The Holy Ghost

by M. E. Clayton

  “Is that okay?” I asked, scared for her. Scared that she might have more than just physical damage.

  “I’m fine,” she lied.

  “I need you to stand,” Basco instructed. “I need to bind your ribs and it’ll be easier that way.”

  Robbie gave him a tight nod and I helped her stand even at the protesting of my own body. I hurt, but not like she was.

  Basco didn’t bullshit her and I think she appreciated that. “This is going to hurt like a sonofabitch,” he told her. “Scream if you must.” When Basco lifted her shirt, I almost started weeping. Robbie was black and blue all over. You could see an actual outline of a footprint where someone stomped on her so hard. Basco began his ministrations, and she didn’t scream, but she bit down on her lip so hard, fresh blood started oozing down her chin.

  I needed to distract her from the pain. “This is my fault for failing to tell you not to tell anyone who I was,” I said, bringing us back to the topic at hand. “I should have told you to keep it a secret.”

  Robbie shook her head in a grimace. “It doesn’t matter, Frankie,” she argued. “I knew Randy was a loser. I knew he was a loser and I still dated him. I knew he was a loser and I still shared with him…things that were none of his business.” Her eyes glossed over in wretched despair. “I wanted so badly for him to be a good boyfriend, I pretended he was and treated him like I thought he should be treated.”

  “All done.” Basco announced.

  “I need to sit,” she blurted.

  Basco just nodded. “Intense pain can bring on waves of dizziness,” he explained.

  Robbie sat down and the movement broke my heart. She endured this beating to protect me and I felt helpless in her time of need.

  Basco took her left hand and let out a deep sigh. “Child, you have two broken fingers that I’ll need to set,” he told her. “This too will-”

  “Hurt like hell,” she finished, trying to laugh off the pain, but was unsuccessful when she winced.

  “Yes, it’s going to hurt, but it must be done. They appear to be clean breaks and should heal nicely.” Robbie didn’t comment. She just gave him another small nod to get on with it, and this time she couldn’t contain her moan of agony.

  “You’re doing great,” I said lamely. I didn’t know what else to do.

  “Frankie, get the green bottle out of my bag and get her some water,” Basco instructed. “She’s in too much pain for me to wait until after everything to give her a narcotic.” I ran to do his bidding and, once she swallowed the pills, he said, “This is to take the edge off. I will administer a stronger sedative via a syringe once you’re all patched up.”

  “Won’t that be too much?” I asked.

  Basco glanced at me and I had a feeling he wanted to roll his eyes at me. “Frankie, I’ve been doing this for more years than you’ve been alive,” he chastised. “I know what I’m doing.”

  “Sorry,” I mumbled.

  “The cut above your eye should have been stitched, but I think you’re too swollen to poke at now. I’m going to use some surgery glue, and that should do the trick. It won’t be pretty, but you’ll live.”

  “Just do what you have to,” Robbie replied. “I just…I want to go home.”

  “Glad you said that, because your nose is broken too, child,” Basco grimaced, clearly upset by the damage done to her. “I’m going to pop it back in place, but it’s-”

  “It’s going to hurt like hell,” we chorused.

  “Hold her hands, Francesca,” he said, and the second I grabbed her hands in mine, he shifted the cartilage back into place.

  Rivers of tears were cascading down Robbie’s face, and she suddenly looked exhausted on top of looking beaten, as Basco administered the mild sedative.

  Basco wiped down her face the best he could all the while telling her, “It’s going to get worse before it gets better. The next couple of days you are going to be in excruciating pain, child. But more importantly, you’ll have to look for infection.” Basco glanced at me. “She really shouldn’t be left alone, Frankie.”

  “I have to work,” Robbie blurted out. “I…I can’t miss work. I have bills to pay…and-”

  Basco’s eyes rounded. “Young lady, you aren’t going to even be able to sit down to use the restroom without screaming in agony,” he informed her, cutting off her tirade. “I don’t know what you do for a living, but you will not be able to do it. Not to mention, you can barely see out of one eye to go about doing anything. You’ll need at least a full week to even begin to recover.”

