Page 43 of The Holy Ghost
Now that wewere alone, Phoenix didn’t hold back. Hestormed towards me, and I knew he wanted to shake me,and my injuries were the only thing keeping him from putting hishands on me. “We have Basco taking two bastards to the cleaningcrew. We have to hold up the asshole who took you. We have to torchthis fucking house to get rid of any evidence that could link thisfucking mess to us. We have a girl on the loose, who we have noidea if she’s running to the copsright now.And you have the nerve to stand there and say you can’tbelieveus?!” he roared down atme. “What the fuck were you thinking, Frankie?!”
“You guys canhash thisshit out later,”Ciro interjected. “We need to get going.”
Phoenix lookedlivid, and his voice was pure rage as he said, “Where the fuck isyour car?”
“It’s at Robbie’s,”I spat.
“Andyour purse? Your keys? We know thisfuck has your phone.”
The truth was likegargling glass. “I…I don’t know…”
“Motherfucker!”heroared.
“Phoenix-”
He ignoredLuca and snarled down at me. “Go to the black SUV out back. And, so help me God, you betterstay there.”
Istormed out of the housewithout comment. I was livid and all I could think about wasRobbie. For the guys to treat her with such contempt wasunacceptable. I was to blame just as much as she was, if not more.I never told her not to say anything.
Igot into the back of the SUVand I didn’t utter a word as the guys place Randy in the trunk orwhen I saw flames dancing around the inside of thehouse.
Chapter 21
Phoenix~
It’sbeen over 24 hours since the three ofus have slept, and I haven’t even had a chance to take a run atFrankie.
And, oh, how Iwanted to.
It wasn’t eventhat there was a serious risk of us getting caught. It was theimpact of her thoughtless actions that had me enraged. She set offa chain of events that have cost lives and could have possibly cost hers. Not to mentionthe cleanup.
The Benettisweren’t just a bunch of thugs. There werea smart organization with money.
GiovanniBenetti was as brilliant as he was ruthless, and his sonshad been raised to be the same way.However, Luca was the only one who excelled at the lessons he wasgiven in life. Luca’s leadership was carved out of evil and nothingfrightened him. Well, nothing except Frankie.
Leo wasstrong, loyal, and cunning, but he couldn’t stomach the darkstuff. That weakness made himthe money man. I was in charge of Luca and Ciro’s finances, alongwith the majority of income that came through the Benetti name, butLeo saw to Giovanni’s money and a few other ventures that stillremained under Gio’s control.
Salwasn’t quite ready to sit at theDevil’s table, but he was a sadistic sonofabitch, and he lived fordrawing blood. He was quite comfortable around dead or mutilatedbodies. He had no conscience that I could see, but hisdisassociation from human life made him the perfect fixer. Sal wasin charge of the cleanup crew, and he was good at it.
The cleanupcrew didn’t just dig holes and dump bodies, though. No. They had sophisticated technology thatcould take someone’s fingerprint and pull up everything you neededto know about the person, much like law enforcement data bases.They would then figure out the best way to make the body disappearwithout calling the attention of family, friends, or the cops. Theyalso had several cops on the payroll that would help with staging acar accident, or suicide if need be.
Bascohad taken the two dead bodies to Salafter leaving Cedar Creek, with the confidence that Sal and hiscrew would know the best way to dispose of them. Ciro, having thewicked smart mind that he did, had manipulated the wires at thefarmhouse to short and start the fire. The house was old andfalling apart, so it wouldn’t be too farfetched to believe thewiring had been neglected and faulty, as well.
Fromthere, Ciro had been droppedoff a mile away from Robbie’s house, where he made his way throughthe darkness and was able to get Frankie’s purse, keys, and car.I’m not sure what had transpired between him and Robbie, but whenhe had called to confirm he had Frankie’s things, he had soundedcold and empty.
Badsign.
Martin was also gone.When I had found out how easily Frankie had manipulated him intoletting her leave unattended, I acted on an impulse I rarely gaveinto.
Ihad beat the man to death.
And, now, we werestanding inside Ciro’s favorite hangout, tired as fuck, whereRandolph Masterson hung limp from the chains suspended from theceiling.
“How are youhanging in there?” Luca asked,his voice quiet. He was probably wondering how close I was tokilling Frankie.
“If I couldbleach my eyes to rid me of the image of her battered and beaten, half undressed, tied tothat fucking chair, I’d do it,” I answered.
“She fucking scaredten years off my life,” Ciro mumbled.
