All Grown Up (Eden High)

Knowing that I will be carrying on her legacy in this way is without question one of the best things that has happened to me since her death other than my husband and children. And two, this Mandy bitch reminds me of that hag that was on my man’s dick when we first met. Growing up with dad and uncle Al in the business, I know better than most what it means to be part of a ‘family’ and what that entails.

The fact that I’m the only one of the women who’d been let into the inner circle of men isn’t lost on me. Mancini didn’t come right out and say I couldn’t share certain things with the women, but it was an unspoken rule. And though Shane was going to be in deeper than I, something I have no issue with, they don’t seem hell-bent on leaving me out of the loop. I do know, though, that one wrong move, and they’d revoke my privileges. The lot of them combined are more annoying than Mob boy and his overprotective ass.

It’s now or never, Arianna. When I came up with this plan, it seemed so perfect, but now as I stand here looking down at these two little girls with their innocent faces looking back at me, I’m not so sure. I took a deep breath and dove in headfirst. “I need your friend, Nia, to hack into someone’s computer.” I can’t believe I just said that shit.

“What do you mean, mommy?” Lily looked at her friend and back at me. Damn, they’re good. I just lifted my brow because as much of a genius as my kid is, she knows better than to lie to me. The two of them fidgeted from leg to leg as they looked at each other, and I’m pretty sure they were talking without opening their mouths.

“Aunty Arianna, did my daddy tell you about Nia when you came to the house?”

“Does it matter who told me?”

“Not really, I guess. Whose computer?”

“The…” Oh shit, I almost told her. It’s the way she twirls on her hair while swinging from side to side that lulled me into a false sense that I was dealing with a harmless eight-year-old; until I looked into her eyes.

“Nice try, kid, now how can I get in touch with Nia?”

“Hmm, we’ll call her and tell her you need help with something. Aunty Arianna, did you bring your credit cards?”

“Yes, why?” She just smiled and took my kid’s hand before running off. “We’ll call her now.” Did she just shake me down? What happened?

Alex

“I don’t…I don’t know what you’re talking about. Mandy, Mandy, who’s that?” My future mother-in-law must not be as good an actress as the tabloids proclaim because her acting was shit right now. Her eyes darted around the room, and she had to clasp her hands tight in her lap to keep the shaking hidden.

I didn’t blink, just kept my eyes on hers with no expression whatsoever, not even the anger that is ever-present when talking about this shit. “I’m not even going to entertain what you just said. You and I both know that you know who she is. You were there, you shot her, and your daughter knows. Now someone is using that information to hurt her, and it’s pissing me off. Don’t piss me off further by lying.”

She took a deep breath and swallowed a couple of times before getting her shit together.

“What do you want? Why didn’t Cassie tell me about any of this?”

“How was she supposed to do that? Do you have any idea how much your kid loves you? Here’s what I see. Your kid watched you falling apart after giving birth to her little brother. Then her dad started having an affair with her bully. Her home life was hell while the two adults, the people who were supposed to care for her, dropped the damn ball for their own selfish fuck reasons. ”

I let that sink in before going any further since she looked like she was about to pass out. “Apparently, you came out of the fog long enough to realize what was going on with your husband and decided to take matters into your own hands by trying to get rid of Mandy. Your husband had the same idea, but what neither of you did was realize what was going on with your kid. You never saw how much she was suffering, and even now, you still don’t.”

“But I was sick, I had…”

“I don’t give a fuck what you had. I only care about her. You’re not sick anymore, are you? No, you’re just selfish as fuck.”

“That’s not fair; postpartum depression is a mental illness.”

“I give a fuck. You weren’t too sick to want to get rid of the woman that was fucking with your marriage, but you were too sick to take care of the child you brought into the world. Can you imagine how much pain she was in dealing with this shit?” Okay, so maybe I’m a little bit more upset than I thought.