Plots for the future

Gianna clicked her phone off. “A notification. I do night yoga. My phone’s reminding me that I missed my session.”

Gianna knew that Natalie did night yoga. Natalie always boasted about her figure being a result of countless hours of night yoga.

“I have to go,” Gianna stood.

“Because of night yoga?” Ezra raised his brow.

“Yes and I have a charity event to attend to in the morning with my friends.”

“I’ll take you home,” Ezra stood.

“No! Uh… my friend will pick me up. She needs my advice on what to wear tomorrow to the event. We can’t show up looking less than royalty and besides I want to show off my new diamond necklace.”

Ezra drowned the rest of his drink. “It’s improper for fiancée to leave with anyone other than her fiancé, but do as you wish.”

“I don’t want to offend you—”

Ezra closed the distance and gripped her arms. He pulled her to his chest and ran his nose against her cheek. Gia shut her eyes and moaned. It was too easy to stay here and forget about any emergency but she snapped out of it putting her guard up.

“Stay here in my bed if you don’t want to offend me,” he said seductively. “Stay in my arms, Natalie.”

“It’s so… tempting… but I can’t. I have tons to do tomorrow.”

“Are you coming with me to the professor’s ball this week?”

Gianna’s eyes nearly popped out of her head. “Ball? Uh… no I can’t. At the university? I have a lot to do this week. In fact, I have to catch up on my beauty sleep. You don’t want a wife with bags under her eyes.”

Gianna backtracked out of the penthouse. She quickly called for a cab and was safely tucked in a car minutes later.

***

She burst into the house frantically searching for her Mother.

“There you are! Don’t you answer the phone?” Sienna popped up from the kitchen.

Elena was on the couch flipping through channels.

“Where were you?” She smiled.

Sienna came from the kitchen with a large bowl of popcorn.

“You texted a dozen times! I thought something was wrong.” Gianna ran a frustrated hand down her face.

“Oh Sienna I told you she was on a date,” Elena said.

“My bad,” Sienna smiled sheepishly.

Gianna blushed fiercely. “Date? No, I wasn’t… I’ll be right back.”

Gianna hurried to her room clutching her coat. Natalie’s dress she wore was expensive she didn’t want anyone to suspect, but Sienna was hot on her heels.

“Nice boots. You were on a date, weren’t you?” Her best friend narrowed her eyes.

“No nothing like that it was nothing.”

“It can’t be nothing if you went shopping and… that necklace!” Sienna gasped and reached for the pink diamond.

Gianna stumbled back and clutched her chest. What a rocky mistake she forgot to take it off.

“Is that a real diamond?”

Gianna laughed nervously. “I would have to sell an organ for that.”

“So it’s fake? You wouldn’t know you should wear it to the ball.”

“Or I could wear the one you bought me. It’s gorgeous.”

Sienna frowned, confused about which jewellery piece she recently bought Gianna.

“Oh, that rickety old thing? It’s so fake it should have snapped when you wore it. I’m surprised you still have it. Come on we’re watching a movie.”

Sienna walked out letting Gianna change. She placed the necklace in her jewellery. She picked up the pendant she got for her birthday. She thought it was priceless she didn’t suspect it could be fake. She changed into comfy pyjamas and joined her family. She relived the moments with Ezra. She could feel echoes of his kisses on her skin she drifted off to sleep with replays of Ezra embraces.

***

“The doctor said Natalie needs to remain in the hospital for another few days. She reacted badly to the new treatment,” Eliot said one night in his bedroom with his wife.

“That girl will be the death of me!” Hanah exclaimed as she oiled her delicate hands.

“Everything is going well with Gianna, isn’t it?” Eliot asked.

“Why do you care about her?”

Eliot frowned. “I’m asking about the plan Hanah. Why do you always assume I’m talking about the girl?”

“You know why! You’ve never addressed my suspicions.”

Eliot climbed out of the bed and walked to the balcony doors. “Your suspicions make no sense. Tomorrow go talk to your daughter. She’s giving the doctors hell. It wasn’t their fault she had an alcohol problem.”

The glass windows on the door rattled as he slammed it. Hanah growled and stormed out of her bed too. She went downstairs seeking a drink harder than the wine her husband kept in their room.

She found her alley instead in the kitchen. Frank pushed his glasses up his nose. He had a bottle of whiskey in front of him. The house was quiet and Hanah had found this was the best time to plot against her enemies.

“Shall I pour you a glass madam?”

“Of course, Frank. I’d like your report as well. Did you follow them like I asked?”

Hanah received the glass with ice. She wasn’t dumb to allow Gianna to go about to her own deceives when her family’s livelihoods were at stake. The wedding was over the horizon and she would not allow Gianna to talk down that isle with Ezra Warren.

Frank nodded. “Mr Warren took her to an auction.”

Hanah gripped her glass tightly. “He bought her something?”

“A very expensive piece of jewellery.”

“The little tramp,” Hanah slammed the glass on the counter.

“It gets worse. He took her to his penthouse she left however.”

“I see what she’s doing. She wants to steal from my daughter.”

Frank was quiet for a little while. “Just like her Mother stole from you.”

Hanah clenched her jaw. “He always denies it but you are sure you saw them all those years ago?”

Frank nodded. “I’ll never forget. Eliot would send the old man away while he occupied the space in his house.”

“Then the little spawn was born months later!” Hanah wanted to smash the glass on the counter.

Hanah had suspected things then and she attempted to have Elena and the baby kicked out but Eliot never allowed it. As the girls grew they looked like sisters. The pride in Eliot’s eyes when he looked at the other woman’s child was a dagger to the heart.

“Do you want me to retrieve the necklace from her? It belongs to Natalie after all.”

Hanah shook her head and smirked. “Let her keep it. As soon as Natalie’s better I’ll do what I should have done a long time ago. I’m going to destroy her.”