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.