Chapter 2

GABRIEL

I think my sisters may have rubbed off on me some in the last couple of days because I don't recall being this majorly petty before. But as I walked her towards her family home, hand in hand, her mother's car, now hers parked on the driveway behind us; I was almost bursting with anticipation at the havoc I was about to cause.

I could give less than half a shit whether Felix Fontane knows that she's leaving the country. Pounding the nail deeper into Victoria's coffin, though, is high on my priority list. I guess I've decided to come down to their level to deal with them since not one of the three, Becky, Victoria, or Felix, seems to have a working brain cell to share between them.

Had my opponents been more formidable, I wouldn't go this route, but since they have the underbelly of a half-dead fish that had been caught and thrown back in, this is where it's at. "Hello Fontane, may we come in?" He answered the door looking his usual flustered self with red-rimmed eyes. Bastard, you haven't cried enough yet. Soon!

I realized as I looked at him that he irritates me; that's what this feeling is. This is new for me; I never let anyone or anything irritate me long enough to get under my skin, but because of her, I'm putting up with this mook, and my give a shit meter is running on empty.

"Oh, hi, I didn't know you guys were coming over today. Come on in." He looked at her with something approaching longing in his eyes, longing, and dare I hope, a tinge of regret? I barely held back the sneer that always wants to break out in his presence from reaching my face as we followed him into the room where the portrait of his late wife dominated.

Now I almost wish I'd let Becky out to enjoy this. But she serves my purpose much better behind bars for now. Out here, with me gone, who knows what the hell she'd talk this fool into doing, so as much as I wanted to get my jollies watching her squirm like a worm at the end of my hook, this will have to suffice.

"We're just here to let you know we'll be leaving the country shortly, Fontane."

"Leaving, what do you mean? Where are you going?" He looked from me to Gianna, but I noticed she wasn't even looking at him. In fact, she hadn't said a word since we left the car.

"Um, it's my sisters' birthday; they're taking her to Turk's and Caicos for a week to celebrate."

"Oh!"

His response sounded weak and laden with something approaching guilt. Was he now realizing that he'd robbed her of her damn life? Going from my own and my siblings, there's so much we've done that she won't get to do. Her mother was damn near royalty from the looks of the family, and this jackass had let her daughter suffer the life of a destitute hermit.

"I see; wait, she doesn't have a passport; how is she going?"

"My father took care of it." My look dared him to say shit; he couldn't possibly know that I had an argument ready for anything he could throw at me. He had the good sense not to even think of objecting, which saved him from my wrath. I wasn't here for him anyway.

I relaxed and took a seat pulling Gianna down beside me when I heard the faint tread of footsteps on the stairs. I'm pretty sure the other two didn't hear them, as Fontane went on to ask about the trip and how she was doing. The kind of crap you'd ask a stranger or an acquaintance you ran into after a long absence,

Does the guy even realize the great divide between him and his kid? On the other hand, what's up with chatty Kathy? She'd been talking my ear off on the way here, hopping from one topic to the next, now she'd clammed up and was barely giving her dad one-word answers, and even those sounded strained.

"Gia's terrified of flying." Come again? How the hell does he know that when she's never been on a plane before we went to New York? She looked at him with interest as well at his words.

"How do you know that?"

"Don't you remember? Once, a long time ago, before your mother… when you were about three or four, we were going to take a trip to Europe, but when we got to the airport, you had a meltdown."

"We would've ignored it if it was just a regular kid thing, but you'd never acted that way before, and when I picked you up, your little heart was beating with fear. Your mother and I decided right then and there to nix our plans. We'd planned to wait until you were older and try again." His wan look almost made me feel sorry for him. Too bad he'd fucked up royally since then.

"I flew to New York and Virginia. I guess I trust Gabriel. He held my hand the whole way both times." Was that a dig? Oh crap, maybe I should've checked her before we left. I was so busy thinking of making Victoria sweat that I didn't stop to think about her feelings and what she might want.

