The Black Widow Returns

Chapter 6 - Getting Ready.

Eva

I called mama the second Lia left, and she confirmed it all to my chagrin.

I lightly told mama off for making plans behind my back, but she just dismissed me, saying ‘have a good time’ before ending the call abruptly as she was late picking Kat up.

I stared at the phone in disbelief for a few seconds before shaking my head and pocketing it.

Ugh!

Okay, okay.

Maybe it won't be so bad, but I still plan to be home, in bed by 11 pm at the latest, so I can get up at a decent time tomorrow and get a few more things done before Kat comes home.

Right, best go for a quick shower as I still have to make a quick run to the store, and then I will head over to Lia's.

I finished my shower in 20 minutes, which is a personal record, and then I put on my basic black leggings, a casual off-the-shoulder white sweater, and tied my hair back in a simple low ponytail.

I grabbed my purse and keys, put on sunglasses and flip flops, and left my apartment.

I later arrived at Lia’s house, peeved thanks to Leo effing Andre, only to see the door was slightly open and it sounded like someone was in.

From the looks of the driveway, they are both home.

Hmm, do I risk it or not knowing those two?

I get a little closer to the door, and once I deduce there’s no ‘funny business’ going on, I open the door and walk inside.

I'm about to announce myself when I hear Kat’s name being mentioned.

What are they talking about?

I quietly close the door behind me, drop my things near the door, and slowly creep towards the kitchen.

Hilarious how this is one of the rare times I have to strain to hear Lia.

Typically, you can hear the woman for miles.

I stop just outside of the kitchen and peek in, but I can’t see Lia as Angelo’s back is to me, so I just stand there and listen to everything.

I palm my mouth to stop myself from loudly gasping.

What the…?!

I hear Angelo move, presumably closer to Lia, asking her how the hell my daughter knew that particular detail about my marriage drama, and I decide now it's the right time to announce myself.

I walk into the kitchen, standing in Angelo's previous place, and I see them having a sweet embrace while I'm standing there with a sharp glare and my arms crossed against my chest.

"Exactly what I want to know, too," I say as calmly as possible, even though I'm sure the look on my face is anything but calm.

Judging from their shocked, panicked expressions, Angelo and Lia didn't expect me or to hear any of that, which ticks me off even more.

"I'll just leave you two to figure this out," Angelo mutters awkwardly, about to leave, but I hold up my forefinger, stopping him from moving.

He looks at me, terrified, moving slowly behind Lia like she's his shield.

"Uh-uh, you stay right the hell you are since you also know about MY child's concerns about MY LIFE, not to mention we." I gesture to all of us with my finger. "Have to figure out how the hell my 10-year-old knows about Andy cheating on me, cause I know for a f*****g fact it didn’t come from me." I scold them.

That’s when I see genuine panic on their faces because I dropped the F-bomb in English.

Yup, I don’t often curse anymore, but this calls for it.

"Eva, please calm down. We know she's your child, but she didn't know how to talk to you, so she asked me for advice, and that's how it all came out. Apparently, she's also asked your mama's advice before she approached you about it. But in regards to the cheating thing, I was just as shocked as anyone that she knew." Lia says calmly, and I frown.

Lia's words suddenly made me feel a little guilty that my Kat didn't know how to talk to me. Angelo is just nodding his head like a bobble-head, still slightly scared of me.

"Did you ask her where she found out about that? Please tell me that she doesn't know every detail like Angelo apparently does." I throw a glare at both of them.

Lia rolls her eyes. "Okay, enough of that s**t. You knew that Angelo knew about what the fucker did, so drop the attitude.” Lia retorts with the same tone, before it softens as she looks at me.

“Kat overheard you on the phone when you thought she was in her room in your old house. She didn't know who you were speaking to, and I didn't ask, but you mentioned divorce and that he cheated on you during that call. She didn't know what any of that meant, so she asked someone at school. They said something like ‘ it’s when mommies or daddies kiss with tongue other people who aren't their mommies or daddies,’ and I confirmed it.”

I open my mouth, but nothing comes out because, well, what do you say to that?

I'd better find a shoe to put in my mouth.

“Unless you wanted me to tell her that you actually caught the old fucker with his tiny wrinkly d**k, balls deep in a cheap ass blonde in the kitchen of your former marital home in the middle of the afternoon?" Lia says with a teasing smirk, breaking the tension.

Angelo looks at her with confusion, while I look at her wide-eyed in disbelief for a brief moment before my eye starts twitching in anger.

I'm this close to killing her for making this sound like a joke, as I'm not finding this s**t funny at all!

Kat has known about this for a year and never said anything to me. Now I understand why she wasn't upset by the divorce.

"And how the f**k do you know about his d**k?" Angelo scowls with narrowed eyes.

I can’t help but bark out a laugh, and just like that, some of the tension breaks.

"Aw, baby, you made her laugh, thank you!" Lia giggles, smiling sweetly at him, ignoring what he said.

His scowl deepens. "Don't act sweet. I want an answer now!" He demands, arms crossed.

Lia lazily rolls her eyes. "Geez, chill, Eva told me years ago. Besides, who cares? You know I only want you, so sit your jealous Italian macho ass down." Lia huffs, folding her arms.

"It's true, Angelo, except for the old and wrinkly part, she's not wrong." I shrug, still glaring at Lia for those comments.

"You know what she's like, needs every detail just like she tells me every detail…" I trail off, winking at him, tapping on my chin, giving Lia a smug smirk.

"Every detail even..." Angelo asks, both brows raised slightly, going wide-eyed, looking back and forth between us.

I give him a mischievous grin while Lia looks anywhere but him.

