I watched Felix’s arrival and the way he jumped out of his car and rushed towards the flames. His look of disbelief was followed by one of pure rage when Becky came skipping around the side of the building. The camera was still rolling when Felix wrapped his hands around Becky’s neck and squeezed.
The grotesque look of horror on her face was more than satisfying, and between her struggles and the flames, the staff had been alerted. I watched long enough to see her body go limp before sending a text to Nery to vacate the area.
“All done?” Gianna, who’d been talking to the other three, turned to me with a smile.
“All done; where are we off to next?”
GABRIEL
I excused myself to the restroom at the first available opportunity so I could make a call to the lawyer to who I’d asked Pop to give a heads-up. I gave him a rundown of the situation in as concise a manner as I could, to which he didn’t ask any questions and acted as though the call was just another of its kind in a long line of many. He’s been around since a little before the end of Gramps’ reign, so I’m sure that may be true.
“Try to get him off with manslaughter with extenuating circumstances.”
“Anything else?”
“Yes, I have some evidence that should help his case.” At least I have enough good in me to do this. Without Gianna’s involvement, I would’ve let him rot, but I can’t help but worry that she may look back someday and want this piece of trash in her life. Westerners are big on giving forgiveness, especially to those who never get around to asking for it.
The evidence I had consisted of all of Becky’s actions in the last couple of days. Unbeknownst to her, ‘Frank’s’ tent and car had been wired for visual and sound, so everything that was said and done there by her was recorded, on top of the fact that she supposedly burnt her husband’s dead wife’s belongings after gleefully bragging to ‘Frank’ about doing just that.
With her jaw wired shut and being high as a kite, her demeanor and behavior, from what little I’d seen, makes her out to be a drug-addicted junkie. Sad as it is, someone of Felix’s standing in the community won’t be put away for too long for ridding the world of someone like that. Harsh, I know, but it’s exactly what I was aiming for.
Especially in that last reel where she removed the gas can from the trunk, that grin, or what I’m sure she believed was a grin, came across more like a sinister sneer. I guess with the drugs in her system, she was feeling no pain, but she didn’t give any thought to how she must look. Unbathed, unkempt, her hair a matted mess still with detritus from her stay in the woods. Anyone watching that will no doubt see exactly what I want them to—a burnt-out junkie set on destruction.
Her words, slurred as they were from the little I’d heard from the first recording I’d been sent, were more than enough to seal the deal. Nery had done an excellent job. I have to remember to take care of him and Tommy for doing so well at their task. “Keep me posted. Pop will probably call you after I’m done. You’re free to answer all of his questions.”
The lawyer promised to take care of it and added that he’d get a counselor onboard for Felix to add some traction to his case. I’d done all I intended to for him at this point, so I turned my phone off and switched my attention to making sure Gianna had the best time of her life so far. There was no way for anyone to get in touch with her about her dad, no one knew the number to the phone I bought her, and no one knew where she was except him. He’s not going to call her even if he could.
I’ll find a way after her debutante ball to break it to her gently, but since I expect her to be leaving with her grandmother, I think she’d be okay. She’ll have people there to comfort her. It was a bit of a tug of war for me going ahead with destroying Felix just days before I broke the news of our split to her, but it couldn’t be helped. The timing of all this isn’t necessarily my doing after all. I’m just going with the flow.
At the end of the day, the bottom line is that no matter how I feel about her, or anyone else for that matter, I can’t turn back the tide. I can’t not be who I am. And though I know she’s going to be hurt, I’m hoping the pain wouldn’t be as intense, seeing as how we’ve only known each other for a little more than a month.
I have no doubt that in time, she’ll get over it, get over us, and move on. It’s the moving on part that bothers me somehow, but so far, I’ve refused to look too deeply into why that should be. I won’t be around anyway, so it shouldn’t matter to me. But somehow it does, and just as with love, I have no idea how to deal with these feelings, have no experience with the emotions that thinking of her moving on with someone else when I’m gone evokes in me.
The rest of the day was spent in high anxiety for the girls who, once we returned to the castle, were inundated with preparations for the upcoming party the following night. Their chatter, especially hers, did my heart good because it was getting to the point where I couldn’t put off thinking about my own doings much longer. I’d put aside my own plans and thoughts of what was to come to truly devote myself to her all day.
I wanted to give her that much, at least, because she deserved it and more. Now it was time to turn my focus once again to Sicily.
Now, to the reason for my little chat with the boys earlier. I’d decided at some point to allow them to join me on my trip to Sicily, only for the reason that if I disappeared, Pop would freak, and I didn’t want that. I played around with the idea of sneaking out during the night, but because I’d never been there before and wasn’t sure about the protocol of a young man entering a convent after hours, I didn’t want to chance it.
This way, they will see it as just a side trip with no real significance, so not something they needed to report to him until it was all said and done. It may be going a bit overboard, but I like to cross all my T’s and dot every I. By the time they realize I’m not really going to the catacombs but headed for the plane, it would be too late, and I’ll just use my handy little device to jam their cellphones before takeoff, easy.
As for Pop’s other little spy, for some reason, Lancelot decided to stick close to me for the rest of that first night with his distrusting ass, which in retrospect I didn’t mind, since he can only run back and tell Pop that there was nothing going on. My calculations seem to be on point because even he had relaxed his stance and enjoyed his day instead of worrying about what I might be up to.
Outwardly I’d been my usual laid-back self, though, in my head, I’d been moving things around, preparing for any bumps in the road, and basically envisioning how I wanted things to play out. I was now very close to taking care of the one thing that had haunted me my entire life.
I was finally about to face my demons and put them to rest for good. If I were truly selfish, I would use the time left to gorge myself on Gianna, taking even more from her than I already have. Instead, I choose to do everything, give her everything, except more of me.
By that, I mean I won’t touch her. There won’t be any last one for the road. I’m not that callous to take her while knowing that it was over. It wouldn’t be fair to her. So, I concentrated all my efforts on showing her the best time sans that. Just being here seems to be doing the trick, and the twins kept her preoccupied with their girly shit, which she was all into, so there is that.