  “I need to work-”

  “Robbie, he’s right,” I said, siding with Basco. “You need to concentrate on healing. I can take care of your bills while you recuperate.”

  “I am not taking your money, Frankie,” she snapped. “Your family is downstairs cleaning up a mess I created. There’s no way I’m taking money from you when I’ve already…when you’ve been hurt…”

  Basco ignored our bickering and asked the one question that, in a perfect world, should never be asked. “Child, I know you’re in a lot of pain, but…well, I’ve only one more place to examine…”

  Robbie shook her head. “No,” she said. “They…they didn’t…I’m okay.”

  Basco nodded. “Okay. Well, let me administer the sedative before I leave.” He kissed her on the side of her head, and said, “If you need me-”

  “I’ll be fine,” Robbie blurted out, shocked by his show of affection. “You need to be there for Frankie.”

  Basco snorted as he turned and began gathering his stuff. “Frankie has plenty of people who are going to be there for her,” he huffed. “She’s in good hands, that one.”

  Before I could comment, footsteps alerted us to our company. I stood up and watched as Luca and Ciro walked into the living room. Behind them, Phoenix was dragging a passed-out Randy behind him.

  Ciro walked up to me and wrapped me in his arms. It hurt, but I wasn’t going to deny him this. “You scared the shit out of me, Frankie,” he bit out, his arms tightening.

  “I know,” I whispered as my arms circled his angry form. “I’m sorry.”

  The second he let go of me, Luca walked over, planted a kiss on my forehead, but didn’t say a word. But that was our way. We didn’t need words between us.

  Phoenix on the other hand…

  “The second you’re all better, I’m going to fucking kill you,” he threatened from across the room. I guess we’ve gone from worried and concerned to pissed the hell off.

  “Phoen-”

  “Don’t, Francesca,” he snapped. “Just don’t.”

  “It’s all my fault,” Robbie jumped in. “If…if I hadn’t told Randy who she was, he never would have concocted this…plan.” Her voice cracked. “I’m so sorry.”

  The guys ignored her as Luca gave directions. “Basco, you know the drill,” he said. “You’ll have two packages to deal with. It’s business as usual

  “Very good,” he replied, all his supplies packed and ready to go. He turned towards me and Robbie. “The next couple of days are critical. Take the antibiotics I’ve left for you, but also the pain medication for you’ll need it to sleep, if nothing else.”

  “Thank you, Basco,” I told him. “I really appr-”

  “Nonsense, Frankie,” he said, waving away my thanks. “It’s my job.” Then he pointed at Robbie. “But you,” he stressed the ‘you’, “no working or anything for the next week.” Robbie nodded, but I knew she had no intention of complying.

  Basco walked out of the living room and I looked at Phoenix. “What next?” He glanced over at Robbie, but kept his mouth shut. “Are you serious?” I asked, livid. “You can trust her.”

  “Trust her?!” Ciro shouted. “Are you fucking kidding me right now, Frankie? She nearly got you killed and you're telling us to trust her? You’re out of your goddamn mind!”

  My body whirled around. “You don’t know the whole story!”

  “What’s there to know?” he argued. “She j
ust admitted to telling that piece of shit on the ground who you were.”

  I turned back to Phoenix. “It wasn’t like that,” I pleaded. “Phoenix?”

  “You’re not in the position to demand anything right now, Francesca,” he said coolly.

  “It’s okay, Frankie,” Robbie whispered sadly. “I don’t blame them.”

  I turned to look at my friend. “This is wrong,” I implored her. “I never told you it was a secret. You weren’t wrong for trusting your boyfriend, damnit!”

  “Frankie-”

  “No!” I yelled. “This is wrong.” I turned and looked to Luca for help. “Luca?”

  “Your husband has spoken, Francesca,” he remarked, letting me know that I was officially in Phoenix’s hands now. Luca wouldn’t step in between a husband and wife as a friend or an Underboss.

  I looked between all three men, my heart breaking.

  “So, what then?”

  Luca walked over to Robbie, grabbed her uninjured hand, and placed a set of keys in her palm. “Those are the keys to your boyfriend’s truck,” he told her. “I suggest you get going.”

