"Yes, of course, but you need us? We've never done a drug run before," Enrique questioned. He was really starting to piss me off.
"You need to fix your mistake. Now, shut the fuck up." I started the engine and looked at Zell again. She wasn't looking at me. She was staring out the passenger side window crying. My heart ached. I wished I could tell her what I was going to do, put her at ease, and prove that everything I'd ever told her was true.
I was saving her.
I drove out of the parking lot and toward the docks. Everyone was quiet, and it gave me time to think. I knew where Zell and I needed to go, at least for the night.
"Look, Frankie," Enrique spoke. "I'm really sorry for touching her. It won't happen again."
"Okay." It definitely wasn't going to happen again.
"So, we're good?"
I chuckled and didn't respond. Instead, I pulled up to the docks. My father did a lot of business down here and not just offing people. It wasn't necessarily suspicious that we were doing a buy here. I parked and cut the engine off. Turning in my seat, I looked at the guys. "While we wait for our contact, tell me again what happened tonight."
Enrique and Warren shared a look, and then Enrique said, "I roughed her up a bit, and then, because I thought she was a whore, I wanted a freebie. It won't happen again."
"You know, you keep telling me that it won't happen again, but something tells me that Zell isn't the only one," I stated.
Enrique's eyes widened, and he held up his hands. "No, I swear."
I grabbed Zell's hand, lacing our fingers so she would look at me. She did briefly but then turned away. She didn't remove her hand. "So, you're telling me that the one night you decide to rape one of your grabs is the same night you randomly pick up Saffron's daughter?"
"Yes." Enrique nodded. "That's exactly what happened."
"Why don't I believe you?"
"Tell him." Enrique nudged Warren. "Tell him this was a one-time thing."
"Actually"—I held up my hand—"let's not talk about this in front of Zell. Let's go." I turned to open my door, and when the guys hesitated, I urged them with a nod of my head. Once they were out, I whispered to Zell, "I need to do something you might not like."
"Kill them?" she asked.
"I have to, but answer me this, was Enrique the only one to touch you?"
"Yes." She nodded. "The other one tried to tell him not to."
"That's good to know."
"You're really going to kill them?"
"It's the way it has to be, princess. This is the life I was given." Though, I had plans to change it. Plans that probably weren't going to happen now that I was going to betray my father and take Zell away from here.
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
"It's not your fault, but don't watch, okay?"
She didn't say anything.
"Please, princess. Just don't watch. You've been through too much tonight."
"Okay," she said in a low voice.
I pulled my cell phone and earbuds out of my pocket and opened the music app. It was what I was supposed to do the first time I saw my father kill a man, and I hoped that Zell would be smarter than me and actually listen to the music. "Here. Listen to music and don't look up, okay?"
Zell took the phone from me. "Okay."
I got out of the van and slammed the door. Grabbing the gun from my waistband, I pulled it out and pointed it at Enrique. "Now, you know what happens when you fuck with a Russo."
Both guys held up their arms. "Frankie, come on," Enrique pleaded. "Don't do this."
"I have to."
"No, dude, you don't," he argued.
"Get on your fucking knees," I ordered.
Both guys did, even though it was Enrique I was talking to. "Please," he begged. "I swear this will never happen again."
"You're fucking right this will never happen again." I aimed for his head and pulled the trigger, not hesitating any longer. I had to do this, and not because of my father but because of Zell. No one would touch her and get away with it as long as I was in the picture. I was a Russo, and no one fucked with a Russo.
It felt like forever before Enrique's lifeless body fell over, and I turned to Warren. "I didn't touch her," he pleaded.
I lowered the gun. "I know. Toss his body into the harbor and get the fuck out of here. If I ever see your face again, I won't hesitate to kill you too." I felt as though I didn't need to worry about Warren. I was sparing his life, and honestly, if he went to my father, it wouldn't matter. I would never see Frank Russo again.
I turned and went back to the van. I could hear music playing from the headphones, but Zell's hand was covering her mouth, and I knew she hadn't fully listened just like I hadn't when I was eight. "I told you not to look."
"I heard a loud pop before I picked a song, and it made me look."
At least she didn't see me kill a man. "Don't be scared of me. I'm not going to kill you too."
"I know."
"Do you?" I urged. "You seem scared."
"Are you taking me back?"
"Of course not."
"Then what are we doing?"
I looked out the windshield to see that Warren was tossing Enrique's body into the water as I'd instructed. "We're getting out of town."
"Where are we going?"
I reached for my phone and got the address of the property in the Catskills. It was risky to go to a place that my father owned, but it was several hours away, and he didn't know that I knew about it. I was hoping we could get a few hours of sleep before we kept going.
"Hopefully, far enough away for the rest of the night."
I woke as the van came to a stop. I hadn't realized I'd fallen asleep. When Frankie started to drive out of the city, I closed my eyes, trying to block out what had happened in the back of the van only mere hours before. "Where are we?" I looked around, seeing a small house lit up by the headlights of the van.
"My dad's cabin."
I sucked in a surprised breath. "Is that safe? Can't he find us?"
Frankie turned off the engine. "I switched off my phone, so he can't track us, and he doesn't know I know about this place."
"Really?"
"I've never heard him talk about it before."
"Then how did you find it?"
"Because I'm smarter than my father."
I hoped that was true. I didn't know Mr. Russo, but I felt as though Frankie would know what to do to make everything go away. I wasn't scared of him, even though I more or less saw him kill a guy. If it was someone other than the man who forced me to have sex with him, then maybe I would feel differently. I actually liked Frankie more because of what he’d done for me.
He was my prince coming to rescue me.
"Stay here while I try to get inside," he stated.
"Okay."
I watched Frankie walk to the front door after getting out of the van and then try to turn the knob as though it would be unlocked. It wasn't. He looked into the window next to the door, and I wondered what the plan was. He'd always talked about a plan before taking me out of the house, and with everything that had happened, I didn't think there was one. I had no clothes besides the ripped dress I was wearing, no toothbrush, nothing to wash the night off of my body, and I was starving.