"Get in," I heard a condescending voice call. I looked to my right and noticed a black limo pulled up towards me, walking on the sidewalk.

It had been two weeks since everything went by, and I needed a break to stop my mind from sinking into a dark hole.

The black tinted window rolled down, and there was Angela, Giovanni's mother, in a sun hat and mauve lipstick.

She sat in the back of the limo, and a bald man was the chauffeur and driving the vehicle.

It was similar to the one that would give me a lift to school each morning. Except there wasn't a wicked woman sat inside.

"Let's have a little talk," she demanded.

She took us to a small safe that sold biscuits and tea. It was rather fancy for such a small place, but the tea was incredible, and I wasn't too fond of tea to start.

"So let's cut to the chase, va bene?" She pulled up her beige sun hat from covering her eyes and stared at me. (alright)

She continued, "I'll give you ten million dollars to stop seeing my son. He is to get engaged soon to a more suitable young woman, and I do not need you getting in the way."

"What do I need with ten million dollars," I scoffed. I was a fool not to jump at the opportunity. Giovanni has only ever been evil to me except for the times he hadn't.

"Everything you desire," she grinned, but it wasn't sweet. It was devilish and ridiculed, just like her.

"If I say no?"

"Then you're a fool just like your mother,"

I gasped. Giovanni's mother had no reason to speak about my mother like that.

"That's right, I know all about you, Chanel Blanchett. Your father was a lie and a cheat, and your mother stayed with him. She was nothing but a fool."

Her face looked familiar. I think I saw her in my father's office once.

Elanese was acting weird, trying to stop me from going to my father.

I pushed past her. I was at my father's door what I heard books in my father's office fall to the ground with a thud. I went to open the door and pick them up, but I saw what I saw made me freeze when I did.

There my father was with his hand in a woman's blonde hair. He sat her on the desk, my father, on top of her, locking her lips with his.

I felt disgusted. That's why Elanese didn't want me to see.

I continued staring. I couldn't keep my eyes away, watching my father and that other woman. Another woman wasn't my mother. She moaned a breathy laugh as her eyes met with mine.

Develish and ridiculed.

I didn't recognize her because her hair was blonde before, now it was black. But it was Giovanni's mother, Angela. She was the woman I caught in his office.

I was the girl whose father was guilty of infidelity. And the man I loved mother was the cause of it.

"It was you?" I snarled. All my anger anguished, and my eyes dropped. I tried so hard to be angry again, but I couldn't. It was her all along. "But I don't understand," I wept pathetically. "Why would you frame my father for your fake death?" I asked.

"Why not? I needed to get under the radar hence why I changed my hair. Do you like it? I think it's more me." She ran a long nail through her shiny dark hair.

I narrowed my eyes. It suited Angela perfectly. Dark and twisted, just like her soul and heart and every organ in her body.

"Anyways, your father was just a pawn, and he got what was coming to him. It was a win-win for him and me. Did you think Giovanni was the one who killed your father?" She let out a which-like laugh. "It was all me. I was behind everything that night—your kidnapping, the death of my oldest son, everything."

"How could you? How could you do such an awful thing?" I asked her.

"For power," she spoke as if it was the obvious answer. It wasn't. It was foolish she was saying how my mother and I were the fools, but she was one the most. "Deep down, we are all capable of anything if we want something so bad, but everything comes with a price, and you can leave this life with ten million dollars, or you can leave with none. But anyway, you will leave no matter what."

"What is up with all you De Luca's think you can control my life," I snarled. "You can't, so quit trying."

"Oh, you will leave no matter what because if you don't, I will make sure your life is hell," she said.

She raised a glass of tea to her lips. The floral cup had a chip on the rim. It reminded me of Chip from Beauty and the Beast.

"You couldn't possibly," I muttered. My eyes shut tightly. "It already is hell."

"Trust me," Angela spoke. "If you stay here, it's just the beginning."

"Nothing you could do to me is worse than what I already been through," I said. "You couldn't possibly do worse."

"You won't want to see me do my worse, dolce Tesoro," she smiled. (sweet Darling)

•••

When we got back to the mansion, Giovanni's mother jumps on the couch beside Giovanni, who was drowned in paperwork.

There I saw Giovanni and his mother sitting on the couch. They were talking and catching up with each other, and for the first time, I saw Giovanni happy. He was way more content than he could ever be with me.

As much as he would never have wanted to admit, he wanted me. He wanted me all to himself, and he would never let me go, mainly why he never let me leave all this time.

So I needed to decide for myself.

That was why I did what I did. I listened to Angela and fled the house before Giovanni could notice me and stop me.

I left without the money and nothing but my purse.

Angela was getting what she wanted after all.