Mick Sinatra 4: If You Don't Know Me by Now

by Mallory Monroe

  “If I was kissing and hugging on that woman, even a lesbian woman, would you have given me the benefit of the doubt?”

  Roz didn’t expect that comeback. She had to smile. “Okay, okay, I get your point. It won’t happen anymore. The only reason I agreed at all was because I’m just about the only person that’s not his lover who knows he’s gay.”

  Mick didn’t even mention what Gloria had seen, and what Deuce had said, because he never involved others in his own actions. But also, if he had to be honest with himself, it wasn’t about what they said or seen anyway. It was about him. And his own insecurities. “I’ve never felt as strongly about a woman as I feel about you, Rosalind,” he admitted to her. “And the idea that you could . . . that you would . . .” He squeezed her arms. “I don’t want to ever lose you,” he said. “That’s all I know.”

  Roz felt the same way about him, so she knew where he was coming from. And she smiled, and placed a hand on the side of his beautiful face. “You won’t, Mick. I can promise you that.”

  He pulled her into his arms. And held her. The vulnerability of it astounded him. His heart felt as naked as his body was, and it was a heady feeling. Because it gave way to desperation. Because that was how he felt at that very moment. Desperate. In deep love unlike he’d ever been in love before. Hungry for the only person who could fill him. Rosalind.

  He began kissing her. Roz suspected it was going to be rough by the pressure he put on her mouth, and by the tightness he held her in his arms. And when he lifted her, and put her on the bed, and began massaging her with his fingers as he kissed her, her suspicion was right on. Mick was drinking her dry. He was kissing her so passionately that she could barely breathe. And the pressure on her body. Her ass was still red hot from his spanking, but that didn’t stop him from climbing on top of her.

  He put his thick dick deep inside of her, and began fucking her hard. Every now and then he put it on her this way. A rough fuck. A fuck that was less about their love, or even their lust, but more about his brand. He was branding her all over again. He was making sure they both knew whose she was.

  But Roz loved when he did her this way. She held on and let him pound the shit out of her. Because she was giving as good as she was getting. Mick was groaning as he fucked her, because of how powerfully she gave. He was reminding her that she belonged to him. But as she opened her legs wider, and wrapped them around his back, and as he pounded harder and felt her wonderful muscles constrict around his cock, she was reminding him of something too. She was reminding him, just as strongly, that he belonged to her.

  The next morning, when Mick arrived at work, his son Teddy and his enforcer Angelo Jovanni, were waiting for him. He knew it was serious or they wouldn’t be at S.I. He allowed them into his office, but not to sit and talk.

  He sat his briefcase on his desk and turned to them. “What’s the problem?” he asked.

  “You gave Mayor Wallace the two names?” Teddy asked him.

  “Why?” Mick asked.

  “He won’t name them.”

  Mick frowned. “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “He’s resisting, boss,” Angelo said. “He’s tossing around other names, like those union-backed names, at his press conference.”

  Mick didn’t like it. Favors had to be returned. Period. “Did you pay him a visit?” he asked his son.

  “I paid him a visit, yes, sir, but I don’t know, Pop. I got the feeling he think he has the upper hand. It was like he wasn’t taking me serious. I told him we weren’t fucking around with him. I told him he didn’t know us like that.”

  “What did he say?”

  “He told me to get the fuck out of his office. He said he wasn’t scared of you.”

  Mick was floored. What in the world was going on? First some yahoos in New York thought they could undermine him. Now some yahoo here in Philly? On his own turf? After the favor he did for that asshole?

  “You’re going to have to show him better than you can tell him, Pop,” Teddy said. “Or I can.”

  Mick looked at his son. They didn’t even have their people in place in the police ranks. What if he got caught? “You don’t do shit unless I authorize,” he said. “You hear me?”

  Teddy knew that look in his father’s eyes. It had that combination of anger with his sometimes lack of street smarts, and fear for his safety. “Yes, sir,” he said.

