this until I decide what to do. I need to figure out how to fix
this. Quietly. Nothing, not one word to anyone, unless you
want me to crush and silence you through legal means, which
it’s obvious you can’t afford. I could make your life hell. I
could break you so thoroughly that you’d never find the
wherewithal to put yourself back together.”
So many threats they made Coralyn’s head swim. It hurt that
this Giana, this ruthless woman, had replaced the one who was
there when Coralyn needed someone the most. How could two
opposing forces exist in the same person like that? What had
happened in Giana’s past that she’d remembered that made her
the way she was?
How did she remember? Did she just wake up and
everything was there? Something must have happened.
“Please, Giana, my father just died and—”
“What did you think? That’d we’d just continue to
playhouse, the happy couple? That you could hide here, and
I’d deal with all your shit for you?”
Had she been happy or was she just being extra mean
because she was in a position to be again? Had she
experienced a few moments of joy, of rapture, a sense of
belonging that she’d never found anywhere else, over the past
few days? Was she thinking about that now or was she just
filling in the gaps with sarcasm?
Coralyn studied Giana’s eyes, and the wounds there were
real. From the past? From memories? Or from discovering
Coralyn’s deception?
Coralyn hung her head. “No. I just wanted you to be with
me.” There was no time for lies now. That game was over.
“I don’t care.”