Chapter 2
The locker room door burst open with a bang. Head Coach Ryan Davis stormed in, his face thunderous as he took in the scene—Madison on her knees with vomit pooling around her, and me standing over her.
"Gabriella!" His voice boomed across the room. "What the hell did you do to Madison?"
I turned to face him slowly, letting a cold smile play across my lips.
Ryan—my former fiancé, my former love, my former fool. Looking at him now, all I could see was the man who'd betrayed me on CNN, who'd smiled while destroying me.
How perfectly predictable. Running to save his precious Madison.
"I gave her exactly what she tried to give me," I said, my voice steady as steel. "Problem with that, Coach?"
Ryan's face flushed red. "This behavior is completely unacceptable! You're supposed to be a team!"
I laughed—a sound devoid of warmth that made several teammates step back. "Team? She tried to poison me, and you're worried about team spirit? Fuck that."
The profanity hung in the air like a slap. Ryan's mouth fell open, clearly not expecting this level of defiance from the Gabriella he thought he knew.
"Madison was just trying to help—" he started.
"Help?" I held up the empty dropper bottle. "By spiking my water with God knows what? Yeah, that's real fucking helpful."
Madison finally managed to stop retching long enough to look up at Ryan with tear-filled eyes. "Coach... I don't know what got into her. I was just mixing electrolytes and she went crazy..."
The performance was Oscar-worthy. Even sick and humiliated, she knew exactly how to play the victim.
In my previous life, I would have felt guilty by now. I realized, watching her manipulation unfold. I would have apologized and helped her to the medical facility.
But something had shifted inside me. The pain of betrayal, the memory of dying alone while they all watched—it had burned away every trace of the naive girl I used to be.
"Lying little bitch," I said conversationally, causing several girls to gasp. "Show him what was really in that dropper, Madison. Go on."
Ryan looked between us, clearly struggling to reconcile this new version of me with the sweet, compliant girl he remembered. "Gabriella, I think you need to calm down—"
"I think you need to shut the fuck up and listen," I interrupted, my voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. "Unless you want to explain to USA Gymnastics why your precious Madison was caught red-handed trying to drug their star athlete."
The silence that followed was deafening. I watched Ryan's face change as the implications hit him.
A drug scandal could destroy his coaching career as much as it could destroy mine.
Look at him calculating. I savored the fear creeping into his eyes. Wondering how much I know. How much I remember.
The answer was everything. Every moment they thought I was too naive to understand what was happening right in front of me.
If only you knew what's coming next.
Two hours later, we were in the main training gym for afternoon practice. Tension crackled through the air like electricity before a storm.
Madison had recovered enough to participate, though she still looked pale and shaky. She was positioning herself at the two parallel bars set at different heights, preparing to show off.
"Watch this, everyone," Madison called out, gripping the lower bar and beginning to swing. "This is how you perform properly."
Still trying to play the star. I thought, moving to the adjacent set of bars. Some habits never die.
The other girls were giving me a wide berth now, stealing nervous glances when they thought I wasn't looking.
Good. Fear would keep them honest.
I timed my routine carefully. Madison was building momentum on her lower bar, pumping her legs to gain height as she prepared for the moment where she'd release her grip completely and fly through the air toward the higher bar. Her body arced back and forth in perfect rhythm—she'd always been known for her precision and control.
But everyone had weaknesses, and I knew exactly where hers were.
As Madison swung higher, calculating her release point, I deliberately shifted my weight wrong on my own bars. The metal frame groaned and lurched sideways, my equipment colliding with hers in a violent crash. The impact sent shock waves through both sets of bars just as Madison's palms opened—her timing went to hell.
Madison's hands slipped from the steel. She fell hard, landing ass-first on the thick safety mat with a sickening thud.
"Oops!" I called out, my voice dripping with false concern. "Sorry Madison, I guess I miscalculated my swing."
Madison struggled to sit up, her face contorted with pain and rage. "That wasn't an accident! You did that on purpose!"
I dropped gracefully from my bars, landing on both feet in a perfect controlled descent that drew murmurs from watching teammates despite the tension. "Accident? In gymnastics? Shocking. Maybe you should be more careful."
Ryan rushed over to Madison, his face all concern. "Are you hurt? Can you move everything?"
"I'm fine," Madison said through gritted teeth, but I could see her testing her tailbone gingerly. "It was deliberate sabotage."
"Prove it," I said, already walking toward the narrow leather-covered beam that stood four feet off the ground. "Accidents happen all the time in training. Ask anyone."
The other girls were exchanging worried glances now, clearly unsure what to make of this new version of me.
Let them choose sides. At least now they know where they stand.
By six PM, the locker room had mostly emptied out. I waited, knowing Madison would try to corner me for a private conversation.
She approached as I was changing, her earlier bravado replaced by vulnerability. The afternoon's "accident" had left her moving stiffly.
"Gabby, please," she said, her voice small. "We're family. Whatever I did wrong, I'm sorry..."
I turned to face her slowly, and something in my expression made her step back. "Listen carefully, you little parasite. This is my family, my gym, my everything. And you? You're nothing but a parasite."
Before she could react, I had her pinned against the lockers, my forearm pressed across her throat.
Madison's eyes went wide with genuine terror. "I don't understand what's gotten into you..."
Finally. I felt her pulse racing under my arm. Finally you're seeing the real me.
I leaned in close. "What's gotten into me? Reality. Cross me again, and I'll destroy you completely. Not just your gymnastics career. Everything. Your reputation, your relationships, your future. I'll burn it all down and make you watch."
Her whole body was trembling now. "Gabby, you're scaring me..."
"Good," I whispered. "Because the next time you try to poison me, or play your little victim games, I won't just make you drink your own medicine. I'll make sure everyone knows exactly what kind of manipulative cunt you really are."
I released her and stepped back, watching as she slumped against the lockers, red marks already forming on her throat.
"Sweet dreams, Madison," I said pleasantly, as if we'd just been discussing the weather.