Chapter 53 #2
Steadying my heartbeat so the lie would sound authentic, I said, "No, I haven't."
It wasn't entirely a lie. I had tried to contact him after my mother ambushed me with the newspaper article. He wouldn't return my texts or phone calls. But there was no way she could've known that.
"No?" she repeated, soft and patronizing. Delicately, she twirled the glass on the table, staring me down with nothing but animosity for reasons I could never fathom. "No," she said again, so regal. "I know you're lying."
I ground my teeth and looked her straight in the eye. "I'm not."
"I should be proud with how well you've managed to live a lie. It sure isn't for the faint of heart."
It was so easy for Mom to get under my skin with her refined manners and the confident yet clipped tone she loved to use. My stomach churned viciously. I didn't like the way this conversation was going.
I subtly shook my head. "My life isn't a lie. I don't know what you're talking about."
"Want to try that again?" she asked. Her eyes were too knowing, and it made me queasy. There was no way she could've known I tried to contact Kova.
"I don't know what this is about, but I haven't spoken to him, Mom," I said confidently.
She took a long sip from her crystal tumbler and licked her lips. "You can't fool me… I know you're fucking your gymnastics coach."
I inhaled with an audible gasp, my heart nearly stopping. She said it so soft, in such a gentle tone it terrified me. Pure evil. My world tilted, my face fell. I was starting to feel lightheaded. The room was at a standstill. Our eyes bounced back and forth, she was spewing fire in my direction.
"That's not true," rolled off my breath, but no one heard me. I shook my head, I could hardly breathe. "It's not true." My heart was racing so fast and hard it hurt. I clutched my chest, trying to ease the pain. The walls started to close in, everything was shifting.
This was it. She knew.
I shook my head vehemently. "No," I whispered.
A glimmer of malevolence sparkled in her eyes, one that scared me. One I'd never seen before.
"You're a little whore."
"No, I'm not," I gritted out. I'd never been called such a vile word in my life, and it didn't take long to realize it hurt being called that when I was anything but.
I thought back to my time here so far. The times I’d left my phone unattended. I didn’t think I had to worry when I was home. But I always made sure to lock it before I put it down. And my phone had a passcode on it.
My forehead creased together, my mind running a mile a minute.
The beating of my heart was so loud I could hear it in my ears, pounding away louder than a marching band as my mom's eyes blazed with fire.
She took a sip from her glass and watched me as I hopelessly tried putting two and two together. The air in the room dropped and I grew cold. My stomach rolled with anxiety and I actually thought I might get sick all over the table.
"I found your phone late the other night, you were in the shower and it was sitting on your bed.
I felt bad for what I had said…that is, until I read the text messages.
" An evil smirk slid across her face. "Tsk, tsk, Adrianna.
Going after an older man like that. Who knew you had such a promiscuous, trashy way about you.
The photos were one thing, but the video?
That was icing on the cake." She sipped her vodka.
"I planned to apologize, you know." Her eyes hardened. "But I don't apologize to whores."
Planned to apologize.
My lips parted and I fought to keep my face neutral.
I swallowed a knot the size of a golf ball and wanted to choke.
The back of my neck prickled with heat, and it was in that moment I understood why I had that gut feeling of dread when I arrived home, like it was some sort of intuition this visit would end badly.
"Always were a daddy's girl," Mom said with a slight curve of her lips. She lifted her crystal tumbler near her head. The whites of her eyes were glossy. "I guessed it on the first try."
My face fell. Dread consumed me.
My passcode was my dad's birthday.
The pulse in my neck thumped rapidly. I began to sweat. I took low and controlled breaths like I would if I was doing my floor routine. This was bad. This was very bad.
"Imagine your dad finds out? What do you think he'd do? To you? To his dear old friend?" She pouted and lowered her voice. "He'd take a baseball bat to his face, that's what he'd do."
My lungs constricted. I could hardly breathe. A sinister chuckle rolled off her lips as she finally looked me straight in the eye. She was a polished woman with a heart full of hate.
"He'd probably pull you from your precious gymnastics and send you to an all-girl finishing school." She tapped her chin and looked up at the ceiling. "You know, that doesn't sound like a bad idea, now that I think about it. I could have you out of my hair for good."
I couldn't do anything but sit there and stare. I was up against a woman with a vendetta larger than life and no way to fight it. There was no way I could talk myself out of this, not with the evidence she had.
"What? Cat got your tongue? Don't have anything to say now, Ria ?"
"Mom." Holy shit she knew his nickname for me. "Please…"
"I think your dad needs another look at the photos from the newspaper again, sweetheart," she said, the endearment meant to mock me.
"The way he holds you, how you look at him…
It's as clear as day now. I'm sure I could request a transcript of your cell phone records for your dad as well.
" She paused, then said, "I was right to use the word slut the other day. "
"Why… Why are you doing this?" I asked.
She ignored me.
"Why haven't you asked me for Hayden's sports coat?"
"What?" I asked, confused.
"The jacket Hayden left on your balcony. You said he was looking for it, so why haven't you asked me for it so you could bring it to him?"
My body was cold to the bone, yet my cheeks felt flushed. I chewed my lip for a split second. "Oh, I forgot all about that." It was the best I could come up with but something flashed in her eyes.
"Don't worry, I shipped it to Katja. You know, his fiancée."
My lips parted and blood drained from my face. Katja wasn't Kova's fiancée. There was no way he had proposed to her. He would’ve told me first. I know he would have. Mom was just saying that to get a rise out of me, but thankfully I played it well.
"She was so thankful to have it back since it was a gift from Russia she had custom tailored for him."
The room was thick with a mixture of hostility and bewilderment. The silence was deafening. I didn't know how to respond to the chilling tone she used. I didn’t know how to do anything but sit there. All I could do was stare at the woman who birthed me and question why she hated me so much.
"What did you ship to Katja," Dad asked curiously as he waltzed into the room with Xavier.
The kitchen doors flew open behind them and servers came out carrying the first entrée.
Everyone stayed silent as trays of food were removed and new ones were placed down.
The food looked divine, but there was no way I could eat even a crumb with the way my nerves were on edge.
Mom looked me dead in the eye. "Just Konstantin's coat he left behind at our New Year’s Eve party."
Please, God. I will do anything if you could stop her right now. Anything at all.
"That was nice of you," Dad responded, sitting down.
"Your precious daughter is turning out to be just like you, Frank." Her eyes glistened with devious intentions that had my pulse sky rocketing.
Dad took a long pull of his amber liquid before he responded. He smiled at me and winked. "I would say that's a good thing.
"Or maybe she takes after her mother."
Her mother? Goose bumps trailed down my arms. Mom was so inebriated she was speaking in third person and not making sense.
Dad's silverware crashed to the plate. I flinched. He used the corner of his cloth napkin to wipe his mouth, then tossed it onto his plate with disgust. His chair slid back and an aura of anger surrounded him. I sat watching in shock.
"This is not the time or the place." He leveled his gaze on her and his look shook me to the core. Dad was done playing whatever game Mom had in mind. And quite frankly, I was too. "The issue you have with me has nothing to do with her. Leave Adrianna out of it."
But she wasn't looking at Dad. She was glaring at me.