Page 99 of Perfect Vengeance

Tears backed up behind Gina’s eyes, and she quickly blinked them away. Kinsey really had come close to dying, yet her friends were all here. This time, she let the tears fall. Out of sheer joy, love, and thankfulness she could never repay.

“Oh, Gina.” Anna swiped at her own tears. “Don’t start that. You know it’s contagious.”

Margo and Kinsey began sniffling, and they all laughed.

“Sorry.” She grabbed the tissue box from her desk and held it out for them to pluck away.

“Ladies,” Margo said a moment later when they held up their flutes. “It’s been a difficult year. One filled with triumphs, failures, and⁠—”

“Adventure!” Kinsey interrupted.

Anna rolled her eyes.

“I was going to say,” Margo continued, throwing Kinsey a mock glare, “wonderful achievements.”

“Amen,” Anna said as they went around the circle. “Here’s to a wonderful holiday season and an even better new year. Preferably one filled with less exuberant adventures.”

Now that it was Gina’s turn to add something, her throat closed up. “Here’s to the best friends a girl could ever have. I love you all. I mean that.”

“Here, here.” Margo nodded.

“Back atcha, girlfriend.” Kinsey winked.

“We love you too.” Anna stood on her tiptoes and kissed Gina’s cheek. “Don’t ever forget that.”

As they clinked glasses and took a sip, Jack’s words came back to her. You’re as tight as any blood sisters. Maybe tighter. He was right. Then, she hadn’t been giving her friends enough credit. Moving forward, she would never doubt their love or friendship again.

“Gina?” Margo asked. “Is everything all right?”

“Of course.” To cover the fact that it wasn’t, she took another sip of champagne. She actually did get some good news today. “I stopped by the Center this morning to see Maria Falzone. She’s doing much better. Her injuries are healing and she’s getting counseling. Since Tino is dead, she may not even need to relocate. After she married him, he put a wedge between her and her family. Now that she doesn’t have to worry about him coming after her, she’s thinking about reconciling with them.”

“That is good news,” Margo said.

“I’ll drink to that.” Kinsey raised her glass in the air.

“So why do you look so sad?” Anna watched her intently.

“Duh.” Kinsey nudged Anna’s shoulder.

“Sorry.” Anna held up a hand. “I didn’t mean to bring it up.”

“That’s okay.” She squeezed Anna’s shoulder. She’d already told her friends every ugly detail of her conversation with Jack.

“Have you heard from him?” Kinsey asked.

“No.” She shook her head. “I don’t think I ever will again. It’s my fault. I pushed him away.”

Margo rested a comforting hand on her arm. “You had your reasons.”

“I know.” She let out a heavy sigh, staring at the bubbles in her glass as they rose to the surface. “I guess I needed time to sort things out in my head. To separate the past from the present and to understand things clearly enough to come to grips with them.”

“Did you?” Anna asked quietly.

She pursed her lips, nodding. “I loved my father, but as Jack said, he was, in fact, a criminal.” His motives might have been pure—to provide more for his family than his legitimate job could—but that didn’t change what he was. “What happened to my father wasn’t Jack’s fault, not really. He was just doing his job, and his job was to take out the big fish: Franco Falzone. Franco hurt and killed a lot of people. It was Jack’s job to stop him, and my father was a way to make that happen.”

Margo’s brows lowered in concern. “Can you really forgive him?”

Her heart squeezed because she already knew the answer. Now, when Jack’s face came to her, it was no longer associated with the same rage and need for revenge she’d carried around for the last fifteen years. It was with the pain of regret, loss, and love that could never be. “I already have. But it’s too late.”