Devil Incarnate Chapter Thirty

The air was sultry with light summer rain, causing damp tendrils of hair to stick to the back of her neck. In irritation, she flagged down the server—of course he'd been checking her out the entire time she sat there—to pay her bill. Once she'd paid, she left the covered flagstone patio to meander through the crowd on the sidewalk, breathing deeply of the briny air coming off Elliott Bay.

Though she hadn't intended to be a widow, it was working out well for her so far. Nobody told her where to be or what to do, or gave her bruises and black eyes if she mouthed off too much or burned dinner. Her eleven-year-old son, Pavel, currently lived at a boarding school in Europe, which was a relief in and of itself. None of the Zion revolution crap her husband cooked up with her step-father had affected Pavel, but he also hadn't wanted to come home when she offered. At least Nikolai had been smart enough to set up a trust fund for their son's expenses, including paying for the boarding school through his graduation and setting up a college fund. 

Thinking she'd step into a dress shop, Gianna flicked a glance over her shoulder before crossing the street and spotted blonde hair. For a split second, her heart leaped into her throat as she thought of the golden-haired bitch who'd told her off at the Cullen mansion. Isabella's self-appointed bodyguard, who made it clear only one of them had a right to be there. Snotty and too concerned with what Gianna was doing there, Rosalie Cullen had told her more than once to leave while she still had two working legs. Gianna had merely scoffed each time, seeking out Edward and what he had to say about the matter. He'd assured her each time she was welcome there, which she already knew. 

Flipping her long brown hair behind her shoulder, Gianna jerked open the door. It wasn't as if she felt jealous of either of the Cullen women, not the stacked goddess with legs for days and a mountain of a husband to climb, and certainly not the wife of a man eager to sit by her side and whisper in her ear. A tiny smile played on her lips as she fingered a pair of teardrop diamond earrings, remembering the way Edward trailed his fingertip down her arm. Then, as before, it sent tingles up her spine. He wanted her, she could tell. If she'd had just a bit more time, she'd have gotten him into her bed. Her thighs clenched at the very idea of Edward Cullen moving over her—inside her; she'd been half a second away from biting his jaw when his whore wife walked in on them in his office. Although, the giant bearded man who'd thrown her out would be an acceptable substitute. Graham? Gary? It didn't matter. There was a veritable smorgasbord of hot men in that house. It was a shame she'd never managed to get into Edward's pants, especially considering how well he'd kept himself up over the years. Not that she'd ever give up trying. Just because the Cullens had defeated Zion didn't mean she couldn't worm her way into his life. 

Twisting around the price tag on a sequined dress, Gianna felt her eyebrows pucker. Sure, she had a life insurance payout, but she'd lived poor before and didn't want to go back to that humiliation. When her mother spent every last penny her father left behind, she hadn't once considered that some of it was meant for his only child. The idea of shelling out so much cash for one dress gave her pause, so she let the bell over the door jingle as she walked out empty-handed. She had plenty of time to find something else to wear when seducing Edward Cullen. 

The rain had picked up, blurring the city landscape into an underwater vista. Hurrying to her car, she popped into the back seat and slammed the door.

Shaking out her wet hair, she said, "I think I'd like to go home now, George."

The driver turned, a black watch cap sitting low on their head. Gianna gasped at the sight of familiar platinum locks, clearly not belonging to her usual driver, and a ghoulish grin.

"If I were you, I'd run."

Scrambling for the door handle, Gianna frantically tugged .  . . and tugged . . .

Rosalie cackled. "Oh, that's right. You can't."

"Now, now, it's not polite to tease your prey."

A strangled noise left Gianna's throat as she watched Isabella uncurl herself from the far side of the dark leather interior. 

"I-I have money! I'll pay you!" Shrinking against the car door, Gianna spluttered, "Just—just don't do whatever you're about to do!" She gulped as the weak sunlight glinted off a silver handgun. 

"Shut. Up."

The car began to move beneath her, and she figured she only had a few choices left. She could scratch their eyes out and run away, or she could let them kill her. 

When the car shifted to go around a corner, Gianna let her body slide toward Isabella. Before she could contemplate her next move, she'd been shoved against the seat and the gun pressed beneath her jaw. 

"You're not that smart, are you?"

Trembling in genuine fear, she reached up to claw at Isabella's hands, only to find them covered in gloves.

"Stupid bitch." Bella pushed her deeper into the supple cushion, watching the way her pupils dilated. "Completely delusional."

"No, I—"

"I believe I told you to shut the fuck up."

The tires sliced through puddles gathering in the parking lot of a dingy warehouse, nothing but the sound of the wind picking its way through the branches and heavy clouds surrounding them. Rose circled all the way around to the back of the building, driving inside an open bay door and putting the car in park. Nudging Gianna with the gun's barrel, Bella forced her to get out.

Tripping and stumbling, Gianna made her way to the chair in the center of the room. As Rose tied her hands onto her thighs and her feet to the chair legs, Gianna whimpered. 

"I have a lot to say to you," Bella began. 

"Ooh, I should've brought popcorn." As she crossed her arms, Rose's red lips curved into a pout. "Too bad."

"You thought you could weasel your way into my home," Bella continued, circling the chair and picking up a tool off the table previously set up for them. "Into my husband's bed."

