at Robbie, but kept his mouth shut. “Are you serious?” I asked, livid. “You can trust her.”
“Trust her?!” Ciro shouted. “Are you fucking kidding me right now, Frankie? She nearly got you killed and you're telling us to trust her? You’re out of your goddamn mind!”
My body whirled around. “You don’t know the whole story!”
“What’s there to know?” he argued. “She just admitted to telling that piece of shit on the ground who you were.”
I turned back to Phoenix. “It wasn’t like that,” I pleaded. “Phoenix?”
“You’re not in the position to demand anything right now, Francesca,” he said coolly.
I turned to look at my friend. “This is wrong,” I implored her. “I never told you it was a secret. You weren’t wrong for trusting your boyfriend, damnit!”
“Frankie-”
“No!” I yelled. “This is wrong.” I turned and looked to Luca for help. “Luca?”
“Your husband has spoken, Francesca,” he remarked, letting me know that I was officially in Phoenix’s hands now. Luca wouldn’t step in between a husband and wife as a friend or an Underboss.
I looked between all three men, my heart breaking.
“So, what then?”
Luca walked over to Robbie, grabbed her uninjured hand, and placed a set of keys in her palm. “Those are the keys to your boyfriend’s truck,” he told her. “I suggest you get going.”
“She can’t, Luca,” I cried out, hurt, angry, and fucking scared. “Basco gave her a sedative. She can’t drive!”
“Then I suggest she hurries back home then,” Ciro stated.
“Ciro!”
“Don’t, Frankie!” he thundered. “We’ve got shit to handle, and she’s the least of our concerns!”
“It’s okay, Frankie,” Robbie said, reaching out to hug me. “It’ll be fine.”
“Robbie-”
She gave me a small, sad smile. “I’ll be okay.”
I watched helplessly as she turned around to leave out the backdoor. Her steps stumbled as Luca called out, “If anyone comes knocking on our door over this, we will come after you.” The only indication that Robbie heard him was the straightening of her back.
The second the door shut, I lost it. “I can’t believe you guys,” I seethed.
Now that we were alone, Phoenix didn’t hold back. He stormed towards me, and I knew he wanted to shake me, and my injuries were the only thing keeping him from putting his hands on me. “We have Basco taking two bastards to the cleaning crew. We have to hold up the asshole who took you. We have to torch this fucking house to get rid of any evidence that could link this fucking mess to us. We have a girl on the loose, who we have no idea if she’s running to the cops right now. And you have the nerve to stand there and say you can’t believe us?!” he roared down at me. “What the fuck were you thinking, Frankie?!”
“You guys can hash this shit out later,” Ciro interjected. “We need to get going.”
Phoenix looked livid, and his voice was pure rage as he said, “Where the fuck is your car?”
“It’s at Robbie’s,” I spat.
“And your purse? Your keys? We know this fuck has your phone.”
The truth was like gargling glass. “I…I don’t know…”
“Motherfucker!” he roared.
“Phoenix-”
He ignored Luca and snarled down at me. “Go to the black SUV out back. And, so help me God, you better stay there.”
I stormed out of the house without comment. I was livid and all I could think about was Robbie. For the guys to treat her with such contempt was unacceptable. I was to blame just as much as she was, if not more. I never told her not to say anything.
I got into the back of the SUV and I didn’t utter a word as the guys place Randy in the trunk or when I saw flames dancing around the inside of the house.
Chapter 21
Phoenix~
It’s been over 24 hours since the three of us have slept, and I haven’t even had a chance to take a run at Frankie.
And, oh, how I wanted to.
It wasn’t even that there was a serious risk of us getting caught. It was the impact of her thoughtless actions that had me enraged. She set off a chain of events that have cost lives and could have possibly cost hers. Not to mention the cleanup.
The Benettis weren’t just a bunch of thugs. There were a smart organization with money.
Giovanni Benetti was as brilliant as he was ruthless, and his sons had been raised to be the same way. However, Luca was the only one who excelled at the