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“No. Emilia and Marco never left New York. Marco has been trying to find a way to get you back, and Emilia has been here every day, helping.” Good ol’ Emilia. That’s her role as second mom, to help. Mom calls Emilia and tells her to come over quickly as I’m home.
“I would have thought Emilia would have gone back to LA by now,” I say as Mom hangs up.
“Honey, she loves you. Why would you think she’d leave if you were in trouble?”
Because I’m a bitch who thinks the worst of everyone.
It’s tense between Mom and I as we wait for Emilia to arrive. I know I can’t convince my mom to spare Viktor, so I don’t continue to try. She looks torn between wanting to give me another hug and wanting to slap me.
Steve answers the door when someone knocks, and Emilia rushes in, Marco behind her. Emilia cries out as she sees me and pulls me into a hug. The warmth that spills over me is almost overwhelming.
“You’re ok,” Emilia whispers into my ear. “You’re ok now, Gem.”
And just like that, I cry. I’ve been holding a lot in over the past few weeks, like the guilt over how I left things with Emilia. She’s my best friend, and our last conversation was me snapping at her.
“It’s ok, Gem.” Emilia strokes my back and just holds me.
I cry until it hurts to cry. Then I force myself to stop. Emilia pulls back, giving me a huge smile. “I was so worried I’d never see you again.”
“Here I am,” I respond.
“Gem—” she starts as I say, “Em—”
We both stop and laugh a little.
“You go,” Emilia encourages.
“I’m so sorry for how we left things. I take back everything I said to you.”
“Gem, it doesn’t matter. You were under stress, and I’m easy for you to take things out on. I’m not mad at you. Not one bit. I’m just happy you’re ok, and we can go back to spending time together. Now that you’re safe, Marco and I will stay in New York a little while longer, just to clean up loose ends. You and me will have a lot of time to spend together. We can go out, have a spa day, get pizza, anything you want. Ok?”
“Ok.” The lump in my throat expands. “I missed you so much.”
“I missed you, too.” She hugs me again, squeezing me so tight it’s almost hard to breath. It’s only once we part that Marco approaches me.
“Gemma, is there anything you can tell me to use against Viktor? Anything at all?”
I share a glance with Mom, who looks away from me in shame, no doubt. “Nothing,” I say lamely. I tried to convince Mom that I don’t want Viktor dead, and look how well that turned out. There’s no way I can convince Marco and Emilia. “Sorry.”
“It’s all right,” Marco says. “Now that you’re safe, I can go after him without fear of your getting hurt in the process.” He turns to Emilia and squeezes her arm. “I’ll give you and your sister some space and work on a plan to go after Viktor.” He gives me a smile and then leaves.
“Are you ok?” Emilia asks me.
“I’m fine. Just … I’m tired of talking about this now, ok?”
The front door bursts open, and Franco storms in, anger radiating off him. “Gemma. You’re back.” He says it like he’d rather I not be.
“Franco,” I spit out. “Are you happy to see me, or am I just a lost cause to you?”
Franco huffs. “Always the attitude on you.”
“Leave my sister alone,” Emilia snaps. “She’s been through a lot. She doesn’t need it from you, too.”
Mom slowly comes over to me. “What did you mean by what you said?” she asks me. “Why would you ask Franco that?”
“Because he had the chance to make a deal with Viktor and declined, calling me a lost cause in the process.”
Both Mom and Emilia whip around to glare at Franco, who doesn’t back down as he says, “She’s a liar.”
