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.”