Chapter 89: Chapter Eighty-Nine
Gloria rolled her eyes as Frankie continued to swivel round and round in Stephen’s desk chair while he waited for the software to finish debugging the twenty-year-old desktop. With each pass his eyes would drag over her body and his eyebrows would lift. Or, he would blow her a kiss, send a wink, do a silent roar complete with a clawing motion, or just bite his lower lip. He did all of this, of course, while his mom wasn’t watching. Gloria was helping her fold laundry while they waited for Frankie to log into his own server and watch the surveillance of Juniper helping Ivan escape.
“Can’t you just use your laptop?” Gloria asked with a huff after Frankie gave her another up, down.
He smiled big. “I promised Mom I’d help clean up Steve-O’s computer. Knocking out two birds with one stone, Vixen.”
“I appreciate it, Frankie,” Mrs. Donati said as she folded another towel. “I don’t know what that boy did to the computer, but it’s slower than your dad when it’s time to shovel the sidewalk,” she explained with a shake of her head. “If you get it cleaned up, we can give it to the McKay boy next door.”
“Well, the computer is pretty old,” Gloria suggested as the reason for its sluggishness.
“Or it could be the hundreds of gigabytes of downloaded porn,” Frankie suggested, continuing with his circling.
“Frank Juliano!” Mrs. Donati gasped. “Your brother did not download porn!”
A chuckle followed Frankie as he spun. “I never said it was Stephen doing the downloading.”
Gloria covered her mouth to keep from giggling while his mother took a moment to understand what he was implying. Her face heated and her lips pursed as she folded the remaining towels with jerky movements.
“Your father does not watch porn,” she mumbled.
“Of course not,” Frankie sang, giving Gloria a dubious look.
“Your father doesn’t need to watch porn, Frankie J.” She gave Gloria a shy look with a schoolgirl smile. “I keep him plenty busy enough. He wouldn’t have the energy for porn.”
Frankie’s swivel came to an abrupt halt. “Ma!”
Mrs. Donati lifted the basket of folded clothes up to her hip and raised her chin. “Don’t start anything you can’t finish, son.”
With that she strutted from the room, and Gloria finally released her mouth, allowing the bubbles of laughter to explode from her chest. Frankie glared at her.
“What?” Gloria asked after she’d regained enough breath to speak. “You had to realize you got it from somewhere.”
“I won’t tolerate this kind of behavior when you’re my wife, Miss Rubanov,
Frankie warned.
“The behavior of being right and knowing it?” she asked.
Frankie opened his mouth, retort on his tongue when the computer dinged, letting them know the system had been reset. “Careful, Vixen,” he said as he turned back to the monitor. “They don’t condone premarital sex in this house, but they sure as fuck believe in corporal punishment.”
Frankie’s fingers flew over the keyboard as he logged into his personal server. Within only a matter of minutes, he pulled up the various camera angles showcasing Juniper and her traitorous act. Gloria walked up behind him. Frankie took her hand and directed her around the chair and pulled her onto his lap.
“Pay close attention, Vixen. Let me know what you see, hm?”
They watched through various compiled videos as Juniper drove her car within a few blocks of the Box. She left the car and cycled through multiple alleys, ducked into shops, out of backdoors and even changed clothes twice before she ended up in front of the dilapidated restaurant housing the Box. It was late in the evening, meaning there were only three men on guard: far less than Gloria would consider adequate for the man being held within. Juniper made it by the first two thanks to Thomas being the main guard on the inside. They shared a few drinks, and Gloria knew, straight away the drinks were laced.
She was reminded of the effects the morphine had on Frankie when she’d dosed him. Thomas became lethargic, tried to fight the symptoms, made a pass at Juniper until slouching face-first to the ground, unconscious. Juniper then made a call. After she hung up, she stared at the door leading to Ivan for almost five minutes before she finally grabbed the keys from Thomas’ pocket and unlocked the prison cell.
“She’s being coerced,” Mrs. Donati said over their shoulders, causing both Gloria and Frankie to jump in their chair.
“Jesus fucking Christ, Ma,” Frankie growled, his grip firm on Gloria’s waist as she tried to get up from his lap. Marge smacked Frankie on the back of the head. “Ow! What the…”
“No cursing or taking the Lord’s name in vain, Frankie J.,” Marge hissed right back.
“Why do you think she’s being coerced, Mrs. Donati?” Gloria asked, her attention still on the video as it played out.
“I see women like her at the hospital all the time.”
“Hospital? Are you a nurse?” Gloria asked, intrigued.
“Oh, no, nothing like that, sweetheart. I’m only a janitor.”
Frankie scoffed, his eyes still on the screen. “Only a janitor. Only the person with the most important job with the lowest salary and appreciation. She would have been a great nurse if she hadn’t gotten knocked up with a demon spawn and had to drop out of school.”
Gloria looked from Frankie’s focused face to Marge’s serene expression of gratitude. Marge touched Frankie’s shoulder with gentle fingers. “He was no demon spawn. In fact he was a miracle from God.”
Frankie gave Gloria a side-eye and a grin. “Hear that, Vixen? You’re engaged to a miracle.”
“Careful, Mrs. Donati, his head is already too large for his shoulders.”
Marge chuckled. “Anyway, look at the way she’s moving. Like she is expecting any moment to be struck. The hesitation in her actions. The way she waited to open the door. She’s afraid. She doesn’t want to be there. What is this footage of, Frankie?”
“Nothing you need to worry about, Ma.”
“Mhmm,” Marge said with a roll of her eyes as she moved on to the next basket of laundry.
Gloria turned her attention back to the footage just as an SUV pulled up to the curb and a number of heavily armed men filed out.
“Must have been the reinforcements Juniper called,” Gloria guessed.
“Mmm,” Frankie hummed.
They watched as the group raided the building, ridding the space of the two men who were still conscious. Ivan strolled out of confinement rubbing his wrists and with a smile on his face that made Gloria’s stomach clench. Juniper followed after, head ducked, shoulders slouched forward and both hands clasped tightly together as though she were praying. As one of the men raised a gun toward Thomas’ head, she reacted. Juniper leapt forward and shielded Thomas’ body with her own. The man holding the gun grabbed her by her hair and lifted her head.
“What… What is he saying to her?” Gloria asked, sitting forward.
“Ma, leave the room,” Frankie ordered.
“Not a chance.”
Frankie sighed but unmuted the video.
“... really want to give your life for this Italian maggot?” the man asked.
“I know that voice,” Gloria whispered.
“Mhmm,” Frankie said, his body locked tight.
“We had a deal,” Juniper pleaded.
“Leave the boy,” Ivan said, chuckling to himself. “I’d rather keep him alive and send him videos of all the ways I’m going to be enjoying his woman’s body.” Ivan took hold of Juniper and hauled her up and against his chest. “I heard you helped them take my girls away from me. You should remember the size of my appetite. Now there’s only you. I hope you’re ready to keep me filled.” Ivan looked down and laughed. “Or I suppose you should be ready for me to keep you filled.”
Ivan released Juniper and she fell in a heap on the floor. She reached for Thomas one last time but the man with the gun snatched her before she could touch him. The man looked around until he spotted the camera. He yanked Juniper closer to the camera and shoved her in front of it so they could get a clear view of the woman who betrayed them. Then he did the courtesy of taking off his own mask.
“Asher,” Gloria growled.
“The one and only,” Frankie sighed.
Asher Thompson blew the camera a kiss before pulling Juniper along toward the exit.
“Please…” Mrs. Donati said quietly behind them. “Please tell me you didn’t get involved with those disgusting Rubanov pigs again.”