I have been okay, even Dominic told me he was proud of who I have become. He didn’t mention Franco, not once. I only cried … a little.
Paige has been pretty drunk most evenings. Tonight, she’s even more so. When Dominic and Laney suggest we all go out and leave the kids with the nannies and their security team, she’s the first to agree.
I look to Vincent for approval. I trust him. And more and more each day, I feel that I trust him as much, if not more, than I once did Franco.
When Dominic suggests coming with us, I feel a little unease. However, Dominic would never put any of us in danger, and Vincent deserves a night out, as well.
When we pull up in front of what looks like an old castle, I see no sign but several luxury cars.
“What is this place?” Paige asks, opening the door and nearly falling out.
Vincent catches her arm. “My guess is a restaurant, since we’re here for dinner.”
I comment that I have never been here.
“Of course you haven’t.” Sabato chuckles. “It’s new and private. Welcome to Queens House.”
Inside, it looks like a medieval castle. It’s stunning. We are seated in a private room on the upper level looking down over the main dining area. The wait staff are all men, dressed in black. In the back of the room are three empty thrones.
“Is that where the queens sit?” Paige points down. “If so, I’m in the wrong section.”
We all chuckle as we have for days now while she has been on her anti-male campaign.
Mel stands up and asks me to join her in the bathroom. I stand and look around, realizing Sabato hasn’t been back since we were seated.
“I need the ladies, as well,” Paige announces as she follows us.
Mel acts odd as we wait on Paige to finish. She even chews on her fingernails, which isn’t like her at all.
I gently grab her hand and pull it away from her mouth. “Are you okay?”
“Um, not exactly,” she whispers.
My immediate thought goes to Franco.
“Is he …? Is he …?” I stop and grab my stomach, fearing I will get sick.
“He’s here,” she whispers.
My heart feels like it soars from my chest.
“He’s not happy.” She giggles nervously. “Not happy at all.”
“Melyssa, take me to him.”
“I don’t think I can.”
“I think you better,” I say in quiet demand.
She sighs. “All right then.”
Capitolo Nove
Franco
Three days ago, Sabato Efisto walked into the room I have been caged in for a fucking week. I wanted to kill him. However, he stayed just out of reach from the new restraints—leg shackles and chains that allowed me to move about.
Now he’s back, sitting in a chair a safe distance away from me.
“So … how are they treating you?” He smiles.
“You son of a bitch, I’m going to kill you.”
He laughs again. “Is that so? From what I hear, you’re dead already. And unlike you, I will not walk this earth fearing a dead man.”
“I fear nothing, you motherfucker—”
“That I am.” He continues laughing at me. “I have to ask you a question though. How is it that you impregnate a woman who waits for you for years, who spoke of you in god-like terms to everyone she loved and who loved her, and yet you didn’t even give her just the tip?”
“You don’t get to know what she got. You don’t get to speak about her as if you know a damn thing about her!”
“Au contraire, I do. The mother I fuck doesn’t have a problem with unwarranted jealousy. The mother I fuck trusts in what we have. And the mother I fuck gave the person you called a low-life piece of shit, mob-murdering bastard a chance to have it all, including the respect and trust to be friends with a woman I nailed ten years ago.”
“Shut the fuck up! You shut your filthy mouth!”
He stands then steps closer to me. “So yes, Franco, I can speak about my close friend any way I choose to see fit.”
“You’re nothing to her!” I lunge at him but fall short.
“Yet, she asks my wife to make sure a man who would have ripped me apart if given the opportunity, a man who killed for her then lost his fucking balls, was looked after while she raised his goddamned children!” he yells as he lunges toward me.
My fist connects with his stomach, and his connects with my face. Blow after blow is exchanged until several men rush in the room and tear us apart.
“I told you to leave him the fuck alone!” the one holding Sabato by his collar yells in his face.
He puts his hands in the air. “My apologies, brother.”
“We had a fucking agreement. Keep him here while the fucking decoy tries to draw out anyone waiting for him,” the man says, pushing him against the wall.
“We also had an agreement that none of your women would be allowed access!” Sabato yells back in his face.
“It was a mistake. They fucked up. He had no contact with them after the first night!”
“And what am I supposed to tell Mel, huh? Well, my fucking brother’s women fucked your friend’s man, who used to be all into that type of shit, my bad?”
“She’s a smart woman, she’ll figure it out.” The man releases him and steps back.
“Are you the man who has kept me here against my fucking will!” I yell at his back.
When he turns and looks at me, I am shocked.
“You!”
“Franco, as soon as you calm down and we exchange some information, you’re free to go,” Detective Archangello says sternly.
I spent twenty-four hours with the detective, Sabato’s half-brother and polar opposite. He assured me that the decoy had no issue, and that they would continue keeping tabs on Benito’s associates. I finally felt she—they—would be safe.
I then spent two days with my parents, discovering that Valentina has fostered a relationship with them, and them with my children—mine—making me realize that the woman I love will undoubtedly never stop putting family before the dangers that may or may not be lurking around the next corner. I am ready—no, not just ready, but eager—to talk to Valentina, to see if she will be willing to give me a third chance to be a part of her life, our children’s lives.
I turn from the mirror as Sabato pushes himself off the wall.
I hate what I am about to do, but it’s warranted and deserving.
“I want to thank you.”
He nods, smiling.
“It doesn’t mean we will be friends. It just means thank you for what you have done for her and for me.”
He reaches toward me and fixes my tie. “My work here is done.” He steps back. “The scene is set for seduction, Franco I-.”
“Sabato, shut the fuck up.”
He laughs as he opens the door.
As I walk past him, he whispers, “Now go fuck that mother.”
I momentarily stall, considering if I should drop him or ignore him. I choose to ignore him. After all, we share a secret and have made a pact.
I won’t tell Valentina where I have been and about those women, who I never touched. He swears he never has either. I believe him. In return, he won’t tell Mel that I was, as he put it, “being a pussy” and he set me straight, but he did.
Now I will forever be grateful for a man who I have loathed for ten years.