Nicole Wallace sat in her car across the street from the pretzel cart patiently waiting. Any time now, the boy and the old man would be there, buying a pretzel, as they walked home from school. It was routine every Wednesday.

So excited she was almost giddy. She had been planning her revenge for over a year. Bobby had taken too much from her and losing Gwen was the last straw. No more tit for tat, she wanted him to feel the pain of loss she felt. So, she dug deep and researched every minute trace of William Goren's life every day, for hours and hours, for almost 4 months until she found what she was looking for. Nicole knew she would find something eventually. Of course she would, William Goren was not only a gambler with his money, but with his women as well. He was a charmer, who preferred hookers, escorts and strippers, but once in awhile found someone lonely and easy to manipulate. He would be sweet at first, charming and treating them well, like he really cared about them. Then, he would use them for sex, money, and whatever else he could get before tossing them aside, and moving on to the next.

So was the case for Maggie Briggs, in 1981, an Arizona native, who moved to New York, to be an actress, but instead waited tables at the local bar, in Brooklyn. A former prom queen, with red hair and bright blue eyes, who at 32, looked like she hadn't aged a bit since her highschool days. She was sweet and friendly, but lonely, living on her own in New York, so when she met William Goren, in the elevator in their apartment building, and he spoke to her and smiled that Prince Charming smile, she fell for him hard and quick.

Though he was seeing other women, his relationship with Maggie lasted over a year, ending abruptly when she got pregnant. William made it clear he would have absolutely nothing to do with a baby and urged her to have an abortion, but she refused and moved back to Arizona, where her family would help her raise her child. On October 21, 1982, William's daughter, Skye Taryn Briggs was born. Giving up his parental rights, a year later, Skye was adopted by Maggie's new husband, Charles Bailey. She would die for her loss of Ella.

Nicole sat up, trying to look at every face that was approaching the pretzel cart. Nothing yet. "Ugh, what's taking them so long?" She thought to herself. Looking at the van parked across the street, she wondered if the men inside were thinking the same thing. Two more pawns in her plan. A disgruntled former employee of the old man, the shooter, and his junkie friend, the driver. She gave them a description of the boy and the old man and told them only the old man was to be killed, the boy was to be left as a witness. She hated involving the boy at all, she had spent 6 months getting to know him and she really liked him, but what choice did she have. Sure she could kill Bobby's mother or brother Frank in his place, but killing them would unburden him and she wasn't looking to make his life easier, so the boy it had to be.

She had found the boy first. It seems William Goren had either gone soft or lonely in his old age, because not only did he get a stripper, Amber Thomas, pregnant, when the baby was born on June 3, 1995, he named him after his favorite Yankee, Joe Dimaggio and gave him his last name. He saw Joe, once a week, never at his place, always at his mother's, so no one would know about them and even stuck around when Joe was diagnosed with Autism. Against his nature, like everyone else who got to know Joe, William loved his young son. Nicole knew Bobby would fall in love with him too. That's why he had to die for her loss of Gwen.

The old man, Danny "Pops" O'Malley, like the two men in the van, was just a sacrificial pawn in her end to the game she and Bobby played. It was a shame, because she liked him too. She worked in his bar, O'Malley's Pub and Grill, for 6 months, seducing him so she could get close to Skye and Joe, who he considered family and lived in the apartment above the bar. She actually thought about driving away, not wanting to see him shot down in the street, but this was too important. She had to make sure there were no mistakes.

"There they are," Nicole said aloud when she spotted the Celtics hat Danny O'Malley always wore. She watched him as he stopped at the pretzel cart, bought two pretzels and handed one to Joe, who waved shyly at the pretzel vendor. There were only a few people around, so it was now or never. She thought about tapping her horn, telling the men in the van to get on with it, but then the van door opened and the shooter stepped out.

Luis Rodrigez got out of the van as soon as his former boss was away from the pretzel cart. Hoodie pulled up to hide his face, he walked within three feet of Danny O'Malley, pulled a gun from his front pocket, and shot him three times in the chest. By the time Rodrigez was back in the van and it took off, O'Malley was dead.

Nicole watched as people scattered at the sound of the gun shots. Everyone accept Joe, who just stood there staring at Rodrigez. The pretzel cart vendor grabbed his arm and tried to pull him to safety, but he screamed and pulled away. He started to pace and rock around O'Malley's body, ignoring anyone who tried to talk to him and screaming when someone tried to touch him. Nicole felt a sudden urge to go to him, but she shook it off. "No, she told herself vehemently, "This is the beginning of the end." She looked over at the scene one more time, then drove away.

Tbc...