My legs finally gave out from all the tension I’d been holding in all evening, and I dropped back down on the bed. How could she look so much like her? I wrapped my arms around myself and rocked back and forth as I waited for the drug to kick in. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear Adrienne had come back to take revenge for me moving into her life.
I felt panicked, and the need to get out was strong. That hunted feeling I’d felt all those years ago when I decided to take things in hand and make my life better was back. I’d looked over my shoulder back then for weeks until life finally evened out. But I never want to experience that again.
I felt the effects of the drug as it coursed through my veins. That panicked feeling gradually went away, and my thoughts became clear. I’ve never been one to back down from a fight. When I want something in life, I go for it. First things first, I need money.
I went to my bag where I had the signed papers from the sale of the car. This idiot was dumb enough to sign then give me counterfeit money. All I have to do is threaten him with the law, and I’ll either get the car back if I sold it once I can sell it again. Or, he can bring me that cashier’s check I so stupidly suspected. No way will I be taking any more cash from him.
My hand shook with outrage when I saw the name written there, and I screamed in anger and fear for the second time that night as I tore the paper to shreds.
GABRIEL
It’s a good thing my guy had found Becky’s stash when he went searching for the funny money. Since it’s not what we were after, he didn’t dare touch it, but he’d passed on the information all the same. My taking Gianna there had served more purposes than one, and the time spent in the presence of evil had been more than worth it.
Now I can listen in on the conversations going on between mother and daughter at will through the couple of devices I'd planted. I have no doubt they’d both incriminate themselves sooner or later. They’d already had one heck of a fight from the sounds of it. Only Felix was missing from the convo; maybe he was sitting in the parking lot again like he did last night.
This evening had gone so well I was looking forward to my next attack with anticipation. My goal now is to cause as much chaos in the Fontane home as I possibly can. And once they’re in the thick of it, when they hate each other to the point of murder, I’ll bring it all full circle.
I switched off the drama in my head because I had more pressing matters to take care of, like finding her a dress for the party. I have an idea of what I want, what I want her to look like, but not much else. This will be her first social event with her peers, and I want her to shine. And therein lies my problem. It’s not her night, and it’s not fair to my sisters to make it so. I never thought I’d see the day when someone else would-be neck and neck with the twins for my consideration.
I headed down to the twins’ room, where I could hear laughter and revelry coming from beyond. “Oh, Gabe, we were just about to come get you. Look at this.” I looked around the room for her first things first, but Anna pulled me into the room and over to the table where she had her tablet set up on its stand.
“What’s this?”
“We had the girls start spreading a rumor that we’re going to invite Victoria’s friends to our party, lies of course, but the results are epic. This is Victoria; watch her rant like a maniac.” On the screen, words popped up every half a second, too fast to keep up.
“What am I looking at?”
“Victoria losing her shit over a nonexistent invitation, and I bet those others are sitting at home waiting with bated breath for said invite. Who do you think is the lying slut she’s referring to?”
“It had better not be Gia or else.” Rosa is always such a good influence on her minutes younger sister.
“By the way, where is she?”
“She got a call from her grandma; she’s taking it in her room.”
“Great, I wanted to talk to you two alone.”
“What’s up?” They jumped on the edge of their beds on full alert. I guess I’ve kept them scheming and plotting for the better part of a week, so now they expect new orders each time I come into their room.
“It’s about the party. I want Gianna to wear something yellow, daffodil yellow, to be exact.”
“Okay, you having trouble finding something?”
“Yes, but that’s not why I’m here. Didn’t you say you were thinking of wearing yellow?”
“So?”
“So, is it going to piss you two off if I dress her in yellow?”
“Why would it?” They looked genuinely confused.
“Isn’t there some female code, some kind of etiquette you place on these things?”
“Only weak women do that. We didn’t tell our friends what to wear, just told them the theme and the best place to buy their gowns if they got stuck. What do we care what colors they wear? Besides, our yellow is much lighter.”
“Okay, that’s good then, because other than the color, I’m stuck. You two finish tormenting that idiot?” I looked back at the screen where it looked like the kids on the forum were instigating shit that was making Victoria mental.
“Wait, is she posting this on the forum?”
“No, her Twitter, which we do not have, so the girls are grabbing her rants and posting them in the forum for everyone to see.”
“Keep an eye on that. If she starts making threats let me know.” I left the room and went in search of some help. I wasn’t kidding when I said I’d switched gears, and right now, Victoria wasn’t even a blip on my radar. I literally have about ten days to find Gianna the perfect dress and all the accessories that go with it.
This time I’m not dressing her to torment anyone, just for herself. I want her to see how beautiful she is to me and everyone else, then hopefully, she’ll see it for herself and start believing. I think a confident Gianna would be one hell of a gorgeous package, and I can’t wait. A winsome smile broke out across my face before I could stop it as I imagined her the way she’d be then.
My mind keeps stubbornly going wherever it wants these days, and most of the time, it wants to go someplace where she is. I couldn’t think about that right now, though, because she’d be done on the phone soon, which means I only have a small window of time in which to act.
I knew since dinner was over, Pop would be in his home office working overtime on trying to legitimize his enterprise, which meant Ma was either in her craft room or in the entertainment room with Sheila watching something no self-respecting male would be caught dead watching, except for the rare occasion when they catch Pop slipping, and browbeat him into joining the fun.
Just as I thought, they were in there with glasses of wine and what looked like a marathon’s worth of DVDs, with nothing but over-exaggerated titles to sucker women such as themselves. I won’t be saying anything to that effect because I didn’t have time for a lecture on the culture and times of Hollywood’s golden age.
“Ma, I can’t seem to decide on a dress for Gianna to wear to the party.”
“Oh? Where have you been looking?”
“Nowhere, I don’t know where to start.”
“Come sit over here by us.” She patted the space between the two of them, and I walked over reluctantly.