Chapter 118

“It was a little bit chaotic,” Nico says, taking a sip of his coffee and giving a sharp nod. “But I think we got away with it.” He begins, then, to lay out the details.

I hesitate, starting to get up so I can leave them alone, but Christian holds out a hand to me – stopping me in my tracks. Nico watches this happen but doesn’t pause in his report, apparently accepting the fact that Christian wants me here for this, hearing it all. He doesn’t look too happy about it, but he doesn’t protest.

I settle back into my seat then, paying close attention as Nico tells about how he pulled up at the Romano estate and stayed outside of the gates for a little bit, wanting to watch and see what was going on at the house. But when Lucy, Tony, and Frankie came spilling out of the house shouting at each other, clearly frantic and making a hasty, unplanned escape, Nico had made a split decision and pulled the car up to the gate, grabbing Frankie’s attention. Lucy and Tony followed.

“Why didn’t you just leave them?” Christian asks, a hard little frown on his lips. I blink at the brutality of that – the idea that two people escaping from the Romano home should have just been left to their fates.

“Couldn’t do it,” Frankie says, his head hanging a little.

Both Christian and Nico look at him for a long moment and then Christian slowly sighs. I look between the three of them, wondering what it is that they know – what that statement means to them that it doesn’t mean to me.

But there’s no time to think on it, really, as Christian demands Frankie’s report in turn. Frankie begins, speaking of the brutality with which he was treated with a vague nonchalance that shocks me. I look over his face then, noting that he looks tired, but unbruised. Then my eyes drop down to his wrists, noting the ragged rings of flesh around them. Where he’d been cuffed and hung from the ceiling.

A shiver runs through me at the idea of it – of what Frankie endured.

“What did they want to know?” Christian snaps out, businesslike and efficient.

“What you were up to,” Frankie replies immediately, holding Christian’s gaze. “What you have planned. Whether or not you had anything to do with the Marino death. Whether or not Iris actually does know anything about the finances or has other information that she’s keeping back. They do…not understand your commitment to her, Chris. They did not buy at all that you stole her away from Bonetti because you’re just…” his eyes move to me here, and he takes a deep breath, “fond of her.”

“Did you crack?” Christian asks, tough.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Frankie bites out, returning his eyes to Christian in a snap, his words rough like he’s angry that Christian would even ask.

Christian smirks at him, but then nods once. Nico and Frankie nod as well and then both take a deep breath, clearly anticipating some new shift in the conversation.

Again, I don’t get it. But I watch everything, rapt.

“Well,” Christian says, looking between them and then over at me. “I think you’ve really fucked us, Nic.”

“What!?” Nico bursts out, leaning forward to stare at Christian. “What the fuck, Chris! I absolutely did not!”

“You brought Tony here, to the one place that my father couldn’t find us. You basically left a breadcrumb trail. And seriously, you came right here? You were obviously tailed, Nic –“

“We weren’t,” he growls, glaring. “I drove all night. I fucking checked – and I threw their phones out of the car, made sure we couldn’t be tracked. Nobody followed us, Christian. Nobody knows we’re here.”

“You should have fucking asked me,” Christian grumbles, glaring at Nico. “Not just shown up here out of the blue with my dad’s favorite kid in your car.”

“I tried asking you, Christian!” Nico shouts, yanking his phone out of his pocket and pointing at it obviously like Christian clearly doesn’t know what it is and how to use it. “But someone wasn’t picking up their phone all night! God! Hmm! I wonder why!”

His words absolutely drip with sarcasm and he turns his steely glare onto me, clearly indicating that I was that cause.

My mouth falls open in indignation even if…well. Even if it’s totally true.

Christian scowls, looking away, clearly caught. Because Nico’s right, Christian hasn’t checked his phone in hours because we were all tied up in each other. I don’t even know where it is.

“I’ve said it a million damn times, Chris,” Nico snaps, tossing his phone angrily onto the coffee table like it’s a useless brick. “You get all fucking twisted up when she’s around, and distracted, and you make stupid fucking decisions –“

“Enough,” Christian growls, turning livid eyes on his cousin.

