Page 57 of Pretty Lies

Seemed like his whole life lately.

“Where is my daughter?” Frankie asked as he went back to his food. Or rather, the piece of toast he started to slather with red jam.

“Chatting with J.”

That earned another one of those small smiles.

“He worries about her. A lot.”

“Like you,” Cory returned.

Frankie dragged in a heavy breath. “Hard not to—this business has never been kind to women. I walk a fine line of wanting to challenge the status quo and needing to make sure Della is safe. I’m not sure I do it well.”

“But you try. That counts.”

“I hope so.”

“And she stayed with me at my place last night,” Cory added.

The scraping of the butter knife along the toast stilled. To his benefit, the man didn’t look up or give anything away at Cory’s statement. He didn’t need to out the fact that Della remained with him for the night—people would draw conclusions, but especially the woman’s father—and he was okay with that. He didn’t intend to hide his business with Della because he didn’t think it hindered his ability to do his job. He wouldn’t, however, find himself in shit because his personal activities offended someone else’s sensibilities.

Might as well get it out of the way. Right? He thought that was the adult thing to do.

“Is that going to be a problem?” Cory asked when Frankie stayed quiet.

The older man cleared his throat, dark eyes finding Cory’s with consideration, amusement, and annoyance. “When they said it was you they were sending for this job—everybody hears about the Rossi brothers, Cory.”

“And?”

“You do things a little differently than the rest of us, don’t you?”

“I am who I am, Frankie.”

The Capo nodded once. “Don’t let it be a problem, how about that?”

He could work with that.

Cory came to stand a few seats down from Frankie and folded his arms over his chest, the leather of his jacket tightening against his tense back because time was up. The chitchat was nice and all, but he wanted to get down to business.

“Last night,” Cory started.

Frankie grunted under his breath. “Mmm, my daughter stepped out on business to handle some of her own, I hear. Didn’t go as she planned for it to, apparently. You weren’t aware she was going to have a meeting after her business was over at the strip club?”

Cory shook his head. “Just as surprised as you. Luis wasn’t the intended point of contact there, according to her, but the asshole has his ways. Any reason why you all didn’t think I should know the full details of what you were dealing with here between Della and her ex? Like the entire fact that the issue was an ex?”

At the table, Frankie cut through boiled eggs while his jaw clenched at the mere mention of Luis’s name. Cory didn’t miss that—shit, he felt that. Seemed the chick’s father didn’t have much of a care for her ex, either.

Luis had that effect on people.

“Are you asking because you feel some kind of way about—”

Cory made a harsh noise, not even going down the road the man was suggesting. “Cut the shit—I’m not that petty, Frankie. It’s not that deep. I just think I might have been able to do something to fix the situation or help you with it had I been given full disclosure.”

“Cory—”

“Guy’s got a hard nut for her, Frankie. Not in any way that’s good, either. Just the idea that she was with me last night about sent Luis’s head shooting off his fucking shoulders.”

“Is that going to be an issue, you think?”