First Love Only Love (The Life 2)
“You look amazing.” I didn’t miss the look of confusion on his face when he leaned in to kiss my cheek; I figured he’d been played as well in this game the girls and Lance had orchestrated. He’s going to be even more surprised when he recognizes the song we were going to dance to and the way I’d chosen to tell the story he’d told me about one of the women he admired most in the world through dance.
VICTORIA
Who has this kind of security for a sweet sixteen? I couldn’t even get close to the gate. What am I even doing here anyway? Like a lost puppy searching for its owner. I don’t know what came over me, what made me get into mom’s car and sneak away, but I needed to know if everyone else had been invited but me.
Just thinking about it made me too sick to my stomach to sit still. I couldn’t stand the thought of all of them laughing at me, talking about me behind my back, reminiscing about all the things I’d said and done in the past, and laughing at me. It always comes back to them laughing at me; that’s the one thing I can’t stand.
But it’s like there’s an information blackout, and I’m the only one left looking in from the outside. My so-called friends aren’t returning my calls, and there’s no one else for me to ask. At least I haven’t seen any of them show up, and I’ve been here since well before the party started.
I thought it would’ve been easy with all these people going in and out to just slip in beneath the radar and stay hidden well enough that no one would notice, but without an invitation, not even name-dropping helped me get past the ogre at the gate.
I’d balked when the security guy asked if I wanted him to call up to the house and have someone vouch for me, and now I’m sure he knows I was lying. It was pure luck that I found this spot on the other side of the house away from prying eyes where I could peer into the well-lit room from outside.
It wasn’t the best view, but the binoculars I’d had the sense to grab on my way out the door were of great help. I recognized Gia right away because she was clamped onto Gabriel’s side like a leech. I zoomed in and became filled with rage when I saw what she was wearing. She was dressed better than most of the people in attendance.
Once I got past the intricate design of her hair and the way she was smiling like she didn’t have a care in the world, my eyes got caught on the necklace she wore. I know I’ve seen that necklace somewhere before, but where? It took me a minute, but when it finally hit me where I’d seen it, the bottom fell out. “This can’t be.”
Felix has been acting strange, especially now with mom gone, but how far gone is he that he’d given Gia those jewels? He knows how mom feels about them, how she’s always wanted them. Even I remember the uproar over them, and I was a child back then. Felix would never go against mom like this, never do something that he knew would upset her. This could only mean one thing; mom had lost his favor for real this time.
A kernel of doubt started to grow in my gut, followed close by fear. The fear that I’ve been fighting back day after day and barely winning the battle. As long as mom still had the power over Felix, I knew there was still a chance that we could turn this thing around. But lately, he’s been doing all the things we fought so hard to stop.
I should’ve clued in when he spent the last few days staring at that stupid portrait of his dead wife and walking around the house like even more of a shell of a man than usual. But I figured the woman was dead; she can’t harm me, so what do I care? I was sure once mom came home, she would work her magic just like before, and it’ll be gone by the time that bitch came back home with her tail between her legs.
That’s been my silent wish, the only thing that’s keeping me from curling myself into a ball and crying my eyes out. Pointless nonsense that won’t get me anywhere. At my lowest, only the thought of Gia being kicked out of the Russo home gave me an inkling of hope. I was sure that with her being as stupid as she is, it wouldn’t be long before Gabriel and his family saw the real her and be rid of her sooner or later.