“I don’t know what the fuck she does!” Nico shouts, on a bit of an emotional rampage now, leaning forward as he stares at Christian like he’s a total idiot. “Because she’s not that fucking pretty, Christian, so whatever the fuck she does in bed has got to be absolutely insane for you to –“

“NICO!” Christian lunges forward, smacking the coffee table with the flat of his hand, hitting it so hard the legs nearly collapse beneath it, the sound reverberating through the room and making me almost leap from the couch myself.

Nico goes very still, his mouth hanging open, staring at Christian.

“Never,” Christian seethes, the words coming from between clenched teeth. “Ever speak that way of Iris ever again. To anyone. Do you hear me? She is your fucking donna now – or near enough.”

Nico’s eyes go wide at this announcement, and my ears perk up.

That word again.

What the fuck does it mean?

“Apologize,” Christian commands, leashing his temper and leaning back again so that his back presses against the cushions.

“I’m sorry,” Nico says instantly to Christian, and at his raised eyebrow he turns to me as well. “I’m sorry, Iris. That was…too far.”

There’s a long, tense moment of silence.

That of course Frankie breaks.

“Now tell her she’s pretty,” Frankie quips with a courage that makes my jaw drop and Nico snap his head towards him, aghast. “Well, you shouldn’t lie,” Frankie says, grinning at him deviously and holding up a hand towards me. “She is that fucking pretty. Even if she is a bruised little peach right now.”

I perk up a little at the compliment, at the way that Frankie has – as usual – cut through the tension with his razor-sharp sense of humor.

Nico spins his head towards Christian now, still aghast, clearly asking if he needs to do this.

But Christian just smirks and laughs a little and shakes his head. Then he takes a deep breath, getting back on track.

“We’re getting away from the matter at hand,” Christian says, quiet. “Because despite the fact that I didn’t pick up my phone when you called, it was still a terrible fucking choice to bring Tony here. Because now Tony knows about this place, and the second he gets a chance he’s going to run back to my dad’s side and tell him exactly where it is.”

“He fucking swore to you, Chris!” Nico sighs, tossing a hand out between them. “That’s –“

“It’s fucking words, Nico!” Christian growls out, leaning forward to glare at him. “You think my dad would fucking care if Tony pretended to betray his fealty to the Romano family in order to take me down?”

“He’s loyal –“ Nico protests.

“He’s a fucking spy,” Christian sighs, leaning back against the couch arm and closing his eyes, taking a deep breath and clearly sorting through his thoughts.

We all sit quietly as he processes, and I study him in the quiet. Study the way that he wears his leadership easily on his broad shoulders, the way that Nico and Frankie turn almost naturally to him even though they’re big tough guys as well. The way that I turn too, waiting patiently for Christian to decide all of our fates.

All of them.

I loose a deep breath, a little overwhelmed by him anew.

“Frank?” Christian murmurs, not opening his eyes. “What do you think?”

“I think Tony’s hungry,” Frankie replies, instant. “I think Lucy is too. I do not think it’s been easy on him – or her by extension – to be the baby of the family, to watch you rise even though you weren’t the eldest brother, Christian. I think he’s jealous of that – wonders why he didn’t think of it first.”

Christian opens his eyes and meets Frankie’s, clearly interested in this insight.

“I don’t think you can trust him,” Frankie continues, his voice clear and even. “But I do think that you can trust that hunger. Tony – he’s going to go to the hook with the bigger worm. He wants power and he wants prestige – and he’s not going to get that at your father’s side. Don Romano…” Frankie shrugs. “Tony will always be the baby to him. If you offer him what Romano doesn’t, I think he’ll be loyal forever.”

“He’ll want number one,” Nico snaps, jealous, and I remember quite quickly that Christian already promised that to Nico.

“He doesn’t have to know the details,” Christian says evenly, shifting his eyes to Nico for a minute. Nico nods.

“And Lucy?” Christian asks, refocusing on Frankie.

“Lucy…” Frankie says with a sigh, hanging his head so that we can’t see his face. I frown at this, wondering…well, wondering far more than I ever have about their history. “Lucy is very good at this game, Christian. She’s funny, and she’s sweet but…” he looks up and meets Christian’s eyes now, stead. “She’s hungry too, even if she pretends she’s not.”

Christian nods once, contemplative again, as I scrunch my nose up in confusion. Because, I mean, Lucy seems perfectly nice…

What the hell does Frankie mean by all of that?