Queen of My Heart || Taylor Swift

no body, no crime 2

Chloroform. Cloth. Rope. Bag. Matches. Gasoline. Knife. Mask. Gloves.

Taylor checked everything off. She'd put everything in the back of her Escalade a few hours before, and now she was ready to serve justice quietly and covered by the night's darkness. Danielle and Alana agreed to make an alibi for her if anyone asked, but Taylor never told them exactly why. They just knew it was crucial.

Este's husband, Jackson, should be approaching the address she sent him. It was part of the set up. It should look like an friend sent him a dinner place to catch up at--little did he know, it's abandoned and not from a friend at all. Taylor held her phone with black gloves. She was tracking his truck with an airtag she attached to the underside of his vehicle.

A deep rumble echoed as his truck crossed onto the parking lot. But he didn't get out yet. Instead he messaged back, dude, where did you send me?

Taylor had tricked him into thinking one of his old friends got a new number. Poor guy was stupid enough to believe it. So she sent another text, i see you, dont you see me? get out your truck.

what kinda place is this? shit looks like no ones been here in decades.

ill show you when you get out. inside of the buildings nice tho so ive been sitting in here. come meet me inside. its like a renovation project thing.

He seemed to partially believe her messages. His truck's rumble faded to a stop as the man stepped out of his truck and onto the cement ground. He hesitantly looked around him, unsure of what was happening. Slowly but surely, Jackson made his way over the the building's entrace. The doors opened with a terrible squeak.

One foot in front of the next, he stepped onto the wooden floors that creeked loudly under his weight. Jackson saw the abundant dust and the cobwebs stretching across the corners under the limited light of dusk.

"Hey, man. This isn't funny!" He shouted, only to hear his own echo.

The room covered a vast area. So he once again walked forward, looking around him. Jackson navigated around the collapsing shelves that lined the room. They created confusing aisles, close enough to a labyrinth.

"You in here?" He called out again.

He went right past Taylor's hiding spot. A cloth was forced upon his face, making him inhale an nauseatingly sweet smell. Taylor struggled to hold it against him as he thrashed around, knocking the both of them against walls and shelves. Jackson tried his best to push him off of her as the substance weakened him.

She could feel the scrapes and bruises forming along her body as she tried to keep up. Taylor could barely get the man to pass out as he crashed into everything, like a wild animal. After a minute or two, she managed to force the chloroform into his system long enough to make his body start to give out. He started to go unconscious as she kept the cloth against his nose and mouth a bit longer. He yelled, but was muffled. Eventually, he crumpled to the ground with a thump against his skull. 

Taylor hurried to grab the rope, still exhausted from her fight. It wrapped tightly around Jackson's wrists and legs. She hoped it hurt. She wanted the man to be in pain. Scraping his skin against the rough floor, Taylor dragged him over to a column and propped him against it. She finished up restraining him by tying him to the pillar. And finally, she took his truck keys.

The chloroform hadn't taken him out for long. He woke up disoriented and beaded with sweat, letting out a low and pained groan. The side of his head ached, and his body trembled unnaturally. Taylor glared at him as he gained back his consciousness. His eyes blinked open, loomed with hatred.

"Asshole," he muttered at her.

"I think you should watch what you say while your tied up in the middle of nowhere by someone with a knife." She waved the weapon in his sight.

Jackson shook his head in a disapproving manner. "You're acting crazy."

Taylor put the blade under his chin, pushing his head up to look her in the eye. "Don't fucking test me."

He moved his head back instinctively and gulped. The feeling of the cold metal grazing so dangerously close to his throat and carotid was alarming.

"Now," she said firmly, "you're going to tell me what you did to Este."

"I didn't do anything to her--"

She pressed the sharp edge against his skin harder. "One. More. Try."

"She's in the woods. I buried her there, okay?"

"You're so pathetic." Taylor ran the blade along his jawline. "You killed your wife so you could get with your mistress, didn't you?"

Jackson didn't answer. He closed his eyes shut tightly and breathed deeply. Silently, he muttered something under his breath. A thing he hasn't done since his childhood.

"What're you now? Praying to whatever god you believe in--only because your life's threatened, right? Only after you killed your wife because of how unfaithful you are, and now you don't want to go to hell. But don't waste your time on it. I'll make sure you burn either way."

The man only opened his eyes again after hearing her footsteps recede. Taylor wasn't in the room when he glanced around him. For a moment, he thought she left him there to starve and freeze to death. But she returned with a can that was burgundy as bloodshed, and a white and red box small enough to fit in the palm of her hand.

"Wait, what are you doing?!"

She tipped the can over, and out came rushing a transparent fluid. It's smell was intoxicating and terrifyingly familiar for Jackson. It leaked across the floor, spreading like a virus. He was quick to move his feet away as it inched closer to them.

He looked up at her and begged. "Please don't do this."

"Is that what Este said to you?"

Without much more thought, Taylor reached into the box she held. A thin, wood stick with a red edge. She struck it against the side of the box. One. Two. Three times. And a small flame burst free, a flickering beauty. She held it close to him and he leaned away as much as he could while restrained. The radiating heat nearly singed his skin.

"Oh, that was just a taste of it." Taylor sucked her teeth. "Anything else you want to say?"

She grabbed her backpack and threw it on. Taylor stepped back, still holding the ignited stick.

"I don't deserve this."

"Bullshit."

After stepping outside, she flicked the match inside. It dropped to the ground and straight into the gasoline. The satisfying crackle of burning began, but soon enough it was roaring. A goddamn blaze in the dark and she started it. Taylor observed as it consumed the entire building until it deteriorated into a structural mess. Debris crashed to the ground like the ashes fell. The first explosion fractured the windows into a colorless mosaic. The second created a rain of glass shards, carelessly littering them across the ground.

Taylor dug his keys out from her pocket and unlocked his truck. She swung the door open and hopped in, not closing it behind herself. A river was located not far behind the place. She threw her bag into the passenger seat, then shot a final glance at the raging fire. So positioning the truck for it to fall downhill, Taylor shifted it to neutral and jumped out. It rolled and rolled, nearly toppling over when it hit the steep and rocky part. But eventually it crashed into the river and slowly sank into the water. Every inch of the truck was submerged under the muddy currents.

She didn't let up until the day he died.

~~

A/N

i'm kinda scared of how naturally the nbnc one-shot parts came to me. i've never written so fast lol. anyways, this is unedited and not read as always.

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finished at 1.3k words.