The Life Sacrifice

GABRIEL I think my sisters may have rubbed off on me some in the last couple of days because I don't recall being this majorly petty before. But as I walked her towards her family home, hand in hand, her mother's car, now hers parked on the driveway behind us; I was almost bursting with anticipation at the havoc I was about to cause. I could give less than half a shit whether Felix Fontane knows that she's leaving the country. Pounding the nail deeper into Victoria's coffin, though, is high on my priority list. I guess I've decided to come down to their level to deal with them since not one of the three, Becky, Victoria, or Felix, seems to have a working brain cell to share between them. Had my opponents been more formidable, I wouldn't go this route, but since they have the underbelly of a half-dead fish that had been caught and thrown back in, this is where it's at. "Hello Fontane, may we come in?" He answered the door looking his usual flustered self with red-rimmed eyes. Bast

LANCE I couldn't wait to get back home. Ever since Gabe made that statement, something dark and ugly has been gnawing away at my gut. I'd spent the last day on the island pretending for the girls' sake, but my mind was in turmoil. As soon as we landed, I hot-footed it to his house in search of Unc. I had to wait for the reunion to end before I could get him alone, and by then, I was a mess of nerves. "Gabe's up to something. Do you know what he's planning?" Even I could hear the panic in my voice. "What did you see?" "Nothing, as usual, he keeps everything hidden, but I get the sense that he's about to make a move. He had his special computer with him on the island." That got a rise out of him. "So it's not about Gia? It's about the other thing?" "Looks like it." "Why are you so stressed all of a sudden? You knew about the secret computer long before this." "Yes, but… he told me he loved me. Although I know it, Gabe isn't one to say it like that just out of nowhe

GIANNA I waited for Victoria to flounce into the room once she saw me sitting there. "What's she doing here? I thought she was away on some fancy vacation? Mom, when did you get home? You look like…heck. So, what are we all doing here?" She flopped down on a chair across from me so she could better glare at me, I guess. "Gia wanted us all here. Go ahead, what is it you'd like to say?" "Becky, you wanna sit? This might take a minute." She looked at me with something approaching malice, but I fought not to look away like a scared little mouse. "We're waiting, Becky." I eyed the glass in dad's hand when he said that. I don't know how I missed the amber-colored liquid and the bottle beside him at the foot of his chair. I don't think I'd ever seen him drink, that's why. That makes a lot of sense. I was beginning to think Gabriel was a magician; he'd called dad's moves almost to a tee. Now I know we just got lucky, and dad had chosen to tie one on, on this particular day. Sh

GABRIEL "Let's go spar!" "What?" I grabbed her nape gently and walked her towards the Russo dojo. "You have way too much pent-up energy to focus on doing homework, so let's go get rid of some of it." "I know of a better way to get rid of it." She mumbled the words beneath her breath, but I was still able to hear them. "Bet! But let's try this first." She gave me that queer look she's been throwing my way ever since she caught on to the fact that I'm avoiding taking her to my bed. At least she's not brave enough yet to come right out and say anything. That's a conversation I haven't quite prepared for yet, even though I know it's coming. "Go change." I guided her to one side of the changing room where new outfits in her size had been added to the twins' while I went to the other side to get ready. She was still spitting mad by the time we met up again, and I hid my grin as we got in position. Her bow was laced with sarcasm which I ignored as we faced off against each other.

GABRIEL For the next week and a half, I played chess with human pawns while she got sucked into etiquette classes and dress shopping with the women. I knew from experience how time-consuming these debutant balls are and used her distraction to line things up for just the right moment. Just as before, I didn't want her here when shit went down, so I had to be very meticulous. I had men watching Becky, who seemed to be having a crisis with public meltdowns and temper tantrums which only made her look bad. Either Felix had canceled her credit cards or had her on rations because she was staying at a mid-range motel, which I was sure to make known to the right people. Since she didn't want to be seen in her lowly state, she stayed indoors most of the time, making calls that went mostly unanswered. I couldn't get a bead on Felix, who had kept to himself most of the first week and had only just started showing signs of life. Even when he was at home, all he did was stare at his wife's p