  “She can’t, Luca,” I cried out, hurt, angry, and fucking scared. “Basco gave her a sedative. She can’t drive!”

  “Then I suggest she hurries back home then,” Ciro stated.

  “Ciro!”

  “Don’t, Frankie!” he thundered. “We’ve got shit to handle, and she’s the least of our concerns!”

  “It’s okay, Frankie,” Robbie said, reaching out to hug me. “It’ll be fine.”

  “Robbie-”

  She gave me a small, sad smile. “I’ll be okay.”

  I watched helplessly as she turned around to leave out the backdoor. Her steps stumbled as Luca called out, “If anyone comes knocking on our door over this, we will come after you.” The only indication that Robbie heard him was the straightening of her back.

  The second the door shut, I lost it. “I can’t believe you guys,” I seethed.

  Now that we were alone, Phoenix didn’t hold back. He stormed towards me, and I knew he wanted to shake me, and my injuries were the only thing keeping him from putting his hands on me. “We have Basco taking two bastards to the cleaning crew. We have to hold up the asshole who took you. We have to torch this fucking house to get rid of any evidence that could link this fucking mess to us. We have a girl on the loose, who we have no idea if she’s running to the cops right now. And you have the nerve to stand there and say you can’t believe us?!” he roared down at me. “What the fuck were you thinking, Frankie?!”

  “You guys can hash this shit out later,” Ciro interjected. “We need to get going.”

  Phoenix looked livid, and his voice was pure rage as he said, “Where the fuck is your car?”

  “It’s at Robbie’s,” I spat.

  “And your purse? Your keys? We know this fuck has your phone.”

  The truth was like gargling glass. “I…I don’t know…”

  “Motherfucker!” he roared.

  “Phoenix-”

  He ignored Luca and snarled down at me. “Go to the black SUV out back. And, so help me God, you better stay there.”

  I stormed out of the house without comment. I was livid and all I could think about was Robbie. For the guys to treat her with such contempt was unacceptable. I was to blame just as much as she was, if not more. I never told her not to say anything.

  I got into the back of the SUV and I didn’t utter a word as the guys place Randy in the trunk or when I saw flames dancing around the inside of the house.

  Chapter 21

  Phoenix~

  It’s been over 24 hours since the three of us have slept, and I haven’t even had a chance to take a run at Frankie.

  And, oh, how I wanted to.

  It wasn’t even that there was a serious risk of us getting caught. It was the impact of her thoughtless actions that had me enraged. She set off a chain of events that have cost lives and could have possibly cost hers. Not to mention the cleanup.

  The Benettis weren’t just a bunch of thugs. There were a smart organization with money.

  Giovanni Benetti was as brilliant as he was ruthless, and his sons had been raised to be the same way. However, Luca was the only one who excelled at the lessons he was given in life. Luca’s leadership was carved out of evil and nothing frightened him. Well, nothing except Frankie.

  Leo was strong, loyal, and cunning, but he couldn’t stomach the dark stuff. That weakness made him the money man. I was in charge of Luca and Ciro’s finances, along with the majority of income that came through the Benetti name, but Leo saw to Giovanni’s money and a few other ventures that still remained under Gio’s control.

  Sal wasn’t quite ready to sit at the Devil’s table, but he was a sadistic sonofabitch, and he lived for drawing blood. He was quite comfortable around dead or mutilated bodies. He had no conscience that I could see, but his disassociation from human life made him the perfect fixer. Sal was in charge of the cleanup crew, and he was good at it.

  The cleanup crew didn’t just dig holes and dump bodies, though. No. They had sophisticated technology that could take someone’s fingerprint and pull up everything you needed to know about the person, much like law enforcement data bases. They would then figure out the best way to make the body disappear without calling the attention of family, friends, or the cops. They also had several cops on the payroll that would help with staging a car accident, or suicide if need be.

  Basco had taken the two dead bodies to Sal after leaving Cedar Creek, with the confidence that Sal and his crew would know the best way to dispose of them. Ciro, having the wicked smart mind that he did, had manipulated the wires at the farmhouse to short and start the fire. The house was old and falling apart, so it wouldn’t be too farfetched to believe the wiring had been neglected and faulty, as well.

