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There was one sound that was off the charts on the creep scale. For a period of two weeks at exactly three a.m., the whole block would be woken by the high careening, desperate sound of a grown man screaming and crying. The inmate who was responsible for the disturbance was a new detainee. Seemed the big ass baby-man liked to beat up on and then stick his dick in little girls. Fourteen days after he was brought in the midnight howling stopped. The next morning during security check he was found with his throat slit.
Jail house justice had prevailed.
Gia had worked tirelessly with her father’s team of attorneys to find a loophole, a gap, an inconsistency, or any sort of vague legal ambiguity.
But there was nothing.
Absolutely nothing, that a whole very expensive, very capable, and morally compromised legal team could find. Not a thing that would even come close to being enough to get the charges against Riker dropped or even reduced.
The case against him seemed air tight and increasingly hopeless. It was now at the point where they were trying to work out a plea deal, but every deal they came up with involved Riker giving information on the club, so Riker wouldn’t even consider it. After a while communication broke down between all parties and a court date was set.
In the meantime, Riker remained in that concrete coffin, living a life that was no life at all. And Gia was finding it harder and harder to be without him.
In her best moments, she missed him until her heart ached.
And in her worst moments, she blamed him.
The best that Gia had begun to hope for was that after sentencing, Riker would get transferred to the state penitentiary located about an hour away. She didn’t know what the future held for them, but Gia knew she was not ready to abandon Riker–not yet. However, she was honest enough with herself to admit that she didn’t know how she would feel after the baby was born and she faced raising the child on her own. She had been counting on the two of them to do this together. Although a fierce protective instinct had grown in her over the course of the pregnancy, Gia was still very uncertain about her mothering skills and was worried to death that she would mess it all up without Riker by her side.
But there had been bright spots along the way, too. Dolly and the girls had thoughtfully given Gia a baby shower. It was a complete surprise and the women had gone to a lot of trouble for her. The gifts were incredible–strollers, and baby baths, and cute little outfits with tiny socks and shoes, baby lotions and monitors and lamps and mobiles and diapers, and diaper bags…the list went on and on. Although the presents were unwrapped and the thank you cards had all been sent, the items lay untouched in the middle of the baby room floor. The crib was still in its crate, the gallons of paint were standing at the ready and the little clothes were folded neatly in their gift bags. Gia had been determined to wait for Riker to put the nursery together, but common sense had been whispering in her ear lately that maybe it was time to move ahead, move along without him.
To that end, Gia had just finished cutting away the bubble wrap on the changing table and was ready to start filling it with sweet little baby clothes when a forceful knock sounded out from the door. Then without waiting for anyone to open it, she heard the sound of heavy footsteps enter the kitchen and stop at the bottom of the stairs.
Prosper. It had to be him. There was absolutely nothing subtle about that man.
“Gia? You up there?”
“Yes, I’m here.” Gia called out and groaned inwardly.
Since their trip to the prison, Prosper had made a habit of coming around three or four times a week to check in on her. Gia really wished he wouldn’t, because the sight of him made her blood boil with anger. Gia blamed Prosper for the whole mess. She knew her feelings of animosity towards him were misplaced because Riker was responsible for his own actions. But Gia found that she couldn’t bear to sustain any kind of meaningful anger directed towards her husband. Not when he was paying such a huge price for something he had donefor the club.
Gia knew through Dolly, who had heard from Pinky, that Prosper was fully aware of the animosity she felt toward him. He knew, that given the choice, Gia would just as soon put a bullet in his head then serve him coffee. The visits were uncomfortable for him too, but he had made a promise to Riker and he intended to fulfill it. After every visit to the prison, he would make sure he stopped by Gia’s house that evening on the way home and fill her in on how Riker was doing. He took care packages from her to him, and notes and pictures.
“You’re early. I don’t have anything ready yet to send to Riker.”
“Not here for that, darlin’.” Prosper told her.
Then he smiled. Not just any kind of smile either. It was a Cheshire cat sort of grin. Wide and full of self-satisfaction.
“What’s going on with you?” Gia asked him with suspicion.
“Me? Nothing. Got a little bit of good news to share, that’s all.” Prosper leaned against the kitchen counter with his ankles crossed. Thatcat who got the creamexpression still all over his face.
She looked blankly at Prosper.
“I saidgoodnews.” Prosper repeated.
Gia scowled in response because the last thing she needed at this point was false hope. She looked at him warily. “Good news? I doubt you and I share the same definition of what we consider good news.”
“Yeah? Well you might just be fucking surprised.” Prosper continued to grin.
He deserved all the shit she wanted to give him. Because Gia was damn right, what had happened to Riker was a shit storm, and the club was at the center of it. He had tried his best to reassure her over the past months, but really? This one could have gone either way. The situation had cost Prosper plenty of sleepless nights, countless favors turned in and more owed out, and close to a hundred grand in bribe money. But as stressful as it had been for him, Prosper knew that it had been much worse for Gia. And if he forgot for even one moment that Gia was suffering great pains over this fuckup? He could count on Pinky to remind him.
“You want coffee?” She sighed and began to fill the pot with water. There really was no point in being mad at him, Gia just couldn’t help it.
“Sure.” He nodded.
“So, are you going to tell me about this good news or not?” Gia placed a couple of coffee cups, some pie plates and a pie on the table. “I made cherry this morning. Have a seat.”
