“Wow,” I said, staring at the photograph, taking in all the details.
“I promised you I’d take care of him,” Frankie said, sitting back in his seat, obviously proud of himself.
A man in a brown jacket lay sprawled out on the ground. He looked like he’d been sleeping, except you didn’t sleep in the middle of the forest. He had a face I’d recognize anywhere. Greg.
“Are you not happy?” he asked, reaching back for his phone.
I stopped his movement and blinked at the dead body. “No, this picture I enjoy. It’s just that most men give their girlfriends flowers, but frankly, this is much better.” Frankie delivered my enemy on a silver platter. Er… iPhone.
“He’s never going to bother you again,” Frankie said with all finality.
“Yes, but is he ever going to pop up and cause you trouble in the future?” I asked, hoping he understood my reference of how bodies had a way of coming back to haunt a person if they weren’t disposed of properly.
Frankie smiled at me. “That is why I find you so alluring, Cara Mia. You’re always looking out for me. We may not have Lake Michigan for our foes, but I have the entire ocean to take out the trash.”
I handed him the phone and even breathed a quick sigh of relief that Greg was taking care of forever. Being kidnapped changed a woman. I’d have to find time to mourn Greg later—if ever. After all, he had tried to kill me first. Either way, I’d add it to my list of things to deal with in my expensive therapy.
Greg’s death wasn’t the end of my problems—not by a long shot—but it was the start. Now I only had my cousin to contend with. Frankie couldn’t shoot him like he had Greg, at least not while keeping his promise to me. We’d have to get creative with Westley. Maybe go on vacation for a few… years. A deserted island might work.
“Normally I’d make sure the problem was more taken care of, but I didn’t want you to have to see such gruesome images,” he said, leaving me to fill in the details of what an enemy of Frankie’s normally looked like. I didn’t spend long on those thoughts.
I now understood what Westley meant when he said our family was far from the mob. He might’ve been as ruthless, but he wasn’t as flashy. Still, I understood what it meant. I was a girl like any other. Give me a shiny necklace and I appreciated the gesture, but deliver my enemy’s bodies and you earned my adoration for life.
I leaned over and kissed him on the lips, pressing mine to his firmly. “Thank you,” I said when he allowed me to pull back.
“Are you sure you like it?”
“I promise I do,” I said with sincerity in my voice.
“Now that I’m sure about your safety, we can begin on the next steps.”
“And what exactly would those be?” I asked, wanting him to give me an exact explanation because with Frankie, you never really knew.
“We need to get in the car to see it,” he said from his chair and held his hand out for me, which I took with no hesitation.
Excitement filled my thoughts. I had no idea what to expect, but I knew it would be good. I couldn’t wait to find out.
Frankie led me to his garage where, parked beside his car, was a big black SUV with four of his men around the side and Big Tommy shoving an oversized box into the back. Beside him someone packed one of the duffel bags my cousin used to deliver his load of cash into another box. My nose crinkled.
“What are you going to do with the money?” I’d forgotten all about it.
“I’m not going anywhere without protection when it comes to you for the rest of our lives so the boys and I are going to take a quick trip to the post office to mail this money back to your cousin. Then you and I will start shopping for the things a woman who calls herself mine needs before she begins her life in Pelican Bay.”
Frankie held the car door open for me, and I slid in, asking no questions. Even though I had a lot of them. What exactly did a girl need in order to live in Pelican Bay? Was some secret activity going on? When I visited the bakery, one of them asked if I owned any black clothing, which I found suspicious and odd but not alarming. At least until that moment. Did they have a weird ceremony to welcome you into their town? What crazy things were people in Maine practicing?
“Relax, Shiloh. I don’t know what you’re thinking about but we’re going to drive to town and get you clothes so we can make a trip to New York,” Frankie said starting the car and pulling out of his garage, the black SUV following close behind. He dropped a small black radio in his lap. I almost questioned it but then decided I’d rather not know.
I laughed, as if that’s what I’d been thinking the entire time. Definitely not concerned about what black clothing ceremony they hosted in this town. Nope, not me.
“That’s exactly what I thought we were doing. Duh. What else could it be?”I asked.
“Uh-huh,” he said, nodding and letting me know he didn’t believe that for a second.
If I stayed with Frankie, I had to work on schooling my features. The man had known me for less than two weeks, but he read my expressions without even trying.
Frankie drove down the main street of Pelican Bay where a bright blue sign pointed the direction to the post office. We slowed at the stop sign, and he waited to turn when the SUV behind us came to a stop and jerked forward, almost hitting our back bumper. A panicked voice came over the radio.
“Fuck,” Frankie shouted in response. “Nothing touches Shiloh,” he threatened over the radio and then threw the device in my lap as he slammed his foot on the gas, peeling the car away from the stop sign.
