Page 35 of The Holy Ghost
No.
It was thefact that I was tied to a goddamn chair and, even if I could free myself, Robbie was tied to achair across the room, unconscious. Even though her head was limpand her eyes were closed, I could make out the bruising on her faceand here was blood splatter on her clothes, her skin, and in herbrown hair, matting it against her skull. There’s no way in hellI’d leave her behind even if I could free myself.
When that manhad opened Robbie’s front door, at first, I hadn’t realized I wasin trouble. It wasn’t until hesmiled that I was hit the mistake I made. But it was my fault, andI could acknowledge that. I should have called Robbie and spokenwith her on the phone when the text came through that she was introuble. I made the mistake of assuming it was her on the otherend. And, hell, maybe it really was. After all, she was tied to achair, broken and bleeding.
I glancedaround and saw that we were in a basement of some sort. It lookedto be used more for storage and laundry than anything else. Therewasa washer and dryer on thefar right side of the room, but everything else looked to bediscarded boxes and junk. Wherever we were, we weren’t at Robbie’shouse. She didn’t have a basement.
The sound ofwood creaking had me turning to my left. I stared atthe wooden stairs that led up to thehouse. I didn’t utter a sound as I watched a pair of black shoesand dark blue jeans make their way downward. They were followed byanother pair of shoes, these white and green, and another pair ofdark jeans.
Whentheir height finally clearedthe ceiling, I saw the guy who met me at Robbie’s door followed bythe one man I never expected to see.
Randy.
Randolph Masterson,Robbie’s boyfriend.
I couldn’thelp the despair that threatened to take over. If he could dowhat he did to Robbie, a girlwho’s been nothing but good to him, then I didn’t stand achance.
“Ah,” he said,smiling, “you’re finally awake.”
I couldn’tkeep the loathing from my voice. Ihadn’t liked him when Robbie started dating him, and I sure ashell didn’t like him now. “What is this, Randy?” I asked, cuttingto the chase.
Footsteps momentarilydistracted me as I turned my head to watch another pair of feetdescend the stairs. The third man made his way over the second one,and I immediately dismissed them. I didn’t recognize either one ofthem, so I didn’t bother with them. Randy was running this show. Itwas him I needed to concentrate on.
He droppedonto his haunches, so we couldbe face-to-face. I hated that he wasn’t a bad-looking guy. Hislooks should match his soul. But they didn’t. He was adecent-looking guy with light brown hair and dark browneyes.
“A littlebirdie told me that you are the infamous FrancescaMancini,” he answeredcasually. “The Church to the unholy Holy Trinity.”
Myheart dropped as I realized Inever bothered to tell Robbie not to say anything about Phoenix,Ciro, or Luca. I never told her to keep the newfound information toherself. I hadn’t thought of it at the time to ask her to not sayanything and, of course, why wouldn’t she say something to herboyfriend? Significant others often tell one another other people’ssecrets without realizing it.
I wasn’t goingto bother denying it. I knew the guys didn’t want the news that I was back spreading, butthey couldn’t keep me a secret forever. They wanted me to take my‘rightful place’, but that couldn’t be done from the shadows. I wasgoing to have to be strong enough to walk among them, so I might aswell start now.
“So?”
His brows shotup ashe stood. He folded hisarms over his check, trying to distract from his obvious surpriseat my reply. “So?”
“So, I’mCiro Mancini’s sister, LucaBenetti’s best friend, and Phoenix Fiore’s wife,” I retorted, notcaring about the information I was giving up. These three would bedead before the morning sun rose tomorrow. It wouldn’t matter whatthey knew. “What does that do for you?”
He smirked, but it was indisgust. He hated that I was standing up to him regardless of beingstrapped to a chair, seemingly helpless. “It brings me ten milliondollars,” he spat.
My brows shot up,and my voice rang of pity. “Is that all?”
Ididn’t see the attackcoming.
My headsnapped sideways, and pain rang in my ears ashe yelled, “No, that’s not all!”
I closed myeyes and took a deep breath, I had to push the pain aside. Bloodtrickled down the side of my mouth, but I didn’t care.I had to keep him talking, and evenif he were beating me while he was doing it, at least I wouldn’t bedead.
“Then whatelse?”
Hisdark brown eyes took on a wild lookand, for the first time, I considered he might be high. It was nosecret he partook in drugs, even though gambling was his demon ofchoice. “What else?! What else?!” he yelled. “I get to do what noone else has ever been able to do. I’m bringing those three fucksto their knees.”
A moan fromacross the room stole our attentions. Robbie was coming to andwhen she finally lifted herface, the damage was worse than I had suspected.
“Oh, Robbie…” Iwhispered.
Randy strolledher way saying, “She caught me textingyou from her phone.” He grabbed her by her hair andyanked her head back, causing her to cry out and gain fullconsciousness. “She took exception to my plan, and so I had toforce her cooperation.”
“Fuckyou,”Robbie rasped out, hervoice raw and cracked. Randy brought his fist down and slammed herin the jaw as if she was a grown man.
