“We’re not permitted to let you leave the building, Mrs. Fiore,” he repeated. Never mind the tingle I kept getting down my spine whenever he called me Mrs. Fiore.
Christ, I was such a girl.
It’s amazing how my wedding rings suddenly felt heavy as hell. And it wasn’t because the five-carat diamond rock with the band of equally brilliant diamonds surrounding it was excessive as it was. It was because it resembled the chain of bondage that it was. The set was extraordinary, for sure, but Phoenix wouldn’t hear any objections on its extravagance. Plus, his name was engraved inside the diamond band.
“Am I not allowed to leave at all?” I asked. “Or am I not allowed to leave without an escort?”
“My understanding is you cannot-” He caught himself, no doubt aware of my resistance to being told what to do. “It’s my understanding we are not permitted to let you leave the building under any conditions.”
I only had one card to play here. I hated that I had to play it, but Robbie was in trouble, and I was wasting time trying to secure my freedom here. “How exactly do you plan on stopping me, should I be determined to visit my friend? I already told her I was on my way.” I wanted it to sound as if I wasn’t in any danger, and I was just going out to meet a friend.” His face went from stoic to mildly confused. “I’m just curious about your direction on this. Did my husband say you could put your hands on me if need be?”
I watched his Adam’s Apple work up and down and I knew using the word husband was a good move. “Mrs. Fiore, we’re-”
“I honestly don’t mean to put you in an awkward position, but I guarantee my husband will be more…upset at another man putting his hands on me than he would be at me simply visiting a friend.” This is where my lie came in. “I’ve already sent him a text letting him know where I’m off to.” Christ, I sounded like an uppity socialite. I almost cringed at the haughtiness in my voice. I pulled out my phone and shoved it in the poor man’s face. “Of course, he’s busy and hasn’t had a chance to text me back, but I assure you, if he was against the visit to my friend, he would have texted back immediately, forbidding me to go.”
“Mrs. Fiore-”
“Now, kindly get out of my way before you have no choice but to have to physically restrain me, and I end up calling my husband, brother, and best friend.” I did it. I played the do-you-know-who-I-am card, and I hated it. But Robbie needed me, and I had to keep that in mind.
Martin paled a bit, but he knew he was stuck between a rock and a hard place. However, he was smart enough to know that letting me leave without permission might incur a reprimand but putting his hands on me would sign his dead warrant.
He gave me a tight nod before asking, “Would you like an escort?” And that’s what was going to lead to poor Martin’s death. He gave me a choice. I felt bad about it, but Robbie’s cry for help pushed that guilt down. Besides, she asked that I come alone.
“Thank you so much, Martin, for the offer, but I’m not going far.” Another lie, but I’ll deal with that the next time I’m in church.
Martin looked uncomfortable, but he finally stepped aside, and his command vibrated in everyone’s earpiece that I was allowed to leave the building. I smiled, got into my car, and drove out of one of the most secured buildings in the city.
The drive to Cedar Creek felt longer than an hour, but when I finally got to Robbie’s, I barely put the car in park and grabbed my purse, before I was out of the driver’s side, and jogging up to her rickety porch. Robbie’s house wasn’t quite in the poorest of neighborhoods, but it was close.
I knocked on the door. “Robbie!”
The door opened, but it wasn’t Robbie standing on the other side. And before I could absorb the magnitude of what I’ve just done, everything went black.
Chapter 17
Phoenix~
Luca was pissed.
Luca was pissed, and that wasn’t good for anyone.
“It was a bullshit meeting,” he said, voicing what we already knew.
“Maybe he just wanted to fuck with us because he knows we don’t like being here,” Ciro interjected. Giovanni knew we hated being at his house.
Luca eyed me. “He called Phoenix from his wedding night to prove that he could,” Luca deduced. “He knows about Francesca.”
The coldness in Ciro’s voice was a contrast to his volatile personality. “What’s my sister got to do with this?”
Luca looked over at him. “Giovanni is a lot of things, but stupid or blind isn’t one of them,” he replied. “He knows who and what she is to us.”
“She’s a threat,” I surmised.
Luca nodded. “As long as Francesca was out of the picture, he knew we’d forever be distracted by her absence. Now that she’s back…”
“We’re unstoppable,” Ciro finished.
“He called this meeting as a reminder of who’s in charge,” Luca continued. “Gio wanted to downplay Francesca’s importance by calling Phoenix away on, by rights, what is a couple’s most important night together.”
“I don’t give a fuck if he is your father, Luca,” I told him. “If he comes after-”
Luca’s eyes flashed before he cut me off. “Don’t ever suggest that I would let someone-anyone-hurt Francesca, Phoenix,” he growled. “That girl is my fucking life. I’d kill my father myself before I’d let him touch one hair on her head.”
Growing up, Luca and Frankie had a bond that would make most men insecure, but I never fell into that category. I recognized their bond around the same age that I realized she meant something more to me than anyone