Have I been doing this all along? Making decisions for her without asking? Scratch that; I don't know any other way, and even if I did, I wouldn't be using it. I only have one speed when it comes to her, but I'm getting the feeling more of late that she'd changed since learning about her mom, something I seem to have overlooked.

"Ah yes, I remember; I guess I overlooked it in all the chaos that has been going on around here lately." Why did he look at me when he said that? I'm not the one who screwed the pooch, and you'll have a fucked-up time trying to blame me for any of this. Not that I care.

"I guess it's a little different flying on a private jet. Your daughter has become quite the pampered princess. By the way, I brought something for you." I reached in my pocket and pulled out the little USB stick I'd kept there, and passed it to him.

"What's this?" He took it a bit warily.

"It's your daughter's dance performance at the party last night."

"Dance? I thought…"

"You thought your wife and stepdaughter took that joy away from her as well, so did I. You should watch it when you have a chance; she's awesome. When those two snatched the only thing she liked away from her, she found another way."

"I don't understand."

"Have you ever seen the old music room at the school? No? well, you should take a look one day. It's a broken-down place not fit for mice, a hazard. Your wife and her spawn terrorized Gianna so much that she had to use that room to keep doing the one thing she liked. Wasn't your wife, her mother, a dancer as well?"

"Yes, but Gia is the one who said she didn't want to do it any longer."

"Did you ask her why, or did Becky tell you?" I've been here five minutes, and I want to kill you.

"I… Gia, is this true?"

"It was a long time ago dad, no point in bringing it up now." She sounded pissed. Her backbone was coming in very nicely.

"You still paid for Victoria to go, though, right, just like everything else. Once again, we have a prime example of you forsaking your own flesh and blood for some other man's leavings." That last statement proved to be too much for Victoria because she came bounding into the room with fury.

"I'm his daughter; why can't he pay for me? She's the one who decided to quit; no one forced her."

"Was this before or after you and your mother took turns pushing her down the stairs?" She didn't have a lie ready, so her denial came out weak and faint.

"You've said that before, and I told you it wasn't true. Gia was prone to accidents even before her mother died." Fontane got pissy. If his opinion mattered, I'd give a damn.

"She was a normal kid who fell and scraped her knee from time to time as kids do, but after you married the asp, how many 'accidents' did she have?"

"I wasn't… Gia, tell him, tell him that that never happened." She didn't say shit and his face paled. He turned his eyes to Victoria, who looked as if she wished she hadn't come downstairs after all. "You mean it's true?" He looked back at Gia.

"Like I said, dad, it was a long time ago. There's no point."

"She's lying, mom, and I never did anything to her. And if mom did do something I was just a child, how can I be held responsible?" So that's the new game you're playing.

"Fontane, did you know that the youngest killer in US history was a little five-year-old girl who killed her sister in her bed? She bashed her head in while she slept because she was jealous of her."

His simple ass became flummoxed, I guess he was suffering from information overload, or his mind was finally starting to work after being brain dead for so long. "Victoria, tell me the truth, what really happened?"

"Dad, I'm telling the truth; none of that happened. I don't know why she's making it up. Are you trying to gain points with Gabriel? Is that why you've been lying on the family?"

"His name is Gabe!" Even I looked at Gianna in shock; I don't think I've ever heard that voice come out of her before or seen the look on her face that she sent Victoria's way. "No one calls him Gabriel, but me. Unless you want me to reveal all your dark secrets here and now, you won't cross me on this." She added on the last when Victoria opened her mouth to argue, but those words shut her up right quick.

I think I may be a sexual deviant because her tone and attitude made me, well, not fit for company. She was breathing fire, barely holding onto her temper, and I was here for it. Fontane himself was shocked, and Victoria shut right the hell up, but I knew that wouldn't last long.

"So, you're saying your daughter is a liar, and the strangers are telling the truth. That makes sense to me. In the off chance that you no longer wish to be her dad, she has a whole family willing to adopt her, just say the word."

"What're you talking about?"

