Chapter 212 OLD WITCHES GET KICKED OUT
AURORA’S POINT OF VIEW.
“Checkmate, Irene.” My mom smirks, clicking her fingers; the sound is like that of a rock dropping into a deep, silent well.
“You...” Irene licked her suddenly dry lips, clearly nervous and flustered. “You have no proof.” She smirked, her earlier confidence returning.
Mom chuckled. “See, you know your downfall, Irene? The fact that you think you’re smarter than everyone else, and the fact that you underestimate me, the support I have, as well as the number of your so-called followers I have in my camp.” Mom clapped, and every single woman of the Orsini walked over to the stage; all seventy women in attendance stood behind Mom and me, their gazes hard on a shocked Irene.
“Here you go, Everleigh.” One of them, Karina said, handing mom a black book, her sharp eyes glaring at Irene. “Finally, you will get to pay for your evil over the years, Irene….it’s been a long, long time coming.” She whispered, unshed tears in her brown eyes.
“Oh, get over it, pathetic bitch.” Irene seethed. “You all would be nothing without me. I built the Orsini clan…I made every one of you!”
“No, you did not.” Mom corrected. “You only stood in Gilga’s shadow while pushing everyone around you into doing whatever you wanted, while you took credit for the excellence that came forth after. This is proof, Irene.”
“What the hell is that?” irene snaped without looking at Mom anymore. She would rather stare at her fingernails.
“A ledger containing every one of your transactions with Armando, as well as the embezzlement you did in the name of purchasing items for the charity foundations Gilga founded. Your time is up, Irene…..I have been awake for a damn long time. I only needed to gather enough evidence against you, and it’s finally at its head.” Two officers materialized from thin air, their badges drawn.
“Irene Orsini, you are under arrest for being an accomplice to murder and for embezzling millions of dollars. Whatever you say can and will be used against you in the court of law.” She thrashed while they grabbed her, cuffing her hands together.
“No! Don’t touch me. I am the daughter of Giovanni and Misha Orsini. You cannot arrest me.” They did not pay her any mind; they simply lifted her off the floor; both female officers grabbed her threatening legs, so they hauled her out.
One week……..one whole fucking week, and I still could not forget, no matter how hard I tried.
They say it takes seven days for the human body to replace its outermost layer of skin. I wondered if that was why I felt so raw, like the girl who walked out of the Mercer engagement merger gala was a different person entirely, and this new version of me hadn't quite hardened yet to simply forget as if nothing happened.
I stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows of Kai’s penthouse, watching the drizzle of rain streak against the glass. In four days, we would walk across a stage in the senior wing of Ravenscroft High, take our diplomas, and leave the nightmare of our high school years behind to prepare for college. I already knew what I wanted to do, and where I wanted to do it…. But how do you graduate from a life that was built on a foundation of bones, deaths, and lies?
"You’re doing it again, roar," a low, raspy voice vibrated behind me before I felt it. Veiny, strong arms wrapping around my waist, warm breath fanning against my neck.
I didn’t have to turn around to know it was Kai. Not only would no other guy dare touch me like that, but I could also feel the heat radiating off him, the scent of expensive cedar and something uniquely him wrapping around me like a cloak and a shield in one. He stepped into my space, his chest brushing my shoulder blades.
"Doing what?" I whispered, our eyes meeting in the reflection of the window.
"Thinking too loud. I can hear the gears grinding from the kitchen, Green." His arms wound around my waist, pulling me back against him. His touch was no longer the calculated, possessive grip of a 'fake' fiancé. It was heavy with a decade of unspoken promises… the ones he told me about in the car after the chaos of our engagement.
"I was thinking about the graduation," I lied, hoping he wouldn’t catch on.
"Liar," he murmured, his lips grazing the shell of my ear. "You were thinking about the news reports. Armando’s lawyers are filing for a competency hearing. They’re trying to say he’s as far gone as Morgan. He claims insanity and hallucinations….that I laced his drink with something that made him act unlike himself."
I shivered. The image of Morgan dancing in handcuffs, giggling about cupcakes while her mother’s body cooled on the marble, was a permanent stain on my eyelids. "Is he?"
"No," Kai’s voice turned lethal. "He’s a coward looking for a trapdoor. But I’ve already welded it shut. He’s going to a cell, not a ward."