  And then Mick’s cell phone rang. When he saw that it was Gloria, he started to let it go to Voice Mail. But he answered.

  All he heard was screaming. “Daddy, help me!” she cried. “They’re taking me! Daddy, help! Daddy! Daddy!”

  Mick’s heart fell through his shoe. “Gloria?” he yelled back. “Gloria?”

  But all he heard was another scream. And then nothingness.

  “Pop, what’s wrong?” Teddy asked anxiously. “Pop, what is it?”

  But Pop didn’t have time to answer anybody’s questions. He ran out of his office as if his life depended on it. And Teddy and Angelo, knowing big-ass trouble when they saw it, ran after him.

  They would find Gloria’s condo ransacked, blood everywhere, Gloria nowhere to be found. And a video, made by Gloria herself, putting all of the blame on Rosalind.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  “You don’t dress them alike?” the saleslady asked as Roz paid for outfits for her twins.

  “Never,” Roz responded. “They’re two individuals and I treat them like two individuals. Besides, they’re a boy and a girl. I know it doesn’t matter now what they wear, it damn sure will later.”

  The saleslady laughed. “I know that’s right!” she said, and handed Roz her change and then the bag. “Have a nice rest of your day, ma’am.”

  “You too,” Roz said with a smile. It was rare that she did any shopping at all, but she grabbed the small bag, and made her way out of the boutique. She was still in the mall, walking toward the staircase, when she saw a group of men walking toward her. She could tell Mick’s men a mile away when they came in a pack. Not by their faces, but by their dark suits, their muscular build, their shades in winter. And their almost Secret Service-level hypervigilance and fast walking. Roz stopped walking and braced herself. If they knew the code, she knew she had to go with them.

  “Mrs. Sinatra,” the lead man said, “you’ve been ordered to come with us, please?”

  “On whose authority?” Roz asked.

  “Alpha One, ma’am,” the lead man said. Which meant Mick. Which meant Roz hurried in front of them and they all hurried down the staircase and out of the mall. Roz didn’t ask questions because she knew they were not allowed to answer them. Something had happened. And it was bad or Mick would have come for her himself.

  A line of SUVs were waiting, and she was placed in the second one. Her brand new Rolls Royce was still parked in the parking lot, but that was the last thing on her mind. Mick was on her mind. And the family. Did something happen to one of the children? Did something happen to him?

  She pulled out her cell phone and checked on the twins as the driver drove. Once assured by the nannies that the twins were fine, she phoned Mick. She didn’t expect to get an answer, and she didn’t. She phoned Teddy: no answer. Gloria: no answer. Joey: his phone went to voice mail. They were all probably being rounded up too. She exhaled, and leaned her head back.

  The drivers of the SUVs drove the speed limit while they were still in the busy vicinity of the mall, but as soon as they hit the open road, they flew. Roz’s heart was pounding as the streets of Philadelphia swerved and curved around her. She was growing accustomed to these pickups, but she would never be comfortable with them. But Mick was only looking out for her. She knew that now. The fact that he didn’t beat her ass for helping out William and creating problems in their own relationship proved that. Then she thought about. He did beat her ass, she realized. But not like he could have, she thought again, with an inward smile.

  But there was nothing to smile about when the SUVs turned onto the street that house
d their compound. It was the only mansion on the street and it was fortified with even more security than it usually had. Armed guards at either end of the street. More guards at the gate. And as the gates opened and the SUVs drove through, Roz saw even more guards walking the grounds inside the gate.

  But what she didn’t see was Mick’s Maserati. What she didn’t see was Teddy’s Land Rover. What she did see were the doors to her home opening, two more men hurrying down to meet her SUV, and then those same two men escorting her inside the house. The only face she saw, other than their regular household staff, was Deuce. That gave her some comfort as he walked up from the safe room downstairs.

  “I was going to pick you up,” he said apologetically, “but I was too far away. They ordered me to come here and wait.” He began hurrying her downstairs.

  “The twins down there?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Deuce said. “Joey’s down there too.”

