I’ll have to do it, though, no matter what. It’s the least I can do to make up for my failures. It’s the least I can do to respect the memory of my wife. I felt cold tears on my cheeks and wiped them away. I don’t deserve the privilege of tears, but knowing how disappointed my wife would be with me was more than I could bear.
By the time I made it up to my bed, I was little more than a broken man. There was no more use for me to be here. I’d failed the one thing I had left to do. With my own hands, I’d brought hell into my young daughter’s life and subjected her to everything her mother would’ve opposed. No, there’s no more need for me to be here.
VICTORIA
Oh good, she’s gone; thank goodness, I thought she’d never leave. Trying to pull me down with her? Fat chance. Like she’d always taught me, it’s survival of the fittest. That’s what she’d always snicker and say any time she reminisced about Adrienne, so she should understand my actions and hold no grudges, though she seems pretty pissed at me.
None of this is my fault, though, so whatever. If she wasn’t so stupid, none of this would be happening. She had one damn job, and she screwed it up royally. If she’d done half of what I told her to, we wouldn’t be in this mess. If she’d gotten rid of the daughter the same way she executed the mother, we both could be sitting pretty for the rest of our lives.
But no, she was convinced that we needed to keep that fool around in order to keep Felix on the hook. She may have had a point the first year or so, but once he’d adopted me and they’d been married long enough that an annulment wouldn’t be possible, there was no need for Gia to be around.
Of course, I didn’t tell her to knock her off right away. I was too young back then to even understand. At five years old, all I knew was that I hated Gia, but I didn’t know why. Just that every time we were in the same space together, I couldn’t breathe. She was always the center of attention, especially for her mother and the other women who praised her even above their own kids.
It’s only a few years later that that hate had grown to such proportions, and by then, I knew a little bit more about life and understood what it meant for someone to no longer be here. Plus, I have the memory of what mom had done that day, even though I had no clue at the time. With age and time came enlightenment. I think I was about eight when I finally got it.
That’s when I first started pushing for her to deal with Gia as well, but she had other ideas. Now that I think about it, she probably couldn’t have held onto Felix without his kid in the picture needing a mother. But what about me? Wasn’t I his too by then? That’s a slap in the face, the fact that she doesn’t see my adoption as….
Oh, oh, now I see. I felt sick in my gut when I figured out exactly why it is that she’d have felt that way. Jimmy: Jimmy is still alive, something I knew but had blocked out like she’d taught me to when I was younger. At that age, I knew nothing about parental consent and needing a parent to sign away their rights, etcetera. But now it all makes sense.
It doesn’t matter that he’s alive; he can’t do anything about it now. Becky had most likely forged his signature, but who’s to say? Besides, I’m old enough to look out for myself, and I have more than a few tricks up my sleeve to make sure my life is as uninterrupted as possible. All these things that have been going on will pass soon enough.
Gabe and Gia seemed to want blood, but it was Becky’s they were after. They’d already got me kicked out of school; hopefully, that’s where their fight with me ends. All I have to do is lay low for now until they all but forget I exist. Maybe they’ll be satisfied with picking over Becky’s old carcass.
All of this is her just desserts anyway, and I won’t feel an ounce of pity for her. She’d been sitting pretty once she got rid of Adrienne. The person she envied most was no more, but I still had to deal with my nemesis in my face every day, living under the same roof. It didn’t matter how much torment I put her through; the fact that Gia was still breathing has always been a bone of contention for me.