“What do you mean by that?”
My smile was not a smile. I think she might be the first person to have seen it up close.
She recoiled back in her seat, and I bet her knees were shaking too much to stand. “I’m going to destroy you and your daughter, little by little. Do you want to know what my next move is going to be? Reuniting you and Victoria with Jimmy. Then I’m going to take back everything you’ve ever taken from Gianna and give it back to her.”
“Your daughter is going back to those slums while you rot in prison for the rest of your natural life.” There was raw panic in her eyes now.
“I don’t know who you’re talking about. Who is Jimmy?” I didn’t bother answering her.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk, don’t panic, at least I’m letting you keep your life, but who knows, I may change my mind about that. We all have our ways of getting rid of those we deem to be in our way.” Make of that what you will.
“Stop beating around the bush. Why don’t you just come right out and say what you want to.”
“Why, when I can let your mind answer for me. I think I’ll let you stay here another few days while I dismantle your world. That should make for a very exciting homecoming once you’re bailed out, don’t you think?”
“You want me to believe that you’re doing all this for Gia? That you have feelings for that stupid… Hey, take your hands off me.”
“Do you know if I snap your neck right now, those men out there would dump your body, put out an APB claiming you escaped, and help look for you? You wanna test that theory?”
“Does she know what a monster you are?”
“Funnily enough, she’s the only thing breathing that never has to worry about that. She’ll never get to see it.” I released her and sat back down.
“Yeah, she will, when you get tired of her and drop her. I doubt someone like you would stay with someone like her that simpering ninny for much longer. What does any of this have to do with you anyway? You didn’t even know her a month ago.”
“Sit down. I’m not finished.” She’d gotten up from her seat highly pissed off because I almost choked her out for calling Gianna out her name.
“I am.”
“Fine, do you remember Greta? The old housekeeper?” She fell back down on the chair.
“What about her?”
“We had a very interesting conversation lately, very eye-opening. You almost got away with it. And to think, if your spawn hadn’t bullied Gianna in front of me, none of this would be happening. You could’ve gone the rest of your life with no one being the wiser.”
“What do you mean? It’s lies; whatever she said, it’s all lies. She’s just mad because I fired her for not doing her job.”
“Do you know what gives me great solace? After learning everything, I have about who and what you really are? It’s the fact that you could never have been genuinely happy in all these years.”
I held her eyes with mine so she would see the utter disgust. “A thief is never very comfortable with that which he stole. There’s always the fear of someone else coming along and doing to them what they did to others, or worse yet, the person who they robbed reclaims what’s rightfully theirs.”
“You tried to erase a woman who reached her hand out to you when no one else would. That makes you the worst kind of human. The fact that she was Gianna’s mother is the reason why I’m going to burn your life to the ground. As for your daughter, you should’ve raised her better, but I guess something like you, a soulless piece of shit, wouldn’t know how.”
I got up and left since I’d said all I came here to say, and I have a chemistry test in about twenty minutes. I nodded to the desk sergeant on my way out and felt like a weight had been lifted when I climbed into my ride. I know that for the next few days, she’s going to be climbing the walls, not knowing what I’m doing to unravel her life while she’s locked away without any way to protect herself from the onslaught of hell I’m about to unleash on her once picture-perfect life.
GIANNA
It’s been days, and still, no matter how hard I push myself, I can’t escape the anger that now lives inside me. It’s frightening and all-consuming in a way not even my grief had been. It was hard enough dealing with my mother being gone at such a young age, enduring the things I have with her not here.
I’d learned to keep my head down and wait for the day I could make my escape, but now, there’s no way I’m leaving without that bitch’s head. “Hey!” Hey, Gianna, calm down, come here.” I felt Gabriel’s arms come around me from behind me, pulling me back away from the punching bag in the home gym. I’d forgotten he was here.