Page 59 of Rage's Redemption
“Are you coming in?”
On guard, I unlocked the car door and climbed out.
“It just hit me. This isn’t your home address,” I said as I approached.
“No, Patrick threw me out and served divorce papers. To be honest, I’m rather relieved; the whole situation was toxic.”
Shania hugged me tightly and moved aside for me to enter. I paused a second and gazed at Shania’s face. She appeared happy I was there, and with a mental shrug, I entered the house.
“Sorry to hear about you and Patrick,” I said as Shania walked down a hallway and into a cosy kitchen.
“Don’t be. Patrick was always a spineless idiot,” Shania replied, and the nastiness in her tone caught me by surprise.
“Yet you married him.”
“Not my finest hour. Would you like a coffee?”
“Please,” I answered, looking around. I didn’t see any signs of a jewellery box, but that didn’t mean anything.
“You know, I hated you,” Shania announced. Her face twisted with ugliness and then cleared.
“Oh, I know.”
“Nothing fazed you. It didn’t matter who did what, you kept ploughing on and doing your thing. I wanted to provoke you, but your response disappointed me.” Shania’s voice held an off note, which put me on guard.
“Shania, I don’t like confrontations.”
“No, it wasn’t that, Dana. I think you thought you were above us. Even when I stole Patrick from you, you merely walked away like it meant nothing,” Shania explained as she handed me a mug.
“If you wanna know if you hurt me, you did. Eventually, I realised Patrick’s true nature. I wish you had, too.”
“What did you notice?” Shania asked curiously.
“Patrick was a social climber and a user. He’s all about money and power and who he can use to make it to the top. The only person Patrick cares about is himself. I never mattered to him,” I said, careful not to mention her.
“And neither did I,” Shania mused.
Shania cupped a mug, and I noted how her nails were painted a bright scarlet. It was her go-to colour when she was plotting something. That one little sign alerted me to be very careful.
“You landed on your feet with Hawthorne’s and the friends you made. That night at the bar, I was extremely irritated. All I could see was you’d got your way yet again and beaten me,” Shania drawled, watching me carefully.
“Shania, it was never about beating you. There was never a competition. All I ever wanted was to be a little sister, and it felt like you never wanted one,” I said honestly.
“No, I didn’t. The whole world should revolve around me,” Shania replied. Should. That word tipped me off that whatever this was, wasn’t what I thought.
Anxiously, I rose to my feet and faced her.
“Shania, I don’t have long. Ezra is meeting me, and he hates people being late. Could you please fetch the keepsakes and include something from yourself as well?”
I recognised the mood sweeping over Shania. She wanted a confrontation, but I refused to participate.
“Oh, I’m not giving you anything, but you, Dana, are about to give me my freedom,” Shania said.
“Seriously, I might have guessed,” I replied, disgusted. Annoyed now, I began moving towards the door when a man appeared. He grabbed my arm and dragged me into a living room.
“Let me go!” I demanded, incensed.
“You’re going nowhere,” he snarled. “You’re our meal ticket out of here.”