Phoenix couldn’t afford all this unless he was all in.
“Our apartment,” he said, snapping me out of my thoughts.
I turned around to face him. “What?” I blurted, surprised.
“Our apartment,” he repeated. “This is our apartment, Frankie.”
I could only imagine the look on my face as his words bounced around in my head. I shook my head to try to clear the confusion. “What are you talking about?” I asked. “How long have you lived here?”
“The building was completed about two years ago,” he replied. “We moved in immediately.”
I chose to ignore his comment about this being our apartment. I was already on emotional overload with Luca walking back into my life unexpectedly, then learning about Massimo, and then seeing my brother for the first time in years. I needed time to…decompress before taking Phoenix on.
“Well, I imagine an apartment this size has several guest rooms,” I surmised. “Which one is mine?”
Phoenix smirked and I could feel myself feeling violent again even as weary as I was. “Which room do you think is yours?” he taunted.
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Look, Phoenix, it’s been a long day, and I am tired. Either start talking or, kindly, let me go to bed.”
“Alright,” he replied. “We might as well get this over with.”
“Then start talking,” I demanded.
Phoenix stuck his hands in his pocket and, to anyone else, he would look casual, but I knew better. He was poised to pounce at any minute. “You’re not going back,” he declared as if it were fact.
I could feel my teeth start to grind because he sounded like he meant what he said. “Excuse me?”
One dark brow shot up, and he looked cocky and too fucking sexy for any woman’s peace of mind. “You heard me,” he said. “You’re not going back to Cedar Creek. Your place is here, as it’s always been. It’s time to come home, Frankie.”
I scoffed at the absurdness of his words. “You are insane if you think I’m going to just pack up my life and come back to Morgan City,” I said scathingly. “I have a job, Phoenix. I have an apartment, and friends. I have a life in Cedar Creek.”
The look on his face told me just what he thought of my life in Cedar Creek. The distaste was stamped all over him. “Your apartment’s scheduled to be packed up tomorrow. Luca didn’t arrange for you to go back to work on Monday, Frankie. He gave them your notice and convinced them to accept one week’s notice instead of two. As for your friends, you have a phone.”
My body trembled in rage. I wanted to charge him and take every frustration I was feeling out on him.
How dare he?
How dare them?
“What?”
“You heard me.”
I was so enraged, I almost couldn’t see with it. “What in the hell give you guys the right?!”
“Because we’re your real family, Frankie,” he snapped. “We’re your only family.”
I let out a laugh devoid of humor. “My family?” I asked, sarcasm dripping from each word. “Don’t speak to me about family, Phoenix. You guys left me in the fucking cold with your bullshit. You guys lied and kept secrets as easily as you brushed your teeth in the morning.”
“Frank-”
“What kind of family does that, huh?” I asked, ignoring him. “You, Ciro, and Luca are a family. I’m nothing.”
He was in front of me in a flash. His hand wrapped around my arm, toying with the bruises that were already forming from earlier. “That’s not true,” he seethed.
“Of course, it’s true,” I argued, refusing to believe him. “You three went into this together, never once including me.”
“We were trying to protect you!” he yelled.
“Bullshit!” I yelled back. “You were trying to protect yourselves! You were hoping to ask for forgiveness instead of permission.”
“What did you expect?” he exploded, his grip tightening. “We knew how you felt about Luca’s family’s lifestyle.”
“So what?” I said, still yelling in his face. “It didn’t change how I felt about Luca. I always knew there was a chance you guys would end up with the Benettis.”
“Then why did you leave?” he asked, yelling just as loud as I was. “If you already knew where we were headed, why in the fuck did you run off?”
“Because you guys hid it from me,” I said, finally explaining my pain. “You guys made this huge life decision and you hid it from me. I’m not mad because you work for the Benettis. I’m mad because you guys lied to me. You lied and, after years of holding me close, you guys left me out in the cold, making me feel less than what I thought I meant to you guys.”
“Frankie-”
“I don’t have room in my life for liars, Phoenix,” I announced, unable to stop the purging of six years of resentment. “There’s no way I’m moving back to Morgan City.”
“It’s already been decided,” he stated, releasing my arm.
Fury was burning bright in my gut. “Even if that’s the case, coming back doesn’t mean I’m coming back to you,” I pointed out.
Phoenix’s back straightened, and he stood there, every inch of his six-foot-two-inch frame vibrating with rage. “You think so?” he finally asked.
“I know so.”
I couldn’t stop the cry that escaped as he grabbed me by my hair and drug me behind him. When we finally reached his bedroom, where he threw me on the bed, he snarled, “We’ll see about that.”
Chapter 11
Phoenix~
Fury had me blind to everything else but the woman on my bed currently shooting daggers at me.
I knew this was going
