“Do you have a plan B just in case she slips out of this one?”
“Plan B would mean I expect to fail.” His lips twitched, but he held it in pretty well, though he did look out the window to keep his face hidden from me.
I don’t think he realizes that I’d much rather go straight to unliving her than go through all this, but the petty in me wants to watch her suffer. I want both her and the thing she released into the world to feel hunted, trapped. To live in fear every day from now until I lower the boom on their asses somewhere down the line.
I didn’t call Fontane to let him know we were on the way, just pulled into his driveway and breathed a sigh of relief when his car was there, along with the burnt-out mess that was once Victoria’s ride. I guess I have way more petty in me than I ever knew because I can’t wait to get back home to listen to the day’s recording to hear her meltdown live. Her tears are my new source of vitamin A. I’ma feed off that shit until she runs out until they both do.
I realized as I stepped out of the car that something in me had shifted way off in the wrong direction. I feel like an android that’s about to malfunction or some shit. Those around me don’t seem to notice the change, but I can feel it, which is both good and bad. It’s not time for this side of me to manifest itself to the world. Because once this beast breaks out of its cage, it’s not going back in.
“Gabe!” I came out of whatever fugue state I’d just stepped into at the sound of Pop’s voice.
“Yeah, Pop?” Why does he keep looking at me like that?
“Nothing, son, it’s nothing.” He breathed out really hard, which, again, I have no idea why he was acting so out of character.
I used my fist instead of the doorbell because that sound puts more fear in the guilty than anything else. It’s like breaking down their first line of defense and why cops utilize that shit every chance they get. Felix answered the door, and the first thing he saw when he looked past us was the car. “What…?” This is why I won’t even consider forgiving him no matter how much he grovels at this point. It never entered his mind to check on her car even after I mentioned it offhandedly.
Maybe he has a lot of shit going on, I don’t know, but could he for once have put his kid first?
“How did you get that car? Did Gia take it? Where did she get the key?”
“We bought it from your wife.”
“May we come in? We need to talk.” Pop asked but was already moving through the door, making Felix have to step back out of the way.
“My wife sold you the car? I don’t understand; that’s not possible.”
“That’s the problem; that’s why we’re here. You may not know this, but my dad is a collector of cars. He had his buyer looking for a new one, and this one popped up in the search since it’s so close. He, of course, had no idea who you were. He was just interested in the car for Pop.” He looked around as if my words were somehow too foreign for him to comprehend.
“I don’t understand; what list did it show up on? You mean she had it for sale?”
“No, all collectibles are on a list; most people don’t know about that list, only true aficionados. Pop’s guy was very excited to find one so close to home, and apparently, when he called, Becky gave him the impression that the car was hers. We didn’t realize until later, when Gianna saw it, in fact, that something was wrong.”
“Felix, who’s at the door?” Becky came downstairs then and did not look too happy to see us.
“You again, what do you want this time?”
“As I was saying after Gianna recognized the car and told us the story behind it, we had a look at the papers again. Either she forged your signature, or someone else did, but he’s pretty sure that Becky’s the one he dealt with.”
“What? What car?”
“The one you tried to key in the parking lot yesterday.” She lost all the color from her face, but I’ll give her this, she bounces back fast. Too bad for her, I don’t do shit unless I’ve planned ten steps ahead of my opponent, and though this is a bit rushed, I’d already snapped the trap closed around her neck before she even knew it was there.
“Felix, he’s lying.” I pulled out the papers that she’d signed and showed him.
“Is that your signature?”
“It’s not, no. Becky?” She went with tears first, then anger, then accusations, but I wasn’t interested in their domestic bullshit. “We can have Jimmy come point out who it was that sold him the car.” She almost fainted, and her eyes widened when it started to dawn on her, the scope of the trap I’d set for her.