Vengeance.
It's something I've been taught as the son of a cruel mafia don; something I've comforted myself with for years.
When the one thing that kept me grounded is yanked away so ruthlessly, it's only in my nature to strike out in the only way...
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"Yes."
"Yes?" I repeated to make sure I heard Nicholas right.
"Yes. You can go. Take security with you."
"Oh. I thought you would say no after I slapped Eduardo."
"Eduardo wouldn't strike so soon," he replied. "He stalks his prey first. You should be fine with the guards for today. I have people monitoring Eduardo, too."
Prey. That was what I was to Eduardo, and I was just putting this out there; it wasn't a pleasant feeling. I felt like I was a child all over again, always on alert in case there was someone following me.
"I'm stopping on the way to get art supplies."
"Whatever you want." His voice sounded off, like he wasn't paying attention to what I was saying. "There's money in the bedside drawer."
I was almost sure he wasn't paying attention to me. Otherwise, he wouldn't have agreed so easily, but I wasn't going to stick around long enough for him to change his mind.
***
"I see you've been feeding things into Nicholas's head."
My spine stiffened when I heard my father's voice from the doorway. I'd been elated when the butler told me my parents weren't home, but with my father's sudden arrival, my plan to sneak in and out unnoticed wasn't going to work.
I turned to face him, my smile in place. "Hey, Father. I didn't know you were home."
He shot me a nasty glare. "Spare me the greetings, little snake. I see you've been working your magic on Nicholas."
My smile fell. "What do you mean?"
"Why is Nicholas suddenly questioning the things that happened seven years ago?"
Everyone had swallowed my father's version of the story hook, line, and sinker. Nicholas hadn't been an exception to that. We didn't talk about Gianna's death recently, so why was he questioning everything now?
I shrugged. "I don't know."
"He was here this morning, and he asked for the tapes. What lies did you tell him?"
That had to be before I came down for breakfast because I woke up late, but why the sudden desire to get additional information on what happened?
"I said nothing to him. I remember nothing that happened that night, remember?" I wish I did, but shit happened.
"I do. You murdered Gianna out of jealousy. She was driving home, and you took over the wheels, leading to an accident."
"N- no. That wasn't what happened."
An image of me sitting in the driver's seat while Gianna sat next to me in the passenger seat hit me, and I took a step back.
"I was the one driving," I muttered, my vision blurring.
