Page 22 of Pretty Poison

“And kicking Red in the balls,” I interrupt with a light laugh. “He’s still uptight about that, you know.”

“Oh no, not that. I meant that in every sense of the aggression I showed.” Her face turns cold and she stares at me as if she does in fact mean it. “I want to assure you that, as your wife, I won’t show that kind of aggression towards you. I’m not an easily angered person; there’s just something about him that annoys me.”

“His face?” I chime in. “If so, I would agree with you there.”

She shakes her head, a soft smile playing on her lips. “That’s not important right now.” She inhales deeply. “I spoke to my father, Dario, and the tone of his voice tells me he’s changed. Where he once held empathy and care for me… it’s all gone. He’s become a person I wouldn’t recognise if I came face to face with him again. All of this… us”—she moves her hand between us—“it’s because of him. Not you. It wasn’t anything you could control or refuse. Only he could. If he tried hard enough, he could’ve made another deal to spare me the heartache of becoming someone’s wife—your wife. The only person to blame here is him. I know that now.”

A scattered breath escapes me, my eyes finally finding her. “Your father was once a good man, Liana, and I want you to know that. He was once a man who cared more about his family than money and stature in this world. He loved you with every sense of his being. But somewhere along the way, things changed and he became a shell of himself. He pushed aside everything that mattered and replaced it with more money. He thought it would make his troubles disappear, until it blew up in his face.”

“I don’t need you to make things better, Dario, especially not with lies. I never knew him; I know that now. He was never the doting husband or father he portrayed himself to be. He was always a liar, masking his feelings with a façade that was impossible to detect.”

“Liana—”

“No,” she yells, cutting off my quiet words. “Nothing you do or say will ever make me see my father in a different light. He’s a liar and a pathetic excuse for a man. He doesn’t deserve me as a daughter or a wife like Chiara. We both loved him with everything we had until he threw it back in our faces.”

She sniffles softly, wiping away angry tears. “Do you know what he said to me earlier?” I shake my head, letting her continue. “He said that I was a means to an end, whatever the fuck that means. You know, the public adores my father now. The papers are covered with my face, saying I made my father proud by falling into your arms, when he knows damn well he shoved me into them. He’s making statements with a fake smile and crocodile tears running down his face for ‘losing me’, knowing he could’ve saved me. Instead, he didn’t realise that by making me do this, he really did lose me. He lost the one consistent thing in his life.”

“Liana,” I say, lowering my voice, and inching closer until I’m directly in front of her. “You will always be his daughter. Your DNA proves that. But you don’t have to be family. Take me, for example; my father isn’t in my life and I’m doing fine without him.”

“But Vincent is here,” she says, taking a sip of her milk. “He’s here and very much in your life.”

I shake my head, a soft laugh escaping me. “Vincent is my father, yes, but he… He’s my stepfather. My biological one, you know, my sperm donor, he was a bastard and hasn’t been in my life since I was like, five. I don’t remember anything about him because even when he wasaround, he was an absent parent, a pathetic excuse of a man, and a raging alcoholic.”

“But as you said, DNA proves nothing. Vincent stepped up and became that father figure you lacked. You have two parents who love you more than anything. What do I have, hmm? I have a deadbeat mother who left when I was an infant and a father who traded me in for no interest on his debt. I was a burden to one and collateral damage to the other… Sounds like a nice family, doesn’t it?”

I place my hand on her knee, and my thumb strokes her skin with a light touch. “Liana, whoever your family is doesn’t always dictate who you are as a person. So far, I can see the differences between you and your father—you’re strong.”

Pulling away from her, I turn slightly to face her. “I know when to admit when I’m wrong, Liana, and if this ever leaves this room, I’ll deny it until I’m blue in the face, but you can most definitely hold your own. Now, if you don’t want to train to be better at it, you don’t have to, but I strongly encourage you to. I want to know that I’ve done everything in my power to ensure you’re safe and protected because you're innocent inall this. Like you said, you’re collateral damage, but you’re my responsibility now.”

She flashes me a soft smile. “It’s a good idea.” Her words are quiet.

“Good, I’m glad you agree.”

“Your mother and Kat talked me into it. They shared their war stories and they’re still here because they trained to protect themselves. I know how to defend, but not how to protect myself. It’s the difference between life and death, Dario. I know that now.”

Eleven

LIANA

I don’t know what came over me last night. I pushed aside every thought of what’s happening with Dario and my father took over my mind. Or should I say Gabriel—there’s nothing about him that’s father-like, and I refuse to call him my father ever again, especially knowing what I know now.

Before Dario crept up on me and stood outside my door, I had hours alone to dissect Gabriel’s words and rethink my entire life. In one hour, I realised that he wasn’t a regular father; he cared more about money and how the media perceived us, than he did about being there for us. I was blind to the actions he took that proved all he had was money on his mind. He has also made me rethink my biological mother’s reasons for leaving. Did she leave us to escape me or him?

I was only an infant, but Apollo was five. She spent five whole years with him and left when I was only a few months old. Could she not handle being a mother of two? Or could she not stand my father any longer? Either way, there’s something within me that begs to reach out to her. I’ve spent two decades loathing her, but I need to know the truth—was it me, or him?

Every question imaginable has crossed my mind and still, I have no answer to any of them. And I never will. I have no memory of her, and Gabriel refuses to talk about her. There’s no photosof her to prove she ever existed in the first place. The only solid thing I have to go off of to prove her existence is Apollo—the brother I haven’t seen or spoken to in almost eight years.

I’ve texted him, or the last known number I have for him, at least. I have absolutely zero hope that he’ll respond, but I have to have faith because what elsedoI have? A crappy father, a step-mother who couldn’t be more oblivious to her husband’s antics, and a future husband who treats me like an obligation to uphold, and a possession that allows him to keep his cushy lifestyle. He’s not going to accept me into his family, and right now, I have no family of my own.

Sliding my phone into the pocket of my pyjama shorts, I walk down the staircase and the faint smell of lavender overwhelms my senses and I feel nauseous. Inhaling through my mouth, I exhale a shaky breath and follow my instincts to the kitchen.

Pushing open the swinging door, Mrs C immediately turns to face me and a smile appears on her lips. “Liana, it’s nice to see you again dear. How are you feeling?”

“Nauseous,” I admit, speaking before thinking my words through.

“Oh wow!” she exclaims, inching closer, “Is it that time already?”

I glance over to Elaina, her face mimicking Mrs C’s. “I didn’t realise you two were sleeping together already. This is great news, Liana.”

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