“Giselle, there is something different about you today. Baby, are you all right?” That was his mother.
“I’m fine.”
“My wife is full of surprises today. I do know that,” Giovanni said.
I rolled my eyes at him and said, “Mom, Dad, I’m feeling really beat. I’m going to go upstairs and get some rest. Maybe after we come back from the doctor tomorrow, you two can come over and we can have lunch. I will have the cook make us some goodies. Maybe some nice crab cakes, lobster ceviche, those little raspberry cheesecakes that I can’t get enough of, and some blini. That sounds good! I’m just really beat right now.”
I leaned away from Giovanni and rose from my seat. I blew two more kisses to both of his parents and walked out of the room.
I heard his mother say, “But wait! I want to know how Italy was!”
I ignored her and kept going.
When I got to my room, I threw off my clothes and went straight into the bathroom to jump into the shower. I stepped inside and immediately cupped my hands under my pussy. Despite the fact that I had washed up, there was still cream in my vagina, and it leaked into my hands. The aftershocks of sex. I chuckled, thinking about how good it was. Bryce had the ability to make me cum the way Giovanni had never done and probably never would. He had a magic about him that just drove me insane. I damn near pissed on myself when I saw Giovanni standing in front of the clear glass shower door.
He didn’t say anything, so I played it off and turned on the shower. I grabbed the liquid jasmine soap and quickly poured some on myself using one of the folded washcloths that were neatly stacked in the cabinet that was built into the shower stall.
I looked out the corner of my eye and saw that he still stood there watching me.
I lathered up quickly and then rinsed off. I turned off the water and stepped out of the shower stall. I grabbed a towel and wrapped it around myself before exiting the bathroom. I was trying to get away from him.
As I dried off in the bedroom, I saw him come and stand in the middle of the room and watch me. I ignored him and pulled on my robe, tying the sash.
“So how was the spa?”
“What?”
“I asked how the spa was. You said that’s where you went, right?”
“Yeah. It was fine.”
“What type of massage did you get this time?”
I was silent, trying to figure out what to say. “It was the, uh, the deep tissue massage.”
He just watched me, his arms crossed, standing in the center of the room. A few seconds later he said, “Don’t ever in your life disrespect my parents. Do you understand me?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Giselle, I love you. And I’m sorry I have hurt you. But you are pushing me.”
I almost dismissed him, until I saw the dangerous look in his eyes. It made me nervous. Should I tell him the truth? That I knew what he did and that I didn’t love him, that I loved Bryce and wanted to be with him? No, I told myself. That would be signing my death warrant. I had to trust that Bryce would get me out of this. I also knew I had to bow down to my husband.
“All right. I’m sorry.”
“Since you don’t seem to care about spending quality time with your husband, I wanted to surprise you with a trip. I won’t force you to go, but if you like, you can fly out to Vegas with me, Daryl, and Whitney for a couple days. We will be back in time for our appointment.”
“Giovanni—”
“Now, I won’t force you to go, baby. But I would like you to.”
Two and a half months ago I would have jumped up and thrown myself in his arms and kissed him for a surprise excursion. When we went to Vegas, everything was always five-star. I had money to throw away, like it wasn’t anything. I always had the flyest dresses, heels, and bags to show off, and I stayed on Giovanni’s arm, making other bitches insane. Now I wasn’t excited in the least bit. And I would be ashamed to be on his arm. I would much rather be in Bryce’s arms.
So I told him, “I don’t want to go. I’ll stay home and see you on Wednesday for our appointment. Have fun.”
He tried to smile at me, but I could tell he was disappointed that I didn’t want to go. “If you don’t want to, then I won’t look at it as a bad thing. Maybe a few days apart is what we need.”
“Maybe,” I said.
“What is it going to take for you to love me again?”
I closed my eyes briefly. The truth was nothing would. I would never, ever love Giovanni or look at him the same way. It didn’t matter what he did, because I knew that he was foul. “Just give me my space, Giovanni. You can’t expect me to get over what you did this fast. You slept with my best friend.”
