Chapter 90: Chapter Ninety

Gloria lay in bed that night recalling the video they’d watched and the comment Marge had made about her family name. She rolled to her other side, wincing as the mattress springs squeaked and groaned. She sighed. Not only would she one day need to reveal her parentage and her family’s responsibility in Frankie’s life taking a major downturn, she would have to come clean about her role in Stephen’s death… the fact that she’s not pregnant… that Frankie never proposed. Gloria flipped again onto her back and glared at the ceiling. What the hell had she done to these nice people?

Gloria’s phone pinged and she looked to the nightstand where the phone screen was dimming from the notification. She leaned over, the bed squeaking with the motion.

Frankie: It sounds like you’re having a hard time going to sleep, Vixen. I hear another protesting spring, I will sneak over and help you out.

Gloria shook her head before she responded.

Gloria: Yeah, right. If you can hear it, your parents sure as heck can.

Frankie: They’re old, not the best hearing.

Gloria laughed and the bedsprings groaned.

Frankie: That’s it, I’m coming over.

Before she could respond, she heard the unmistakable sound of an old door being opened in a way that made it seem the person was trying to be quiet. She set her phone down and turned to face the door, hoping the pose she was striking would be considered sensual. The floor outside her room was unforgiving with Frankie’s weight. After only a few creaks of the floorboards, a second door opened.

“Oh, hey, Pops, what’s up?” Frankie asked.

“I was about to ask you the same question. What do you think you’re doing?”

“Uhhhh, getting water? Is that not allowed? I have a tickle in my throat.”

“Mhmm, get your water and get back to bed.”

“Sir, yes, sir!”

Gloria could perfectly visualize Frankie’s straightened back, raised chin and military salute. The door closed again and she heard Frankie’s feet head down the stairs to the first floor. She could follow his movements from the stairwell through the hallway and into the kitchen. The plumbing moaned as he turned on the tap. A few minutes later she heard his feet waltzing back up the stairs and slowing outside her room. This time, she heard the door open only a fraction.

“Jesus, Dad, I’m going, I’m going,” Frankie grumbled, evident frustration leaking from his words.

“Don’t curse,” his father growled before the door shut again.

Gloria listened as Frankie went back into his room and flopped down on his bed on the opposite side of the wall they shared. Her phone pinged.

Frankie: I got caught.

Gloria: I heard.

Frankie: We’ll have to figure something out.

Gloria: It’s a week, Frank.

Frankie: A night without your pussy is an eternity, Vixen.

Gloria: You went like 10 days without it before!

Frankie: Being unconscious doesn’t count and who says I wasn’t dreaming about it the whole time I was under?

Gloria: You’re ridiculous.

Frankie: What’s ridiculous is it’s the 21st century, you’re already knocked up, we’re engaged and yet I’m having to live like a monk.

Gloria looked at the screen for a few moments, the lies piling up, making the guilt heavy within her chest.

Gloria: Well, technically I’m not pregnant and we’re not engaged.

Frankie: They don’t know that. I should be able to fuck my fiancee if I so chose.

Gloria: Good night, Frankie.

Frankie: YOU CAN’T GO TO SLEEP! What am I supposed to do with this thing?!

A second message came through and heat flushed through her cheeks and desire pooled in her stomach at the image of Frankie’s sweatpants pulled slightly down and his hardened dick in his hand. Gloria bit her lip.

Gloria: No wonder your dad was so pissed.

Frankie: This isn’t funny. Do you know what could happen to a man if he’s not taken care of?

Gloria laughed and she wondered if he could hear her through the walls.

Gloria: No, perk of being an inexperienced virgin.

Frankie: Bad things, Vixen. Very. Very. Bad things.

Gloria: Well, what am I supposed to do about it?

She watched the bubbles appear and disappear for two minutes before the message came through.

Frankie: Send me some pictures.

Frankie: Let me see you dripping wet for me.

Frankie: Better yet, a video of you teasing yourself with your fingers.

Frankie: We could start there.

Gloria: Uh, no.

Frankie: Come onnnnnnn

Gloria: No.

Frankie: Whyyyy

Gloria: Cause I’m not going to send pictures, let alone a video, of myself that some hacker can steal and post all over the internet. No thank you!

Frankie: You think some hacker can get into my phone? I’m insulted.

Gloria: I feel like you said something similar about the Box… No sexting.

