“And what about your ex-wife? She’s not going anywhere now, right? You’re going to tell the cops about her own sordid involvement so she can keep her ass right there in prison, right?”
Charles hesitated. He knew his actions had crossed a line after that attack on their children. But he also knew, he had to finish what he started. “No cops,” he said.
Jenay looked at him. “What does that mean, Charles?”
“It means I’m not telling the authorities a damn thing,” Charles responded. “It means I want Arianna to get out of that prison. I want her conviction to be overturned on appeal. Then I’ll deal with that bitch my way.”
Jenay studied him. This ordeal had changed her husband. “And what way is that?”
Charles looked at her. “The same way she tried to deal with you,” he said. “Only I’m not missing.”
They stared into each other’s eyes. “An eye for an eye is wrong,” she said. “You know that. You’re the one who taught it to me and the children.”
He nodded. “I know it,” he said. “But I also know I’m not allowing her to sit up in that prison and plot and scheme against my family with the next Miller Franklin she can manipulate. This isn’t the first shit she’s pulled on us, Jenay. She has to be dealt with. And when she gets out, she will be. By me.”
“And if she doesn’t get out?” Jenay asked. “If her conviction is not overturned on appeal? What then?”
Charles exhaled. “There’s always Trevor,” he said. “He has inside connections.”
Jenay smiled. “So he’s your boy now, is he? Trevor can do no wrong in your eyes now?”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” Charles said. “But he came through for us with Bellanconti. He planned it perfectly. We took a chance on him, and he came through. I’ll give him that.”
Jenay agreed. Then she leaned her head against the backrest. “I still can’t get over Miller. He came to me with so many lies. He doesn’t even have a daughter, according to Tommy.”
“Tommy’s right,” Charles said.
“I’m just grateful we didn’t tell the girls about Miller’s lie about wanting to have a relationship with them. He was no more interested in them than he was when we first adopted them.”
Charles agreed. “It’ll break their hearts if they ever find out that their own uncle, their own flesh and blood, hired men to take you out. The bastard. They don’t need that kind of grief. Lord knows they’ve had enough.”
“Amen,” Jenay said. She couldn’t agree more.
Then after nearly thirty more minutes of talk, a car fitting the description of Miller Franklin’s Honda Accord pulled up in the parking lot and parked in front of the motel rooms. “Charles,” Jenay said anxiously. “I think that’s him.”
Charles and Jenay didn’t hesitate. They had the element of surprise on their side, and they weren’t about to forfeit it. “Remember what I said,” Charles said as they unbuckled their seatbelts. “You stay behind me at all times. I’ll give you a chance to confront him. I’ll give you a chance to get the answers you need. But you have to let me neutralize him first. You have to let me make sure he’s under my control first.” Then he looked at Jenay before they opened the door. “Got it?” he asked, concerned mightily for her safety.
“Got it,” she responded, not concerned at all. Charles was the greatest protector she’d ever known. Charles, she knew, had her back.
They got out of their rental car and was about to make their way over to the Honda, but suddenly the Honda drove back, turned around, and took off.
“He’s getting away, Charles!” Jenay cried and they jumped back into their car. They knew it was Miller Franklin behind the wheel of the Honda because they saw his face. And Charles took off behind him.
“He saw us and took off,” Jenay said as Charles drove. “If that isn’t a consciousness of guilt, I don’t know what is.”
But Charles already knew he was guilty. They drove through the streets of Richmond with the kind of speed that Charles was accustomed to. He drove fast normally, so fast driving was not foreign to him. He was able to keep up with Miller easily as he attempted to get away. When Miller turned down side streets, Charles turned too. When Miller turned down backroads, Charles turned too. It was a definite game of cat and mouse until a few minutes later, when Miller attempted to do a sudden and ill-advised turn down a busy one lane street. Not twenty feet ahead of him was a tow truck slowing to turn into the parking lot of a diner. Miller slammed on brakes, Charles could see how Miller was braking hard. But it was too late. Miller’s Honda crashed into the sharp edge bed of the back of the tow truck and burst into flames. Charles slammed on brakes too, swerving his car to a stop, as they witnessed Miller Franklin’s horrific end.