He nodded. “Fair enough. But if you change your mind, call me. I can have you flown out at any time.”
Just then someone knocked on the door. It was our maid Pillar. When Giovanni told her to come in, she quickly came into the room and went into the walk-in closet. When she came out a few minutes later, she had a small Gucci suitcase packed.
“Mr. Pride, I will take this downstairs for the driver. I started the shower for you. When you finish with your shower, I will come back and straighten up. I will set your change of clothes on the dresser. Mrs. Pride, do you need me to pack your bags, ma’am?”
“No thank you, Pillar. I’m not going.”
Giovanni walked past her to the bathroom.
“Yes, ma’am.” She walked out of the room.
Once Giovanni was fully dressed, he gave me a long tongue kiss, which I didn’t even participate in. Then he was out the door, and I was happy to get him out of my hair for two days.
I stood up and went to grab my phone to call Bryce. I dialed his number quickly. When there was a knock on the door, I jumped. “Who is it?”
“Pillar, ma’am.”
I hung up the phone quickly. “Come in.”
She opened the door, walked in, and smiled at me. This was her normal routine—to ensure that our bedroom, bathroom, and closet stayed immaculate—and normally, it wouldn’t bother me, but since I was trying to talk to Bryce, it agitated me. But I waited patiently while she straightened up the bathroom.
“Mrs. Pride?” She came out of the bathroom with a basket of dirty clothes and towels.
“Yes?”
“Mr. Pride left his keys here. They were in his pants pocket. I don’t want them to get lost.”
My breath caught in my throat. The keys were just what I needed to get into his cabinet. I tried to look normal.
“I’ll hold on to them until he comes back,” I told her.
She smiled and handed them to me.
As soon as she left, I sprang from the bed. I rushed out of the room and down the stairs. It took me a good ten minutes to get near the studio. Giovanni’s office was down the hall. Luckily, it was late, so everyone was gone for the night.
I tried five different keys before one of them unlocked the door. I breathed a sigh of relief and closed and locked the door behind me.
I figured the smaller set of keys contained the ones that would open the cabinet he had. Once I was able to get the cabinet and then the correct drawer open, I gasped at all the DVDs in there. There were separated by year. They went back as far as 1997. I remembered that that was the year Giovanni said he started his company.
I braced myself and watched countless DVDs of Giovanni with young girls, very young girls, who looked around the same age as Bryce’s little sister. When I slipped in a DVD that was filmed in 2011, I was disgusted beyond words. Although the little girl was a little older now, there was no mistaking who she was. The birthmark on her face said it all. It was Trinity, Lexi’s cousin. I sobbed. Did Lexi know? I told myself that she didn’t know. Who would willingly allow a grown man to do something like this to an innocent child? Seeing him victimize that young girl killed me softly. If Lexi knew about this, then she was sicker than I thought.
I ejected the DVD from the DVD player. I grabbed as many of them as I
could and rushed back to my bedroom. I was not going to wait another day. Giovanni needed to be arrested for what he had done. All the pain he had inflicted on all these girls. He needed to be locked up for the rest of his life.
As I pulled on some jeans and a black T-shirt, I called Hank’s home number. My husband had given me all the phone numbers of his friends and had said it was a way to show me that he was always accessible to me. First, I dialed him at home, and his wife, Vanna, answered. She told me he was still at work, doing paperwork.
I dialed the number for the Westwood Police Department. As soon as I was transferred to Hank, I didn’t let him get his name out before I said, “Hank, it’s me, Giselle! Listen to me carefully. I’m coming over there to show you something. Giovanni has been involved in a very serious crime. He has been sexually abusing underage girls and filming it. I have proof. He needs to be locked up. I’m bringing the DVDs to you right now.”
“Giselle, are you sure about this?”
I went to my closet and pulled out a pair of tennis shoes. I cradled the phone with my ear and shoulder and yanked on the shoes. “Yes! Look, Giovanni is on his way to Vegas, so that gives us time. I’m on my way to bring you the DVDs now.”
