Chapter One Hundred and Twelve

Chapter One Hundred and Twelve
Frankie kissed his mother on the cheek and shook his father’s hand.

“Remember, the second I walk out of that door…”

“Lock it and enter the code,” his father said with a roll of his eyes.

“And don’t…”

“Go into the super mysterious room with a separate code keeping us out,” his mother interrupted before Frankie had the chance to finish what he was saying.

“My house, my rules,” Frankie said, pointing a stern finger at both of his parents. 

He walked to the front door where Gloria was watching him with wide, sad eyes. He raised a brow at her but she merely erased the expression and smiled before stepping up on her toes to kiss him once. She turned quickly and opened the door before practically jogging to the elevator to avoid an uncomfortable goodbye. 

Frankie turned and gave a high-brow shrug to his parents who shooed him away. He looked at them for a moment, really looked at them: How his father placed his arm around his mother’s shoulder, how she subconsciously leaned into him as if he were her safe harbor while she smiled softly like her son was going off to college rather than to murder a bunch of mafia folks. He felt it then, what was on Gloria’s face that was so hard to read: longing. He cleared his throat, threw up his best grin and gave a salute before joining Gloria in the elevator. 

Once in the elevator, he leaned back against the wall. A moment passed before Gloria joined him there. He reached out, wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. Gloria let out a sigh and melted into him. 

“We’ll go check in with your men,” Frankie began, hoping to break the weight of emotion weighing down the max capacity of the elevator. “Then run everything by Accardi…”

“Then off to Chicago,” Gloria finished. “To put an end to this once and for all.”

Frankie kissed Gloria’s temple just as the elevator dinged like the starting shot of a horse race. First, they visited the hotel where her men had been staying. The men were well rested and eager to get back to work. Gloria made sure to remember each of their names, impressing the men, though they did their best not to show it. While they were willing to follow her, they clearly still had reservations… which included the Italian man she was betrothed to watching them closely from against the wall. 

After relaying her next orders, Gloria dismissed them and off the pair went to Accardi’s apartment. The fifth-floor walk-up was noisy with the sound of renovations in the adjacent apartment, which would connect the entire floor into one large home for the Don’s growing family. After only two knocks, the door swung open and Leo greeted them with a trademark eyebrow raise. He beckoned them inside with a wave of his arm.

“Down the hall in the office,” Leo said, following in their wake.

When Frankie entered the office, he noticed Accardi behind his desk, his phone pressed to his ear and his fists flexing. Whoever he was talking to would be getting pummeled into the ground if he or she was standing in front of him at that moment. Gen sat at a smaller desk of her own off to the side. Her laptop was turned so that he could see the long list of spreadsheets she was going over but her eyes were on her husband, and his knuckles. She gave Frankie and Gloria a tight smile before her brows drew together and her focus returned to her husband. Matteo’s right fist clenched tightly.

“I don’t give a fuck, O’Brien. I gave you the rights to sell at two of my tracks. You’ve already flushed the Diego track down the drain. Now I’m getting reports every other week about your guys starting fights, harassing track customers and consuming more dope than they’re selling.” A pause in which Matteo rolled his eyes and knocked his fist against the table once. “I don’t care if they’re buying the shit before they take it, it’s the principle of them taking their own shit and… You know what? Figure it the fuck out. The next complaint I get I’ll find a loophole in our fucking contract, I swear to God.” 

Accardi hung up the phone, set it down on the table, ran his hands through his hair and then sighed. Then he looked back up at Frankie and Gloria.

“Trouble in paradise?” Frankie asked, scraping the extra chair in the room over for Gloria to sit in. She shook her head. He shrugged and took it himself. He made sure to pat his lap once, though, so she knew she was still welcome to sit any time. 

“What can you expect when working with the fucking Irish. Do yourself a favor, Gloria, and stick with the Italians for partnerships. At least we aren’t imbeciles,” Accardi grumbled. “I’m glad to see the two of you emerged from hibernation long enough to come back to the real world.”

Frankie scoffed. “We were on honeymoon.”

