Ciro reached behind him and I slapped the ice pick in his hand. “So, I’m going to start by blinding you as Ghost so helpfully suggested, and I’m going to work my way down.” Robert Miller’s screams turned to pathetic whimpers. He knew he was fucked. “However, it’s all going to end in a magnificent show of me pulling your dick out, skinning it back and pouring salt all over it, before chopping it up into little pieces.” Robert started screaming again. “Since we’re here because of your dick, it only seems appropriate that it gets to star in the grand finale.”
“Have you ever skinned a dick before?” I asked out of curiosity.
“Nah,” Ciro replied. “But how hard can it be?” He didn’t give me time to answer before the ice pick was already logged into Robert Miller’s right eye. His screams of pain were loud as fuck even though he was muzzled but, blessedly, they were loud enough to put thoughts of Frankie on hold.
We had two hours with Robert Miller, and I wasn’t about to waste a second of it.
Chapter 8
Francesca~
I never imagined I’d feel this exhausted, but I should have. Emotional reunions were always taxing and catching up with Massimo had been extremely emotional. No matter what we talked about, I couldn’t get past the pain in my heart that he would be gone soon. I hurt for him, myself, all the neighborhood kids he’s helped and all the neighborhood kids he’d never get to meet.
When I exited his room, I expected the guards, however, I hadn’t expected Luca. I figured he’d be off doing whatever it is he did these days, and he’d have a ride waiting for me. Instead, he stood up from a chair that had been placed outside Massimo’s room. It hadn’t been there when we arrived, so I imagine it had been placed there specifically for Luca.
When I stopped in front of him, he asked, “Are you okay?”
I shook my head. “Not really,” I answered honestly. “I…I just can’t believe…” There were no words. I knew it and Luca knew it.
His nod was short and simple. “I know. We’re all still trying to come to terms with it, Francesca.”
I let out a deep breath and did my best to regain some sense of composure. “Did you book me into a hotel, or are you leaving that up to me?”
He scowled. “What?”
“You said I had to stay in town until Sunday,” I reminded him. “I figured you would have booked me a hotel room or-”
“Francesca, you are not staying in goddamn hotel room,” he bit out.
I really didn’t want to stay with Luca, but I also knew I didn’t have a choice if that’s what he wanted. Plus, I was in the wrong here. I never should have discarded Massimo so effectively when I left. If I should have kept in contact with anyone, it should have been him. The way he stepped in and helped me and Ciro after our parents died in that car wreck was more than we were entitled to.
“Fine,” I replied. “If you have a spare room-”
Luca shook his head. “Francesca, you aren’t staying with me either.”
So, I’ll be staying with my brother. It wasn’t ideal because I was still angry with him, but I figured we could spend these next four days fighting it out until we could find a middle ground.
Hopefully, we didn’t kill each other first.
“Luca-”
“Come with me,” he instructed as he grabbed my hand and led me down the corridor. I followed because I didn’t know what else to do. I was doing my best to behave because I didn’t want to cause drama for Massimo, but, also, because I didn’t know this Luca. I knew what he was capable of, because the rumors of The Holy Trinity had reached Cedar Creek and beyond, but I didn’t know who I was or where I stood with this new Luca.
When we reached the waiting room doorway, I saw Ciro standing in the middle of the room, his hands in his pockets. My stomached dropped as I took in my grown brother. He was no longer a young boy or young twenty-something; he was a grown man at the age of thirty.
His style had changed but not really. His dark brown hair still lay haphazardly on top of his head, as if he couldn’t be bothered to style it. His amber eyes still shown as bright as the sun. However, his face no longer held any softness. He was all hard angles and all man, like Luca.
The biggest difference was the suit he was wearing. Ciro had always been a jeans and t-shirt kind of guy, but, now, he was dressed to the nines in a suit that cost more than most people’s rent. The suit didn’t hide his six-foot-one physique, though. You could tell, even through the fabric of the suit, that he was ripped all to hell. That’s another thing that’s changed. While Ciro always took care of himself, his body now looked like a weapon, and it probably was.
“Frankie,” he whispered, and he looked pained. He looked as if that one word was slicing him to ribbons.
For one moment, years of anger and resentment faded to the background, and all I saw was my brother. The brother who never left me behind. The brother who never dismissed me. The brother who always protected me. The brother who raised me after our parents died. The brother who made sure I ate, had clothes, and got an education. The brother who was my only remaining blood relative.
The force of how much I missed him hit me hard. Looking at him, and noting all the changes in his appearance, I was suddenly aching with all the things I missed out on by leaving. By leaving, we had six years