  From there, Ciro had been dropped off a mile away from Robbie’s house, where he made his way through the darkness and was able to get Frankie’s purse, keys, and car. I’m not sure what had transpired between him and Robbie, but when he had called to confirm he had Frankie’s things, he had sounded cold and empty.

  Bad sign.

  Martin was also gone. When I had found out how easily Frankie had manipulated him into letting her leave unattended, I acted on an impulse I rarely gave into.

  I had beat the man to death.

  And, now, we were standing inside Ciro’s favorite hangout, tired as fuck, where Randolph Masterson hung limp from the chains suspended from the ceiling.

  “How are you hanging in there?” Luca asked, his voice quiet. He was probably wondering how close I was to killing Frankie.

  “If I could bleach my eyes to rid me of the image of her battered and beaten, half undressed, tied to that fucking chair, I’d do it,” I answered.

  “She fucking scared ten years off my life,” Ciro mumbled.

  “And what do you think of the girl?” Luca questioned. We both knew handing her the keys to the truck and giving her the freedom that he did was a test. He wanted to see what she was going to do. Even if she went to the police, the evidence and plans were already in motion to blame her for Randy’s death should she choose that route.

  “I honestly don’t know,” I told him. “I was too worried about Frankie.”

  “Ciro?”

  “She got my sister kidnapped,” he spat. “She obviously doesn’t have any of the good sense God gave her. How in the hell do you just advertise that kind of information about your best friend?”

  Luca cock his head. “You’ve never pillow-talked?”

  “He’d have to fuck them in a bed in order for a pillow to be available, Luca,” I snorted. “Ciro’s more of an against-the-dirty-wall-behind-a-nightclub kind of guy.”

  Ciro flipped me off.

  Then he looked at Luca. “Have you?”

  It was known to both of us that Luca had a steady piece of ass. They weren’t in a relationship, by any means, but she was the only one he slept with. He might
get his dick sucked randomly from time to time, but he only stuck his dick in Beverly. He met her around the time Frankie had taken off, and he always met up with her when he needed to take the edge off.

  She was about ten years older than he was, and she was very fit and beautiful. The best thing about her though, was the fact that she couldn’t have kids. Luca never fell prey to a pretty face or hot body. He was too controlled and disciplined for that. He also knew the wretched things most women would resort to in order to become a Benetti, so he stayed away from the masses.

  There was no way some woman was going to trap Luca Benetti.

  Beverly was a professor at Morgan City Community, and she taught chemistry. She lived a quiet, unassuming life and knew exactly who Luca Benetti was. Knowing one wrong move could end her life, she kept her mouth shut and her leg opened for Luca, and she never pushed for anything more.

  “I don’t do much talking when I’m in bed, Ciro,” he joked. The rare side to Luca only Ciro, Frankie, and I got to see.

  Ciro rolled his eyes and got back to the topic at hand. “I don’t trust her.”

  “Me either,” Luca replied. “I have Estevan on her, and we’ll see what she does.”

  “Frankie’s going to insist on helping her,” Ciro pointed out.

  “Frankie’s got bigger problems,” I countered.

  All talk ceased when we heard a moan vibrate through the room.

  “Ah, look who’s waking up,” Ciro declared, cheerfully, “our good buddy Randolph.” Luca let out a soft chuckle as I just shook my head. Ciro was always full of theatrics.

  We stood back, Luca leaning against the wall, his hands in his pockets, Ciro smiling like a loon next to the tools of his trade, and me standing off to the side of Randy’s dangling body. I wasn’t going to deny Ciro or Luca their payback, but Randy’s last breaths belonged to me.

  We waited patiently as Randy’s eyes fluttered open. It’d be a few seconds before he was fully coherent. I knocked him out pretty hard to begin with, but Luca had given him another thump to the head before I carried him from the SUV to Ciro’s most favorite place in the world. We had chained him up while we had waited for Ciro to drop off Frankie’s car and stuff to her. Randy’s been out for about half hour or so.