Chapter 141

“This is so not any of your business,” I growl, stepping forward and using the hand not pressing the medication to my chest to give Nico a hard slap on his shoulder.

Frankie comes into the house then, looking eagerly over at us. “Oh, are we beating Nico? So soon in the morning? Nice to get an early start.”

Nico and I ignore him. “It absolutely is my business,” Nico snaps, warding off a second blow by stepping away from me and holding his coffee high. “If you get –“

“Nico!” I growl, shooting a glance towards Frankie.

Nico just laughs. “Take it, Iris. Right now, seriously, I want to watch you do it. And If I have to watch you do it every day at the same time –“

“It doesn’t even work like that,” I growl, terribly embarrassed but also livid at him for butting into what is really only my business.

“It’s true, Nic,” Frank says, coming over and slipping his hands into his pocket. “The pill isn’t immediately effective unless you start it during your period. And Iris isn’t at that point in her cycle.”

Nico and I both turn gape at Frankie.

“How do you know that?” Nico asks, a little fascinated and horrified. I just stare at him, my mouth open, appalled.

“I pay attention,” Frankie says with a shrug. “It’s all in the little packet that comes with the birth control – it’s not a secret.”

“No –“ Nico interrupts, putting a hand out towards Frankie. “The…other thing.”

“Oh!” Frankie says, and then he bursts into a huge grin, looking between us. “Tiny house,” he says. “One bathroom. And no women’s products anywhere. I am many terrible things, but unobservant isn’t one of them.”

I groan, pressing my eyes shut as I stalk off towards the bedroom. “You two! Are both too close to me right now! You know way too much!”

“We’re here to serve, donna!” Nico calls after me, teasing. “In even the most nuanced aspects of your life!”

But I just scowl and slam the bedroom door shut behind me.

When Christian comes out of the bathroom a few minutes later carrying his empty coffee cup he finds me reading carefully through the birth control’s instruction booklet. Or, at least that’s what I was doing until he came out of the bathroom all wet and clean-smelling dressed only in a towel slung low on his hips.

Suddenly, I forget how to read. All I can do is stare.

Christian grins at me, I think liking the way that my eyes slip appreciatively over him, and lifts his chin to the paper in my hands. “What’s that?”

I quickly fill him in on the goings-on in the kitchen, which makes him burst into laughter.

“Seriously, Chris,” I say, sighing even as I laugh to. “Do not let Nico in on the details of my sexual health. That is…for me alone. Or at best for us.”

“You’re right,” he sighs, pulling a t-shirt over his head. “I just…sent him on an errand – I didn’t think about the details. I’m sorry for that.”

“You’re forgiven,” I say, ogling a little as he slips the black fabric down over his defined stomach and then reaches for a pair of casual pants.

“Am I forgiven because you think I’m good looking?” he asks, giving me a cocky smile.

I laugh and shake my head. “It does not hurt, husband.”

He laughs heartily, pulling the pants on and then coming to lay with me on the bed for a moment. “Did you and Frankie have a good time?”

“Yes,” I reply, leaning against his chest and taking a long, deep sniff of clean man smell as he folds his arms around me and leans against the pillows. “Frankie’s so much fun.”

“He’s also a very good murderer,” Christian says casually, and I honestly surprise myself by just taking it in stride. God, I must really be getting used to this world.

“Best of both worlds,” I say quietly, looking up into my husband’s face.

He smirks at me.

“And you and Nico really are okay?” I ask quietly, wanting to know, wanting to check in on him one-on-one.

“I promise,” Christian replies, his voice soft. “It was…less dangerous than it could have been, partially because we didn’t get as far as I’d have wanted.”

“Really?” I ask, sitting up a little. “What happened?”

“Come on,” he says, starting to stand up and tugging me with him. “Let’s fill in Frankie too, so we don’t have to do it twice.”

I nod and stand up with my husband, following him into the kitchen where he refills his coffee.

I put another pot on as Christian moves into the living room, where Frankie and Nico are already seated – Nico on the couch and Frankie on the floor next to him. The boys chat idly, waiting for me, and when the coffee starts to brew I follow Christian into the living room to sit at his side, across the table from Frankie.

“So, spill,” Frank says, taking a leisurely sip of his coffee, as if he’s asking for the latest neighborhood gossip instead of an update on a serious mafia coup.

“Bonetti’s guarded” Christian says after a long sip of his coffee, resting the mug out on the edge of the sofa’s arm, his other arm spread across the sofa’s back. “Nico and I spent hours trying to get close but, no cigar.”

He continues then, and I’m not sure that I understand all of the details in the same way that Frankie might. Still, the story is clear: Christian and Nico did everything they could to arrange a surreptitious meeting with Bonetti, but they couldn’t get to anyone close enough to Bonetti to make a date for the meeting. At least, not without majorly blowing their cover.

“So, what do we do?” Frankie asks, nodding along like he understands completely. “Risk blowing the cover a bit? Let your dad see that we want the meeting?”

“No, I think we keep secrecy a top priority.” Christian says, looking between the three of his, his eyes settling on me at last. “I think, instead, we go with…a new tactic.”

The room is quiet for a long moment and I frown at that, looking around at all the boys, not getting it.

“Shit,” Frankie says, dry. “Why do I feel like you’re about to say something that I really, really hate?”

“He is observant,” Nico says, nodding like he’s impressed.

“What is it,” Frankie asks on a sigh, shaking his head. “Just…tell me.”

“If Bonetti won’t let us get to him we need to make him come to us,” Christian says, his voice even and clear.

“And?” Frankie says, tracing a hand slowly through the air as if inviting Christian to get on with it. “What does that mean?”

“It means,” Christian says, his eyes moving back to me and settling there. “That we need some bait.”

“Bait?” I whisper, my brows furrowing. Because I…I absolutely do not get it.

The room is quiet for a moment and Christian keeps his eyes on my face, letting me figure it out.

But Frankie gets there faster than I do.

“Abbbsolutely not!” Frankie snaps – nearly shouts – and all of us immediately turn our eyes to him. “No fucking way, Chris!”

“It’s going to work, Frank,” Christian snaps back, frowning at his subordinate, clearly displeased to be so countered.

“It’s not going to work!” Frankie shouts, throwing a hand out in my direction. “Because we’re not fucking doing it!”

“Do you actually think I’d ever put her in a situation where she was seriously in danger?” Chrisitan shouts back, leaning forward to glare hard at Frankie.

And then my mouth pops open because I finally figure it out – lightyears after everyone else. My eyes land on Nico, who is looking at me steadily. Slowly, as Frankie and Christian continue to yell at each other, he gives a long steady nod.

Confirming what I suddenly know to be the plan.

That it’s me.

I’m the bait.