The Beginning (The Life 1)

“Your mother should’ve gargled then spit you out.” His mouth fell open in shock, and he sputtered out a few words before I cut him off.

“By the way, Gianna’s not coming back until you prove to me you know what it means to be the father of a motherless child.” Prick!

“What? You can’t do that. Who do you think you are? I’m her father; this is her home, you can’t…”

“Do you know what the age of consent is in this state?” I just walked away before I did something I’d regret. I walked out to find the mother and daughter duo standing in the hallway listening in.

“From now on, when it comes to Gianna, you two had better learn to live like you’re already dead. If you so much as look in her direction again, no one will save you from me.”

“You’re just a kid. Who are you to talk to me like that in my own house? I can have you arrested for making threats.”

“Go ahead. I’d love for you to call the cops so that I can give them the list of all your crimes against a minor. The only reason I’m not calling them myself is because they can’t do half of what I’m about to do to all of you.” I looked from her to her daughter, giving them both a glimpse of what lives behind my eyes.

It didn’t take long for fear to fill their own eyes; good, my job here has only just begun. “Oh, and just in case you think you can get around me to reach her, ask yourself how I knew she needed me earlier.” Their indrawn breaths were the last thing I heard as I walked away.

GABRIEL

I don’t expect them to listen; more importantly, I don’t want them to. I want them to fight me on this so I can destroy them at will and get this shit over and done. They can have no way of knowing that whether they listen or not this time, they’re still going to pay for the tears she shed today and every tear she shed before we met on account of them.

The best course of action was to give them over to my sisters for now, until my anger cools enough that I can think of something other than putting a bullet in each of them. I’ve had years to channel the anger against Ricci and tame it into some semblance of order. But her shit was just sprung on me out of nowhere, and there’s no time to plan the way I’d like to.

That doesn’t mean that I’m going to let it end there, though. I’m just going to let the twins start shit off, give myself time to be rational again. Maybe they’ll wish for death by the time I get through with them, who knows, but I know there’s no way I’m letting them go unless they fuck off and leave her the hell alone.

I was hoping against hope that Fontane had some redeeming quality left in him, but the guy’s a complete ass. ‘I didn’t know' is not a lawful excuse in some places, and neither is it acceptable to me. As her only living parent, he had a duty to protect her, he failed abominably, and more than that, he brought the danger to her, in her home, the one place she should feel safe.

I’m going to make him pay for that shit, and maybe then he’d wake the hell up. It doesn’t matter at this point anyway, since they dragged me into their shit, I’m gonna handle things my way regardless of what anyone else says or thinks.

I left the truck for one of the men to put away and headed inside where the family should be long in bed. “Is he still standing?” Shit, Pop almost gave me a heart attack stepping out of the dark like that.

“Yes.”

“Still have all of his teeth?”

“I didn’t touch him if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Somehow, I'm not sure that’s better. Fine, you’re home; you’re in one piece; I’m for bed.”

“Did Lancelot get here?” I’d all but forgotten about him.

“Yeah, he showed up a little after you left, got tormented by your sisters, and went to bed early. You know how he is when he’s excited. By the way, what do you plan to do with the girl?”

“She’s staying here for now.”

“Her dad okay with that?”

“I didn’t ask.” Make of that what you will, Pop. Since he didn’t say anything more on the subject, I guess he knew the deal. His clap on the shoulder was all the acceptance I needed.

I jogged up the stairs and swung by Lance’s usual room when he stays over. He wasn’t sleeping but was up reading in bed. “Hey, you’re back; where did you go?”

“I had to take care of something.”