Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
Iwant to go and get her. I should go and get her. She shouldn’t be facing the wrath of her father alone. This is the reason she’s pushed me away for so long.
“You know he’s not going to kill her. He wants to kill you,” Elias says from his spot on my sofa. He’s watching me pace back and forth.
“What if he talks sense into her? What if he makes her realize I’m not actually good enough for her?” I ask him.
“Pfft, please. If anything, it’s her who’s not good enough for you, Emilio,” Elias grunts. “You’re settling. You could do better.”
“What’s wrong with Frankie?”
“The way she’s been leading you around by your balls for years. That and the fact you’re obsessed, and that’s a dangerous place to be. Obsessed people do dumb shit.”
“I’m not obsessed.” I roll my eyes. “Love is not obsession.”
“Looks the same from where I’m sitting.” Elias shrugs.
“I can’t wait until you fall in love. I’ll be watching with a bowl of popcorn.”
“Don’t hold your breath. I’m far too smart to let that shit…” Elias points a finger at me. “…happen to me.”
“Sure.” I shake my head. I pull my phone out of my pocket and check the screen again. Nothing. “I should call her.”
“Or… you can leave her be. Let her sort her own family drama out, Emilio. It’s not your problem.”
“Her problems are my problems. I don’t like leaving her to deal with shit alone.”
“She’s not alone. She’s with her family.”
“You know what I mean.” I fall onto the sofa at the same time my front door opens.
“Get behind the kitchen counter now.” My Aunt Lailani walks in, dropping a bag on that same counter.
Elias and I aren’t stupid enough to sit around and wait when she tells us to take cover. “What’s going on?” I watch her pull out a rifle, and she starts setting it up.
“I got a tip,” she says. “Someone isn’t too happy with whoever you guys killed at the docks.”
“That fucker was trying to steal our shit.”
“That fucker had family,” Aunt Lailani says. “Family with money and connections who are now using that same money and connections to retaliate. Or so I hear.”
“What about the Giulianis? Alfie’s the one who shot him,” I press her.
“How did I not know that?” she grumbles.
“You didn’t ask.” I shrug. “Sammie Junior was there too, so was CJ.”
“For fuck’s sake, can you boys do anything alone? Why are you all always doing shit together?” My aunt curses. “Get down.”
“What exactly do you think is going to happen? We’re thirty floors in the air,” Elias chimes in.
“Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Some people are creative.” My aunt smirks. “Hear that?”
The rhythmic pulse of a chopper sounds out right before it comes into view. “What the fuck?” I hiss.
“Get down.” My aunt looks through the scope of her rifle. Bullets shatter through the glass windows, and then she’s firing.
Elias and I are both firing our own weapons towards the chopper. It all happens within minutes. I watch as one asshole falls out before the whole thing tilts on its side and disappears out of view as it spirals to the ground.
“Who the fuck are they?” Elias screams.
“The guys who are trying to kill you, it would seem.”
I pull out my phone and check Frankie’s location, leaning back against the counter in relief when I see she’s still at her parents’ house. I hit dial on Alfie’s number.
“Now’s not a good time,” he answers.
“Make it a good fucking time,” I grunt. “I need you to lock your sister in that house. Don’t let her fucking leave.”
“What happened?”
“Some asshole just flew up to my fucking window in a chopper and opened fire. I don’t know if there are more of them, but I don’t want Frankie coming anywhere near this building,” I tell him.
“You good?”
“Aunt Lailani saved the day.”
“She always does.” Alfie chuckles. “I’ll find Frankie and keep her in.”
“Thanks.” I cut the call.
Elias stands and straightens his suit jacket. “I’m going down there. See what I can find out.”
“I’m coming.”
“Neither of you is going down there. You want the cops knowing you two are involved in this? They already have a hard-on for anyone with your last name.” Aunt Lailani points at me and Elias.
I smile at her. “We’ll be fine. You don’t need to worry about us. Thanks for the save.” I hug and kiss her cheek. “Let’s go, Elias.”
My brother follows me out the door. By the time we exit the building, Elias gets a call from our father ordering us both to the Lopez compound.
It’s close to where the Giulianis are. I consider swinging by and picking up Frankie.
Of course, if I show my face there, it’s going to be a whole other war I’ll be walking into.
Climbing into the car with Elias, I contemplate what I should do versus what I want to do. I want her with me, but she’s probably safer away from me right now. I don’t have any information about who is after us, or what kind of resources they have.
“He say anything about who these guys are?” I ask Elias.
“No, just that we need to get to the compound. He’s on his way.”
“Great,” I groan. Just what I need, a fucking war in Vegas.
Forty minutes later, we’re pulling into the Lopez compound. There are more guards around the fence than usual, no doubt on my father’s orders.
“I should have picked her up,” I say quietly to myself.
“No, you shouldn’t have. She’s right where she should be,” Elias replies.
“This place is a hundred times more secure than the Giulianis’ house,” I remind him.
“Whoever these fuckers are, they have no reason to go after her. You, on the other hand…”
Once I’m inside, I pick up my phone and call her.
“Emilio, what the hell is going on?” Frankie yells down the line.
“Babe, calm down.”
“Yeah, okay, sure. I just heard your apartment was shot up. It’s all over the news. Why am I hearing about this on the news and not from you?”
“I’m calling you now.”
“Where are you?” she asks.
“At the Lopez compound. I need you to just stay put at your parents’ house for a little bit,” I tell her.
“Stay put? You would like me to just stay put?”
“Yes.”
“Sure thing, sweetheart, I’ll do exactly that.” Frankie hangs up.
“So, that went well.” Elias laughs. “You seriously just told Frankie, of all people, to stay put?”
“I need her to,” I tell him.
“Yeah, okay.” My brother walks away, shaking his head and laughing at me.
Great. I try to call her back but she doesn’t answer, so I resort to sending her a message.
Me:
Please answer my call. This is serious, Frankie.
Frankie:
I’m busy. Talk later. Stay alive. I want to be able to yell at you when I see you next.
Me:
I’m not dying. I would like to talk to you, though, and explain why I need to know you’re going to stay at your parents’ house, where it’s safe.
Frankie:
I’m aware of the dangers, Emilio. I’m not an idiot.
I hit call on her name again, thankful when she answers. “Don’t hang up on me.”
“Don’t tell me what to do,” she counters.
“I just want you to be safe. It’s the only thing in this world I want, Frankie.”
“And I want you to be safe,” she says. “Are you safe?”
“I’m at the compound. Nothing is getting through the gates here, babe.”
“Good, so I can come see you there then,” she says.
“I’d prefer if you stayed away. I don’t want you near me when they try again.”
“When? Not if?”
“It’s always a when.”
“I need you to stay alive. There are things I need to tell you in person. Things I haven’t said yet, Emilio, and I need you to know.”
“I already know,” I assure her. “I don’t need you to say the words, Frankie. I know.”
“Good.”
“My dad and brothers are on their way.”
“Don’t make me wait long, Emilio. I got used to being near you.”
“I like you being near me too, babe. Just don’t go anywhere.”
“Okay.” Frankie cuts the call before I can say anything else.
I head up to my room. I need to shower. I have a feeling the next few days are going to be fucking busy.