I let the hot water beat down on my shoulders and wash away pieces of Randolph Masterson. He was no longer an issue, but I still had a few rounds to go with Frankie, and I wasn’t looking forward to it. The woman hasn’t even been back two weeks and, already, she was driving me crazy.
Was it unfair for me to expect her to acclimate overnight? Maybe. But she’s known what Luca’s been about her entire life. She had to have some inkling of what would be required of her. Or maybe that was our mistake. We tried so hard to shield her from the darkness that was the Benettis when we were younger, maybe she really didn’t have a fucking clue.
Either way, we were going to have to have a come-to-Jesus talk, and I suspected that Luca and Ciro might have to come along for the ride because, just like me, they weren’t the same guys they were when Frankie left. She needed to understand that. She needed to recognize and appreciate the world we lived in now, not the world we lived in when she left.
Then there was the issue of Roberta Regal.
On the drive back from Cedar Creek, Luca had Sal pull up everything he could find about the woman and had forwarded the details to me and Ciro. There hadn’t been anything too exciting, other than she seemed to have terrible taste in men.
She had brown hair, brown eyes, was five-foot-three, and worked as a waitress. Her parents lived in Missouri and owned a hardware store. She had no siblings to speak of, not even a pet. Her address wasn’t in the best of Cedar Creek neighborhoods, but it wasn’t located in the slums, either. She seemed rather boring, but my concern was for the men she dated. While Robbie might be a good person as Frankie insisted, she hung around riffraff. If Frankie were going to insist on keeping Robbie in her life, it looked like Frankie wasn’t going to be the only one who would need a come-to-Jesus talk.
I turned off the water and took a deep breath.
Time to face the spitfire.
Chapter 24
Francesca~
Phoenix came home, his hair wet from a recent shower. Now, most women would think ‘affair’, but I knew it was most likely that he had to wash someone’s blood off his body. There were so many things wrong with that thought, and, therein, laid my problem.
I had plenty of time to think about everything Phoenix said, and has been saying, and I realized I was acting like the six years had never happened. I fell back into the life we lived six years ago, not the life they were leading now.
Time changed them.
Time changed me.
If I read between the lines correctly, Luca was about to go from the Benetti Underboss to the Benetti Boss soon. People were going to revere him. People were going to fear him. People were going to be in awe of him the same way we had been of Giovanni when we were kids. Luca was going to control Morgan City, if not the entire state, and Phoenix and Ciro were going to be standing next to him as he did.
I was going to stand next to him as he did.
I got it.
I finally got it.
I had been sitting on the couch, texting Robbie, when Phoenix had walked in and announced, “Randy’s dead.” No greeting, or anything. Just that Randy was dead.
I shot Robbie a quick text, letting her know Phoenix was home, and we were going to talk. I wasn’t stupid enough to put anything in text. Phoenix had told me I was going to get two new phones soon. One would be strictly for use between me, him, Luca, and Ciro, but the other could be used for everyday purposes. I knew I’d have to use the second phone carefully and, even then, I hadn’t made a barrage of friends while I lived in Cedar Creek, so there really wasn’t anyone to give my new number out to. There was Robbie, Mona, Teddy, and Lydia, all who worked at Brighton.
“I figured,” I replied from where I sat on the couch. “Is this how it’s going to be? Are you going to come home from work every day and just announce your kills?” He shot me a look designed to shut a person up.
It worked.
Phoenix took off his jacket, draped it over the back of the couch, and began loosening his tie. I sat silently as he took a seat next to me because I knew the man was about to put me in my place. But, honestly, he didn’t need to. It’s amazing how getting kidnapped can fix one’s vision.
“We need to talk,” he began, “but I’m thinking, maybe, I need to call your brother and Luca over for this. You-”
“Don’t,” I interrupted. “You don’t need to call them.”
Phoenix tilted his head a bit. “I don’t?”
I shook my head. “No, you don’t.”
His lips rolled in, no doubt trying to hold his tongue. After a few seconds, he gave me a small nod, allowing me to proceed.
It grated on my nerves.
For six years, I’ve been my own person and lived my own life, making my own decisions. And, now, I was obligated to someone who couldn’t be manipulated or controlled.
I was married to The Holy Ghost of Morgan City.
“It was unfair for you to expect me to acclimate to…this lifestyle in only a matter of days, Phoenix,” I began. “Even knowing who Luca was, I still spent my childhood being a girl on the outskirts of what you three did. And, as we got