"Edward wants me!" Gianna shouted. "If your idiot friend here would've kept out of our way, he'd have been mine by now!"

"Must be Bella’s magic pussy keeping him from straying," Rose said with a chuckle. 

Clucking her tongue and winking at Rose, Bella bent just enough to hold up Gianna's forefinger. "What you fail to realize is that it was all an act. One I planned out, presented to my husband, and we tweaked together on the fly. You were simply a useless tool."

A tool whose presence made Bella physically ill. The only person who actually had the power to ruin Bella’s marriage—not because Edward was unfaithful, but because the game was too real to ever chance losing it. Because Bella had given her husband express permission to do whatever it took to get the information from that vile snake, and then had to accept whatever came from it. In her heart, she knew she wouldn't lay the blame at his feet if he'd gone through with it, but she would never have forgiven herself if it had gone that far. They both would have been irreparably damaged, beyond what their therapist could help mend.

Not that Gianna cared in the slightest about being a home-wrecker. First bending her acrylic nail until it popped off, Bella recalled the way Gianna ran that very finger along Edward’s tie. The sound of the gardening shears severing the digit was lost under Gianna's screams. Her torso slumped forward, so Rose yanked her up by her hair and secured her to the chair with a bungee cord.

"These are the fingers you used to touch what belongs to me." Leaning very close, Bella reiterated, "Edward is mine."

Sobs racked her fake tits as Gianna blubbered. "He's mine. Mine."

Sighing, Bella clipped off the next finger. Gianna shrieked and wailed, but Bella steeled herself and snipped off the rest. Blood dripped along Gianna's vinyl pants, pooling on the floor by her high heels. 

"Don't you realize he had to get drunk just to let you sit beside him?" Bella taunted. "Absolutely plastered before so much as touching your arm."

"Quinn." Gianna could barely speak at that point. "I'll just seduce him." Her breath wheezed. "Then fuck my new daddy."

Despite knowing Gianna wasn't leaving that warehouse alive—and knowing the taunts were meant to get under her skin—Bella saw stars winking at her periphery. With an enraged scream, she punched Gianna in the nose. 

A buzzing sound echoed throughout the space as Rose turned on an electric razor. "Let's see how attractive you are bald."

"With that stupid fat head?" Bella snorted, shaking out her knuckles. "She'll look like a troll."

"Maybe I'll leave a few tufts at the side." Rose buzzed stripes along Gianna's head, ripping out her extensions as she went. 

Over the music of snot-sobbing, Bella slapped Gianna on each cheek. "Don't die just yet."

"You're a monster," Gianna choked out.

"No, bitch, haven't you heard? I'm a hero. A motherfucking national treasure."

"Just kill me already."

From behind her, Rose laughed, bunching up the fake hair and dropping it in her lap. "You don't deserve an easy death. You brought on the end of the world because your ego had been bruised. You could have spoken up at any time. You could have told us Charles and Renee were in on everything. You blew your chance at mercy because you'd convinced yourself another woman's husband was interested in having an affair."

"Edward will be mine!" Gianna screamed. "Just wait and see!"

Instead of listening to the ramblings of a psycho, Bella systematically cut off each of the fingers on the other hand. When Gianna was covered in blood and matted hair, Bella picked up a sledgehammer and slammed it into her kneecaps. The crunch was nearly as satisfying as the hoarse screams. 

"Your death has been sanctioned by the Central Intelligence Agency, but you're so pathetic, you're not even worth a bullet."

"Let me go." The words were nothing more than a rasped breath. 

"Nah." Plucking a syringe full of adrenaline from the table, Bella plunged it into the side of Gianna's neck. 

Her words turned garbled. "Edward. Mine. Mine."

"I'll be sure to tell him you think so the next time his cock is so deep inside my throat I choke on it." Hovering inches from the black eyes of her last remaining enemy, Bella said, "When he's pounding my pussy like a battering ram at the castle gates, and I scream his name as he gives me an earth-shattering orgasm, you won't even be a flicker of a memory."

Gianna yelped one last time, then gasped as her heart exploded.

After a few beats of silence, Rose said, "Well, I feel better, how about you?"

Bella laughed. "Sure, except now we have to dig a grave."

"Shit. Maybe we can find a fresh one and just throw her in."

"I don't know where her comrades are buried; maybe a Russian Orthodox Church?"

"Either way, I need to get out of these clothes. I don't know if I'll ever stop smelling her piss mixed with her blood."

They moved to the incinerator at the back of the building, stripping down to bare skin and throwing everything inside. 

"I wonder . . ." Tapping her chin, Bella watched the flames engulf their soiled clothes. 

"I don't want to pick her up and drag her over here."

"But I think she'd fit. Maybe folded in half?"

Rose propped her hand on her hip. "Bella, as hot as your magic pussy is, you need to get your ass dressed so we can go."

Laughing, Bella glanced down at herself and realized she was still naked. "Okay, okay. I'll let the clean-up crew know she's here."

"They'll have to dump her car, anyway." Slinging her arm around Bella’s shoulders, Rose walked with her to their car. "A small part of me wishes I was in on the nasty stuff you did when you were younger. That was fun."

"I did warn her I'd rip off her fake nails if she touched my husband."

"It's time to go back to our peaceful lives."

Staring out over the water, Bella paused for a moment before climbing into the car. "I look forward to it."