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We spend the next hour catching up and talking through some other news and information about the family and business. Sebastian tells me everything. I know just as much about our family and our business ties as he does; he keeps nothing from me. Perhaps it is because he knows that I am the only person he can fully trust. I would never betray him, and I would take all the information he tells me to my grave.
It is time for him to leave. I walk him downstairs and to the back door of the bar, where his car is waiting. I stay inside, and remain unseen and give him a big hug, missing the days where we could hang out and just be a normal brother and sister. Alf and Sofia rush in to say their goodbyes and then he opens the door and with a puff of cold night air he is gone.
“The bar has calmed down now. Sofia will stay with you upstairs while I finish up,” Alf says and he pats my shoulder and walks away. Sofia takes me upstairs and together we sit on her small sofa and she cradles me in her arms as I cry. I let all the sadness and sorrow fall from my eyes. Sadness about my family, about my situation and about Marco. My heart breaks just a little more when I think of him and about what we could have been.
18
Marco
“The family? As in the fucking mob?” I yell wide-eyed to Jake as I walk up and down the room on the carpeted floor in Stephen’s private bar at Nitro. I feel blood rushing around my body, my lungs are gasping for air, sweat is starting to seep from my forehead at the shock revelation that Jake has just dumped on me.
“No fucking way?” Stephen says in slight awe and fright as he sits forward on the Chesterfield couch he is sitting on and grabs his glass of whiskey, before taking a sip letting the news and the whiskey settle in his body.
“I am 100 percent certain the man I saw in the back room of the bar tonight was Sebastian Romano. I am certain that Frankie went to him, willingly. You need to stay away from her, Marco, right the fuck away,” Jake says in warning. He is also not able to sit still, pacing the room, thinking about this news and trying to understand how we got where we are. The news is too much for him to digest at this moment as well.
I am walking up and down the length of the bar with purpose, so many emotions are running through me at the moment. What the fuck is happening right now? Frankie is it for me, that I am sure of, and now Jake is dropping this bomb on me and my brain is having trouble keeping up.
Is it a full moon tonight? Is someone pranking me? Because this night has turned to shit, and I don’t know how to get it back on track.
The mob? What does Frankie have to do with the New York mob? How can someone so beautiful, so endearing, so funny, so friendly, so fucking amazing, and mind-blowing at fucking be involved with the mob? Jake and Stephen seem to know exactly who Sebastian is, but also seem to have no idea who Frankie is to him.
I stop my pacing and run my hands through my hair, pulling at it to relieve my stress. I look pleadingly at Jake. “Are you sure?” I ask, hoping that for once in his life he is wrong but knowing that he never is. Jake looks remorseful as he nods his head.
“Yes, brother, that was definitely Sebastian Romano. I looked into him when we were building Nitro in New York. Crime families like theirs are well-known in our security networks, and I have seen his photo and that of his father many times. He is one of the most dangerous men in the country, fuck, he even has ties and connections in Europe. He is not someone that you mess with. You can’t get tied up with him or his family. I don’t know who Frankie is to him, but what I do know is that whatever you are doing with her, you need to fucking stop.” Jake takes a big drink of his whiskey and doesn’t even cringe as it works its way down his throat.
“She has to be in danger from them?” I say, clutching at straws, wanting to find any reason to stay connected to her. If she is in danger, then I can help her. I have money, power, connections. I am not part of the mob, but surely, I can help her escape them.
“You saw as well as I did, that Frankie was happy to see him. Fuck, she practically jumped into his arms when she went to him. They know each other well, Marco, and you need to stay the fuck away.” Jake gives me a final warning. His eyes are piercing into mine, and I know he means business.
This is all too much to take in. My mind is racing with so many questions, and I am not willing to give up on what we have started, not yet. We are good together, fucking fantastic. I have never had a connection like this with any other woman, and I have dated a lot of women.
