I flicked off the water and took account of the damage in the mirror before pulling on a shirt to hide it. I have no doubt if Gianna sees what she’d done, she’d freak. I put the sleeping puppy in bed with her and pulled the covers that she’d kicked off back in place before sitting down in front of the computer.
I sent Victoria a message letting her know the consequences she would face if she came after Gianna over getting her ass beat. I didn’t wait around for an answer, just simply let her know that she had way more to lose than Gianna did. While I was at it, I also fed her fear of the whereabouts of her father being exposed, something she didn’t want.
I could end this whole thing right now by bringing Jimmy here to our town, but tempted as I am to rush things, I know it will be better in the long run if I stick to the program. Gianna deserves her pound of flesh; she deserves to get justice for her mother. I just won’t trust anyone else to watch over her from now on.
In the morning, I didn’t mention it to her or the twins, who looked like they expected me to jump down their throats. Pop had only asked one question, if I needed him, and left it at no. So, for all intents and purposes, it was over with. I’d come up with the perfect way to keep her little ass quiet, at least for a while, which should give me time to do what I had planned without any more interference from her and the two she’d somehow won over to her side.
Lancelot was still in a pissy mood, though, because he’s all about the drama. The boy can hold onto shit like a Boston terrier when he sinks his teeth into something. “I see they can still sit.” That was his inflammatory statement when he dropped down beside me at lunch.
“What do you mean?”
“I told Unc to beat their ass, or I’m going to do it.” He looked dead at the twins when he said this, which set them off, me, I’m staying out of it.
The three of them argued through their teeth while Gianna squirmed in her seat from guilt, and all in all, I thought she was getting off lightly. The other three that had covered for them pretended they didn’t know what was going on. “We might as well go home with you after school; we only have a few days left for practice.”
Tasha piped up, completely ignoring Lance, which I’m sure was done purposely.
“Gianna will have to join you later. I have somewhere to take her.” I tacked on the last since they were all looking at me for an answer. Gianna herself was surprised by the announcement since I hadn’t mentioned anything to her about my plans. “It’s a surprise.”
I sat through an hour of the twins teasing Lance out of his snit until he was eating off their plates as usual with his greedy ass. Food is going to be his downfall. By the time lunch was over, everyone was back to normal, and I was the only one left to worry about all of them. I was especially worried about Lance because of a decision he was wrestling with, something the girls knew nothing about and something I think had added to his level of pissed off the evening before.
The asshole police department is trying to recruit him for a new program they were running, which would pay for college while he became a police technician and worked his way up the ladder. Like he fucking needed them to pay for his shit when he has the Russos ready to send him to any school he chooses to study whatever the hell he wants.
I can’t say anything, though, because it’s what he wants, and I’ll be damned if he doesn’t get what he desires in life because that’s what brothers do. What I can do is hope that the people in my life would settle the hell down and sit in the pigeonholes I’ve arranged for them in my head. It’s stupid, I know, and borderline dictatorial, but dammit, at least he’d be safe.
I’m still not sure why he wants to be a cop so bad, but I know when I’m gone, Pop will watch out for him anyway. Still, it burns a hole in my gut that he wants to put his life in danger day after day because fuck, that shit is more dangerous than he knows. I do because I’ve done as much research on his shit as I’ve done on mine.
His heart is in the right place; he wants to protect and serve. But I know about the underbelly of that shit, the harm he’d face every day of his life once he puts on that uniform, not just from the public but because of his upright nature, the bad eggs around him. Now he’s thinking of joining sooner than later. When the hell did they start training eighteen-year-olds for that shit anyway?
Thinking about his mess kept my mind off hers, at least until school was over for the day. “Where are you taking me?” I’d sent the twins home with Lance and headed in the opposite direction. I took her hand and rested it on my thigh as I drove. “It’s a surprise, trust me; you’re going to like it.” I kissed her fingers and put her hand back as we drove in silence for the next half hour.
She still didn’t know where we were until the guy handed me the keys and led us to the little unit that stood among a row of others that all looked alike. I opened the door and stepped back so she could see in. “Gabriel, this is….”
“Yes, it’s your mom’s stuff.” I let her go in alone after making sure the place was secure while my shadows circled the place, trying to be inconspicuous.
I watched from the doorway as she walked through the storage unit, touching things here and there. The place was packed neatly; in fact, it looked like a room in someone’s home that had been transported. I stayed put, giving her space until I saw the first tear fall. “It’s okay; I’ve got you.” I let her cry it out as she held onto some trinket that belonged to her mom.
Each sob was like a knife in the gut for me, and I was ready to get her out of there, berating myself for not thinking it through, and then she pulled herself together. “I’m fine, I’m fine, it’s just seeing her things. I thought all this stuff was gone. I remember playing with these things; mom used to let me play dress-up. She bought them especially for us to play.”
It was a string of beads like the ones you’d find on any pushcart in Tijuana, a whole jewelry box full of differing colors. I stood with her while she relived the moments she’d spent with the mother she’d lost. She wiped her nose in my shirt, and I mock complained because it made her laugh.
“I’ll be right by the door if you need me, okay.”
“No, don’t leave, stay here.”
“Okay, I’ll stay.” She went back to perusing, picking up random things here and there with me following along but keeping my distance. We reached the other side of the room, which had been hidden from view, and there was a chair sitting in the middle of the room facing a wall where a life-size portrait of her mother hung. I guess that’s where Felix sits when he comes here.
“I’ll get it.” I stepped into her space only when she tried to lift the thing down from its place on the wall because it’s almost as big as she is.
I thought she just wanted a closer look, but she turned and headed for the door, barely able to carry the almost four-foot frame. “You’re taking this?”
“Yes!” I started to ask about her dad coming here and finding it gone, but my girl had gone from zero to one-twenty again. She didn’t say a word, but her face said plenty; she was pissed.
“You mind telling me why you’re upset?”
“I almost forgot what my mother looked like. He removed this because of Becky, but he got to come here and see it whenever he liked. He erased her to please that, that….” She growled or grunted. I’m not sure which one, and I wasn’t about to say shit. She was in a mood.