  But Joey didn’t know a damn thing either. He hurried to Roz as soon as she entered what was a basement safe house, in essence, with all of the amenities, and they hugged. “Where’ Glo and Teddy?” Roz asked.

  “I don’t know,” Joey said. “They aren’t telling me anything! Dad’s goons came and got me from work, and made me come here. The least they can do is tell us something.”

  “Stop bitching so much,” Roz ordered Joey. “Your father knows what he’s doing. Just be thankful he’s running this.”

  “But what’s going on, Ma?”

  Roz shook her head. Joey knew nothing. Roz knew next to nothing. They just had to wait.

  After taking the twins from their nannies and holding them, and Roz and Joey putting them to bed, they did just that. They waited. And waited. And waited. It would be several hours before they got any word. And they were both relieved when they saw Mick walk through that door.

  They both ran to him, and hugged him, and he pulled them both into his arms. But when Roz looked back up at him, she saw the distress, the anguish in his tired, green eyes.

  “What’s happening, Dad?” Joey asked. “And where’s Gloria and Teddy?”

  “Where are the twins?” Mick asked.

  “Asleep,” Joey said.

  “Down here?”

  “Yes,” Roz said.

  “Dad, what about Teddy and Glo?” Joey asked anxiously. “Where are they?”

  “Ted is still out searching,” Mick said.

  “For what?” Joey asked, and Roz wanted to know too.

  Mick looked at them both. “For Gloria,” he said.

  Roz’s heart rammed against her chest. Joey, too, was floored. “She’s missing?” he asked.

  Mick ran his hands through his hair. It was only then did Roz realize just how unkempt he looked. “Yes,” he said. “She’s missing. I’ve been out searching. Teddy’s still out there. I’ve got every man available searching and asking questions and finding what they can find, from the East Coast to the West. We’re questioning everybody who knew her, might know her, or crossed her path. We’ll find her.”

  “What about her cell phone?” Roz asked. “Is it with her?”

  “It wasn’t in her condo,” Mick said. “I assume it is.”

  “Can you trace it? Don’t you have some special trace on her phone?”

  “And her car,” Mick said. “But both have been disabled.”

  “What about any cameras?” Joey asked.

  “We checked every camera in the area, including the one in her garage. Nothing. Her car is not seen. She is not seen. There is no way to track her.”

  A look of foreboding appeared on Roz’s face. She was so worried for Gloria that it hurt to her heart. “What are we going to do, Mick?”

  Then Mick took her hand. “Come with me,” he said.

  “What about me?” Joey asked. “Can I come with you too?”

  Roz’s heart went out to Joey. All of Mick’s children were like little kids when it came to their great desire to be with their father. Mainly because they knew he was somebody special and they wanted a bigger slice of that specialness. But also because they wanted him to do more, to make up more ground for the lack of attention he paid them in their childhood. But Mick was too busy going forward to look back, and Roz knew it was affecting them. And the fact that Joey was about to get rejected yet again by his father didn’t help. But she knew Mick. When he wanted to talk to her alone, he wasn’t about to have an audience.

  “You can’t come right now,” Mick said to Joey. “Go check on the twins. I have to talk to my wife alone right now.”

  Roz could see the envy in Joey’s eyes when Mick called her his wife, as if he was more than willing to voice his ownership of her, but not of him. Roz told Joey often that his father was not the kind of man given to outward displays of affection, and he probably was not going to change just because they all wanted him to. But that didn’t change the fact that Joey, and all of Mick’s children, wanted him to.

  And Joey didn’t want to take no for an answer. “But maybe I can help find Glo,” he said.

  Mick looked at him. “What do you know?” he asked.

  “I know she was obsessed with her boyfriend. With Fonz.”

  “They’re searching for him now,” Mick said. “When they find him, they will bring him here.”

  “Let me go look for him,” Joey said. “I bet you I’ll find him.”

  “No,” Mick said.

  Joey frowned. “Why not?”

