Gia said goodbye and got the hell out of there, her backpack stuffed with papers, cash, pills, and her club dress.Jesus.
For a brief moment, Gia wished she hadn’t sent Sam and her offer of a ride away, but if Sam was in the samecovenas Ramirez, it was for the best. Susan’s condo, now Gia’s, wasn’t terribly far away.
Gia walked through the modest neighborhood, following the directions on her burner phone’s map, and came to a narrow, tidily kept building across the street from the Spotlight Theater, which she now owned.
She unearthed the residential building’s entry code from her pile of papers and let herself inside. The condo was on the third floor with one other unit beside it.
Gia unlocked the door and stepped inside.
Ramirez had mentioned that Susan’s things had been cleared out, but the lack of personality in the space was jarring. There was no art on the walls. No décor. The furniture had been left, and a quick walk-through and a peek into the closets revealed no personal effects.
Gia had no complaints. She hadn’t been looking forward to living in someone else’s home, especially someone she hadn’t known.
She found a shopping bag full of clothes in the middle of theliving room floor, and a closer inspection revealed the items generally matched her size. How considerate and creepy.
Who’d bought these?
Gia had the urge to toss the bag out the front door, but she couldn’t spend another second in these leggings, and she wasn’t even wearing a shirt under her hoodie.
After showering and changing her clothes, Gia felt more functional. She swallowed a pill in the hopes the dull ache in her head wouldn’t get worse, and stretched out on the couch, too tired to make the bed with the new linens she’d seen in the laundry cupboard.
She shut her eyes.
Knock. Knock.
Gia jolted awake with no idea how long she’d been asleep.
She hauled herself up with effort. At the door, she peered through the peephole. A woman she didn’t recognize stood on the other side.
Gia opened the door a crack. “Hello?”
“Hey.” The woman smiled, her lips twisting slyly. “I live next door. Are you the new owner of this place?”
Gia forced her brain to kick into gear. “Yeah…”
“Welcome. I’m Viv.” She seemed younger than Gia, maybe twenty, her short black hair gelled into an artful wave. Her outfit said she was on her way to or from the gym, and she had the biceps to match.
“Um, hi. I’m Gia.” Her stomach flipped. Was it smart to give out her real name? She was well out of the Balzanos’ reach, but still.
Viv crossed her arms. “Were you close to the woman who lived here before?”
Gia didn’t see how it was her business. “Were you?”
“No, I haven’t lived in the building long. This place was never listed for sale, so you must have known Susan Lockwood.”
Why did she care? “Yeah. Sorry. I’ve had a long night. I was sleeping, so if you don’t mind, later would be a better time to catch up.”
“And if I mind?” Viv raised an eyebrow.
Gia was stunned by the sheer audacity.
“I’m kidding.” Viv huffed, almost a laugh. “I’ll see you around.” She turned and disappeared into the neighboring condo.
Gia shut the door and locked it. Hopefully, Viv wasn’t part of the Lockwood Coven.
Gia woke around sunset,the evening light filtering in through the living room windows.
She glanced outside and surveyed the street, unable to tell if any of the parked cars contained her father’s men, staking out her building. There were no shiny black SUVs, at least.