"I'm talking about you sitting here taking the word of that instead of your daughter. I'm talking about ten years of mistreatment right under your nose. Do you even know where they came from? Victoria, you want to tell him?"

"Tell him what, I don't know what you're talking about."

"Really! Who's Jimmy? Where is he? Where did you live with him and your mother before moving here? I know you were young when all that happened, but I also know that you know more than you're admitting to. You lived with the man for the first five years of your life; there's no way you could've forgotten him. Besides, didn't you run into him just a few nights ago?"

Gianna looked at me like I had two heads. "What?"

"I forgot to tell you." No, I didn't, but you asked me to leave it until after the party. I smiled at her and turned back to the other two. Victoria had lost all the color in her face, and Fontane was damn near epileptic.

"If you have something to say, Russo, then spit it out. You keep making all these unsubstantiated accusations with no proof." I pretended to unlock my phone, "I can call Jimmy right now and let him tell you. He'd love to see his daughter again."

"NO!" Victoria forgot herself for a second, I guess, and almost rushed across the room.

"Why not? I thought you didn't know who he is?"

"I… I don't know; I've heard the name before, but it's not like you said. Felix, dad, you should wait until mom comes home to get to the bottom of this. Why are you trying to destroy our family?" That last was for me.

"Don't pay him any mind, dad; I think he has us mixed up with someone else, or she's putting him up to it."

"For someone who's such a damn bully, you're weak. Come on, Gianna, let's go; the twins are waiting." I helped her up from the chair and walked past a fuming Victoria; Felix was still processing.

Becky's in jail; now, these two can spend the next week in misery. Victoria no doubt will spend the time trying to unravel the lies, while Fontane can go looking for answers, while I show Gianna the time of her life on the island.

I felt a slight pang of sadness at the thought of what will follow but brushed it aside. I won't let that put a damper on her first real vacation. I hope she looks back on it with fond memories somewhere down the line; in the future, she's bound to have without me.

***

BECKY

***

Why isn't anyone answering the phone? This is nonsense. Our phone can't be out of service. "Hey, can you check and see what's going on? I can't get through to my husband."

"Lady, this is the jailhouse, not the phone company." I bit into my already raw nail bed that I'd chewed away in the last few days locked away in here.

Why isn't the phone working? It can't be; did Felix up and leave? No, that doesn't make sense. He has a business here; everything he knows is here. And besides, he'd never sell the house he'd once shared with Adrienne. And what about Victoria? Why hasn't she come to see about me?

I hope she's not doing anything stupid while I'm gone. I know without me there to rein her in, things could get out of hand. I have a lot of cleaning up to do once I get out of here, but I'm pretty certain I can get out of all of it.

But if Victoria acts up with Felix around, if he should see her true colors, that would do us more harm. I'm worried sick and getting sicker by the day at the thought of what's going on with her. She doesn't do well under pressure, and things can get pretty out of hand if things don't go her way.

My nerves jangled at the thought of what could be going on out there without me there to supervise, and I almost screamed the place down. It doesn't make sense that Felix hadn't come to see me, that there wasn't a lawyer anywhere willing to work with me; I don't buy that for a second.

Could he be planning to leave me? Has he finally bought into that kid's words? Damn brat, why is he poking around in my life anyway? Because of that little twit, no doubt, and the lies she's told. Did he say something to Felix? What could he have said? Calm down, Becky; he doesn't know as much as he thinks he does. He can't.

But he'd learned so much in just a few short weeks. The reminder had my blood running cold. I knocked against the bars and called out to the guard but to no avail. I was lucky enough to get the one phone call and knew there would be no more forthcoming for the rest of the day. All I have to look forward to is the stale slop they'll serve for dinner and staring at the four walls.

I tried pacing to ease my mind, but that only seemed to make me more agitated. My mind, as it had done the last few days in here, kept going back to the past, to the life I'd built. So what I'd put my daughter ahead of someone else's, what mother in the world wouldn't have done the same?