Four days later, and Arianna Sinatra, still waiting for the decision on her appeal, received a letter. She sat in the prison yard with her fellow inmates and opened it. Three of her fellow inmates, two white women and one black woman, gathered around. They were her paid protection while she was inside. But it was news nonetheless. It was rare for any of them to get letters.
“Who’s it from, Ari?” one of the black ladies asked.
“Doesn’t say,” Arianna responded, glancing at the front of the envelope. Then she jerked her long, blonde hair back and opened it. Of all the women in the prison, she was the only one with means on the outside. With some money. And the three ladies at her side protected her on the promise of sharing in on some of that money once they were free too.
When Arianna opened the letter, all she saw was a blank sheet of paper, which she found odd, and then a picture. The picture was of a fiery crash. A devastating crash between an unrecognizable car and a tow truck.
And then a caption beneath:
In Memoriam. Miller Franklin. It backfired.
There was no signature. No other words. But there didn’t have to be. Arianna was certain it was from that hateful ex-husband of hers, that Charles Sinatra. It backfired. Miller was in a fiery crash, and he was joking about it backfiring? That was Charles. She quickly tore the picture to shreds. Her lawyer had already told her about Miller’s death. Her lawyer had already told her about how Jenay lived. Now Charles was rubbing it in? She threw the torn picture away, and then held her head, placed it between her knees, and screamed. She’d never been so angry, and so tormented, and so anxious to get out of this hellhole once and for all, in all her life.
Her girls looked at each other, stunned by her reaction. But they knew they had a job to do. They looked at the picture and began picking up the pieces, as if they actually could.
EPILOGUE
“What I don’t understand,” said Donald, “is how in this world did Daddy pull it off?”
“Heck if I know,” Ashley responded, “but he did it. Brent has his old job back, and Bobby’s the interim mayor.”
“Until he’s voted out of office,” Donald said. “Who’s gonna keep Bobby in charge of a whole town?”
Ashley laughed. “True that,” she said.
“Don’t underestimate him,” Carly said. “Bobby has his admirers.”
“Yeah, those hookers he fools around with,” Donald said. “All of whom are convicted felons and can’t vote. Or won’t vote. I doubt seriously if his quote unquote ‘admirers’ will help.”
They were sitting around the table in the backyard of the Sinatra estate, at a small, intimate family picnic, and Brent and Donald were up and about for the first time since the attack. Brent was able to walk of his own accord, with an assist from a cane, but Donald was wheelchair bound, still gaining strength. But his prognosis was better than they could have ever expected the night he went down.
Carly and Tony was also there, along with Tony’s friend Sharon Flannigan, and Robert was sitting near Jenay and Charles. He was mayor now and trying his best to act the part. Bonita and Junior were also in the backyard, playing on Bonita’s swing away from the adults, and the mood was festive and gay. For Charles, it was everything.
“Wh
at about you, Makayla?” Ashley asked. “You going to try and get your old job back?”
“Not a chance,” Makayla said. “Brent always wanted to be police chief. That’s in his DNA. I enjoy doing legal work for Dad. I enjoy being his attorney. I like the freedom of it. Except when he’s in a bad mood and orders me to get my slow ass cracking.”
They laughed. They’d all been there.
“I’m not that bad, Kayla, come on,” Charles said with a smile.
“Yes, you are,” Donald, Tony, Robert, and Ashley all said in unison, which caused even more laughter.
“I still say it was quite a coup, Dad,” Robert said. “The way you did it. To get Brent his job back, and to make me interim mayor? That’s amazing how you pulled that off.” And then he added, heartfelt: “Thanks.”
Charles nodded. “I’m sure the presence of your Uncle Mick and the Gabrinis had something to do with that particular coup,” he said. “But you’re welcome, son. You said you wanted to make a difference. Take advantage of this opportunity and make a difference.”
