Luca sighed, and stood up as well. “No, you are not,” he conceded. “However, we felt it was best if the girls had dinner here, rather than somewhere…in public.”
“Oh, we did, did we?”
This time, Frankie stood up, but she stood up with enough force to make her chair scraped back. “Knock it off, Ciro,” she hissed. “Robbie’s my friend. I missed her and wanted to see her.” She threw her arm out to gesture around the kitchen. “What you see here is a compromise. Phoenix doesn’t want me…going out just yet, and I wanted to see Robbie. Everyone felt it was safer to have dinner here. Robbie’s still healing, too.”
“Everyone did?” I bit out. “Who’s everyone, Frankie? Because, before tonight, I was never left out of the loop. Especially when it came to the traffic in this fucking building.”
“I got permission from Luca,” she yelled, tempers rising. “And…considering your…your reluctance towards my friend, I thought it best you weren’t included so you wouldn’t ruin dinner!”
That stung.
That stung and fueled an already out of control flame.
Fuck. This. Shit.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?!” I yelled back. “She almost got you killed!”
“That’s enough, Ciro!” Phoenix thundered. “I know Frankie’s your sister, but you better watch how you talk to her.”
“He’s right,” Luca added. “You need to calm down, Ciro. Francesca hasn’t done anything wrong.”
I could feel my entire body rush hot. My blood was boiling. It wasn’t that they were coming to Frankie’s defense, it was no less than I’d expect. Nix and Luca always played mediator when we were younger, and Frankie and I would get into it. What was pissing me off was that, for the first time in our lifetimes spent together, I’d been left out.
Now I know why Frankie ran six years ago.
“I know Frankie’s done nothing wrong,” I replied coolly. “There’s only one person in this room who’s done anything wrong.” With that, Robert Regal finally stood up, and it took everything in me not to give myself away.
She wasn’t the same battered woman when I saw her last.
The woman stood around five-five to my six-one and gone were the blood and bruises on her face. She had a scar above her eye, and I remembered the gash that Basco hadn’t been able to sew up, but it didn’t take away from her surprising beauty. Robbie had hair the color of milk chocolate, big brown eyes surrounded by dark lashes with a touch of mascara adorning them. Her eyebrows were perfectly arched, except one had a blank spot where the scar cut in. Her nose was delicate, and she had high, rosy cheekbones. With face was heart-shaped, and she had a pair of lips that should always have a dick between them.
The rest of her was fucking me up, too.
She was wearing a loose-fitting peach dress that stopped just above her knees, but the flowing fabric did nothing to hide her big tits and wide hips. She was built like a goddamn pinup girl. Fuck, did she have a fucking rack on her.
And that just pissed me off further.
“I’m standing right here,” she said, “If you have something to say, say it to me.”
This girl was either reckless or just plain fucking stupid. I didn’t relish killing women, but I’ve done it before. “I already have,” I reminded her. “Or did you forget about our little heart-to-heart the night you almost got my sister fucking killed?”
Robbie flinched and her weakness was evident. “I was invited here by my friend,” she replied. “If you don’t like it, that’s your problem. I’m not going to stop being friends with Frankie just because you don’t like it.”
“Have you no shame?” I countered. “Have you no fucking remorse for what you did?”
Her composure vanished. “Of course, I do!” she yelled. “I feel shame, remorse, and guilt every damn day! But she’s forgiven me. I’m not going to refuse her gift. Not for anyone. She’s my friend, damnit!”
“And what happens the next time the dick you’re riding finds out who your friend is?” I snarled. “Are we going to have to kill him, too? Maybe if you learned how to keep your legs closed to every lowlife piece of shit you come across, I wouldn’t be so worried!”
“Ciro!” Frankie gasped.
“Fuck you, Ciro Mancini!” Robbie screamed like a banshee. “Fuck you! I don’t care who you are! You can go to hell.”
I was in her face before anyone could stop me. I sneered down at this beautiful, enraged woman, “I’m