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Bianca Norichi sat on a float in the indoor pool of her high-rise luxury apartment with a tall glass of Sherry in her hand. It was early, but she was already on the sauce. Because she could barely stand the wait. Because she had to find out how it all went down.

She checked the time on her Apple watch, and then took another sip of her drink. Over and over, that was her routine. Check the watch, take a sip. Until finally, when she had forgotten to check her watch, it rang.

She quickly answered the call. “What happened?”

“Alice is dead. So is Chain.”

She couldn’t believe it. “ Dead ? How did that happen?”

“Sal figured it out somehow. Don’t ask me how, but he did. Then he and Reno went to the house, with their wives in tow, and took them out.”

“Was Sal harmed?”

“No.”

“What about his wife?” Her voice was anxious, and she waited for the answer as if she was in a state of suspended animation. But the news wasn’t what she wanted to hear. “Negative,” the caller responded. “She’s alive and well and apparently she believed Sal over Alice.”

“ Noooo !” Bianca’s voice was agonizing and sounded as if she had gone underwater. And then she snatched off her watch and violently threw it, as hard as she could, across her pool room. It crashed against the back wall and shattered. Then it slid to the floor.

She held the cold glass of Sherry against her forehead and began crying. Alice was dead over it, and he was still with that bitch? How could she believe him? How could she still be with him? How could it have gone so wrong ?

“ The love of my life ,” she kept hearing him saying. “ The love of my life ,” he declared about that witch when it was Bianca that gave up six years of her life for him. The love of my life my ass!

It was too much for her to bear. He was supposed to see the sacrifice she made for him and reward her with more than just material things. Fuck money. He was supposed to reward her with his heart, not just his money! How could he do this to her?

Then her rage rose once again and she threw that glass of Sherry across the room too. It didn’t sail all the way to the wall, but it hit the floor with spillage and splatter.

One quick meeting was all he gave to her.

Just one hello and goodbye.

After she lost six years of her life for him and that was how he repaid her? One quick meeting?

She couldn’t let that stand.

There was no way she was going to let him get away with hurting her so completely like that.

But then, as if a lightbulb had just suddenly turned on, she realized something she had not even considered before. Something she would not have even thought to consider just an hour ago. But she was considering it now!

She quickly got out of the pool, found her phone, fumbled it, picked it back up, and got busy.