  “Because until I find out what’s happened to one of my children, my other ones will not be running the street.”

  “But Teddy’s out there,” Joey said. “He’s running the streets.”

  Mick almost said that Teddy was out there because Teddy knew what he was doing, but he was learning Joey’s sensibilities. “Just do like I told you to do,” he said, took Roz’s hand, and they went upstairs.

  Joey was so angry that tears almost appeared in his eyes. But Deuce came up beside him. “The fastest way to his heart,” Deuce said to the young man, “is not going to be through toughness.”

  Joey looked at the older man.

  “It’s through obedience,” Deuce said. “If you stop questioning his wisdom, and just do what he tells you to do, he’ll pay attention. But only then,” Deuce added.

  “He owes me, man,” Joey said angrily. “I don’t owe him! Why should I have to be the one to prove myself?”

  “Because you’re the one who wants the relationship,” Deuce said. “He loves you. I think he loves you more than you will ever know. But being close with you the way you want? He can take it, or leave it.”

  Joey knew Deuce spoke the truth, but it still hurt him inside. But this wasn’t the time nor the place. Gloria was missing. He got on his cell phone, attempted to see if friends of hers that he knew too had seen or heard from her, as he went to check on the twins.

  Upstairs, in the main house, Mick and Roz went into the study and sat side by side on the sofa. Only Roz sat on the edge of the sofa, and turned toward Mick.

  “What is it?” she asked him.

  Gloria’s computer was sitting on the coffee table in front of them, with the screen up and paused at the beginning of Gloria’s accusatory video.

  “Did anything happen between Gloria and yourself?” Mick asked.

  Roz was puzzled. “What do you mean?”

  “Any bad blood?”

  “Bad blood? Between Gloria and I? No.”

  “There was some, Roz. I saw it for myself the night she threatened to expose your relationship with William.”

  “But that was nothing. That was Gloria upset that I didn’t recommend her boyfriend for that part. She lashes out, that’s how she copes. All of your children cope that way.”

  Mick wasn’t surprised to hear somebody say his children had limited coping skills. Another nail in his coffin. “But she was angry with you.”

  “Yes, she was,” Roz said. “She’s always angry with me, and then she’s not. She’ll get over it.”

  But this wasn’t adding u
p. Mick leaned forward and pressed Play on the computer. Roz watched the video. Mick watched Roz.

  “If anything happens to me,” Gloria ultimately said on the video, “please know that Roz is behind it.”

  Mick watched as Roz frowned and moved closer to the computer.

  “Roz either did it herself,” Gloria continued, “or hired somebody to do it. She’s the one responsible. That’s where you have to look first.”

  Roz couldn’t believe it. Her heart fell through her shoe. And she looked at Mick. “What is she talking about? I would never do anything to harm her. What is this about, Mick?”

  Mick pulled Roz back, and into his arms. “I don’t know,” he said. “But I will find out.”

  “But why would she claim I had something to do with it? That’s not true.”

  Mick already knew that. “I know it’s not,” he assured her.

  “But why would she use my name?”

  Mick had no answer for it. He pulled her closer against him. Roz didn’t know it, but her nearness, her closeness, was comforting him far more than he was comforting her.

  She wrapped her arms around his muscle-tight body. “Once you find her,” she said, “we’ll have our answers.”

  Mick didn’t want to tell her everything, but he felt he had to. “There was blood, Rosalind,” he said.

  Roz sat up, and looked at him. “Blood? Where?”

  Mick let out a sigh of pain. “In her condo,” he said. “Lots of blood.”

  “Oh, no, Mick. So there were signs of a struggle?”

  Mick nodded. “And how,” he said.

  “She didn’t just leave?”

  “No. Somebody came in there and forced her out. There was no robbery, no ransom note. This was personal. And what I don’t know is killing me. I don’t know if she was taken because somebody had a grudge against her, or against me. Or,” he said, looking at Roz and given the accusation Gloria hurled on that video, “against you.”