Genevieve laughed. “Frankie, we don’t get honeymoons in this industry.”

“We’re getting a honeymoon, Weakness,” Accardi growled. 

Genevieve pursed her lips and gave her husband a sympathetic look. “Matteo… we are not getting a honeymoon. But it’s okay. I got my four days. It’s more than these two got,” she said with a jab of her thumb to Frankie and Gloria.

“We didn’t get married,” Gloria said, frustrated at constantly having to remind people of that. “Can’t have a honeymoon if you’re not married.”

“I wholeheartedly disagree,” Frankie said. 

“Can we…” Gloria took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Can we get back to what’s important?”

“I think discussing a week-long vacation where I can fuck my wife at my own leisure is of vast importance, Vixen,” Frankie argued.

“I agree,” Accardi said.

“Preach,” Leo agreed from the doorway. 

“What do you have to bitch about? You got ten days with Lucy,” Frankie quipped.

“Yeah, and Louis got three weeks,” Leo grumbled.

“Louis isn’t as important,” Accardi said with a sigh. 

“I’m going to tell him you said so,” Leo said. 

“Can we please move on from this and get back to what we’re going to do with Sergei?” Gloria asked.

“Get back to it? I didn’t think we’d started yet,” Frankie pointed out. Gloria’s glare cut to him and he threw his hands up. “Yeesh, sorry. We can talk about Sergei, Vixen. And don’t worry. We will get married,” Frankie assured her. 

“And we will have a proper honeymoon,” Accardi told Gen with a pointed look.

“And I will get that raise I’ve been promised,” Leo chimed in. 

Accardi rolled his eyes. “What did you want to discuss, Gloria?”

All eyes turned to his fiancee and she glanced around as if the last thing she expected was for them to ask her opinion. “Well, I…” She straightened her shoulders. Good girl. You got this. “I’ve spoken to the men who pledged their loyalty to me. They are preparing to head back to Chicago and spread the word, along with gathering others who are willing to fight alongside us.”

“Do you think you can trust them to do that?” Accardi asked.

Gloria shrugged. “We have to start somewhere.”

Accardi smiled, a pinch of pride pulling at his lips as he watched the young woman stepping into her new role. 

“At this point, we all know about the underground club that Asher has been spotted in numerous times. I think that should be our focal point. But…” She sighed. “It’s been brought to my attention that I need to listen more. Take counsel. So, I would like to know what everyone else is thinking before I make my decision about going forward.”

Frankie reached out, took Gloria’s hand and yanked, forcing her to sit on his lap where he nipped her shoulder. She wiggled out of his grasp enough to be able to sit up straight and seem professional… as best she could while sitting on someone’s lap, that is. 

“Well…” Accardi cast a glance at Leo, who nodded his head. “Leo and I have been throwing ideas back and forth and we agree with you. This club seems to be the best spot to make a move. All indications point to Sergei being underground and to get to this club we have to enter through the underground tunnels. Sergei hasn’t been seen other than in this club since he went into hiding, which must mean…”

“He’s getting in through the tunnels,” Gen said with wide, understanding eyes. 

“I say we make a big show of you two being back in town. Make sure everyone knows. Use your men to spread the word. Pick a few fights. Make it flashy, whatever you want to do. Make an appearance at the club and make sure you spread word of when you plan to make a second trip. While the two of you are doing that, my team can be doing old-fashioned sweep throughs. We have received blueprints of the underground. We can clear the tunnels one by one. If we happen to find him, great. If not… Sergei will want to come after you on his own turf. He’ll come up through the tunnels to ‘surprise’ you at the club, which will put his numbers at a disadvantage. While you and Frankie have a small team on the inside, me and my men can flood in from the outside. Catching them on both ends.”

Gloria took a moment to think over Accardi’s plan. “That could be promising.” Gloria turned in Frankie’s lap so she could see his face. “Frankie? What do you have in mind?”

Frankie smirked, eager to lay out the plan he’d been devising for the last twenty-four hours. “Asher Thompson.”