Page 28 of Twisted Throne
I sat, and sipped at my drink until my phone buzzed. Sliding it out of my pocket, I saw a text message from Carlos.
Deliveries confirmed. All good. Waiting for word on targets.
I texted back,Good. We’ll talk tomorrow, you and me.
There could be no more distractions from Gia. I needed to prove that Alec was the leak. And when I did that bastard would curse the day he was born, LaRosa or not.
Chapter Fourteen
Gia
I managed to make my way back to my bedroom without running into anyone. After dealing with Paul’s hot and cold bullshit, I was wound tight as a drum. My muscles were in knots. I kicked off my shoes and moved to the middle of the living room. I stood with my feet slightly apart and slowly bent forward until my hands were touching the floor. My back cracked and popped like a little old lady’s. I took deep breaths in and out and relaxed down into the stretch. The familiar stretches calmed my mind and I could feel some of the tension trickling out of my body.
Once I felt reasonably stretched out I straightened up and shoved the heavy, glass topped coffee table off to the side to give myself more room to move around. I played the music in my head and began to move through the still- familiarpas de chatsandarabesques. The exercise got my heart pumping in a completely different way than it did for Paul, burning off some of the tension from the last few days. It was probably better for me, to boot.
Before I started to feel too sorry for myself, there was a quick rap on my door. I hadn’t even had time to get both of my feet back on the floor when Lucy burst in.
“Gia! What’s up? Elena said you were staying here, that’s awesome, I am too! Mom and Dad are both out of town for a while so I’m crashing here. How long are you staying? I’m soooo bored! Elena’s such a drag, things will be a lot more fun with you here!”
She plopped down on the oversized couch and continued to pepper me with questions.
“Have you seen Paul? I don’t think he’s staying here, but he’s around a lot. Have you guys talked any? I can tell you like him, I have a sixth sense about these kinda things,” she said with such certainty I couldn’t help but laugh as I answered her.
“I’m not sure how long I’m staying, probably just a few days. And I bet Elena might surprise you and be more fun than you think if you gave her a chance,” I replied, pointedly ignoring her questions about Paul in the hopes that she would let the subject drop.
“Ugh, she’s definitely not fun. You’ll see once you get to know her better,” she said, scrunching up her face, causing her dark purple eyeliner to smudge. “So, wanna tell me what kind of weird jazzercise you were doing just now?”
“It wasn’t jazzercise, it was ballet. How old do you think I am?” I smacked her lightly on the arm. “I don’t go to classes anymore, but I still like to do it just for fun.”
“Awesome! Show me something.” Lucy pulled her legs up beneath her and stared at me expectantly.
“Sorry, I don’t really like to dance in front of people anymore. Sort of a mental block I guess.” There was no guessing about it; I couldn’t dance for anyone until I stopped expecting to hear Mom’s voice encouraging me.
Lucy sighed, a dramatic burst of air that fluttered the ends of her hair upward. “Fine. I’ll change the subject. So tell me about you and Paul, he’s always so mysterious. I want to know absolutely everything!”
“There’s nothing to tell, really,” I said firmly. “Nothing happened”, my ass. “And it’s not something that we’re going to talk about.”
“Whatever you say,” she said, rolling her eyes at me. “Well, if you don’t want to talk about Paul, tell me about how you found out that you’re Angelo’s daughter. Did your mom tell you or what? When did you know?”
“Uh, no. My mom actually passed away a few months ago,” I said awkwardly.
Lucy’s eyes grew wide. “Oh my god, I’m so, so sorry!’ she exclaimed.
“No, really, it’s fine, I don’t mind talking about it,” I assured her. “Short version, Mom never told me who my dad was, but after she died I found a letter she had written but never sent to Angelo, to tell him about me I guess.” I truly didn’t mind talking about it, but I still had to blink back tears. “And a necklace that he’d given her.”
“Holy hell, that is so romantic!” Lucy exclaimed. She scooted forward to the edge of the cushion, eyes wide. “Can I see the necklace?”
I couldn’t help but smile at her enthusiasm.
“Sure, hang on a sec.”
I went across the room to the elaborately carved dresser I had unpacked my meager clothing into. When I opened the top drawer the smell of cedar wafted out. It was a far cry from the old musty dresser I had at home. Both the letter and necklace were there in the drawer, but I left the letter and removed only the necklace. The letter seemed too private to share with anyone other than Angelo.
“Here it is.” I sat down beside Lucy and handed her the pendant. She was practically vibrating with excitement.
“Oh my god! It’s so pretty!” She held it up to the light, and the diamonds sparkled like stars. “This must have cost a damn fortune! Angelo must have totally been in love with her, for real.”
“I’m honestly not sure, but it was a long time ago,” I said. “I don’t guess it really matters now.”