Chapter 158
Nico huffs a laugh and shakes his head, grabbing my arm again and pulling me out into the hall, the dress still clutched to my chest.
“I think you won’t take this seriously because you never fucking have taken this seriously, Iris!” he says, pulling the door shut after him and keeping his voice hushed so that Christian and Frankie, still seated at the kitchen table, don’t notice anything amiss.
I gasp, appalled at the accusation. “I have too!”
“You take Christian seriously, I’ll give you that!” Nico snaps, glaring at me, still holding my arm. “But the whole mafia thing? His business and your role in it? You treat it like it’s optional, Iris – like a game you can walk away from when it gets too tough!”
I hug the dress to my chest and glare at him, well aware that I did ask Christian to walk away from it this morning. Nico studies me and straightens a little at my lack of response – my tacit admission that he might have a point.
“No funny business,” he says, shaking his head slowly at me like I’m a child. “You might be able to push the boundaries of what the role of a mafia wife is later on, Iris, but for right now you need to play your damn part. Which means being silent, being supportive, and most of all not jumping in front of knives when you fucking husband tries to stab someone!”
“Fine!” I huff, tugging my arm out of his hand and turning away, pissed now but again seeing his point. “I’ll be a good little mafia bride, okay!? God.”
I start to stalk away towards the master bedroom, fuming a little at being put in my place.
“You forgot your shoes, Iris!” Nico calls after me, pissed.
“Be a doll and get them for me, Nico!” I shout over my shoulder, not breaking my stride as I walk past the kitchen table. Out of the corner of my eye, I see both Frankie and Christian smirking at me as I pass, pleased.
But I ignore them and move into the master suite, ready to transform myself into the perfect little mafia wife.
What seems a ridiculously short time later, we’re all gathered together in the car, driving silently towards wherever this meeting is. I’m in the back, seated with Frankie in the middle seat and Calvin slumped against the other window. I’m dressed, of course, as the perfect mafia wife – expensive, demure, refined. Both Nico and Christian approved, but I’m not sure I’ve ever felt like such a fraud in my life.
My hands twist in my lap and my knee bounces anxiously. Christian is up front with Nico, who is driving. Only Christian and Nico speak, and even then just briefly to discuss directions.
It is at one of these quiet moments that Frankie reaches over and places a quiet hand on my knee and I turn my head to find him smiling at me softly. “Chill out, Bambs,” he murmurs.
“How on earth could I ever chill out at a moment like this!?”
“The wheels are in motion, babe,” he says, his smile deepening on just one side, making him look a little bit wild and reckless – which I suppose he is, as my bodyguard and my husband’s trusty assassin. “Nothing you freak out about now is going to change anything – make it better or worse. Just…let it happen. Stay loose.”
“Did you learn this advice at surf camp or something?” I snap, narrowing my eyes. Frankie bursts out laughing and tightens his hand on my knee once before taking it away. When it’s gone, I miss the steady warmth of his palm.
My knee starts to bounce again as I look out the window, frowning at the familiar scenery. And then I gasp when I realize that it’s far, far too familiar. “Are we…going to Lupa?” I ask, a little shocked.
“Neutral ground, yes,” Christian replies, sending a glance at me over his shoulder. “Or, well. As neutral as we can get. My dad insisted – he wants the power.”
I nod, accepting it, remembering the rules of the setup today that I was briefed on this morning. Two bodyguards each, no weapons. The point of it is the return of the captive and face-to-face conversation so that Christian can convince both his father and Bonetti that he’s on their side.
Though how the hell he plans to do that I have no idea.
Nico pulls into the parking lot at Lupa and I’m a little surprised when he doesn’t pull around back towards the service entrance. But of course he doesn’t – I don’t work here anymore. I send a quick glance up at Frankie, missing those days suddenly – the simplicity of them. Coming to work, making really fancy beverages, laughing with my friend.
Suddenly it sounds…all much better than any of this.
Nico is fast turning the car off and moving around to Calvin’s door – he’s there before I even climb out. Frankie comes after me, which was the agreement – he’s my bodyguard today, and Christian’s. Nico’s job is to handle Calvin.
As a group, we all walk up to the entrance, and Christian pushes open the door, entering first. My heart starts to pound as we enter the dark bar, completely ignoring the “Closed for Private Party” sign. I look around the bar, keeping an eye out for Andre – but there is no movement, absolutely no sign of life. Lupa – dead and dark. Something about that makes me incredibly sad.
Frankie is close at my side as we continue to walk, Nico and Calvin pulling up the rear as Christian – to my surprise – takes a left and heads towards the back of the bar. I frown, following him, not understanding, because there’s nothing over here –
But to my shock, he walks right up to a blank stretch of wall and pushes on a nondescript sconce there – and the whole thing pushes open like a very wide door. I gasp, my mind suddenly flashing back to something I heard once – I think from Lucy – about a meeting room back here. But I had completely forgotten.
I pass through, following my husband, trying to take Frankie’s advice and calm down and let it all happen. Because he’s right – there’s absolutely nothing I can do that’s going to change any of this – my whole job is simply to stand and keep my mouth shut.
Still, my heart rate increases and I swear I can hear it pounding in my chest. Suddenly I realize the appeal of all of Biancia’s numbing little pills and kind of wish I had one.
We walk down a short hall to another door, which Christian pushes open.
The room falls silent as we walk in and I see that we’re the last to enter. I wonder, passively, if this is a good or a bad thing. But there’s no time to think on it as my eyes sweep over Romano standing at one side of the oval table. I blink in shock when I realize that the two men he’s brought with him are well known to me – Tony and Lorenzo.
And, again a shock to my system, that Lucy is pressed tight to Tony’s side. She locks eyes with me, her face tense, and I know that I give her precisely the same look before my eyes move to the other side of the table. Bonetti is standing there with two men who I don’t know. He smiles slowly at us, smug, fully aware that he threw one hell of a wrench into Christian’s plans and not regretting a moment of it.
“Christian,” Romano booms out as Nico closes the door after us, all five of us in the room now. “My loyal son. How good of you to come today.”
However kind and polite his words, the dark sneer on his face lets me know that we’re anything but in his good graces.