Frankie: Prude.

Gloria lay down and set her phone aside with a smile on her face, imagining what he was doing to rid himself of his issue before falling asleep. Every minute or two she would hear her phone ping, but she ignored the sound, knowing exactly who it was. She was nearly asleep when something whacked her in the face. Gloria startled into a seated position and looked down at her chest where a folded piece of paper was waiting. She picked it up and opened it.

Stephen has a Polaroid camera somewhere. You can find it, snap a pic and send it back to me through the wall! – F

Gloria turned, knowing he could hear the sound of her mattress moving as she looked for the hole he was referring to. Just there, above the headboard, was a quarter inch slat in the wall. She laughed through her nose and shook her head. A second later a pen shot through the hole and hit her between her eyes. Frankie barked out a laugh as she let out an ‘eep!’.

“Shhhh,” Gloria hissed through the wall.

She took the pen and wrote her response:

What kind of communication method is this? Are we prisoners in the Chateau d’If? – G

A minute later:

If we were here for longer than a week, you bet your ass I’d be tunneling to get to your bed. We didn’t all grow up with rich mafia men for fathers, let alone in an era where five-year-olds are given smartphones. Steve and I had to make do. You never answered my question. Polaroid? – F

Gloria rolled her eyes.

Wow, you really are ancient. – G

You’re the one making obscure Count of Monte Cristo references. But keep up the old man jokes. I’ll come over there and punish you. – F

Do. It. Grandpa. – G

I’ll tell my parents all your dirty little secrets. – F

Gloria sighed and lay back down on the bed, the guilt in her chest multiplying. A second piece of paper came through the wall.

Gloria? – F

What will your mom think of me when she learns my last name? What will both of them think when we don’t have a grandkid to present to them in nine months? What will they think when they learn Stephen died because of me? – G

Frankie didn’t respond for several minutes. With each tick of the clock on the wall across the room, her nerves climbed higher and higher. The next piece of paper wasn’t shoved through. Only a corner poked out of the wall as if he had placed it gently inside. She took it and sat up against the headboard. She pressed it to her chest and took a deep breath before she opened it.

Vixen, you lied. You’re a Pakhan. You’re going to lie a lot. We are here to keep my parents safe. Period. You did what you had to do to get us in the door. They may get mad. They may be furious. But they’ll be able to feel those things because you lied and we could be close enough to keep them alive SO they could feel mad.

As for Stephen, it wasn’t your fault and I don’t want you to ever think that again. Ever. Ivan sold you. Sergei purchased you. I stole you. Sergei sought retribution. Sergei killed Stephen. None of those things are your fault. You just happened to be the prize we all wanted. A prize worth fighting for. If you’d like, we could go visit Steve’s grave tomorrow and we can both get some closure.

As for my mom finding out your last name… Can you not see that she is already madly in love with you? She’s always wanted a daughter. She’s always wanted someone to chain me down. For now, we can make her think you have. She won’t care who your father is. She cares who your daddy is ;) And that’s me. I love you and she will be able to see past everything else because I do.

–F

Another slip of paper came through, and she swiped a tear from her cheek before reading it.

And it doesn’t all have to be a lie, you know. My mom is planning a wedding, isn’t she? There’s no reason why that has to be a lie, does it?

–F

Gloria stared down at the paper for a few minutes, grappling with what he was saying. Did he want… Did he want to make this all real? Did he really want to marry her? Was he… proposing? Was he asking her to spend the rest of her life with him on a college-ruled sheet of paper with ripped edges and wrinkles from being shoved through a secret crack in the wall between their rooms? She swallowed hard and her hand shook as she responded.

Frankie Donati, are you suggesting what I think you’re suggesting?

–G

The response was immediate.

You’re already mine, Vixen. Remember? You want to sign your name next to mine and make it official? Want to be my Mrs.?

–F for Fiance?

Gloria bit her lip and this time didn’t try to wipe the tears soaking her cheeks. It would be useless at this point anyway, as they showed no sign of stopping.

Yes – Gloria

She could hear his triumphant fist bump and ‘uumph’ on the other side of the wall. She settled down again, trying to quell her smile by trapping her lip between her teeth. A minute later his final response came.

Good. Then it’s settled. One lie becomes a truth and your last name will no longer be an issue. Damn, I’m good. Sleep, Vixen. I have enough now to get the job done, I think.  – F