Powerful women always recognized each other eventually.
She pursed her lips together. “I come in peace.”
“I don’t believe you had a choice. How can I help you?”
She seemed patient. Nina was the opposite, so Jio could’ve appreciated that she possessed that softness, but Nina didn’t give a damn what Jio liked. She used to be all those things too when they first met. The shit that she’d been through with Jiorgio Gotti III needed to be documented. He took their history to the grave.
Nina looked her up and down. “I’m confirming that you know who I am and you knew who I was to him, correct?”
“Yes, and you know who I am. Correct?” She had the nerve to say back.
“Not a clue ma’am,” Nina gladly let her know.
She smirked at her like she knew something that Nina didn’t.
“You do but okay…”
“Are you going to answer the question? I was in the middle of an important meeting.” Nina was so corporate it was ridiculous. Carrington wondered whether she would act like this if she wasn’t at work. She couldn’t recall seeing many pictures of her ever smiling and laughing.
“My name is Carrington Strozier. Jio called me Carrie.”
Nina sighed loud enough for her to hear and she started humming or some shit.
Carrington was confused as to what was happening.
Nina tapped her fingers on her arms. She moved her bracelets around and pinched her wrist.
“Carrie…cute. Real cute,” she said with sarcasm. “Nice to meet you, Ms. Strozier. My assistant tells me that you were under the impression that you were Jio’s… girlfriend?”
“I was,” she said proudly.
“How was that possible?”
“You were with him twice as long as I was, so I’m sure you know all about how smooth he could be. Jio made time for who and what he wanted.”
“How many holidays did you spend with him?” Nina asked straight up.
The smile on Carrington’s face crumbled.
Yeah, lil’ hoe that’s what the fuck I thought.
Nina wasn’t perfect by any means, but one thing that had never wavered was her respect for Jiorgio Gotti. She’d done her dirt…. true enough, but them holidays had always been off limits. It was understood too.
“You didn’t have him the whole day, you and I both know that.”
Whew, Jio why did you send this child to my office?
Nina shrugged. “I’d like to think we both had friends that we had to drop gifts off to. I did the same. No harm in that.”
She kept it real.
“Ms. Marcelle, you can try your best to discredit what me and Jior-”
“Please. Stop. Saying. His. Name. Like. You. Know. Him. If you did, then kudos to you. But as far as I’m concerned, you were a girl he may or may not have used to occupy his time when I had him on time out. You weren’t there to wipe an ass. Feed him.Help him to the bathroom or do anything that was required. So you are irrelevant to me. Literally, a stranger without a face or name.”
“He didn’t want me to see him in that way.”
“Yeah, I bet he didn’t.”
