18. North

eighteen

North

I stop by the Coffee Loft on my way home from practice, my brain still abuzz with Rocco's threats. While I wait for my spiced chai, my phone vibrates with a text.

Gia: How was work?

My fingers itch to type back but my heart knows this must pause. Not forever, but until I can find a way to stop Rocco, or she'll get hurt. I'm not worth losing anything for. After several moments of staring at my phone and not texting back, she sends another text.

Gia: So crazy thing . . . I guess I'm staying at my dad's house tonight. The hotel got shut down unexpectedly. I'm going to finish cleaning the house. If you're around, come over. You don't have to clean. LOL

Anger boils in my gut and I fire off a text.

Me: What? Was it foreclosed?

Gia: No. The health inspector shut us down, but I don't even remember being inspected. It's really odd. My boss thought it was sabotage to buy up the prime real estate.

Sabotage or revenge?

Did Rocco pull something to shut it down? It wouldn't surprise me, and he has the means to do it with all his buddies on political favor payroll. Which means he already got to her. I can literally hear her sweet voice. I want to protect her. It feels like a knife is stabbing my gut to even think about someone hurting her. Now I'm torn. Do I stay away and hope he backs down? Hope isn't a plan, and it's clearly not working.

I'm not sure how I'm going to stay away. I certainly don't want to alarm her before I have the proof of harassment, I need in order to call the cops. Until I get that proof, I need to have her stay away.

Me: I'm really sorry about your job. I'm sure something amazing will come along. I'll see if I can get my work done and get ahold of you later.

I fight the urge to tell her I know exactly how she's feeling as I had my job nearly threatened today too. All I want to do is see her. The fact that she's going to be next door tonight is going to kill me, but I can't waste time. I need to gather my proof. There's something shady going on at the school. I have no idea how Rocco got to Principal Lane so fast. I stuff my phone in my pocket, grab my chai and head back to school. I have work to do.

The hairs on my arm stand up straight when I park in the employee parking lot, hours after dark. It's not unusual for teachers to return to their classroom to work, as we are all trying to get ahead, but tonight, it looks as if I'm the only one taking a second shift. As I exit my car and walk to the door, I jingle my keys in my hand, my senses alerted.

No sign of Rocco or Principal Lane.

Or at least no sign that I can see.

After unlocking the door, I slip inside and quickly lock it behind me, before flipping on several sets of lights. To deal with the silence, I whistle down the hall to my classroom. I'm not a musician and barely know any tunes, but automatically default to My Girl . A smile teases at the corner of my lips as I recall how it felt to hold Gia while we danced.

It will not be the last time I hold her.

I grind my molars while I unlock my classroom door. Maxlotle's aquarium is already glowing fluorescent, lighting up the back of the room. Still, I flip on another set of lights. "Hey, Buddy." I only speak out loud to him when I know we are alone. It's good for him to hear my voice, but I always feel looney doing it in front of people. "What are you up to tonight?"

He swims to the front, his perma-smile pressing up against the glass. I don't think anyone could ever be grumpy around an axolotl. "Well," I continue as if he can fully understand me—because I know he can. "I'm in a bit of a pickle. There's this woman, you met her the other day, Gia. I'm heartsick over her, because I really thought we could finally be together, but her brother is doing everything he can to keep us apart." I rub my forehead, as my tension automatically pools there. This all seems so ridiculous. The part about Rocco keeping us apart. Not me talking to a salamander. That's completely sane. "What do you think I should do?"

He stares at me through the glass with his beady eyes, not blinking. He's looking past me now, back to my desk."

"That's what I thought. I need to get into Principal Lane's office. I'm sure there's something on his computer to prove things aren't right." I get up, pooling my bravery as I trudge my way to my desk to look for a file, or something I can use to get into his office, when my gaze snags on something.

Gia's box of Rocco's stuff.

It's still sitting on the corner of my desk. I haven't really wanted to look at his trophies and jerseys as anything of Rocco's makes me ill. I only took the box to make her happy, but now seeing it there infuriates me. After all these years of doing everything I could to cut him out of my life, he has managed to creep back in, and now has more control than ever before. It's not just Gia he wants to keep me from, now he's after my career and her job.

What next? Is he going to get my teaching license taken away? It's never going to end!

My fingers wrap into a tight fist, and I plot what to do with his trophies. I could smash them all up. It will feel amazing, but make a mess that I will have to clean. I really don't want to give him any more of my time. Dropping it in the trash would be the easiest way to get rid of it. It's dark out. Nobody would even see the box inside, and the garbage truck will take it away.

But what if Gia wants to see them someday?

What will I tell her?

I can't lie to her.

I also know I can't sit at my desk and look at this dumb box. The mere thought of him being in my life makes my frustration soar through my entire body, and I rip open the flaps, ready to deal with what's inside. I can stash this stuff in the corner of the locker room and just never go there. I'll keep my promise to Gia and get rid of it all at the same time.

"Alright." I sigh again, summoning the strength to deal with this. "What do I have here?"

I yank out the first trophy. A 12-inch plastic pedestal with a football on top. The plaque reads: Rookie of the year.

Cute, I mock and grab the next one.

Most valuable player.

Gag me.

Maybe I don't need to read them? Just grab them and go. I close one eye, as I go in for another, but my fingers brush up against a manila envelope.

Oh, what is this? Fancy certificates? Shaking my head, pushing them off, I vow to pretend I never saw them. I'm sure not framing anything.

A panic niggling in the back of my head screams at me, You better check this.

Really? I sigh again and impatiently grab the envelope, rip it open, and my eyes immediately swell round.

This isn't an award.

Mr. Bella clearly had everything.

Including these original loan papers for Rocco's car lot.

I would think Rocco would want these in his office, because it has all his personal information, and because he's shady as an oak tree, my interest is full throttle. I flip through the papers, and the hair on my arms rises again.

Something is immediately off.

Principal Lane's signature is next to Rocco's as a co-owner, alongside Tom Schank, president of the school board, and one of the shadiest businessmen in the town. He used to work in education but now he sits on several of the most influencial boards in town and owns a string of hotels.

Hotels.

Might he own Gia's hotel?

Ice frosts my back, spiraling chills to creep up my spine as I scan loan papers. Underneath the bank papers is another letter, a printed email from Rocco to Principal Lane. I speed read it with my heart nearly pumping out of my heart. I can't believe what I'm reading but everything becomes unveiled. Tom bought Rocco and Principal's vote for all these boards he's on. Tom basically owns them both as Tom is the one who gave Rocco money for his car lot, and in exchange for that, Rocco had to agree to sponsor the football team, which apparently was a condition Principal Lane made.

They are in on this together.

I smash my lips together and keep reading, as it all makes so much sense. That's how Rocco got to Principal Lane so fast. He's blackmailable. Swallowing hard, I stuff the papers back in the envelope and scan my room.

Still eerily quiet, but I have what I need to out Rocco now. That these papers landed in my hands at the exact time I need them is a miracle, but I'm not going to bury them. I protected Rocco when I found out about his cheating, but it got me nowhere. I'm done with him. Rocco's going to jail, and I'll be able to see Gia. Adrenaline surges, as I slide the envelope in a book bag, wanting to conceal it. To think, I almost threw it in the trash.

I stride out of my classroom, shut off the lights, and lock my door. I must get to Gia and tell Mr. Bella before it's too late, and Rocco does something else.

Oddly, Mr. Bella had the smoking gun to take down Rocco this whole time. It's weird it would end up in this box, without him knowing it.

Or did he know?