I grabbed my purse, tossed my cell inside, and rushed out of the house.
When I got outside, I tossed my keys to the groundsman. “I need my car now!”
He rushed away, and a few minutes later he pulled my car up. I jumped in, pushed the gas pedal, and heard my tires squawk, but I didn’t care. I was getting to that police station. Once the gates opened, I drove even faster.
Once I got there, I grabbed my purse and the DVDs. I rushed inside to the front desk. Before the police officer could say anything, I said quickly, “I’m here to see Hank Chisym. He knows who I am, and he is expecting me.”
I was quickly escorted inside Hank’s office. Then that officer left. I rushed up to Hank, hugged him, and said, “Thank you for helping me, Hank.”
When I pulled away, I noticed there were two more cops in the room. Hank took a step back from me, nodded, and they both started coming toward me. I looked at them, confused.
“Hank, what’s going on?”
I screamed when one of the cops twisted one of my arms behind my back. The other officer placed that wrist in handcuffs and my other arm was brought around and the cuffs were placed on that one as well.
“Hank, why are you doing this to me?”
He ran a hand through his blond hair, and his blue eyes pierced me angrily. “I’m sorry, Giselle, but I can’t help you. Giovanni is my friend. You should have known better. You really are meddling in something that is not your place or your business. As good a husband as Giovanni is to you, I feel embarrassed for you for even trying to do something like this. You should, too.”
I gasped at his words. I was shocked. Hank must have known all along what my husband was doing, and was okay with it. I was disgusted by the fact that he was okay with it. Fear that he must have told Giovanni I was coming there made me tremble.
“He needs to be put behind bars for the things he has done. You are the police chief. That overrides your friendship with him!”
He ignored me by casually tossing a hand in the air. “Take her home to her husband. He’s waiting for her.”
Was this all a setup? Had Giovanni really left, or had he set me up to dig a hole for myself?
“Wait, no! Hank, please don’t do this to me Don’t take me there.”
He handed one of the officers a Post-it. “Take her home. The address is on here.”
I sobbed as they pulled me by my arms out of the office. I was so scared. Hank had probably told Giovanni that I had tried to tell on him and get him locked up. And the cops were taking me straight to him! I realized then that what I did was dumb and reckless. Now I was going to pay for it. Dread consumed me as they stuffed me in the back of the police car. I bawled all the way to my house. I didn’t know what Giovanni would do to me for this betrayal.
The police didn’t stop until they brought me in the house and up the stairs, directly to our bedroom. It was like they were Giovanni’s personal bodyguards.
Giovanni was seated on our bed, staring at me calmly as the officers took the cuffs off of me.
After the cuffs were off, Giovanni walked over to me and said to the officer holding the cuffs, “Tell Hank I’m borrowing these cuffs.”
“No problem, sir,” said the officer with the cuffs. He handed them to Giovanni. Then they both stood there, waiting for his next command.
“Ask your chief if we are still on for the shooting range on Saturday.”
“Will do, sir,” the other one said.
“All right, you two can go.”
“Have a good night, Mr. Pride,” they both said in unison. They walked out of the room.
I stood in the center of the room, scared as hell. The level of fear I had matched the fear I felt when I was first kidnapped and when I met Bryce. I didn’t know what Giovanni was going to do, but I was scared as hell of whatever it was.
He stood in front of me and lifted my face so I could look him in his eyes.
“I planned this mock trip to see what you would do with me out of the house. Of all the crazy scenarios, I never thought it would be this. You thought you could go to my friend about me, huh?”
I ignored him.
“Answer me, you bitch!”
“I—”
“Not fast enough.” He took the handcuffs and swung them like they were a bat right into my grill.
I screamed when one of my teeth flew and blood spilled from my mouth. I placed my hand over my mouth. I cried and dropped to my knees from the pain.
He crouched down in front of me. “Tell me something, sweet Giselle. I have given you every luxury known to man. Why would you betray me this way, huh?”
