Frankie had that same expression he held then. One that offered compassion and understanding.
“Hey.” He grinned.
“Hey there.”
“You look stronger.”
“Must be the food.” I managed a smile. Frankie chuckled.
Jia was with his mother, cooking. Earlier they’d gotten talking about food. Jia being such a great cook and lover of fine cooked meals got sucked in straight away, right into the conversation and then ended up heading off to make some classic Italian dishes. She’d come up with lunch earlier and it was divine.
“I’m not gonna disagree. It’s heaven being in a house with two of my favorite cooks.” Frankie made his way over to me and sat on the edge of the bed. “How you actually doing buddy?”
“I’m trying to get stronger. Mind and body. I was thinking we should get gone by morning. Maybe four or earlier. Grab some sleep, then head out.”
“I’m cool with that.”
My shoulders tensed. “Frankie, I meant me and Jia.”
He gave me a cunning smile. “I know you’re healing yourself up so you can get back in bed with her as quick as possible, and you probably want your privacy, but I’m coming.”
I laughed. It hurt to laugh but it was worth it. It was moments like these that lightened the tension.
“That’s not why. You’ve done enough for me, you’ve done enough for Jia too.” He had done more than enough, his help was… well I couldn’t have done it without him. Not one damn bit.
“How can it be enough when your journey’s just beginning? Who knows what the hell Giovanni must be going through. He probably thinks I’m the rat in the circle and I kidnapped his daughter and handed her over to The Ra.” He chuckled.
It wasn’t funny. It was a possibility that Giovanni could think that but I’d be the wild card in the mix.
“He won’t. Because he’ll know you helped me, he’ll know this is a separate problem. But he’ll go crazy nonetheless. I’ve never met a man like that before, love and crazy mixed together. I get that parents do what they can for their kids but he’s just…” I didn’t quite know what to call him.
“Bad,” Frankie filled in.
“I don’t know if that’s the right description. I’m bad.”
“You’re a fucking badass. There’s different levels of bad. Some of it isn’t all bad. That’s why I knew you couldn’t have been a cop. Play too dirty. That day you nearly killed Armand spoke all. You messed that mothafucka up real bad. Gotta hand it to you. I could see you would have done it though, because of what he was going to do.”
That was the day Armand tried to rape Jia, it was days ago.
“I snapped because I hate abuse of power. Preying on the weak. Abusing the weak,” I explained.
“So, that makes you not bad then. So that’s why I’m coming with you. I think you need the help Xander. If you guys go I think I’d worry, plus I don’t really have much of an alibi.”
“What about your people here? Your family?”
“I keep them out of business. I didn’t want my younger brothers involved. No one knows about them except Vinny, but he rarely comes here, for safety reasons. My sister is a nurse. She works in the city. He sees her there.”
“What if Giovanni comes for any of them?”
It wasn’t like it couldn’t happen. It was highly likely.
“Can’t think like that Xander. But if it comes to that I’ll call for backup in Chicago. My cousin is the boss there.”
“Boss of Chicago?” I knew Giovanni considered himself the Vegas King. It could have been the same. Of all the mobsters I’d known Giovanni was the most flamboyant. The others didn’t tend to broadcast themselves or their wealth the way he did.
“You heard me man. Boss of Chicago. Claudius Morientz and his brother, Lucian is just as bad as him. Giovanni thinks he’s hot shit because of his success, but there’s worse than him. Giovanni knows I have Chicago and anyone who knows the relation knows not to come for me. Within reason. I won’t make the mistake of thinking I’m immune or that shit won’t happen. It’s more of a deterrent. As in I think Giovanni will do everything he can before he comes for me through my family. My family is their famiglia too. You don’t want to piss on Chicago.”
I didn’t doubt him if he said so.
