Page 95 of Healed

“Ugh,” Rachel rolled her eyes and flopped into the seat next to me. “Did you ever have any dealings with Officer Bradley?”

I frowned, trying to recall the name. “I don’t think so. But then again, the women under the Riders weren’t quite involved as they are here, so I can’t say for sure that this officer Bradley wasn’t around.”

“Oh, he would have been around, trust me. He’s a complete cunt, and he hates me with a passion.”

“Shocker,” Vienna muttered in the background.

Rachel threw a bread roll at him without even glancing in his direction.

“He knows he hasn’t got anything on us. So every now and then we’re hit with surprise investigations—the taxman, environmental health, the school board, social services. All boring, mundane things. The garage and all the other shops here are legitimate businesses, and Dante isn’t dumb enough to have the other money laundered through these, so it’s a waste of time but…”

Her words trailed off, but I couldn’t focus on them. It wasn’t that I wasn’t interested in what she had to say. It was the fact that she was talking to me, testing me, speaking to me so casually about their businesses.

I don’t think she even realised what she’d done when she mentioned money laundering. But I had, and it meant the fucking world to me. Because it was a sign that she saw me as one of her own.

An old lady.

Someone who belonged.

“Don’t forget we have therapy at two,” Dante reminded her, placing a kiss on her forehead.

“Oh, wait,” she said, snatching up a piece of toast and running out the door after him. “Did you do the homework she set us?”

“Yep,” Dante replied smugly in the hallway, shrugging into his presidential cut.

“Can I see it?”

“Nope.”

“I didn’t have time to do mine! Just let me see your answers so I know how much effort to put into it.”

“You’re not copying my answers, Rachel,” he laughed. “You can just go into that office and explain to Doctor Ashleigh how you’re not as committed to this as I am.”

“But that’s not fair!”

She ran after him as he opened the door, and their words became muffled until drifting away completely.

And before long, it was just me and Vienna alone in the kitchen.

Chapter 30

Gabriella

“Gabriella.”

I cringed as Vienna said my name. I had been hoping to sneak out of this kitchen without having any awkward conversations.

I had been hoping to avoid him entirely, if I were being honest. The thought of having to face him—especially alone—after everything that had happened between us recently was humiliating.

I turned around slowly, trying to keep my lip from curling due to cringing so hard.

“What’s up?”

“Where are you escaping to?” he asked, placing his cup on the side and leaning against it casually, his legs crossed at the ankles and a knowing smirk on his lips.

“I wasn’t escaping.”

“Oh, no?” he said casually, his eyebrows raising and his smirk becoming even wider.