by Lexi Ward
“Talk to me about what?”
“Fairly splitting your dad’s assets and profit. Apparently, me crying in front of them and then you getting nearly trampled to death helped them get over their feud.”
Hanes blinked, stunned. “Huh.”
“Yup.”
Each brother shook hands with another before Thomas finally got in the driver’s seat of his car. He looked back at Hanes. “How you holding up, dumb-ass?”
Hanes scowled. “I just came out of the hospital. Have some class.”
“Not when you were put in the hospital for a stupid reason.”
Hanes would have argued if Frankie wasn’t right there. She had—in a much kinder way—said the same thing, and he had agreed with her at the time. Caught between his pride and his sincerity, he huffed out a frustrated breath and glanced away.
“That’s what I thought,” Thomas said, starting the car.
The drive back home was quiet, nothing but the radio playing country and the outside noises penetrating the silence. It was peaceful—restful, even. Hanes closed his eyes and sagged against Frankie.
When he opened his eyes again, they were at his parents’ estate.
Surprised, he raised his head and looked around. All the while, Frankie patted his arm.
Thomas got out of his own car and jogged around so that he could open Hanes’s door for him. His other brothers popped up from somewhere, too, all of them helping Hanes ease out of the backseat with his crutches.
“Want me to carry you?” Thomas asked, making kissy sounds right in Hanes ear.
“Shut up,” Hanes said, unable to contain the laughter that came out of him.
Thomas was never so…goofy. To see him like that—Hanes laughed a little harder and lightly pushed against Thomas’s shoulder.
And then everyone was laughing. Hanes wasn’t sure if they were laughing at Thomas or at Hanes—or laughing with them, even—but it was…nice. It had been a long time since Hanes shared an enjoyable moment with his family.
They all walked to the front of the manor at the same slow pace that Hanes was moving. Frankie walked right next to him, though she allowed him enough room to use his crutches.
When he reached the deck—the steps having taken forever for him to conquer—Gina burst out of the front door and nearly hugged him. Horror struck her face though, and she quickly stepped back.
“You look awful,” she said, grimacing as she eyed him up and down. “How are you even alive?”
Hanes snorted. “I missed you, too, you runt.”
“If you ever do something so idiotic again—”
He tilted his head to the side and huffed. “I know, I know. I got all kinds of lectures back at the hospital. I won’t do that ever again.”
Gina visibly relaxed. “Okay then.” She slowly moved forward and gave him the lightest hug he had ever received. “You’re the good one, you know.”
Hanes smiled fondly, pressing a kiss to his baby sister’s head. “Second to you, maybe.”
Gina snorted, but she didn’t disagree with him. She patted his back once before backing away and opening the door for them all.
Hanes nod his thanks as he hobbled his way inside the air-conditioned home. He heard Frankie and his family shuffle in after him—all of them so close to him and one another. They practically hovered over him until he sat down on the couch, his crutches placed against the couch’s arm.
Frankie, quickly but gently, settled in beside him again.
And then everything returned to normal.
“We should talk about how exactly to split up dad’s assets,” Thomas said, taking his seat in the lounge chair. “He does have some properties on the east coast that I think we should sell. And we have lost some renters this past year, so we need to focus on doing more advertising.”
“Again with the advertising,” Eunice whined. “That’s all you ever talk about.”
“Advertising is how sales happen.”
“We haven’t even gotten a proper contract set up yet. Everything still belongs to Hanes right now.”
Thomas’s face fell. “Right.” He turned to Hanes. “Um—”
Hanes waved his hand at them all, some of them taking their seats while others remained standing with their arms crossed. “Don’t give a damn. You can have it all.”
“You should have some say in the company,” his mother said. She was one of the ones who remained standing, her face contorting with frustration. “Those stables and ranches your father rented out are his legacy.”
“I thought that was what we were. Why else would he write out the will the way he did?”
That got everyone quiet, their gazes lowering.
Hanes smirked with triumph. And now that everything was silent, he could return his full attention to Frankie, snuggled against his side. “You know,” he said, amusement and warmth coursing through him, “someone at the hospital told me that you and I were engaged.”
Frankie jolted a bit before backing away to face him properly. A blush coated her entire face, her mouth opening and closing before an actual sound came up. “Well, um, Thomas thought that—it—I—”
“I really liked the sound of it,” Hanes said, his smirk softening as he stared at his babbling beauty.
Her face went slack, her eyes moistening. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.” He leaned a little closer. Her scent, her warmth—it wrapped around him, made him feel like he truly was home. Everything about Frankie Carmichael was everything he had ever needed, and he felt the urge to make it permanent as soon as possible. “I would get on one knee if I could, but—”
“I’ll marry you,” she breathed before kissing him. “Of course I will.”
