“She’s a good person, Phoenix,” I promised. “I swear it.”
“We’ll see now, won’t we?” And that’s when I knew.
They were testing her.
They were testing her and waiting to see how she was going to handle the situation. I should have figured it out earlier.
But that was okay.
Robbie was going to pass their test with flying colors.
Chapter 25
Phoenix~
“Leo gave him the numbers this morning,” Luca stated. “And numbers don’t lie.”
Frankie was asleep in our bed downstairs in our apartment while Ciro and I were in an impromptu meeting with Luca. She had taken a hot bath and had needed to take her pain medication, so I knew she would be in a deep sleep for the rest of the night.
I had wanted nothing more than to take her to bed after our talk, but even if she hadn’t mentioned her injuries, I knew she wouldn’t have been able to withstand what I wanted to do to her. Besides, I had the rest of our lives to bed her.
Ciro snorted. “I bet that went over nicely.”
Luca lifted the tumbler in his hand and drank. After emptying the contents, he said, “The bastard had the audacity to tell Leo he wasn’t worried about it.”
“What did Leo say?” I asked.
Luca glanced at me and smirked. “Leo’s not stupid. He knows the direction in which the wind’s blowing” he said. “He’s not going to create any animosity or cause issues with unsolicited opinions.”
“And Sal?” Ciro asked.
“Sal might be difficult, but like Leo, he’s not stupid,” Luca replied. “He’s also not blind to his faults. He knows he’s not fit to lead, just like Leo knows he’s not. They’ll fall in line when the time comes. No way they’ll risk the money, power, or unlimited pussy.”
We were Luca’s office, Ciro behind the bar, me on the couch, and Luca leaning up against his desk. One would think we were just three guys shooting the shit, but we didn’t indulge in that kind of casualness often. It was almost always business.
“Have you decided who will be your Underboss?” Ciro asked knowing that, even if Luca didn’t know yet, he had a plan.
Luca always had a plan.
“Sal,” he announced. “Leo’s smart, but he has a conscience. It’ll always prevent him from making the touch decisions.”
“Sal’s psychopathy doesn’t worry you?” I posed that question because it was a valid concern.
Luca shrugged. “It’s a concern, but I don’t have any other brothers to consider, and that position can only go to a Benetti.”
“Get a girl and knock her up,” Ciro suggested as he made is way from around the back of the bar. “If the position has to go to a Benetti, your future son is the best bet.”
“And if I only produce girls?” he posed, a smile in his question.
Ciro barked out a laugh. “Even better. They’ll be little cutthroat mercenaries that no one will see coming.”
I smiled at the image Ciro presented. I could totally see an army of little black-hair, black-eyed Benetti daughters wreaking havoc all over Morgan City. “Female Benettis. Can you imagine?” I laughed.
“Even if my sons were an option, I still need someone to fill the position until they come of age,” Luca pointed out. “And the whole of the matter is that I’d rather have ruthlessness than compassion at the helm of this entire thing. Respect had its place, but so does fear, and that’s the only thing Leo isn’t good at. The kid is smart as a whip and can shoot a gun, but pleas do not fall on deaf ears around him.”
“So, Leo will still be in charge of the money?” Ciro sat on the couch opposite me as he asked that question.
“Frankie will be in charge of all our legitimate business; mine, yours, and Phoenix’s,” he began to explain. “Nothing dirty touches her hands. She will be protected both physically and legally.” I sometimes wondered what people would think if they knew how strong Luca’s weakness for Frankie was. “Phoenix will handle my own person wealth, the clean and the dirty, and Leo will handle all other Benetti business.”
“And the cleanup operation?” I asked.
“Sal will still be in charge of that,” he went on to continue explaining. “He’ll decide when he’s ready to hand it over and to whom.”
“Looks like things are finally looking up,” Ciro commented, smiling.
“Except for one thing,” Luca said, ruining Ciro’s smile.
“What one thing?”
Luca’s black eyes glanced my way before settling back on Ciro. “Robert Regal,” he answered. “She’s still a…factor.”
The look on Ciro’s face was pure loathing. “The fuck she is,” he argued. “How do you figure?”
“She’s Francesca’s friend, Ciro. She’s going to be on the fringes of whatever Francesca does.”
Ciro’s amber eyes shot my way. “You’re allowing Frankie to still be friends with her?”
I understood his anger, but he wasn’t married to his sister. He was guaranteed Frankie’s love because he was her brother. That was an advantage I didn’t have. And that was proven when Ciro was the only one she contacted while she was gone all those years. Sure, they were random texts and nothing more, but it was a hell of a lot more than Luca and I had gotten from her.
“Robbie’s injuries came about because she caught Randy texting Frankie,” I explained. “In Frankie’s eyes, Robbie took a beating trying to protect her from Randy. Frankie insists that Robbie is loyal and would never knowingly place her in danger.”
Ciro’s eyes glowed, and he jumped off the couch. You could feel the flames flickering from his anger. “I don’t give a fuck about knowingly putting Frankie in danger,” he spat. “My concern is her carelessness. We don’t need someone like that around my sister. Hell, around any of us.”
