She felt confidant she had Gary on her side. But, she needed to go for the kill now. It was time to press for more. “Gary, I can’t believe you are doing this all for me. I just wish . . .” she trailed off and sniffled into her shoulder.
Crap, Gary thought, she was going to start crying again. “Wish what?” he asked slowly reaching for the gun behind him. He needed to hide it out sight if he was going to have a little fun with Ronnie before he ran out to get her some things for her trek. He definitely wanted one more piece of her. It was the least she could do for all his help.
“I just wish this all never happened, the drugs. My life is fucked and we can never be together. But,” she looked up at him and smiled.
“What?” he asked distractedly, still trying to figure out a way to dump the gun without her seeing. He’d almost pulled it out to place behind him, but stopped at her expression.
Go for the kill, Ronnie thought. “Maybe in a year or so, I can call, we can be together somehow,” she put on her most hopeful face. “You’ll never be happy working for your father anyway.”
As she suspected, his face turned sour. He was looking at her like she was nuts. Maybe she had gone nuts, he thought. And he had driven her to it.
“No baby, that ain’t gonna happen. After today . . .” He got up from the desk and stood before her, legs spread out. How was he going to say this? Today had to be the end. He didn’t need her bugging him for years. Best to be blunt. “I care for you and all, but this was never going to be permanent. I think you knew that. I can’t have you ruining my life.”
“But Gary,” she stood and faced him feigning shock and anger. “Don’t you love me?”
“Sweetheart, we had fun, and yes, I thought I did at one time, but now with this shit, there’s no fucking way. My parents weren’t ever going to support this thing we had. Even if it was fun while it lasted.” He tried to reach for her to soften the blow.
Her face turned bitter in the blink of an eye, just like Andreas told her. ‘Act like the woman betrayed which you are,’ Andreas had said. ‘Attack.’
“You fucking bastard!” She hit his chest with her fists, and he grabbed her wrists forcefully preventing her from doing too much damage. “I thought you loved me. I gave you my heart. I know those drugs were yours, you bastard. I was willing to not tell anyone, I was willing to hide for you. I was even willing to let you believe I didn’t realize they were yours.” She kept trying to hit him, but her hands were clasped at the wrists and he held them firmly, painfully. Ronnie let out the fury she’d been holding back for these last two weeks. But she also watched his reaction to her words. First there was shock, then anger, and then his eyes narrowed into menacing slits. He looked like a caged animal. It’s exactly the effect Andreas had wanted her to achieve so he would slip up.
“Whoa, whoa,” he kept repeating trying to control her thrashing. “Cut this shit out, Ronnie, or I’ll leave right now, and walk out. Then you’ll be on your own.”
“Don’t you fucking dare walk out on me again, holding the bag, you fucking asshole. I loved you. Gary, you know those drugs were yours. And I know those drugs were yours. You did drugs before. And, I have pictures. You smoking pot,” she lied. “Passed out. I was going to go to trial, thinking there couldn’t possibly be enough evidence to put me away. But just in case, I had those pictures stashed if it didn’t go my way. I was going to use them last minute only if I had to. But just maybe I need to get them to the press. You have ruined me. And god dammit, I won’t stand for it.” She continued to twist and try to get her wrists free.
“You fucking cunt,” Gary hissed. “This was your plan all along. You have been playing me all along. Now you are trying to blame me. Bitch,” he released her pushing her away from him, and then his hand came out like a snake. He slapped her hard, and she fell to the sofa behind her. It stung, and shocked her, and she reached for her flaming face.
Gio had to hold Nikko down to stop him from jumping and going to her rescue. He nodded no, forcing Nikko to see him and stay put. Gio knew Ronnie had to be close to getting him to slip. The guy was angry now and that’s when they made mistakes. Nikko knew this too, but he wasn’t thinking with his head right now, he was only thinking with his heart. Gio saw the fury in his little brother’s eyes, and couldn’t blame him. No man should ever hit a woman. It was one of his biggest taboos from when he had been on the force. He’d seen too many woman brutalized and it sickened him. For Nikko, who loved Ronnie, this moment had to be so incredibly enraging. In his mind, Gary was no man. He was a coward; he used and hit women. Gio wanted to throttle him too. But in just two minutes it could all be over. Keeping his arms around his brother, he let him know with his eyes to just hang on a bit longer.