Was it so wrong to want the best for my own kid? To want to give her the life she deserved? It's not my fault that things went the way they did. That little bitch was too snooty, just like her mother, and too distrusting of me in the beginning. If I hadn't put a wedge between her and her father, there would've been no place for my daughter in his life.

All her sniveling over her mother's death had taken up his time back then, leaving Victoria and me out in the cold. I had to do something, didn't I? Even with Adrienne gone, she still hung over everything like a specter, and with her mourning daughter there, a constant reminder, there wasn't much else I could do.

If I'd been thinking, I would've convinced Felix that she'd been having an affair. That would've soured his great love for sure. He would've believed me too because she and I were friends. Maybe it's not too late…

No, he'd never believe me now, not with everything else that's going on. I must get out of here; I have to get back home where I can work my magic and turn things around. Things had been going so well. Felix barely paid any attention at home, which suited me fine. He trusted me to run the household, which I was perfect at because I'd listened to his wife go on and on for months about their perfect life.

She had no idea that I was taking notes. That it was through her that I learned all his likes and dislikes. That it was because of her, a picture had started to form in my head. A life of parties and shopping trips out of town, rubbing elbows with the rich, and being able to afford anything I wanted, like sending my daughter to the top private school in the nation where she would be in close contact with the offspring of the wealthy, upping her chances of marrying into one of those families, and being set for life.

Why shouldn't we both have a life like that? Why shouldn't my daughter be afforded the same opportunities as hers? No matter what anyone says, I won't accept that I've done anything wrong. It's not my fault. I tried, didn't I? I tried to be her mother, but it was she who rejected me at every turn. I did what I had to, to stake my claim as the woman of the house. If I hadn't, her wimp of a father would've let her rule the nest out of guilt over her dead mother.

It's inconceivable; I think that's the word, to think that it could all come crashing down so easily at the hands of some punk who didn't have anything better to do but meddle in some stranger's life. So, what, I did what I did, anyone else in my situation would've done the same.

Why shouldn't my kid have nicer things than her? She had a hard start in life while little Miss Perfect was born with a silver spoon in her mouth. So when I got the chance, why would I let my daughter suffer for someone else's child's happiness? Victoria's self-esteem was never the best, and Gia, for whatever reason, only made it worst.

Now I have no idea what my poor child is going through out there without me, surrounded by people who hate us. She's my last hope for getting out of this unscathed. Felix isn't the sort to turn his back on the child he'd adopted and raised as his own. Once again, I can use that to my advantage.

I feel the way I did when we first got here, like an unwanted outcast—the one who, no matter how I tried, I could never fit in. I'd used my daughter's connection to their kids to get a foot in, but that hadn't gone as well as I'd hoped either. It's because I wasn't one of them, those bitches.

I learned only too late that their friendships were born not because of close proximity to one another but because they'd genuinely liked Adrienne and saw her as some glittering light who was always the go-to person for whatever ailed these pampered witches with brooms up their ass.

Not even my made-up background was enough for them. They weren't interested in me as a person, not like they'd been with her. It's like they hated me for living while she was gone and never gave me a chance. Some of them had even laughed in my face, some going so far as to accuse me of wanting to fill Adrienne's shoes and not being able to fit.

I grew to hate them then and had encouraged Victoria instead of scolding her when I found out what she was doing to their kids. As far as I was concerned, we were killing two birds with one stone, ostracizing Gia from her support system, and gaining a foothold for my kid.

Do they know? Does everyone know that I'm in here? They must be laughing at me now. I can just imagine their next bitch lunch gathering; they'll be nodding their heads and patting themselves on the back for being right about me all along. Would they approach Felix now that I was out of the way? Before that new horror could set in, the guard was calling out to me.

"You've got a phone call."

"It's about time. I'm going to give Felix Fontane a piece of my mind." I have to keep up appearances here, so they won't think I've been deserted by my wealthy husband and start treating me wrong.

"It's not the husband."

"Who is it? Is it my daughter?"

"No, some guy named Jimmy."