As Hanes heart soared, his relatives applauded. He didn’t know why they were clapping—he and Frankie weren’t their only little reality show—but he didn’t care. He leaned forward and kissed Frankie again, his hand moving to rest on her swollen belly.
Home, he thought again, joy and peace settling over him.
THE END
The Worst Romance
Author’s Note: “This was the first romance novel that I wrote in 2005. I was enamored with MMA fighters and decided to write a love story centered around the premise with a mafia theme thrown in for good measure. It’s an embarrassing book to look back on today, but it reminds me of how far I have come as a writer and how stylistically varied I can be these days. I hope you enjoy!”
CHAPTER ONE
Dear Sophia,
I know we haven’t seen each other since your father announced you’d be marrying someone else – someone much better for you than me…at least in his eyes. But I can’t help but wonder if there’s another way for you, and for us. It’s been almost two months and I want to see you again.
Do you remember when we first met? Your father didn’t hate me quite so much back then. I would even venture to say he may have liked me. But that’s most likely only because he liked what I did – I basically beat people up for a living, and yes, I do have fun doing it. But at least my way is governed by mutual agreement, rules and regulations – your father, on the other hand, has no morals to speak of at all.
I just want to see you again. If you love me at all, find me where the sun meets the moon. I will wait for you there, tomorrow at noon. See you there.
Sincerely,
Zachary.
Sophia sighed and folded up the letter. Outside, the darkness of midnight engulfed everything but the full moon shone through defiantly, coating everything in a silver glow. Where the sun meets the moon… the only place she could think of was the Eclipsed Café. She guessed Zach had been trying to disguise their meeting place in case her father found the letter before she did, or if he decided he wanted to read it at his own discretion. Sometimes, Sophia wished she hadn’t been born to a mafia boss.
Because she had, her life up until now had been full of violence. Her father acted like his brutality was normal and she simply didn’t know any better until she went
to school as a little girl and realized her father was the only one murdering and beating people. To top it off, he was also the only one loaded with cash at her school. She shouldn’t have been surprised – mafia members were always blessed with luxury in exchange for killing people that were considered risks or someone needed taken care of. She didn’t want his money, though. She didn’t want a life of luxury earned through violence. She wanted to be herself and to be free of this life.
Instead, her father deemed it necessary to arrange her marriage to a notorious mobster, who aside from being way too public with his murders, hid most of his cash outside the government’s reaches. Her father likely chose this man because even if he were caught, she would still be able to live like a queen through offshore accounts. This, along with sending her to schools for accounting, was what her father thought would be best for her future. She’d graduated at the top of her class, but not for the reasons he thought. She wanted to learn how to manage her own money so she could get out.
Oh, and everyone in her family called her father “Daddy.” – this was his mobster name. It wasn’t an immediately obvious name to the FBI – it was normal for children to call their father that. But Daddy was a pretty secretive man, which only confused Sophia more when he decided to marry her off to a mobster who was always in the headlines.
What she wasn’t confused about, though, was that she didn’t want to be his next headline.
“Sophia? Are you awake my darling?” Daddy’s voice rang as he knocked and opened her door, without waiting for an answer. She quickly shoved the letter into her desk drawer and stood up.
“Yes Daddy, I was just about to get ready for bed.”
Daddy was a well-built man, capable of killing someone with his bare hands if needed. He had grey hairs showing through his typically jet black hair, but his face was cleanly shaven and he was dressed in what would be an otherwise inconspicuous suit – except for the gun holstered on his belt.
He raised his eyebrow at her as she eyed the gun. She pursed her lips. She knew that he knew she was hiding something. Daddy had always been a hard person to lie to and it was why he was so good at what he did – he was not someone you could mess around with.
“But you look so pretty,” he said. “Perhaps you should come downstairs and we’ll talk with your fiancé before you dream with angels?”
He approached her and put his hands on her shoulders. He was a nice man when he wanted to be – but he was a horrible person when angry. She swallowed nervously.
“… Alright.”
She walked past him. “Oh, and Sophia?”
She turned towards him halfway to her bedroom door. “Yes?”
He opened the drawer and pulled the letter out. She looked down at the ground, and cringed when he ripped it up, and threw it in her garbage. “I wouldn’t test my patience if I were you. You have a fiancé. You will marry whoever I choose, and that is final. If I catch you with him again there will be hell to pay – mostly for him.”
A single tear cascaded down her cheek. “He’s a better man than you or my fiancé will ever be.”
Daddy smirked at her. “Are you so sure about that? You think he’ll ride in on a horse and rescue you?” He tapped the gun on his belt. “He won’t be so heroic with a bullet in his skull. So… I’d rethink my stance if I were you, child.”
