Chapter 19

I could tell by the way she looked at me, I disgusted her. I could tell by the way she ran up the stairs as if she was competing in the Olympics. She ran not only up the stairs, but to her room, so she hadn’t left yet. I should go up there, to try and reassure her, but I would be lying to not only her but myself.

I got a fucking kick out of seeing Gold whimper. I heard from the hospital that they had spent all night trying to fix his cock back on. Fucking waste of space, as his wife would have to spend her days having to bring him back to health. I made sure she knew she’d be wasting her time. I ensured there was enough evidence of every single time he fucked someone else, or even worse threatened a woman who would lose her job, even one where he offered to pay her husband’s medical bills if she fucked him. She did, and Gold never paid. She lost her job, her home, and her dignity. I made sure all this landed on Mrs. Gold’s doorstep. I had videos, pictures, and all the rest of it, and as a result she’d be divorcing him. But while the fuck will lose most of his money, he should have lost his life too. The more I found out about him, the more I wished I had ignored Adrianna and killed him. But somehow, knowing he was going to have a very expensive divorce was a fate better than death. He would suffer, and his family would do too, for him being such a prick.

I had to swallow my pride and go see Adrianna. I had a bunch of flowers, some chocolate, her favorite Ferrero Rocher, and I was in a good mood. Last night was a good result, even if she didn’t feel the same way.

Lourdes told me she didn’t come down to breakfast. I spent most of it with Juan cleaning up the fucking blood downstairs, and the rest of the morning paying Mrs. Gold a visit. Usually, I would get Jose to clean-up, but he was busy making sure Ma wasn’t suspicious and knew nothing about my deal with Mario.

I was tired, and not in the mood for confrontation. I could have gone to my bed and caught up on some sleep, but between the number of Red Bulls I’d had and coffee, I was wide awake.

“Adrianna,” I barked as I knocked on her door. I waited patiently, adjusting my collar as if I was going on a date, but then I heard nothing.

I knocked again. “Adrianna, look, can we talk?” I asked as I stood by the door, tapping my foot impatiently and thinking about the effort I’d gone to apologize, for what I wasn’t even sure of. I knew I had to give her some kind of gesture, something to say I was sorry, or she’d never forgive me. For what? I was still puzzled, but Diego said go buy her flowers as if he was an expert in matters of the heart, and the salesgirl asked if I’d wanted to add some chocolates, so this was how I ended up with two items at the flower store and not one.

“If I don’t open it,” she said as she swung it open, “What are you going to do, beat it down and then hit me for not opening it?”

She had her arms crossed, dressed in the same black sweatpants suit as she was yesterday, which meant not only had she not changed, but she hadn’t showered, eaten, and definitely hadn’t brushed her teeth.

I shook my head, remembering I was here to apologize, and not to criticize her current state.

“I bought you these.”

She took them and threw them in the trash, then came back to the door. I was shocked by the fact she’d done it, and she came face-to-face with me, with her arms crossed again.

“Anything else?”

“Look, why don’t you freshen up. Then we can talk. I think there’s something you should know.”

“What Gold’s a dog? He probably has some babies somewhere his wife doesn’t know about, or he didn’t donate to charity, or even better, he stole from a charity? So, it was okay for you to do what he did, ‘cause he’s a douchebag?”

I shook my head. “After you calm down, we can talk.”

She grabbed my hand. “No, let’s talk now, Mr. Big Man. Or are you going to cut my balls off, too?”

I was confused and she was tired, probably starved and talking gibberish. We both knew she didn’t have any balls.

“For a start, you don’t have balls, Adrianna, and second, you think if you hadn’t told me what he did to you then I wouldn’t have done it.”

She put her hand on her chest. “Thank you for saving my honor. Thank you for stopping whatever you thought would happen if you didn’t do what you did.”

“Well, I helped his wife out.”

She laughed. “You think she didn’t know?”

“I saw her this morning, and she was shocked. She said she will divorce him and take every penny he had.”

“She fucking knew, Ricardo, she played you. You went there, scared the fuck out of her, and she told you some cock and bull story. Look, no woman is stupid enough to know nothing. She turned a blind eye to everything because it was cheaper. She’s no better than he is. She loves the money more than she does her pride, so she lets him do whatever he feels like it.”

I shook my head. “It isn’t like that. She told me she suspected he was having an affair with his secretary. She’d confronted him about it and like all adulterers, he lied about it. She knew nothing more than him saying to Claire if she slept with him then he would cover her husband’s medical bills.”

“Claire? She’d been married to Bill for forever; they met in high school.”

“Then Gold didn’t pay, she lost her home, job and everything after sleeping with him. Linda….”

She sighed. “Yeah, I know about Linda. So, what? This makes you some kind of saint, some kind of god getting rid of all the pricks in the world? Does this make you a hero?”

“I didn’t make out like I was a fucking hero. I’m letting you know the man you want to save, the one you thought was better than me—what he is capable of and what he’d been using his wealth for years to do. He manipulated, stole, and hurt not only women, but men too because he could. He had all the influence and power to do it, like all those power rats. I put him in his place, and you should be thanking me. You should be on your knees begging me to fucking take his life. Not save it.”

She said nothing as she avoided my eyes and moved to sit on the edge of the bed, staring instead at the floor.

“They put the prick’s cock back on, and he’ll recover in hospital. Now fucking freshen up and get ready; meet me downstairs to eat. No fucking tears should be spared for the idiot. He isn’t worth it.

I didn’t wait for a reaction, as a memory flashed in my mind, the way she looked at me last night.

Scared.

The same way she looked before and after I’d put her in the dungeon. I had considered the fear had gone, but she could see what I truly was. I couldn’t get away from it. The question was, could she live with it?