COUNTERPOINT
An original romantic serialFrom Alina Adams the author of "When a Man Loves a Woman" (DELL 4/00), "Annie's Wild Ride" (AVON 8/98), "Inside Figure Skating" (METROBOOKS 11/00 & 9/99), "Thieves at Heart" (AVON 12/95) and "The Fictitious Marquis" (AVON 6/95)
Available weekly by e-mail from http://www.AlinaAdams.com
Brought to you by:
http://www.KidSave.org
Dedicated to Helping Children All Over the World
CHAPTER 56
Victoria didn't say hello. She didn't even explain how she'd suddenly appeared there in Gabriel's apartment, although the extra set of keys tucked into her palm was probably a pretty big clue. She didn't do anything before pointing to Nicole and asking, quite politely and almost academically, "Do you know what's wrong with you?"
It wasn't exactly what Nicole had expected to hear, and so she only had time to rise from where she was sitting on the bed, before Victoria reasonably answered her own question. She told Nicole, "Your problem is that, in your warped little mind, decency is confused with stupidity. You think being nice is a weakness, something for you to exploit. I bet you laughed at how I just folded at your blackmail. You thought I didn't have the guts to come down and fight you on your level. Well, you're wrong. I didn't fight you on your level because there were people I needed to protect, and they mattered more to me than the chance to knock you upside your over-made-up head."
Neither Nicole nor Gabriel moved. Neither one of them spoke. In Nicole's case, it was because she couldn't think of anything to say quickly enough to interrupt Victoria's torrent of words. In Gabriel's case, Nicole presumed, it was because he agreed with everything his precious sister was saying.
And she wasn't done yet.
"Guess what, Nicole? I may be nice. At least, I try to be most of the time. But, I've known enough less than nice people in my life to have a pretty good idea of how it's done. And I'm a fast learner."
Oh, all right. So that's what this was all about. Nicole felt like she'd finally found her footing. The bitch was threatening her. She was calling her names and threatening her. Oh, okay. This Nicole knew how to deal with.
"So, Robin's little concubine has a temper," Nicole drawled out each word, feeling the power surge back into her body. Did this pathetic little wannabe really think she had the chops to take on Nicole in her own game?
"This isn't about Robin," Victoria snapped, "You made sure of that."
"You mean he didn't come rushing straight into your waiting arms? Goodness, that is a surprise."
"How do you justify toying with people's lives this way?"
"Every girl for herself, that's my motto."
For the first time since she'd come in, Victoria acknowledged Gabriel's presence. "You're next on her list, I hope you know that."
"I'm a big boy," Gabriel said evenly.
Victoria returned her attention to Nicole. "Do you honestly think you've stopped me? Do you honestly think just because you told Robin to keep away from me - "
"I told Robin no such thing." Nicole's voice was all bravado as she flung her rejoinder at Victoria. But, then, to make sure that Gabriel believed her, she added softly, "I really didn't."
"You told him that he would destroy me the same way he destroyed you."
"Do I look destroyed to you, Miss Morgan?"
"I still love him," Victoria said.
"And we all know how much that matters to the bastard," Nicole snapped, and silently thought, "Welcome to the club."
"I don't care how he feels about me. I will not let you hurt someone - anyone - that I love." Victoria's gaze rested on Gabriel. "She'll eat you alive, Doc."
"Boy," he repeated. "Big. Me."
"I'll stop you," Victoria said, but it was no longer clear who she was addressing, Gabriel or Nicole. "I'll stop you."
And then she was gone.
For a moment, the air still shimmered with her angry energy. Nicole didn't know whether to sit or stand. She didn't know whether to stay the Nicole she'd become, or revert to the Nicole that Gabriel brought out in her.
"Well," Gabriel said. "That certainly was interesting."
But, Nicole didn't really hear him. To be honest, the only bit of information she'd really, deeply, viscerally heard during their entire exchange was the only piece of information that truly mattered: Robin, despite her signing their divorce papers, hadn't gone back to Victoria.