Page 31 of The Holy Ghost
But what hadreally surprised the hell out of me was how there were only ringsfor me, but not Phoenix. When he explained that no Made Men worerings for safety reasons, I almost threw my set of diamonds athim.I knew the reasoning waslogical, but I couldn’t help but feel offended that he wouldn’t bewearing a wedding ring. I had been about to give him the what forwhen he showed me his palm and, freshly tattooed inside his ringfinger, was a picture of a miniature church. However, the steepledidn’t have a traditional cross on the top. No. If you lookedclosely, it was the letter ‘F’. And as Phoenix stuck his palm in myface, all I could think about were those stupid rumors Robbie hadtold me about.
These foolsreally did refer to meastheir church.
GoodGod.
And if thatwasn’t weird enough, Luca and Ciro had taken off like the Hounds ofHell had been nipping at their feet, to which Phoenix explainedthat the three of them are never in the same place for very long.It’d be too easy totake themall out if they were out in public together a lot.
Once thepriest had taken his leave, Phoenix and I had spent some time withMassimo until exhaustion took over, and we left him to get some rest. We had made our way homewhere Phoenix had spent most of the evening making love to me. Notfucking me, but actually taking his sweet time abouteverything.
It had been bothmagical and frustrating.
Then thebastard had climbed out of bed and told me he had some business tohandle. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that, but I knew better than to get in betweenPhoenix and Benetti business. Maybe once Luca took over, I’d feelbraver, but as long as Giovanni Benetti still ruled, I wasn’t aboutto do anything that might get Phoenix killed. So, I let him leaveour bed on our wedding night and accepted this was my life now. Ihad to get used to Phoenix disappearing from time to time and I hadto make sure not to turn into a raving shrew about it.
It wasn’tuntil about an hour later that my phone dinged with anincoming message.
Robbie:I need help
My stomachdropped. Robbie texting meatnight couldn’t be good. This was not a text asking me to help herpick out a dress or to loan her money. When we spoke yesterday, Ihad given her an update, and she knew I was marrying Phoenix today.She wouldn’t be disturbing my wedding night unless she was in realtrouble.
Me:Where r u? R uokay?
Robbie:No. Can u come getme?
My stomachflipflopped at her response. Roberta Regal wasn’t a delicatewallflower.She was tough andindependent. And, yeah, her taste in men sucked, but she wasn’t asissy-la-la by any means. If she was reaching out to me for help,she had to be in a real bind.
Me:Where r u?
Robbie:Home. And come alone. Idon’t want 2 borrow trouble.
Iknew she was talking about bringingPhoenix along. Just because she accepted the fact that I wasmarried to Phoenix, it didn’t necessarily mean she wanted the Mobtaking tea in her living room.
Me:On my way.
Robbie:Hurry. Pls!
I jumped outof bedand hurriedly gotdressed. I threw on some jeans, a t-shirt, a hoodie, and my socksand shoes. I knew Luca or Phoenix or whoever got this ball rollinghad brought my car when they had delivered the stuff from myapartment. One of the guards who had been assigned to move my stuffhad dropped off my keys when they had brought in my boxes. Granted,I hadn’t driven it anywhere since I’ve been back, but that wasmostly due to being escorted everywhere I went, which admittedly,was only to see Massimo.
Since Ihad no idea where Phoenix hadgone off to, I shot him a quick text telling him I went to seeRobbie. I made sure to downplay the urgency and texted simply thatshe just needed help with something. It wasn’t exactly a lie, but Iknew Phoenix wouldn’t see it that way. Suddenly, I was on the otherside of that fateful night six years ago in thatwarehouse.
Funny how aperson can justify hypocrisy when they needed to.
I grabbed mypurse, searched for my keys, and then tossed my phoneinside. The second I openedthe front door, I was surprised to see no guards on duty outsidethe door. I thanked God for that little concession and made my wayto the elevator. The ride was only seven floors down, but anxietymade it feel like I was descending a twenty-floorbuilding.
Themoment the doors slid open, Irealized why there were no guards at Phoenix’s door. They werestationed by the elevators. When I saw the guards posted in frontof Luca’s front door, I had assumed they were there for him. But,thinking back, they hadn’t been there when he had walked down toCiro’s apartment. That means they must have been there for Leo andSal’s visit.
Luca wasn’t much ofa trusting soul.
Iwasn’t invisible, but Ipretended to be as I started walking casually towards my car.Luckily, it had been parked in the space close to the elevators. Italso looked out of place among the luxury cars surroundingit.
“I’m sorry,Mrs. Fiore,” one of the guards spoke. “We’re not permitted to let you leave thebuilding.”
I loved how heworded the command. He wasbasically telling me I wasn’t allowed to leave withoutPhoenix’s permission.
Ah, and so itstarts.
I looked up atthe man. “Excuse me,” I said, doing my best to contain my irritation. Flies, honey, vinegar, andall that. “What’s your name?”
He had darkblack hair and whiskey coloredeyes. He was a good-looking man, by all accounts, however, his eyeswere dead. Not completely empty, but devoid of emotion. Well, atleast, they were right now. “Martin,” he answered, and his voicewas just as impassive as his eyes.
