Page 79 of Die for You
“She’s dead. A heart attack, apparently. But I believe Gianna just finished the job.”
Valentina shakes her head, her fury evident. “I need to hear it from Gianna.”
“You’ll never get the truth from her.”
“Do we have a plan?”
I do…but she’s not going to like it.
Here goes nothing.
“The urge to torture her will be unbearable, but until we find out if she is involved with Lettie’s disappearance, we need to play her at her own game.”
Valentina exhales slowly. “Do we tell her I know the truth about…everything?”
“No,” I reply without pause. “She cannot know. As far as she’s concerned, you’re still on her side.”
Her mouth falls open.“What?”
And this was the plot twist no one saw coming.
“The plan is we pretend you’re going to overthrow me and my empire, and I will surrender.”
“She’ll never believe that.”
“Yes, she will. She’ll believe it because you’re going to tell her about Lettie.”
“Lennon…have you gone fucking mad?” Valentina’s eyes are wide as she attempts to decipher what’s going on.
“Madam Gazella, the oldstregayou told me about. She’s Gianna’s mother, and the fact she’s your grandmother, a minor detail she didn’t deem fit to share with you, has me believing she’s just as evil as her daughter.
“Gianna knows about Lettie because her mother told her.”
Valentina simply stares at me. I know it’s a lot, but I don’t have time to divulge all this over scones and tea.
“Gianna was the one who told me where you were in Italy. I always wondered why she would do that. And I now know the reason is because she knew you were pregnant and that you wouldn’t leave because of the baby. She wanted me to believe that you were lost to me.
“And I did. But now, I know the reason.”
Valentina clenches her hands into fists atop her thighs. “It makes sense.”
“So the plan is you go into the orphanage on the ruse that you believe I have Lettie and you need Gianna’s help in finding her. You’ve tried on your own, but failed.
“You’re going to beg for forgiveness for lying to her, and you’ll do anything to earn back her trust. Play on the fact that you never knew your mother, so you wanted to provide a stable, safe environment for Lettie. You wanted to be the mother you never had.”
“This will not work!” she exclaims, her cheeks reddening. From anger or fear, I’m not sure.
“It will. Gianna knows you’ll do anything for Lettie, even betray her. So tell her you’ll give her what she’s wanted all these years…”
“And what’s that?” she asks in a small voice, knowing the answer.
“My head.”
I am ninety-nine percent certain Gianna has Lettie. She knew Lettie would always be Valentina’s Achilles’ heel. Gianna is sick of waiting. She is sick of Valentina and me playing this game of cat and mouse. Gianna would have killed me herself if she could.
But I’m smarter since she raised me. I know her.
However, having Lettie is the ace up her sleeve—just as she used Valentina—and it ensures her victory. And my throne.
