made a terrible mistake. Hate was like blue flames burning in her eyes. Her back was straight, and she held her head high as she scathingly spat out, “I’ll never forgive you for this.”
I didn’t blame her.
I was certain I wouldn’t be able to ever forgive myself as well.
Remy walked away from me, and I was too shattered to go after her.
Chapter 18
Remy~
“Are you out of your mind?” Robbie whispered, her voice trembling.
Frankie’s gaze was panicked as well. “Remy, you…you can’t do that.”
After Luca fucked me over the couch, I had retreated to the bedroom like a coward, and had hid in the shower, crying, until the water had turned cold. Afterwards, I dressed and took the elevator downstairs to Robbie’s apartment. Even though I had access through the stairwell, I didn’t feel right using it. I had texted Robbie that I was coming over, and she had met me at the door. When she saw the look on my face, she asked if she could call Frankie over and I had said it was okay. Frankie knew Luca better than anyone, so if anyone could help me, it’d be her. I had foolishly believed girl-solidarity would gain their support.
It hadn’t.
“He told me I couldn’t work,” I repeated. “Then he threatened to kill my parents if I didn’t come to heel.” I looked back and forth between both women. “I can’t…I can’t live like that. He was horrible.”
Robbie placed a hand on my knee as she sat next to me on the couch. Frankie was sitting, cross-legged, on the floor. “Remy, I’m…I’m not condoning his…tactics, but…you can’t leave Luca,” she said softly. “He’s Luca freakin’ Benetti. You can’t just leave Luca freakin’ Benetti, Remy.”
Frankie looked up at me with her warm eyes. “She’s right, Remy. You can’t leave him.” She shook her head. “He’ll kill you before he lets you leave him.”
My head swiveled back and forth between them. “Do you hear yourselves?” I screeched, practically hysterical. “You say that as if that’s normal. You say that as if…as if that’s okay.” I could feel my heart just breaking and re-breaking all over again. “Anyone else and it would be verbal or domestic abuse. It would be terrorist threats. But because he looks gorgeous in a suit and has more money than God, it’s not?”
“Remy-”
I shook my head. “This isn’t normal,” I practically shouted. “This isn’t…healthy.”
“It’s different, sure-”
“It’s more than different, Frankie,” I cried. “You get to go to school and finish your degree because you’re going to work for Luca. Yeah, you get to stay on the clean side of the business, but you’ll still be working for him.” I glanced at Robbie. “But Robbie? She’s still fighting with Ciro to let her go back to work. What’s she supposed to do with her life if he doesn’t let her?”
“It’s not that simple,” Robbie mumbled, and I immediately felt bad because I wasn’t trying to make her feel like shit. If she wanted to be a stay-at-home mom, I had no problems with that. I, however, didn’t want to be that.
“I’m sorry,” I grumbled miserably. “I’m not trying to sound like a bitch, but…I live for those kids. They are my world, and he…he wouldn’t even listen to me. He wouldn’t even entertain a compromise.”
Frankie licked her lips. “Are you sure?”
“What?”
“Just…hear me out, okay?” I nodded. “A couple of months ago, I was kidnapped.” My eyes widened at that news. I hadn’t expected her to share something so private with the new girl. “Robbie’s ex-boyfriend thought he could ransom me.”
“He was wrong,” Robbie joined in.
“Anyway, Phoenix and I had a huge fight because he had basically put me on house arrest.” She closed her eyes and shook away the melancholy at the memory. “The thing is, he didn’t put me on house arrest to restrict me. He put me on house arrest because I was still being reckless with my…importance.” Frankie got up off the floor and perched her ass on the other side of me. “I know you’ve heard the rumors about how I’m called Church, right?”
“Yeah. I’m pretty sure everyone in Morgan City has,” I told her.
“Well, that’s what Phoenix was trying to make me realize. To me, Ciro, Phoenix, and Luca were the boys I grew up with. I hadn’t really…realized the power of who they were. Who they are. It wasn’t until I fully grasped what it meant to be Ciro Mancini’s sister, Phoenix Fiore’s wife, and Luca Benetti’s best friend did Phoenix finally lift