Dark Revenge Of A Jilted Bride: Till Life Do Us Part!-Chapter 59: Hangout III

After the man moved away from their table, gait sad, silence descended on the table.

Not the gentle kind, but the heavy kind that pressed against the chest and demanded to be acknowledged. It pooled between them, uncomfortable, every second dragging its weight across their nerves.

Silence that unnerved Gianna’s already tinkering nerves, making them hum beneath her skin, making her spine stiffen even as she kept her posture composed, jaw tight, breath measured.

Aiden cleared his throat finally, breaking it, the sound rough and forced in the quiet, but there were no other words said so the silence continued, creeping back in almost immediately, heavier now, as if resentful of the interruption.

"Are we going to talk about what happened, or are we going to let it be, let the characters decide for themselves..." Spider spoke a minute later, not sure what to do with the serves of silence he had been getting, never one for awkwardness, his voice trying for lightness and failing, landing instead in uncertainty.

But the words only pulled their attention to Gianna, to Zane.

The weight of that attention pressed against Gianna’s temples, made her acutely aware of the space her body occupied, of every breath she took, of the way Zane sat too still across from her.

Her finger around the glass of champagne faltered, a tiny, telling slip she hated herself for. She dropped the glass on the table steadily, then tucked her hands into her thighs, still speechless.

What had been the odds that she would see amicable Tony in this city, in this place, at this time? Of all the faces the past could have worn, it had chosen that one.

"Maybe, they should talk about it... maybe then, we can work out the tangles together, get the facts straight, and set on a solution. God knows, if these two had done this, a lot would have been resolved sooner than we had hoped.."

Sandro pointed out, gesturing at Ewan and Athena, but he was serious as were the people on the table, eyes intent now, hopeful in a way Gianna found suffocating.

Talk?Discuss?

Gianna couldn’t even get her mouth to open, right here at this table, not with all these people watching, waiting—it didn’t matter if they were her friends.

She wasn’t sure what it was. Anger? Or still shock. Or the echo of memories clawing their way up her throat. But talking wasn’t as easy as it sounds. And she definitely didn’t want to talk.

Their relationship being compared to Athena’s? She held in a scoff, lips pressing tight. Her best friend had been lucky to have escaped then with her womb intact, to have delivered a set of wonderful twins, and would probably be pregnant again by the end of the year.

But not her.

She wasn’t that lucky. She had lost her child in that accident, and had lost her womb. She had lost her parents too. She had lost everything. And they wanted her to just talk?

How would that solve anything?

Nothing would change the fact that he had left her at the altar after pushing for them to get married that quickly, that that stupid decision she had agreed to had kickstarted a series of events she would regret till she died.

She had no hope for being a mother now, for all her love for children, that door slammed shut forever. An orphan working against the odds.

And they wanted her to talk...

She held in another scoff, sharper this time, anger pushing away the frayed nerves, hardening her, steeling her emotions, making her reach for the champagne glass again, more steadily than before, fingers firm, controlled.

She barely heard Athena scolding Sandro lightly.

"Not everything can be solved with discussions, some matters are just too complicated."

"No, Sandro is right."

Gianna’s hand didn’t quiver when she heard Zane’s voice, didn’t tremble when she registered the meaning behind it.

He wanted to talk. She took a sip of the drink, slow and measured. To say what?

Explain his side of the story? Why he had thought her a slut after his money even after all these years?

Why hadn’t he done that before calling off the wedding? Before that black day? Why now, when it was no longer necessary? And what was he hoping to achieve?

"You want to talk about what happened?"

Zane nodded to Areso’s surprised question. Then looked at Gianna, gaze steady, intent.

"I’m curious... and I want her to humor me, to maybe prove me wrong before you all. I trust Athena’s intelligence, knows she wouldn’t pick..."

He paused here, aware of Athena studying him, one wrong word away from explosion... and his friend wouldn’t even do anything to stop it.

"...Her as a friend if she is not good..."

Gianna sipped from her champagne glass, watching the proceeding disinterestedly, as if she were merely an observer and not the center of it.

So, he still had the notions. That she was a gold digger.

She would never understand how he had arrived at that conclusion, but she didn’t care, not now, not ever. It was five years too late.

She dropped the glass on the table.

"It was nice doing this with you all..." she started, looking at each one at the table, letting her gaze linger briefly, deliberately, including Zane. "But I have to go now. I have work to do."

