“Josh, it was never like that.” Tears stream down her face. “I didn’t set out to betray you. I couldn’t help falling in love with him.”
She couldn’t help it?Rage pummels my insides, and my hands twitch at my sides with longing to strangle the bitch who deceived me and left me broken. But death would be too kind to her. Let her live and face what’s surely coming. “I suppose you just tripped and landed on his dick?” I snarl.
“We didn’t plan this. It?—”
“Shut. Your. Lying. Face.”
“I’m sorry, Josh. I’m so sorry. I didn’t think you’d still be mad. I was just so happy to see you, and I thought?—”
“You thought what, slut?” I glare at her, and she steps back, clasping a hand over her mouth. “That I’d forgive you for cheating on me, for months, behind my back, with that conniving prick just because it’s been nine years since your betrayal?”
“Don’t do this.” Gia wraps her arms around me tight. “You’re better than this.”
I ignore her words but hold her hands tight around my waist, needing to distract myself so I don’t strangle a pregnant woman in broad daylight. “Get one thing straight, whore. I will never forgive you, and I will never forget.”
Although our birthday is in December, I’ve always felt I’m more Scorpio than Sagittarius. Like most Scorpios, I hold on to resentment with the tenacity of a nun protecting her virtue and I never forget betrayal. If you cross me, I’ll cut you dead, remember it forever, and always hate you.
Sobs escape her mouth, and snot dribbles from her nose.
“I might have ended up with your whining, sniveling ass if you hadn’t shown your true colors, so I guess I can thank you for saving me that torment. As for the rest, you’re already dead to me, bitch. As dead as you’ll actually be in a few months when that baby arrives.”
“Joshua! Stop this. Oh my God.” Gia’s shocked tone doesn’t deter me, and I’m not taking back anything I’ve said.
The bitch’s tears stop, and her face turns pale.
A bitter laugh rips from my lips. “You didn’t seriously think he’d let you keep it or even let you live? You know he doesn’t love you, right? Please tell me you’re notthatstupid. He didn’t marry you. You’ve been his piece on the side for years. You and countless others, so don’t think you’re special. And don’t think he’ll protect you when the time comes because he won’t. He’ll rip that baby from your arms and take it home to his wife to raise as their own.”
“He wouldn’t do that. She doesn’t want babies.”
Gia comes around to my side, peering up at me with horrified eyes. I’m not sure if she’s worked it out or if it’s more of a generalized state of horror.
“So fucking stupid.” I snap my fingers in her face. “Wake up and smell the coffee, Bettina. She can’t conceive.” I don’t know that to be fact. I’m just guessing this is the reason why they’venever had kids and why he’s now resorted to using his whore as a last measure. “He used you to give him an heir, and you just spread your legs and let him. You deserve to die for being such a pathetic bitch.” I grab Gia’s hand. “If you’re lucky he’ll make it quick, but if his wife gets her hands on you, all bets are off.”
She visibly shakes, and if I had any heart left, I might take pity on her. But I don’t, and she doesn’t deserve it. “Rot in hell, Ina. You deserve it.”
Chapter Sixteen
Gia
I’m in the back of a taxi, en route to Liam’s place, and I should be focused on our dinner date, but instead, I’m worrying about Elisa and still mulling over everything that went down between Joshua and his ex a few days ago. I have borne the brunt of Joshua’s cold front before, but I have never seen him act so callously. He pulled no punches with Bettina, and he was brutally cruel. After she ran off, I tried getting him to talk to me, but he clammed up like an oyster, and I haven’t seen or heard from him since.
He's clearly harboring a lot of resentment and hasn’t fully moved on. It’s been a long time, and my heart hurts for him carrying all that pain and hatred around for years. It doesn’t mean I excuse or condone his treatment of his ex because I don’t. Bettina did him dirty, but attacking her so viciously while she’s heavily pregnant was out of line. He should have remained dignified and just walked away.
It was naïve of her to approach him in the first place. Why on earth would she ever think he’d want to talk to her? Especially when she’s pregnant with the other man’s baby? I never knew the specifics of what went down only that she had been cheatingon Joshua with another made man for months before he found out.
The car pulls up in front of a fancy apartment building in historic DUMBO, right beside the trendy waterfront, and I crane my neck to see the top of the steel-and-glass façade of the high-rise. Figures Liam would live someplace like this. The man is all about appearances and he loves the sound of his own voice. Conversations we’ve had where he was bragging about his new apartment make sense now.
I pay the driver and leave with my purse and my grocery bag, entering the plush building a minute later. The concierge adds my name to a guest book and escorts me to the elevator that takes me to the penthouse apartment Liam is currently renting. I press on both earrings to activate the recording device just before the elevator doors part on the top level.
My fake new boyfriend is waiting to greet me, leaning in to kiss me before the elevator doors have even closed behind me. I go through the motions while I run through the menu I’m creating in my head until it’s over.
“I’m glad you’re here,” he says, looping his arm through mine as his gaze devours me from head to toe.
“I’m happy to be here,” I lie, smiling at him. “I love cooking, and I can’t wait to cook for you.”
He steers me across the lobby, ogling me like I’m the meal, and into his penthouse. Unlike Joshua’s place, this is flamboyant and garish with a bright red leather couch and a cowhide fur I really hope is fake on the floor. There are no homey touches, but Liam hasn’t been living here long, and it’s only a rental.
“Wow, the view is stunning,” I say, gravitating toward the tall floor-to-ceiling windows offering expansive views of the harbor, the Manhattan skyline, and the Brooklyn Bridge in the near distance.
