Frankie froze beside me. His hand curled into a fist on top of the table, but his expression never faltered. “You wouldn’t.”
“Wouldn’t I?” Westley said. In this corner of the screen he held up a device with a small red button on the screen, another cell phone, maybe? “All I have to do is hit this button, Zanetti, and you can kiss your building goodbye.” His finger hovered over the screen, and I sat as still as possible, hoping Frankie might forget I was in the room with him.
Seconds ticked by as Westley’s finger inched closer to the screen and the button, but his words were not what I expected. “Touch that button, and it will be the last time you mess with anything in my operation. I’ll see to your death myself,” Frankie threatened.
I bit my bottom lip so hard I worried it might bleed and stared at Frankie. He wore a hard expression that said he wasn’t joking. I sat less than a few feet away from him, but he didn’t drag me out of the room or do anything more horrible than threaten my cousin, who was more than likely states away safe in his home.
“Hand over Shiloh. Let her walk out of your house right now and your building survives. Otherwise say goodbye.”
I dragged my gaze up from the screen to stare at Frankie. Would he let me get up and walk away? Could it be that simple? It came down to me or the building.
CHAPTER 14
Frankie held his gaze at the video, watching as though nothing of particular interest was happening at his building. He took one deep breath in, his chest rising slowly, as if someone asked him how he wanted his eggs prepared and nothing more. I waited, expecting him to admit defeat and usher me out his front door, but then Frankie released the breath in the same steady flow he’d sucked it in, and his next word sent a chill down my spine.
“No.”
Westley didn’t flinch as his finger inched closer to the screen. We weren’t able to see Westley’s smile, but I knew it was there—an expression that you couldn’t quite tell whether it was sinister or expressed disappointment. I visualized his face perfectly as his finger lowered and he tapped the red button.
Nothing happened. Two full seconds ticked away as I held my breath. More nothing. We waited to see what destruction would befall Frankie’s warehouse.
With silence still on the screen, the wind blowing the blades of grass growing tall against the building’s side, Frankie turned and looked at me. My muscles didn’t move. Westley wasn’t a man to make an idle threat, but just as I released a breath, the ground exploded around Frankie’s warehouse.
The video screen shook as if the signal threatened to drop and, for a moment, we saw nothing but static before it came back into view. A giant plume of smoke rose, covering the screen, and I sucked in a breath as I bit my bottom lip while we both watched the aftermath.
When the smoke cleared enough, Frankie and I were both leaning in toward the view. One entire wall of his warehouse crumpled as if something kicked the last of the cement blocks. It twisted the roof, a bright red metal, at weird angles before it reached for the ground.
My heart stuttered, and I covered my mouth so Frankie didn’t hear the noises escaping.
I couldn’t take my eyes away from the screen, but from the side I saw as Frankie shake his head in disbelief.
How could Westley do something like that? Or a better question was, how could he not? Did Frankie think he was joking? That he wouldn’t see through with his threat? I should’ve warned him. Told him to pick the building and not me.
Westley wouldn’t stop at one building. He’d take out Frankie’s whole operation. I opened my mouth to apologize, but I couldn’t bring myself to say the words. How did I apologize to a gangster about what happened? He wouldn’t find me sincere.
Frankie’s finger didn’t hover over his phone for long before he hit the button on his own screen and disconnected the call with Westley.
I expected him to swear or yell. To throw something in anger, but he leaned back in his chair and snapped his fingers.
“What did you have in the warehouse?” I asked with shaky words. We both understood what I really meant was what would the police find when they searched the debris?
He didn’t answer, but the smile he wore so casually a few minutes earlier had devolved into a deep frown. I put down the fork I hadn’t realized I still held and found the courage to say the words I couldn’t moment earlier. “Frankie, I’m so sorry.”
Whatever was in that building couldn’t be legal. From his expression, the hopelessness I’d never seen him with before, it wasn’t good.
He didn’t respond to my words, his attention wavering to something out the window. He was quiet until, just as quickly as he paused, he started again. “Come on. We’re leaving.”
He pushed back his chair from the dining room table and stood, but I sat frozen in my seat. My muscles tensed as they had with Westley’s call. “Where are we going?” I asked.
We’d watched Frankie’s warehouse blow up and who knows what kind of trouble brought to his door. Was it safe for me to get into a car with him? Where would he take me, and what would he do with me?
Rather than turn on me with a sneer or a threat, he held out his hand. His eyes were full of kindness just moments after his devastating loss. “You are always safe with me, Shiloh.”
I’d made a lot of dumb choices in the last few days. They’d started with getting into Frankie Zanetti’s car in the first place. However, it seemed as if, when I was around him and I had limited options, I couldn’t make a smart decision.
I slipped my hand into his.
As a couple, we walked out to the battlefield. Frankie didn’t let go until he held open the passenger side door of his car and made sure I was comfortably seated beside him.