“I will,” Robert said. “Believe me, I will.”
“At least we don’t have to worry about the mayor’s office attempting to syphon off your properties, Dad,” Brent said.
“Yup,” Charles said.
“I’m sure that had something to do with it too,” Jenay agreed. “Robert voted the right way when we needed him too. Charles knows he will look out for the family going forward.”
Robert nodded. “I will, Ma,” he said. “Bet that.”
“I don’t see why he took that police chief job anyway,” Ashley said. “The last person on earth I saw as a cop was Bobby.”
“You guys don’t give me any credit,” Robert said. “I was the best police chief this town has ever had.”
“No he didn’t say that,” Donald said, and everybody looked at Brent, whom Robert replaced as chief.
“Sure he was,” Brent said. “He was the best ever. And I’m Angelina Jolie.”
They all laughed.
“You might be,” Robert said with a smile. “I see how you sashay your hips sometimes, especially when you walk with that cane.”
Everybody laughed even more. Every joke, even the unfunny ones, was funny that day. Because it wasn’t about the humor, it was about the fact that the Sinatras of Jericho County survived their toughest test. It changed all of them. Especially Big Daddy. But they came out on the other side stronger for it, and stronger as a unit.
Later that day, as the family enjoyed a meal of lobster lasagna and wild blueberry salsa, Trevor Reese arrived. Everybody looked when he walked in the backyard in his business suit and shades, looking as if all of that underhandedness he had to do, along with their father and uncles, never happened. Although Carly ran to him when she saw him, and placed her arms around him, the jury was still out on the guy as far as the rest of the family was concerned.
Including Charles, who, shortly after Trevor arrived and said his hellos to everybody, asked if he could speak to him in his office. “Privately,” Charles said.
“Absolutely,” Trevor responded, although the last thing he wanted was to have some heart-to-heart with Carly’s father. But he was going to oblige him, for Carly’s sake.
Charles tossed his napkin on the table, and he and Trevor made their way inside.
After they left, Jenay tossed her napkin on the table and rose too.
“What are you doing, Ma?” Carly asked her.
Jenay winked at her. Carly smiled and stood up too. And while the other family members continued to laugh, eat, and be merry, Carly and Jenay headed inside.
Inside, Charles leaned against the front of the desk in his home office, and folded his arms. Trevor sat in front of him.
“I wanted to thank you personally for your help in finding Bellanconti,” Charles said. “We wouldn’t have been able to track him down without your inside help.”
“It was my pleasure,” Trevor said. “He did bankroll the entire hit, and those men tried to take out Carly too. I couldn’t stand for that.”
“Damn right,” Charles said. “Which brings me to my next point,” he added. “What are your intentions concerning my daughter?”
Trevor exhaled. “I don’t know, sir,” he said truthfully. “We’re going to take it one day at a time. That’s the best I can tell you. Anything else? Any levels of commitment? I don’t know.”
“Just know this,” Charles said, “you’d better treat her right.”
Trevor nodded. “I will, sir,” he said.
“And know this,” Charles continued, “you have my approval if you and she decide to take it to the next level.”
Trevor was surprised. Most fathers would see his shaky lifestyle and hide their decent little daughters from him. But then again, he thought, most daughters didn’t have Big Daddy Sinatra as their father. “Thank you, sir,” he said, as he rose to his feet and shook Charles hand.
“You’re welcome,” Charles responded, and then moved over to his office door. “I’m a pretty good judge of character. I know a good man when I see one.”
And then Charles opened his office door swiftly, knowing what was probably on the other side. And, as he suspected, Jenay and Carly, who had been down on their knees listening to the entire conversation, fell into the room, and onto the floor. They looked up at Charles and Trevor shocked that they had been found out.
Trevor was shocked too, but Charles wasn’t. He knew his peeps.
“Welcome to the Sinatra family, Trevor,” Charles said, and they all laughed.
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Big Daddy Sinatra: Papa Don't Play Page 16
