that. Direct and to the point.\u201d He handed her a keycard. \u201cPresidential Suite, ten minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

—<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRight,\u201d he said, entering the room. \u201cI\u2019m a little disappointed you\u2019re dressed, but we’ll change that quickly enough. I hope you\u2019re prepared. Here\u2019s how it works. You\u2019ll get paid extremely well after I’ve had my fu\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The words died in his throat as she shoved the two long, thin blades into his neck and ripped outwards, sending blood spraying everywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wiping them clean on his tuxedo as the light faded from his eyes, she leaned forward to whisper in his ear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe know what you do, what you did. Be grateful\u2014because, for you, this is the easy way out. You\u2019re my last; I came out of retirement because the world\u2019s a better place without pieces of shit like you in it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You know what? she thought. Fuck it, one more time. But no more after this. She threw her phone onto the bed after replying yes and hitting send, disgusted with herself, then turned to look in the full-length mirror by her dresser, sighing. She\u2019d promised Thomas that the last time really had been it, that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10158782359051062_103813597863211":"","twitter_1225722811282530305_1225722811282530305":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1490,1711],"tags":[56,114,1091,492,95,8,7,1286,205,157,128,14,84,11,159],"class_list":["post-2509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1490","category-sept-2025-the-easy-way-out","tag-after","tag-but","tag-didn","tag-full","tag-had","tag-he","tag-her","tag-herself","tag-last","tag-more","tag-out","tag-she","tag-time","tag-was","tag-what"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbrNJE-Et","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2509"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2509\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2510,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2509\/revisions\/2510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}