“I agree.” And I did. But Frankie wasn’t going to budge on this one. “I’m not saying I trust her, Ciro. What I’m suggesting is that we give her a chance. She’s Frankie’s friend and I’m not going to fight with my wife every single time she wants to hang out with her friend.”
“No,” he contended. “She doesn’t deserve a chance.” His eyes danced back and forth between me and Luca before he exploded. “Goddamn it! She almost got Frankie fucking killed! How can you guys forgive that?”
Luca scoffed, clearly offended. “I haven’t forgiven that,” he snapped. “I’ll never forgive that. But what do you propose, Ciro? Because I can tell you that if we forbid Francesca from being friends with Roberta, it’s just going to place Frankie in more danger.”
“He’s right,” I added. “Frankie will sneak out if she has to, in order to continue her friendship with Robbie.”
“Not if you forbid her to,” he dared me.
Luca let out a deep sigh. This was a touchy subject as we all had valid points. “Look, Robbie lives in Cedar Creek. Is very unlikely that Frankie will even have time to go visit her, much less hang out.” Ciro was listening, but you could tell he was still on edge. “Between going to school to finish her degree, living an hour away from Cedar Creek, and beginning her job as my accountant, she’s going to have very little time to offer Robbie.”
“Yeah, Ciro. There’s a good change the friendship might fizzle out slowly on its own,” I added. “But if you, or rather, I forbid Frankie from seeing Robbie, it’s going to cause problems. That’ll be the only thing Frankie ends up focusing on.”
“Give Robbie a chance to prove herself, Ciro,” Luca suggested. “You don’t have to like her, but you don’t have to hate her either.”
“Have you two lost your minds?” he asked. “She almost got my fucking sister killed!”
“She made a mistake,” I corrected. “She made a mistake, and she paid for it, Ciro. You saw the damage they inflicted on her just as we did.”
“How do we know that wasn’t just part of the plan, huh?” he countered. “We don’t know anything about the woman’s character. Her injuries could have just been her sacrifice in their te
n-million-dollar scheme.”
“And that’s why we’re waiting, Ciro,” Luca replied. “We’re waiting to see what she does and how she handles everything.”
“Christ, Mancini, we’re not inviting her over for Thanksgiving,” I added dryly.
Ciro shook his head. “I don’t like it,” he muttered. “I don’t fucking like it.”
I stood up and walked over to my brother-in-law. “I get it, Ciro,” I told him. “Believe me, I do. But when my wife has conceded to everything else, I have to grant her this one concession. I don’t just want her, Ciro. I want her happy.”
“Robbie will be watched, Ciro,” Luca mentioned. “Their friendship will be monitored. I promise, Francesca will be safe.”
Ciro looked between me and Luca. After a few seconds, he finally said, “If anything else happens to my sister because of that women, I will kill her myself. Agreed?” Ciro didn’t relish killing women, so we knew he was serious with that condition.
“Agreed,” Luca replied.
I nodded my head. “Agreed.”
“I mean it,” he stressed. “Frankie gets hurt again because of her, I will fucking kill her.”
It wasn’t too hard to agree because I chose to believe Frankie. I chose to believe Robbie hadn’t taken part in the kidnapping scheme. “Agreed,” I repeated.
“She’s all yours,” Luca remarked. “Now let’s call it a fucking day and get some sleep, boys.” Luca unleashed one of his rare smiles. “We have an empire that needs our attention.”
Indeed, we did.
Epilogue
Phoenix – (One Month Later)~
He lasted longer than any of us thought he would, but then, Massimo has always done the most with the odds stacked against him.
His funeral was this Saturday at St. Peter’s Church, followed by his burial at the Morgan City Cemetery. Luca spared no expense, and only those who arrived early would be getting a seat in the church. Every neighborhood kid from the last forty years would be attending and those who couldn’t attend would be sending flowers. The church was going to be packed.
However, right now, it was just the six of us in the private room Luca paid for; Luca, Ciro, Frankie, me, the priest, and Massimo’s peaceful, pale body. All hospital staff was absent from the room and guards stood outside.
I held Frankie in my arms as she quietly sobbed into my chest, still not wanting to believe he was gone. Hell, none of us wanted to believe it. But his unresponsive body on the bed and the father’s words of faith and loss were hard to argue with. Massimo was gone and hundreds of future neighborhood kids were going to suffer for it.
I stood with my arm around Frankie and remembered all the times I’d run to Massimo as a young boy and asked for his advice. Having worthless drug addicts as parents, Massimo had been my only real paternal influence and, often, the only person who fed me. Up until their deaths, I hadn’t felt comfortable intruding on the Mancinis because, while Mattia Mancini had a kind heart, Vincent Mancini never would have given me permission to date or marry his daughter if he believed I wouldn’t be able to take care of her. And I wouldn’t have blamed the man.
When Father O’Patrick finished his sermon, we followed him in the blessing and prayer of the deceased. We all followed the sign of the cross and said farewell amens to Massimo. Father O’Patrick shook Luca’s hand first, then Ciro’s, and then mine. Frankie managed to let go of me long enough to give him a hug, but as soon as he let go, she was back in my arms. He walked out of the room without a guard, but priests were common sights in the hospital, so we weren’t overly concerned with someone seeing him.
