Page 7

Bianca sat quietly inside the restaurant waiting for Sal to show up.

She hadn’t thought of anything else but this meeting when she left that lounge last night.

And then late last night, when she pulled up Gemma’s Instagram and saw that video of Sal’s speech posted online, she wanted to puke.

It was as if that whore was rubbing it in her face.

Nobody wanted to see that trainwreck again!

But her ire wasn’t really directed at Gemma.

Sal was the one that owed her his loyalty.

Sal was the one who made clear he was going to “take care of her” when she got out.

Gemma hadn’t done shit to her. Gemma was just trying to deal with her own hustle.

She was just trying to do everything in her power to keep his attention.

She blamed Sal and Sal alone. It was Sal who had some serious explaining to do.

But she was obsessed with that video. She must have watched it thirty times since it first posted online.

She pulled out her phone and pulled up that video again.

She tried to remember those words he said to her while she was locked up.

About how he was going to really take care of her properly when she got out.

But those words he said to Gemma kept overtaking the words he said to her.

“ You are the love of my life ,” he said to Gemma, “ and don’t you ever forget it .

” How could a good man like Sal be lying saying those kind of heartfelt words?

Had he fallen for the witch while she was locked up? It was a terrifying thought to Bianca.

But she knew she had to pull it together when she saw Sal enter that restaurant.

He was dressed to the nines the way he usually was, but so was she.

She looked sexy as hell herself, if she had to say so, in the lowest cut dress she could find.

She was on the verge of having a wardrobe malfunction the entire time she was sitting there.

It was low cut up top, and practically showing her ass down below. Which was all by design.

“Sal!” She put on her best smile as she jumped up from the table and gave him the biggest hug of her life.

Sal staggered back when she jumped into his arms so forcefully, but he was glad to see her too.

They hugged vigorously. It wasn’t lost on him that she was gyrating her body in such a way that she was rubbing against his penis in a very seductive manner, and he was getting hard by that rub.

But she’d been locked up for six years. She probably wanted some anyway she could get it. He gave her a pass.

When they stopped embracing and he saw that her breasts were half hanging out, he became fully aroused. Too aroused for a married man. He pulled the top of her dress up further to cover her breasts, smiled as if it was no big deal, and they both sat down.

But she was inwardly enraged at his little gesture. Why would he pull it up? Didn’t he want to feast his eyes on her beautiful flesh the way all those other men were doing when she walked into that restaurant? What was wrong with Sal ???

“So how’s life on the outside?” he said to her with that killer smile that used to give her life itself.

But now it felt annoying. “It’s good,” she said.

“Like the apartment?”

“You picked it out?” She said this and looked up at him.

What kind of question was that? Of course his ass didn’t go around picking out an apartment for her. “Do you like it?” he asked her again.

“Yes, I do. It’s very nice. Thank you.”

He was waiting for her to thank him for that fat bank account she earned, but she didn’t go there. So he didn’t either.

The waiter arrived. “May I take your drink order, sir?” He’d already given Bianca her drink.

“Ah, no, I’m good.” Then he looked at Bianca. “I’m going to have to take a raincheck on lunch,” he said to her. “I have to go out of town on some business.”

Again ? He just got back in town! Bianca wanted to rip into him right then and there. But she maintained her cool as the waiter asked if she was ready to order. “Not yet, no,” she said to him, and then he left their table.

“Why?” Bianca asked Sal.

Sal wondered if she was herself. “I just told you why. I have to go out of town.”

“But I just got out,” she said.

And , he wanted to say. “I’m aware of that,” he said instead.

“I took the fall for Jake because you asked me to. I spent six years in prison because you asked me to tell the authorities that those were my drugs. I had no criminal record. I wasn’t supposed to get no hard time for a first offense.

But even when they threw the book at me, I stayed loyal to you. ”

“Yes you did.”

“Because you said you needed Jake on the battlefield. You said he was one of your best soldiers.”

Her voice sounded accusatory to Sal. “That’s right.”

“I did all of that for you.”

“In exchange,” Sal reminded her, “for a couple million dollars in your pocket. I know many people who would do more time than you did for that kind of dough.”

“But you didn’t ask them, did you? You asked me. Why? To get rid of me?”

Sal frowned. What on earth was this broad talking about? “Why would I wanna get rid of you, Bianca? What are you talking?” Or taking, he wanted to add, but didn’t.

Then Bianca realized she was blowing it. Sal wasn’t the kind of man you could bully into seeing what he’d done to you. So she smiled. “I was just messing with you,” she said, and although Sal smiled too, he clearly didn’t like being messed about.

Time to end this now, he thought. “I’ve gotta run,” he said as he moved to get up.

Bianca placed her hand on his hand. She could feel her skin crawl when she touched him. “Don’t mind me, Sal. I’m still getting used to the outside. Being locked up for that many years makes you anxious.”

He realized he was probably being too hard on her. He placed his hand on her hand. “You’ll be okay. Need me to hook you up?”

Bianca was confused. “With what?”

“With a man, what else?”

Was he trying to get next to her? Was he coming back to himself? “Depends on the man,” she said with a smile.

“A few of my capos are interested. They always had a thing for you. I can hook you up with one of them if you’re interested.”

Get real, she wanted to say. “I have no issues finding male companionship, thank you very much,” she said. Only she said it with a great smile, although inwardly she was raging.

“Okay good,” Sal said as he stood up. Then he stared at her. “You did a good deed, Bianca. I won’t forget it.” Then he walked out of the restaurant. But it felt as if he was walking out of her life.

She pulled out her phone again, and pulled up that video again.

The longer she watched it, the more she pressed down on her screen.

By the time he said those words to Gemma again, those love of my life words, she was pressing on her screen so hard, and with so much inward rage, that the screen cracked in long spider lines.

“Are you okay, ma’am?” the waiter, who had just walked up to her and saw her crack her own phone, asked her.

She couldn’t snap out of it the way she could with Sal. She merely got up, threw a hundred-dollar bill on the table, and walked out: cracked phone and all.

But she was on that same phone when she got outside. “He’s going out of town. I know he just got back, but so what? No, he didn’t say for how long.” She opened her car door. “Do it when he returns,” she ordered.

“Are you certain?” the voice on the other end of the line asked her.

“Dead certain,” she said, got in her car, and sped away so fast she nearly hit two other vehicles.