Ciro’s words were clear, direct, and unwavering. “Phoenix’s not just some man, Francesca.”
“So, that gives him the okay to mistreat me?!”
“He’s not mistreating you, Frankie,” Ciro said, softening. “He’s doing what he should have done six years ago.”
That set her a-fucking-blaze. “Fuck you, Ciro!” she lashed out, and I thanked God the hospital floor was bought out for privacy. “Fuck you, too, Luca!” Her eyes were like daggers dripped in poison, vengeful and lethal. “Fuck you, most of all, Phoenix!”
“That’s enough!” I roared. “We’re going to do this, Frankie, but we’re not going to do it here!” I started to step with every intention of dragging here behind me when her fist came flying high. I released her just in time to catch it before hitting me straight in my jaw. I held her trapped and no amount of wiggling around was going to free her. “You want to fight? Because I do,” I growled.
I saw the second she knew she wasn’t going to win this round. Her fury was so palpable, I was certain the entire floor could feel it radiating from her soul. I also knew that, while she might concede in losing the round, she was gearing up to win the war.
Frankie wasn’t a quitter.
“I’ll walk,” she rushed out, furious as all get out.
I stared down at the beautiful spitfire in my arms, and wondered for the first time if I should have checked for weapons. She had her purse hanging over her shoulder and I was certain she was probably cataloging what was in there that she could use as a weapon to use on me. Yeah, Ciro, Luca, and I taught her well, indeed.
I dropped her hands, but when she went to step around me, I grabbed her left hand and laced her fingers through mine. Her head shot up. “Wh…what are you doing?”
Ciro had already walked around us to join Luca when Frankie announced that she’d walk, so it was just her and me in the room. Ciro and Luca had made their exits, making sure they left separately. We’d remained at the hospital together for too long as it was.
I looked down at her as I grabbed her chin and held it between my fingers. “Listen to me, and listen carefully, Francesca,” I said. “We are going to walk out of this room, and we are going to walk out of it as a couple.” She automatically opened her mouth to argue, but I squeezed her chin hard enough to cut off her objection. “You are going to walk out of this room with me as Francesca fucking Mancini, you got me?”
She had questions, but common sense finally settled in. Frankie knew something was going on even if she didn’t know exactly what. “Okay,” she quietly agreed. “But once we get to your place, you better explain to me what’s going on, Phoenix.”
I had every intention of letting her know what was going on. I just wasn’t sure if she was going to want to hear it. Hell, I knew she wasn’t going to want to hear it, but it made no difference. And in the privacy of my place, she could rant and rave all she wanted. “I promise,” I replied.
She snorted. “That’s reassuring,” she huffed. “Because your promises mean so much, right, Phoenix?”
I ignored the barb because I deserved it. At the heart of all this mess, I had lied to her. I had kept secrets from her. I had made decisions that impacted our lives without her input. It didn’t matter that we had all betrayed her. I was the one she was supposed to spend the rest of her life with. I had obligations to her that Ciro and Luca hadn’t, therefore, my betrayal stung ten times worse than Ciro’s or Luca’s and I understood that. It was the reason I was giving her so much leeway. It was the reason I let her leave. It was the reason I let her be gone for so long.
But none of that mattered anymore.
A new era was coming upon us and a new kingdom was coming about. A kingdom that would be led by Luca Benetti with the backing of Ciro, me, and Frankie, even though she didn’t know it yet. That’s why she needed to walk out of here with her back straight and her head held high. She needed to walk out of here like the Mafia Princess that she was.
And even if I did have to drag her out by her hair, everyone just would have seen me exerting my power and dominance over my woman. No one would have blinked an eye or thought less of Frankie. Everyone would have just seen me taking my woman in hand just like a million Made Men before me. It was the way of our world. Men ruled and women supported that role.
But what a lot of outsiders didn’t know was that Frankie wasn’t just another Mob sister, friend, lover, or wife. She wasn’t just another woman in a life riddled with violence and illegal activity. She wasn’t just a submissive wife, closing her eyes to her husband’s shady ways and interchangeable mistresses.
Frankie was called Church for a reason.
In a world were three men were reputed to have no souls and showed no mercy, Frankie held each one of us in the palm of hand. There wasn’t anything Ciro, Luca, and I wouldn’t do for her, including letting her throw a fit for six years.
She was the only thing that mattered to us above and beyond who and what we were. We would kill for her, and we would die for her.
We would start a war for that girl.
And that is why she needed to walk out of here with her head held high. Shit was about to change, and she was the catalyst that was
