Page 103 of Reckless Woman
“Quit smoking,” I tell him, pulling away. “I want you around for as long as possible.”
His resultant grin slithers with wicked intent. “Come on my face like you did last night, and you have a deal.”
“I’ll let you come on mine, if you promise to cut down on the whiskey, too.”
He barks out a rough laugh. “Dirty girl.”
“Later,” I promise, with another smile.I can’t let him suspect anything…
“Don’t be long.” He relinquishes me with a frown.
“Delayed gratification is a wonderful thing.”
My heart is hammering so hard as I leave the house and follow the path that leads all the way to the women’s apartment block. It’s the kind of chest carnage that leaves me gasping and dizzy, and worrying about cardiac arrests.
If I’m right about this, though, they’ll be far more important things to worry about soon.
It’s quiet today. There are no girls chatting and smoking by the main entrance. Everyone is either at breakfast or tending to the gardens.
Letting myself in the front door, I climb the narrow staircase to the top floor, counting window positions in my head as I stop for breath-breaks every few steps. There are four apartments, but I know where I’m headed. Once there, I rap sharply on the painted wood, but I’m not expecting an answer. I wait for ten seconds, and then I barge in anyway.
A tiny entranceway leads into a small living-space that’s sparse and functional. One scuffed brown couch, One table. Two chairs. There are no pictures on the wall, or belongings of any kind scattered across the floor or surfaces. She may be hiding herself well, but I know the kick of that spicy perfume anywhere…
It’s a brand called treachery and deceit.
“I know you’re here, Vi.” I spin a slow circle with my arms out, to show her I’m unarmed. By rights, I should be scared, but a cold, hard anger has overtaken that emotion. Moreover, if she wanted me dead, she’s had ample opportunity over the last few days to stick another knife in my back. “I know you’re hiding in a dark corner somewhere, like the dirty coward you are. You can see I don’t have a gun, so why don’t you finish off what you started?”
After a long pause, a door creaks open to my left. There’s slow movement in my periphery.
“I would never shoot you,parcera.”
I turn, expecting to find confidence in brown cowboy boots. Instead, I’m greeted with a shrunken, thinner version of desperation in blue jeans and a loose-fitted T-shirt that reaches to her knees. She’s cut her black hair into a jagged, uneven bob that stabs at her skinny shoulders, and her dark eyes are dull and guilt-ridden. She looks more like a beaten dog that’s slunk back into the room for more punishment, and that’s exactly what I’m going to give her.
“You fucking bitch,” I hiss, and walking up to her, I slap her hard across the face—the sound echoing in the small room like a whip crack.
Her head stays flung to one side from the force of my blow, strands of greasy dark hair still strewn across her face like rotten seaweed. For some reason, her resignation angers me even more.
“I hate you!” I scream, losing it completely, pummeling her with my fists before shoving her away from me like she’s toxic. “The hell you’ve put me through! Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t go straight to Joseph and tell him all about you. It’s a miracle that we’re both still alive, but our baby isn’t, Vi.” My voice breaks with emotion. “You killed my one and only chance to be a mother!”
“Do it,” she chokes, finally righting herself. “Go tell him now. It’s what I deserve.”
“Gabriela knew, didn’t she?” I say, solving another puzzle in my head. “That’s why she’s been looking so pale and worried this week. The betrayal was eating her up inside.”
“Parcera...”
“Stop calling me that!” I scream again. “I’m not your fucking partner, Vi. I was never your fucking partner. Partners stand equal, and you were walking all over me from the start. You were scamming me the minute I stepped off that plane in Colombia. There was no deal to save Manuel’s bar, because you’d already sold it to Vindicta. Joseph told me all about it. Did you pay Fernandez’s men to rape you, too, or is that the sort of shit you get off on?” I shake my head at her in disgust.
“No,” she whispers, clutching her cheek. “Anna, please—”
“You let them into this estate a couple of months ago, didn’t you? You let them kidnap me, and then it wasyouwho put that roulette gun in my hand, not Fernandez. You were so sure I’d fucking turn on him, instead of you.” I laugh scornfully. “Bet the old man never saw that coming.”
She starts crying, but I don’t have any patience left for a single one of her tears.
“How did you guess?”
“I saw you a week ago inthatwindow,” I say, jabbing my finger at it. “I thought I was going crazy, but then I looked harder at the paintings on the rocks…I thought they were just pretty pictures, but they weren’t. They were snapshots from our past. Thechivabus, the ocean by Santa Perdito. Why did you do it, Vi?” I demand. “Is this just another one of your sick and twisted mind games?”
“I did it, so you’d remember something good about me,” she says hoarsely. “I did it so I could stack those memories up, and maybe, one day, they’d reach high enough for forgiveness.”