“Come here,” he said through gritted teeth. His hand squeezed my arm hard and he shoved me toward his office. Right to his chair.
“What? What are you doing?”
“Shut the fuck up. I’m about to show you. Didn’t I tell you I’d find the truth, Gabriella? Didn’t I? Or should I say Isabella?”
My lips parted, ready to ask him what he was talking about when the email opened. Paxton hit play and I watched the surveillance camera. A black SUV pulled to a parking spot right in front of the camera. Just like mine, only black. A small white Honda parked crookedly right beside it. I looked back at Paxton’s angry face, wearing a puzzled expression. He shoved my face back to the computer. It was gone. The change in his eyes over the past few months. Gone in an instant. Paxton hated me.
I watched with wide eyes as two girls embraced for a long time. Tears swelled in my eyes while I witnessed the reunion.
“Is that Izzy and me? Oh, my God. It is. It’s her.” My hand covered my heart and I stared in total disbelief.
“No. It’s you and Gabriella. You’re fucking good. I mean like Emmy award good.”
I looked back with a twisted frown, trying like hell to decipher what in the world he was talking about.
“This is genius. You’re a fucking genius.”
“What do you mean?” I asked in mouse-like tone.
Paxton walked around his desk and paced, back and forth.
“I presume amnesia is probably pretty easy when you pretend to be somebody else. That’s fucking single white female shit. Like I can’t even wrap my head around what has gone on here. You should put this shit in a book. I can see it now. Big screen. I think Ben Affleck should play the idiot husband, don’t you?”
“You think I’m Izzy?”
“Oh I know you are. It’s all out. You can stop with the act.”
His hands came down hard on the desk in front of me, loud and firm. I jumped and cowered from his glare. “Where the fuck is my wife? Tell me, Isabella. Where is my wife? You know the one. The one you killed.” His voice changed to an eerie low. Creepy, and I was scared.
“I didn’t kill her. I love her. I wouldn’t hurt my sister.”
“Right. Sure. Was it for the money? Huh, Isabella? Did you think you were going to waltz in here and take what’s mine? Everything makes so much sense now. You’re background check tells it all. Stop me if I’m wrong.”
Paxton paced the floor in front of me while I sat in his big leather chair. Alone and lost. All I could do was listen.
His index finger made small circles around his ear as he began his pacing again. “Your mama was a little coo-coo, jumped off a fire escape to her death when you were eleven. The state couldn’t find anyone to take two girls your age, so they split you up. You went to Michigan where you lived with the Walkers. Nice couple. They raised seven? Or was it eight? Yes, eight hard to place kids. You were one of them. You were also quiet the basketball player. Three state titles. Impressive. You tried your hand at landscaping, but that was a flop. And then you worked a titty bar, where you thrived. Explains why you’re so good at making those drinks. Huh?
“I left you alone with my kids. How fucking stupid could I be. I don’t even know what to say to you right now. I wish you could feel the fury pumping through my veins right now, Gabriella. I want to slice your throat, take you out to the ocean, and feed your body to the sharks.”
“I would never her Row or Phi. You know that.”
“I don’t even know who the fuck you are.”
I was suddenly scared for my life. “What are you going to do?”
“I’m not going to do anything. You are. Just remember, baby girl. We’re all innocent until proven guilty.”
My eyes turned to the time on the fancy clock trimmed in gold, and then to the photo of Rowan and Phi. Right beside it. Happy smiles, Rowan in a full blown laugh and Ophelia’s straight and fake. The one she used when she was told to smile.
I didn’t hear anything after that. Loud shrills rang in my head while I tried to wrap my finger around what was happening. Once again, I was left doubting the realness of my life.
“It’s for you,” Paxton smirked. His hand yanked me from his chair by my hair.
“Ms. Delgado?”
“Get this trashy slut out of my house,” Paxton said with an angry shove toward two uniformed police officers.
My footing was lost with the shove and the sudden plummet of my heart. I fell on my knees, terrified out of my mind.
Both men helped me up. One with handcuffs. I barely remember even hearing my rights being read. It was more of an echo in my head. Something about the impersonation and disappearance of Gabriella Pierce.
One last plea to my husband, and I was whisked away by strangers.
“Paxton?”
He stood at the door with his hands in his pockets and tension on his face. My eyes never left his, not even when I felt a hand on my head, guiding me to the back of a police car. The sunny day suddenly turned gray. I never let my eyes leave Paxton’s. Not even when my world spun and I felt like I was going to pass out. I tried to blink away the blur and stay focused on Paxton. Beg with my eyes, but I couldn’t. It was all too much. Everything faded.
~~
“I don’t want to go. I want to stay with you.”
I hugged her tight behind the closed door while our new parents’ and a social worker discussed our lives. The lives that would pull us apart. Separate us, and nobody cared. I couldn’t live without her. I didn’t want to. I needed her. She was a part of me, and not in the cliché way like an arm or a leg. She was my heart. Gabby was half my heart.
“Listen to me. I want you to listen really close. You’re not Gabby from this moment on. You go live with the Walkers and have an amazing life. I swear, we’ll be together again if it’s the last thing I do,” I removed my pink shirt and slipped out of my shoes while I rattled off the way it was going to be. I had to. I had to protect her. I knew the part of town Ms. Porter lived in. I’d already been there, a few blocks from her house. A foster home on the shitty side of Fort Myers. The hood. The ghetto. I didn’t want Gabby there. She’d never survive that.
“Izzy, what are you doing?”
“No, not Izzy. I’m Gabby and you’re Izzy.
“Izzy! What are you doing?”
“Gabby. I’m Gabby. Give me your shirt! Hurry,” I said, eyes darting to the door.
“This isn’t going to work,” she worried while slipping out of her purple shirt.
“Yes it is.” My heart pounded a million miles a minute, adrenaline had my nerves on fire, and my hands trembled like an addict. I did what I had to do because I loved her.
“Izzy, I don’t want to live without you,” Gabby cried, one last desperate attempt to get me to change my mind.
“I’m Gabby. You’re Izzy,” I said through a croak in my throat. I hugged her, taking in the scent of her hair and the feel of her body. “This way we’re always going to be a part of each other. Okay? I’m going to see you. I promise, we’ll be together again, Izzy. I swear to God,” I said while making promises I couldn’t keep.
“That’s my favorite shirt. Keep it. I want it back.”
THE END until the beginning of Slut, coming late October. Follow me on Facebook or Goodreads for updates.
Dedication
For my mom and dad, I love you to the moon and back.