Page 275 of The Bonus

“So why lie?”

“It’s what Grace told me, I thought it was true.”

I roll my eyes in disgust as I get into my car. “You get upstairs and you watch over Grace, and so help me god, if you take your eyes off her for one fucking second…I’ll kill you myself.”

He steps back from the car and I scream out of the parking lot, my black Ferrari roars like a tiger as I pull out into the traffic.

I’ve never been so angry; years and years of my mother’s toxic behavior have finally tipped me over the edge.

I pull up to the lights and my two hands grip the steering wheel. I get a vision of my mother walking up to Grace and the kids today at the park, I can only imagine what she said to them. The audacity.

And Grace was prepared to take the blame…

I inhale deeply as rage simmers deep in the pit of my stomach. I’m so furious that I can’t see straight. I can feel my pulse as adrenaline surges through my blood stream. A ticking timebomb about to blow.

Calm down.

Fifteen minutes later, I pull into the parking bay of my mother’s building and I storm through the foyer. The doorman nods as he opens the door. “Good evening, Mr. Ferrara.”

I walk to the elevator and the doors open, the elevator attendant smiles. “Mr. Ferrara.” I walk in and turn to face the front; I readjust my tie as we rise floor by floor to the penthouse.

The doors open straight into her apartment and I step out. Ivan, my mother’s bodyguard, is waiting there.

“Mr. Ferrara.” He smiles awkwardly. “We weren’t expecting you, sir.”

“Get out.”

My eyes find my mother across the room.

“I—”

“Get. The. Fuck. Out,” I yell.

My mother’s cold eyes hold mine. “If you’re going to speak to my staff like that, you can leave.”

“Call it as it is.” I sneer. “He’s your lover.”

Ivan’s face falls, and my mother gestures to the elevator. “Leave us,” she whispers.

“I don’t . . .”

“Get into the elevator by choice, or I’ll throw you over the fucking balcony,” I growl.

Ivan begrudgingly gets into the elevator and I’m left alone with her.

She goes to her bar and pours amber fluid into a crystal tumbler. “What do you want, Gabriel?” She raises an eyebrow.

“What do I want?” I whisper, I begin to pace as her words roll around in my head. “What do I want… I want a mother who isn’t a fucking monster!”

“And I want a son who isn’t a control freak.” She rolls her eyes. “Did you come here to insult me?”

“I told you to stay away from Grace.”

“I wanted to see my grandchildren.”

“Lies. You want to set me up to fail. Planting poison into Grace’s head is the only reason you would ever go looking for her…we both know that.”

She smiles as she sips her drink. “It’s charming that you still think the world revolves around you, tell me, does she know that you still love Ariana?”

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