“I can’t believe he’s gone,” Frankie whispered brokenly. “So many kids still need him.”
“He’s irreplaceable, that’s for sure,” Ciro added. “There’ll never be another Massimo.”
We all had vastly different relationships with the man, but that just made us love him more. He had taken the time to know us, to learn about us, so his help and advice was tailored for the individual. Ciro was right. There’d never be another Massimo.
“He was a good man,” Luca added, standing the closest to his bedside. Luca had very few people close to him, and he just lost him one.
“Our children are never going to know him,” Frankie whispered sadly. “They’re going to miss out on one of the greatest men we’ve ever known.”
Ciro looked over at us. “Children? Is there something we should know?”
I smiled, but Frankie blushed, if you could believe it. “No,” she rushed out. “Seriously, Ciro?”
He shrugged. “Not to bring up old wounds or anything, but if you hadn’t taken off, you and Phoenix would have two kids by now,” he retorted. “So, get to it. Luca and I can’t wait forever to become uncles.”
Frankie turned away from my hold and regarded her brother. “I’m not getting knocked up so you and Luca can play uncle,” she sassed.
“Finish school, get situated into the business, then you can give us our nieces and nephews,” Luca instructed. “By then things will be…settled.” The room quieted, but I noticed Frankie didn’t object to Luca’s timeline.
Massimo’s death was the end of an era.
Frankie coming back was the beginning of a new one.
Soon, Luca was going to take over the entire Benetti enterprise and Giovanni will fade away into obscurity. He’ll live in the comfort of his fortress, aging and protected, while his eldest son becomes the god everything already thinks he is.
We were saying goodbye to Massimo and, with him, everything that might have once made us innocent. We were embarking on a new reign now that the missing piece was back.
We were going to rule Morgan City, and there would be no one to stop us.
The End.
About the Author
M.E. Clayton works full-time and writes as a hobby. She is an avid reader and, with much self-doubt, but more positive feedback and encouragement from her friends and family, she took a chance at writing, and the Seven Deadly Sins Series was born. Writing is a hobby she is now very passionate about. When she’s not working, writing, or reading, she is spending time with her family or friends. If you care to learn more, you can read about her by visiting the following:
Smashwords Interview at:
https://www.smashwords.com/interview/MonClayton
Bookbub Author Page at:
https://www.bookbub.com/profile/m-e-clayton
Goodreads Author Page:
https://www.goodreads.com/MEClayton
Other Books
Please visit your favorite ebook retailer to discover other books by M.E. Clayton:
The Seven Deadly Sins Series (In Order)
Catching Avery (Avery & Nicholas)
Chasing Quinn (Quinn & Chase)
Claiming Isabella (Isabella & Julian)
Conquering Kam (Kamala & Kane)
Capturing Happiness
The Buchanan Brothers Series (In Order)
If You Could Only See (Mason & Shane)
If You Could Only Imagine (Aiden & Denise)
If You Could Only Feel (Gabriel & Justice)
If You Could Only Believe (Michael & Sophia)
If You Could Only Dream
The How To: Modern Day Woman’s Guide Series (In Order)
How to Stay Out of Prison; A Modern-Day Woman’s Guide (Lyrical & Nixon)
How to Keep Your Job; A Modern-Day Woman’s Guide (Alice & Lincoln)
How to Maintain Your Sanity; A Modern-Day Woman’s Guide (Rena & Jackson)
The Enemy Series (In Order)
Facing the Enemy (Ramsey & Emerson)
Engaging the Enemy (Roselyn & Liam)
Battling the Enemy (Deke & Delaney)
Provoking the Enemy (Ava & Ace)
Loving the Enemy
The Enemy Duet (In Order)
In Enemy Territory (Fiona & Damien)
On Enemy Ground (Victoria & William)
The Holy Trinity Series (In Order)
The Holy Ghost (Phoenix
& Francesca)
The Son (Ciro & Roberta)
The Father (Luca & Remy)
The Redemption (Nico & Mia)
The Vatican (Francisco Phoenix Benetti & Luca Saveria Fiore) – Coming soon
Standalone
Unintentional
Purgatory, Inc.
My Big, Huge Mistake
An Unexpected Life
The Heavier The Chains…
Real Shadows
Contact Me
I really appreciate you reading my book and I would love to hear from you! Now, unfortunately, because I do have a full-time job, and a family I love spending time with, at this time, I’m afraid it would be very hard for me to maintain a multitude of social media sites. However, for the sites I do participate in, here are my social media coordinates:
Favorite my Smashwords Author Page:
https://www.smashwords.com/interview/MonClayton
Like my Facebook Author Page:
https://facebook.com/claytonbooks
Follow my Bookbub Author Page:
https://www.bookbub.com/profile/m-e-clayton
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https://www.goodreads.com/MEClayton
Visit my Website at:
https://meclayton2016.wixsite.com/mysite
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