I stride to the leather armchair and take a seat. I reach to the table for my drink and sitting back in my chair, I gulp down the shot of whiskey that Stephen poured me when we arrived only five minutes ago. How can my life change so dramatically in five minutes? I lean my head back to think. Why would Frankie know Sebastian Romano? I mean, she is Italian, perhaps they are family friends?
She didn’t tell me too much about her family except they originate from Sicily and often spend time back in their home country. She speaks Italian, cooks amazing Italian food. Alf is Italian and was clearly not happy to see me back there tonight. There are some obvious connections, but they could be nothing all the same. Is this who she is in danger from? It has to be, but why? And if she is in danger from Sebastian Romano, then why is she hugging him?
I rub my eyes, but the vision I get is one of Frankie in the throes of pleasure that I experienced just this morning. I run my hands through my hair and then my vision swaps to a picture of Frankie laughing at me over dinner, and that smile, that megawatt smile she has when she really lets go, tells me that we have something. I knew the moment that Prince jumped on her at the park all those weeks ago that she was something special, and our time together has confirmed it. Frankie is mine.
I look at Jake and Stephen, both of them looking at me, waiting to see what I do next. They think they know me. I know what people say about me. I am the good one. Dependable, reliable, empathetic, and sensitive. All that is true, but I am also determined, persistent, and protect what is mine, no matter the cost. “I need to speak with Frankie,” I say. Jake looks at me as though I have lost my mind, and maybe I have. I don’t know anything about Sebastian Romano, but Jake clearly knows more than he is letting on.
“No, brother, I think it is best you start looking for another girl. Frankie is clearly a nice woman, but you need to stay away from the Romano family.” Stephen backs up Jake in this battle, and I begin to wonder if I am the last person to know anything about this fucking Romano family. Given that Stephen spends a lot of time in New York with his other club, it makes sense that he would know the people and the scene there better than I.
“What do you know about him?” I ask Stephen with a chin lift because this whole thing is starting to piss me off. He straightens his shoulders and takes a quick look at Jake, an unspoken conversation happens and he looks back at me.
“The family is well-known in New York. I have met Sebastian before when I was setting up Nitro in New York because he owns a few clubs there as well. None near me, so I think that is why he left me alone. I have heard stories of other people who have tried to open businesses in his hood, and let’s just say, the businesses never get opened. The head of the family is Sebastian’s father, Alessandro. He is ruthless, dangerous, and takes what he wants when he wants. Sebastian isn’t as bad as his father, but he’s still a scary motherfucker that you don’t want to cross. They have people everywhere, Marco, and I mean everywhere. If you have been spending time with Frankie, and she is somebody to them, chances are they already know about you and already know how to bring you down if they want to.”
My head falls into my hands, and I rub my face. This can’t be fucking happening. The first woman to ever make my heart beat, the first woman I just can’t get out of my mind and she is somehow linked with the most dangerous person in the country. I still can’t even believe I am having this conversation.
I think back to earlier tonight. Frankie did jump into his arms, and he caught her willingly. They embraced each other in a big hug, they were comfortable with each other, but they didn’t look romantic, it was more friends than anything. I am not usually an angry person, but jealousy, anger, and confusion have now settled into the pit of my stomach like a rock, and so I get up and pace the room again. I need to walk, energy is thrumming through my bones, my limbs need to move, my heart rate needs to increase.
“I need to speak with her. She will explain it all to me, I know she will,” I say, panting, because I am getting so worked up. I look at my phone, there is no message or missed call from her. I go to call her, but Stephen grabs my hand to silently stop me.
Jake comes over to me and hands me another whiskey. “Not tonight, brother, not tonight,” he says before we all sit back down, and I keep replaying the night's events over and over in my head.
I sit here at Nitro with the boys for the next three hours, going over the information I have in my mind until every detail is burned into my memory. Regardless of what they say, I will speak to Frankie, but not tonight. Tonight, I will leave her alone. But tomorrow? You bet tomorrow, I am going to see her, because I can’t wait another goddamn day to make sure she is all right and to have her in my arms again. She is mine.
19
Frankie