Ha! Got ya loud b***h.

"Let's just say I'm happy for my girl and glad to know that the stereotype is very true in your case, so make sure you don’t hurt her." I giggle at Angelo's horror while Lia is slowly moving away from him.

Lia walks around the island and hugs me, whispering she's sorry. I hugged her back, saying It's okay, I was just shocked. I then went over to Angelo while Lia left the room to answer the door.

"I'm sorry I yelled and reprimanded you like a child except for threatening you, again, for obvious reasons." I chuckle.

He nods with a chuckle.

"Seriously, I am sorry, especially since, as it turns out, this time, it was my fault. You know I think very highly of you, and I know Kat thinks of you as her theio or zio (uncle) if you prefer." I whisper and wink at him because I know of his plan.

Angelo simply smiles, wrapping his arm over my shoulder, giving me a side hug.

"It's all good, Eva, and whatever Kat wants to call me, I'm good. I'm just happy with how she sees me."

He's really a big teddy bear.

Lia walked back into the kitchen with two women behind her.

After she had introduced them to me, I pulled her aside and asked her what the hell?!

She said that, because it's high-profile, celebrities and all that are going to be there, professionals are needed.

Plus, it’s also a treat to me, so no take-backs, and that was that.

Before I could say anything, she had walked off.

I sigh and shake my head because there’s no point in arguing with her.

We made coffees for everyone with Angelo, downing his before he disappeared to take a shower, and then went to a friend's house to get ready before meeting us there later.

Apparently, Lia had asked him to leave us as a favour, telling me that I was lucky earlier because I would have caught them yet again had she not stopped him.

What else is new?

We talked about our looks for tonight with Lisa and Bonnie and decided on what we both wanted. I went first in the chair since I only wanted something simple, but classic, while Lia wanted something a bit more elaborate.

Fair enough since she planned the event, so she had to dress to impress.

My hair was up in a low, sleek bun with pieces of my fringe parted in the middle, and the strands were curled and down to frame my face. My makeup was simple but beautiful, a classic red lip with a touch of green eyeshadow and a clean winged black line to really bring out my eyes.

Yeah, okay, Lia made the right call cause right now I do feel quite beautiful, pampered, special, and I don't even have the dress on yet.

I wasn’t allowed to even see it until now, and it’s breathtaking.

It’s a simple, tight, black dress with long sleeves, a low neckline that showed off ample cleavage, cinched at the waist, and a front slit that went up to the top of my thigh.

A little daring than what I am used to, but I can live with it.

We finished the look off with some silver long diamond earrings that Lia generously pushed on me, and finally, some beautiful black five-inch closed-toe heels with shimmering silver straps that wrapped around my ankle, bringing my height to five-foot-eight.

When I looked at myself in her giant floor-length mirror in her closet, I hardly recognised myself.

Oh wow…

"I know you from somewhere, but it's been such a long time that I can’t remember from where." I hear Lia say from behind, snapping me out of it.

I turn to see her leaning in the doorway, tapping her chin, pretending to think with a playful smirk.

She’s dressed in a maroon gown that exposes most of her neck and chest, with long, caped open sleeves and a right slit that stops above the knee. She paired it with a simple style of velvet strappy maroon open-toe heels.

Her hair was up in a high bun with two slightly curly strands coming down, framing her face to show off the sparkling Ruby diamond drop earrings and matching choker necklace, which finished her look and made a statement.

Her makeup is a little more dramatic than mine, but it suits the whole vibe she's got going on.

I'm more classical, while she's more sultry/daring, a bit like our personalities.

"Very funny.” I reply dryly with a smile.

I walk over to her to get a closer look at her, and I take her hands into mine.

"Eva mou, this is what I was talking about earlier. Look at you! You are radiant. You haven't had that look on your face in a very long time. I see glimpses of it, like earlier when you were dancing and singing like you don't have a f*****g care in the world, very much like how you used to be when we were 18. I could practically feel the happiness radiating off you. You looked so carefree." She says, tilting her head, giving me a warm smile before tapping the back of my hand, saying It's time to leave.

I nod my head, and we walk into the living room, taking a few quick selfies before grabbing our matching clutches off the couch.

We put our coats on and head out to the car that was arranged to pick us up.

On the ride there, I think about what she said to me, and on this one, I know she's right.

The weight of everything does get to me, but this was the price I had to pay for being reckless.

Being 'carefree' is the reason I ended up pregnant by someone I didn't know and, even worse, can't remember.

I was so caught up in my thoughts that I didn't even realise we had arrived, and oh holy hell, lights, camera action indeed!

Cameras are flashing everywhere!

Welp! I hope inside it's not so crazy?

Oh, yeah, this is definitely not my scene.

I'm breathing heavily as Lia takes my hand, and we quickly walk into the venue hall through a side door.

Once inside, she tells me which table is ours and to get myself a drink, leaving me alone to hold our purses.

I love her even more for doing that for me.

She's gone back out to meet Angelo and some other people to have her picture taken with them.

I ordered myself a jack and coke and went to sit at the table she told me to, and I waited for her to finish whatever it was she had to do.

While I'm sitting there, I look around the room.

It's beautifully decorated, definitely intended to impress with soft lighting, beautiful pink and white flowers placed all around the banquet hall, and pink centerpieces on each table, which piqued my curiosity.

I notice a pamphlet in front of me on the table that the event she organised is for breast cancer.

Ah, explains the pink.

After 20 minutes, I see people are slowly filling the hall.

I spot Angelo walking and talking to another man as they head towards our table. As they get closer, I realise it's an actor and not just any actor.

It has to be him.

Again!

Mental note to kick Lia’s ass for not telling me.