Page 125 of Ruining Vanessa

“Why is Paul here?” Damien asks, his arm pointed down at a strange angle.

Because he’s holding a gun. He’s waving a gun around. My head grows fuzzier.

“He’s been skimming from Giulio,” Slayer says casually, like it’s no big deal. Like it’s just another day at the office.

Well, for him, it probably is since he deals with corruption and bribery and who knows what else?

“According to her?” Paul asks, eyeing me. “Donny’s the one skimming!”

“No,” Damien answers immediately. He lifts the gun, but he aims it at Traci instead of Paul. “Did Giulio say where he was going?”

Traci cowers, shrinking back.

“He said he was going to go get drinks,” Slayer says, rubbing my shoulder. “But then—”

“It was an accident!” I interrupt, looking desperately at Damien. “Damien, it was an accident. We were talking on the stairs, and I went to take a step back, and I just tripped. It wasn’t Traci’s fault.”

But I know more than that. I know what she’s doing. If I don’t say it, Damien will be furious, but if I do… Traci really will end up dead.

Two potential deaths tonight, both resting on my shoulders. All I have to do is say the words, and they’ll both be dead and gone by the time the club even opens.

Fuck.

I don’t want to have that kind of power.

The door suddenly swings open, and Giulio walks in, carrying a stack of boxes. “Yo! I was out there, having a drink—Jenna’s running to a real store and grabbing something better for all of us—and I thought, what’s a party without some party games?”

He walks over and sets the three nondescript boxes on the table in front of the couches, grinning the entire time.

This… is not good.

“Giulio, wait. Please wait,” I beg.

Traci is looking at me with that same terrified look. The fact that Damien hasn’t responded, that he still has the gun trained on her, doesn’t make me feel any better.

“It was an accident,” I stress again, looking between Damien and Giulio. I want to get up, to go to Damien, but I’m afraid that if I approach him, he’ll just shoot her anyway. “Traci didn’t make me trip. I was just clumsy. Please don’t hurt her. Please just let her go.”

Giulio shakes his head, amusement on his face. “Traci, you’re just the luckiest bitch, huh. This is the second time Vanessa’s covering for you.”

Traci whimpers again. “Giulio, I swear, nothing happened.”

“Vanessa fell down the stairs,” Damien growls. “That isn’t nothing.”

“I’m not covering for her, because she didn’t do anything wrong!” I say quickly. All right, that’s not the whole truth, but hopefully they think the way I’m trembling is because of the situation overall. “Honestly, I tripped and fell.”

“Yep, and Paul definitely just negotiated a very sweet deal for our supplies and hasn’t been skimming for months.” Giulio picks up one of the boxes and shakes it. Something thuds inside.

Paul flinches. “Boss, I wasn’t.”

“He was!” Traci interjects suddenly. “He’s been shifty the entire time! And sometimes he’ll take payment off the johns without giving us our cut!”

“Fuck you, bitch,” Paul shouts. “You’re the one who—”

“Shut up!” Giulio yells. Both Traci and Paul fall silent. “Jesus fucking Christ, you’re both on death row! Have some respect for the soon-to-be dead!”

“Giulio!” I beg, standing up. “Giulio, you can’t. You can’t kill everyone who does something wrong. Just fire Paul, leave Traci alone. Please. I’m begging you.”

“Man. You have one little white blob with somebody, and suddenly they think they know you!” Giulio passes the box to me. “Traci, which of the remaining boxes do you want? I’ll let you go first, since you’re a lady.” He holds up the remaining two, one slightly larger than the other.

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