The Holy Ghost - M.E. Clayton Page 0,24

My jaw almost hit the ground. If that were the case, the apartments had to be huge.

When the door clicked open, Phoenix placed his hand on the small of my back again and led me inside. Once we were inside, he dropped my overnight bag on the floor just inside the door and I finally got a good look at Phoenix’s apartment.

Holy fucking shit.

The apartment had an open floor plan and it was huge just like I had suspected. It was also fucking stunning. Everything was silver, white, or black. Chrome making up accents and the appliances that I could see inside the kitchen area.

I stepped further into his apartment and I didn’t even pretend I wasn’t looking at everything. Whoever decorated his apartment did a magnificent job of combining the cold colors with plush luxury. The only splash of color were random works of art lining his walls.

“Your apartment is beautiful, Phoenix,” I told him honestly because it was. But it was also a testament to what he must have been up to all these years. Millions had to be sitting in his bank account with an apartment like this. I heard the whispers just like everyone else within a fifty-mile radius, but I had done my best to ignore them because I wanted nothing to do with Morgan City, but looking around, the rumors were probably truer than I had given them credit for.

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