As she spoke, she got to her feet, chair sliding back softly. "Will see you guys around..."

She was out of the space before Athena could call her back.

"What the hell is wrong with you guys?" Athena turned to Zane and Sandro, both who shrugged their shoulders.

"We don’t operate like that, and we prefer to do things at our own time."

"Or she just ran so that you all wouldn’t know the true her."

Athena’s eyes shone with disgust, making Zane uncomfortable in his seat.

"You say you trust my intelligence, and yet you insult it in the next sentence. You think I wouldn’t know if my best friend is a gold digger?"

"People can pretend."

Ewan snorted then, incredulous. "You should know better to say that to my wife, Zane. She spots pretenders for a living."

"Gianna is her childhood friend. Love can be blind."

Athena couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She threw up her hands. "Okay, out with it then. Tell us what happened to you two?"

Zane shook his head. "She is not here. I want her to be here when I talk about it, when I talk about what she did... want her to see..."

"You know she lost her parents in a car crash right, five years ago?" Athena cut in. "That she barely survived from that accident... that she had been in a coma for more than a month?"

Zane’s mouth clamped shut, jaw tightening.

The first time he had found out about her parents’ death, when Athena had told him a year ago, he had said they deserved it, anger propelling him then, blinding him.

But he couldn’t say that now. Didn’t feel the same either, not with the eyes boring into him, not with the weight settling in his chest.

Athena sighed. "And I feel there’s more..." she paused, biting her lips. "But she is yet to open up... doubt she ever will. But if one thing is certain, my friend isn’t a gold digger. And if that’s all you have going, if that’s all that is propelling your hate, well Zane you are fucked up."

She stood, the other girls getting to their feet with her. "I hope there’s more to this on your end, Zane, or else... you will have me to contend with too."

Then she was gone.

"My wife is right..." Ewan said after some seconds of silence.

"I heard her, Ewan," Zane bit out, restless again, running a hand through his hair. "But you all make it sound so simple. I loved her, with all that’s in me, and she betrayed me for money. It hurt more than words, still hurt."

"If it still hurt, then you still have feelings for her?"

Zane scoffed at Spider’s words. "You are a recluse. What do you know?"

Spider shrugged and took up his glass.

"Yet... with her parents’ death, it would have changed things a lot, even for a gold digger. I get that you have stone as a heart but—"

"I didn’t know until Athena told me some months ago," Zane interrupted Sandro’s words. " It was then I discovered that the children’s godmother she always talked about was Gianna. I didn’t even know they had been childhood friends. Didn’t know a lot of things."

Ruffling his hair, he wanted something sharper, not champagne. Alcohol. Whisky. Something to burn out the frustration he was feeling as Athena’s words replayed in his mind.

He remembered Ewan had made the same mistake, a simple misunderstanding that had spanned for almost a decade; remembered his friend falling into throes of depression with every knockout Athena hit him with.

And he didn’t want that for himself. Actually didn’t think he would be in that position.

If there was one to plead, it was Gianna. He could cut her some slack with the death of her parents . Maybe, they could even move forward. Maybe...

He raised a brow when he saw Ewan frowning at his phone.

"What is it, Ewan?"

"Gianna. Athena says they can’t find her outside."

Zane’s heart plummeted even as he hurried to his feet. He was out of the club before the guys could even follow him up.

Outside, he met a worried Athena and the others.

"We can’t find her. She was supposed to wait by the car..."

"Maybe she took a taxi," he said, his mind going into overdrive. Where had she gone to? Another club? To drink?

He held back a scoff. Hadn’t she learnt her lesson from last time? Nightstands could be dangerous.

The restless feeling within him increased even as he was joined by the other guys to search around the club, before they started out on the road. But they came up empty. Gianna was nowhere to be found.

Athena was already panicking, feeling guilty for agreeing to the meetup.

"Hey, calm down my love, we will find her..." Ewan tried to calm her down.

Zane tsked. "Just like her to cause unrest, to draw attention to herself. She—"

Headlights of a luxury car sliding into the parking space cut off his thoughts, stopping in front of them.

Noah Newman came out without turning off the ignition, just as the car beside Zane, one flooded in darkness, had its back door opened, and Gianna stepped out.

Zane was struck dumb momentarily. What?