Page 72 of B & E Ever After (Fairy Tale Quartet 3)

Lana fluttered out a hand. “Whatever. You can’t have gone that long without a girlfriend, meaning you’ve carefully kept your special little bed companions hidden from me until…” Her gaze settled distastefully on Gabby. “This thing.” Turning back to me, she added, “Don’t you think that’s rather telling?”

“I think you’re full of bullshit,” I muttered.

She smiled as if refreshed by my reply only to switch her attention to Gabby. “Besides, it’s more than obvious you haven’t tried her on for size yet. There’s too much curiosity in your eyes when you look at her.”

Gabby choked on her surprise, only to lean closer to me and whisper, “She’s chased off more than one girlfriend of yours, hasn’t she?”

With my gaze still hard on Lana, I sighed before admitting, “More like every single one of them. And if she doesn’t chase them off, she convinces them to spy on me and report back to her so she can gather information to use against me later on.”

While Gabby glanced at me incredulously, Lana shrugged. “Really, I don’t know why you’re so sore about all that. If those silly little airheads were so weak as to fall under my influence in the first place, then you were better off without them, anyway. Honestly, I’ve been excellent in helping you weed out the poor choices you’ve made in women.”

“Holy shit,” Gabby breathed, shaking her head as if too stunned to say anything else. But then she turned to me and bluntly asked, “Why is this woman still in your life? You should’ve cut her out years ago.”

“Except he can’t,” Lana answered for me. “Because I own him.”

Gabby hitched up a dubious eyebrow. “Say what now?”

Lana shrugged. “It’s not that difficult to do. Once you figure out what’s important to a person, you simply apply a dab of pressure directly to tha

t area, and voilà, it’s like magic. Turns them into docile little lambs, willing to walk right into the slaughter for you.”

Gabby glanced at me, her disgust mounting. The sickening part was, she seemed more disturbed by my lack of outrage to Lana’s announcement than she was to what Lana had to say in the first place.

But how could I deny it? My mother was right. She always figured out a way to get me to do what she wanted.

“That’s fucked up,” Gabby announced. “This whole situation is officially more fucked up than I can handle. You…” Pointing at me, she snarled, “Have serious mommy issues to work through. And you…” Shaking her head, she shuddered as she looked Lana over. “You’re just pure evil.” Turning away, she started for the front door, waving goodbye over her shoulder to us as she went. “I’m out.”

Something inside me froze as she stormed away. I knew I should accept her departure as fortunate for her and be grateful she was willing to walk away before she became entangled in my family drama any more than she already was. But hell, I started to realize I didn’t want her to go. I didn’t want to never see her again. I didn’t want to stop bickering with her, all the while furtively flirting with her. Hell, I didn’t want to stop breathing the same air she did. I wasn’t ready for it to end yet.

Meeting her had done something to me, opened a door inside me. I’d never felt as alive as I did when she was around.

So a dark, selfish, clearly evilly spawned spot inside me was beyond relieved when Lana called after her, saying, “Oh, you’re not going anywhere, child.”

Gabby slowed to a stop and turned back, arching her eyebrows. “Excuse me?” she said in that voice she used right before the claws came out. “You’re not my mother. I don’t have to do what you say.”

“Except I’ve learned what’s important to you as well, my little maid,” Lana told her, smiling her I-got-you-now smile. “Do the names Miguel and Oscar ring a bell?”

Face draining of color, Gabby merely stared back at her in a traumatized daze. “What?” she whispered.

Lana chuckled darkly. “What do you think would happen to your poor underage brother and handicapped father if you no longer had a source of income? Why, all three of you would probably be put out on the street. Homeless. Starving. Most likely dead within the month.”

“But I have a job,” Gabby gritted out from between clenched teeth.

“Yes, you do.” Lana nodded sagely. “Here. As my new maid.”

When Gabby opened her mouth, Lana fluttered out a hand. “And don’t worry about that little waitressing gig you were doing at the café. I’ve already spoken to your old boss and tendered your resignation for you, effective immediately. Alejandro’s his name, right?” Her nose wrinkled sourly. “Such a foul, uneducated thing. I can’t see how you could stand to work for him as long as you did.”

Gabby turned to me blindly, her eyes wild with shock. “What the fuck is she saying?”

I opened my mouth, but I didn’t know how to answer. My stomach pitched with unease as I brought my fisted hand up to my mouth and simply stared back, immediately feeling guilty for wanting a reason to keep her in my life. Because this wasn’t how I’d wanted it. Her getting trapped by Lana too was not how it was supposed to go down.

Dammit. Was this my fault? Because I’d wished for a reason to keep her in my life? Because I’d allowed her to steal those things? Not that Lana even knew about that, but maybe this was karma, paying us back. I could’ve damn well forced her to put the tissues and chicken noodle soup back. I could’ve taken her to a store and simply bought her everything she needed that night. But, no. I had fucking assisted her in backstabbing my mother, and now—now she was paying the consequences.

Why hadn’t I been able to prevent this?

Pointing toward my mother, Gabby kept addressing me. “She is not saying that she just lost me my job. No fucking way. She can’t do that.”

“But I can,” Lana cut in cheerfully. “I just did.”

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