When I didn’t respond, he gripped my hair tightly. I winced at the pain.
“Answer me, or I will pull every implant out of your fucking head!”
“I know about what you do. I know you rape young girls.”
“Bitch!” He punched me dead in my face. I cried out again and fell backward. “You don’t know any fucking thing. What I do is my business, mine! You are my wife. Those DVDs have nothing at all to do with you. That’s my fetish. Everyone has one. Little girls just so happens to be mine. So what? It could be worse, bitch. It could be boys. It could be drugs or gambling. You should have played your part as my wife and stayed out of my business. You don’t question anything about Giovanni Pride. I own you. The moment I wrote that check in my office, you became my property, and you will do as I say with my life and with yours. You should know by now I’m rich and money buys power. The police can’t stop me. No one can.”
I sobbed and kept my eyes closed as he spoke. I felt utterly powerless to stop his assault on me, because physically he was stronger and he was right. He had a lot of power because he had money. But still, he was more of a bitch than any man I had ever known.
He smoothed the hair out of my face. “Listen to me, baby. I don’t want you to see this ugly side of me, but you gave me no choice. You had to be punished.” He took a deep breath. “Here is what we are going to do. You are going to go and take a shower, get into bed, and go to sleep. From this point on, you are not going to leave this room—”
“Giovanni, no—”
His face turned ugly again. He grabbed me by my throat and said, “Shut up!”
I nodded fearfully.
“You are not to leave this room. Despite what you did, I still love you and you are my wife, and you will continue to be my wife until I feel or say differently. And we will move forward with seeing the specialist. I’m sure by then you will have come to your senses, anyway.”
I sobbed and shook my head. I couldn’t have a baby by this man. I couldn’t. He was sicker than I’d thought. He didn’t need to be the father to anyone. He shouldn’t even own a pet.
He ignored me and stripped me out of my clothes.
&nbs
p; “Just let me go,” I begged. “I won’t tell anyone about what you do if you just let me leave.”
“Shh, baby.” He dragged me to the bathroom, although I screamed for him to let me go. He dragged me inside the shower and came inside with me. “Wash the blood off of your face, Giselle.”
“No!” I screamed. “Giovanni, just let me go!”
He started slapping me around in the shower. I slipped and fell down, hurting my side.
He lifted me back to my feet. “Stop, baby. See what you are making me do? Let me love you, baby. Let me be good and gentle to you.”
I wanted him to just let me go. Dump me out on the street, ass buck naked if he had to, without a pot to piss in, but just let me go. I didn’t want a baby, money, anything but my freedom, but it seemed that I had screwed that up. I regretted not being patient and letting Bryce handle this on his own. I’d screwed things up and made them worse. What were the chances of me being able to freely be with Bryce now?
Giovanni stood over me and drenched me with soap. It burned my eyes and nostrils. He took a washcloth and rubbed me down, despite my pleading for him to stop.
He kept repeating, “It’s okay, baby.” But then when I tried to fight him, he would punch me, then say, “Stop making me hurt you!”
I finally gave up and sat still, crying, as he rinsed the soap off of me and carried me, naked and soaking wet, toward the bed. Once he tossed me on it, I curled up in a ball and continued to cry.
He grabbed my purse, walked toward the door, stopped, and said, “I’m hurt by what you did today. But in time, unlike you, I will get over it and forgive you. But for now it’s best you go to sleep. I will tell both the maids to resume their cleaning on another day. I don’t want them to see the lady of the house this way, because you look a mess. I won’t let anyone up to this wing of the house. Oh, and when time permits, I’ll send you to our dentist to get that tooth replaced.”
With that he left the room.
I leaped up from the bed to grab the phone and call Bryce. But Giovanni must have taken the cordless out of the bedroom, and there was not one in the bathroom, either. Damn! I had to get out of the house. I pulled on the first thing I saw, a dress and my flip-flops, and rushed to the door. I opened it and was surprised to see he had a guard planted outside the bedroom.
Sweet Giselle Page 19