He walked out of the room and slammed the door behind him. She started at the noise, feeling afraid for both her and Zach’s life.
She kneeled next to the garbage and fished out the pieces of the letter, blinking back her tears, and tried to piece them together again. She found tape in another one of the desk drawers and did her best to piece the letter back together again but the damage had already been done and it was no longer the same lovely letter Zach had intended it to be. She felt like if nothing was done, it wouldn’t just be the letter that would be torn apart…it would be their relationship, and then her life. She knew she couldn’t let her father do this. Otherwise, her life would be ruined, and she would have no one to blame but herself.
She folded up the letter as neatly as she could and hid it under her mattress. She would meet with Zach at the letter’s stated time, thankfully when Daddy would be at work. Perhaps she could make a plan with him, to lead Daddy into a trap and get him arrested. She had considered eloping once, but eloping together to a different country wouldn’t work. Daddy had connections everywhere and she would be found. She had to get rid of him for good.
She sighed, feeling completely hopeless. She straightened her dress and went downstairs to meet her fiancé.
CHAPTER TWO
The next day, Sophie woke up feeling thoroughly grossed out by her fiancé and got out of bed as quickly as possible. He’d wanted to take her and nearly forced himself on her, but for once Daddy stepped in and stopped him. He rationalized it to her by saying that she wasn’t ready to raise children of her own but she couldn’t help but feel like it was an insult to her maturity and intelligence...not that she cared what he thought of her.
She showered and dressed in a light flower dress with flats, pumped some detangling cream into her palm and ran it through her hair with her fingers. Using a brush on her curly hair just made it frizzy so she never used one. After that, she applied some shine serum. Then she made sure she still had money in her wallet and left the house. Daddy had already been gone for a few hours and she only expected him back at three o’clock. She thought she would have more than enough time to meet with Zach.
She took a bus to the Eclipsed Café. Normally she would walk the ten minutes, but she didn’t want to be followed and a bus, though it had a set route, stopped at a multitude of places. No one got on with her and the bus was mostly empty except for an old couple sitting near the front. The bus driver was a black man in his forties. She felt almost completely safe as she sat down and waited for her stop.
When she got into the café, she didn’t see Zach anywhere. She decided to wait for him and ordered a coffee and some breakfast consisting of a bacon omelet and sausages. She sipped her coffee as she waited, staring out the window and pondering her life.
She was a recent college graduate with a Master’s degree in accounting – she was great with details and noticed things others might not. Although she was great with numbers, dealing with people held no joy or comfort for her. She hadn’t gone to school for what she had really wanted, though, Daddy had sent her to school for accounting so she could manage the family budget and help them hide any extra cash they made off of illegal activities. She refused to do it, but Daddy had her punished. He still hit her almost daily and said soon she would learn her lesson…but she would sooner die or give them up to the police than hide cash for them.
What she actually wanted to do had nothing to do with people and definitely nothing to do with crime and money. She had wanted to go to school for horticulture and gardening. She had an intense love nature and the things that grew from the Earth – trees, flowers, fruits, vegetables, vines, herbs, grass and everything in between. She had learned about it on her own time, when she wasn’t busy studying for tests or getting whipped by her father. She decided when her life was her own she would follow her dream. Who knew, maybe the accounting would help her in this regard and help her start her own gardening business.
She felt a hand on her shoulder and jumped, slapping the hand away. Zach stared down at her, looking concerned for her but also a little amused. He was a decently sized man, with well-defined muscles highlighted by his short black hair and the bluest eyes she’d ever seen. He was a mixed martial arts contender and he loved what he did. He practiced every day and definitely had the physical build to prove it. Zach always said that MMA wasn’t just about beating his opponent up…it was about waiting for the right moment, carefully calculating his enemy’s next move and retaliating, and always making sure he was in the right position to fight. If he wasn’t, he put himself in one. He’d surprised her and she would’ve already lost to him had she been his enemy.
Sophia looked at her watch. “A little, I got here early.”
Zach sat down in front of her just as her breakfast arrived. The waiter put it in front of her and turned to Zach, asking if he would like anything to eat. He ordered bacon and eggs and root beer. She quickly dug into her food while he watched her silently, smiling a little. She hardly noticed until she looked up at him again. With her mouth half full, she inquired, “What’s the matter?”
He shook his head. “Nothing. You’re just cute.”
Sophia blushed and swallowed her food. “Thanks.”
He reached out and touched her arm in his tender, yet firm way that she loved so much; giving her a little tingly feeling as well as the comfort she couldn’t get anywhere else.
