I shook off my surprise. “So, what do we do now?” I asked. “If they won’t turn without your legacy reassurance, do we just kill them all and get it over with?”
Nix looked over at me. “Dude, not everything needs to be settled with pistols at dawn,” he remarked wryly.
I side-eyed him. “Says who?”
Luca chuckled. “Let’s put the slaughtering of the entire second generation of Benettis on hold for right now,” he chimed in. “If nothing else, their years of loyalty demand we look for more peaceful solutions first.”
“And Leo?” I asked, ignoring their rain on my parade.
Luca grimaced. “At this point, he’s so tired of Gio, I think he’d side with you on this one.”
“Making Sal the tiebreaker?” I prompted.
Phoenix barked out a laugh as he snuffed his cigarette out in the ashtray on the table. “Hardly. Sal would vote for a bloodbath in a heartbeat.”
“You guys take the fun out of everything,” I grumbled before downing the rest of my whiskey.
“Speaking of fun,” Luca led in. “How’s the lovely Miss Regal?”
“Fucking Christ,” I muttered as I stood up and made my way to the bar. Nix was likely to snap, and I needed a drink for that.
“What’s he talking about?” Phoenix asked, his tone leveled. “How would you know how Robbie’s doing?” I had told him I had spoken with her last night, but that was all.
I flipped Luca off as I poured my drink, and he just laughed, the bastard. I looked up at my brother-in-law and came clean about everything. I told him about the night on the street. I told him about Gary and Merrick. I told him about the box. I even told him about what went down before I left her place. Not in details, but he got the picture. I left nothing out and, when I was done, his reaction was exactly as I expected.
The man exploded.
“What the fuck?!” he thundered, standing up.
“Calm down, Nix-”
“The fuck I will,” he snapped, not calm at all. “Jesus Christ, Ciro. What were you thinking? Frankie’s going to kill you and then me because she won’t believe I didn’t know.” Phoenix growled. “I’m not dying because you can’t control your dick!”
“Fuck you, Phoenix,” I snarled. “She’s not random pussy.” And it wasn’t until I said those four little words with so much conviction that I realized she’s become a lot more than that in these past few days. How I went from hating her to wanting to fuck her to wanting more, I had no fucking idea, but that’s where we were, folks.
That brought Phoenix up short. “She’s not?” he asked, not fully believing me.
“No. She’s not,” I repeated. “In fact, she’s supposed to be stopping by tonight to tell Frankie everything.”
He cocked his head, confusion on his face everywhere. “So…you guys are dating?”
“No,” I clarified. “But we’re not planning each other’s murder either. Or…at least, I stopped fantasizing different ways to kill her last night.”
“I do believe he’s trying to woo her,” Luca jumped in, and he got another middle finger from me.
Nix looked over at him. “Woo? Really, Luca?”
Luca shrugged a shoulder. “I thought it sounded politer than just saying he wants to fuck her.”
“Stop,” I demanded, my hand up. “Robbie doesn’t get talked about like that. Yes, I want her in my bed, but until she is, don’t refer to her as a fuck.”
Nix turned that hazel gaze back towards me. “But once she gets there, it’s okay?” He let out a deep sigh. “You don’t make any damn sense, Ciro.”
My drink was gone in one fucking swallow. “I just meant…right now it sounds disrespectful to discuss her in such a manner. Once we’re together, it’ll sound more…teasingly. I mean…you know…”
Phoenix dropped his six-two frame back down on the couch. “Holy shit. You really like her,” he uttered in shock. “She’s going to be your first girlfriend ever, isn’t she?”
“Yes,” I bit out, uncomfortable with his shock. I wasn’t a monster, after all.
Well…relatively speaking, I wasn’t.
“Look-” My phone rang, cutting me off. When I pulled it out and looked at the name flashing across the screen, my back straightened. I answered, “Mancini.”
“Two guys just left her house,” Marco said into the phone. Even though Luca had put eyes on Robbie the night of Frankie’s kidnapping, I had put Marco on her fulltime last night after I left her place. I had also called Sal and put him on the task of finding out who Gary and Merrick