Chapter 2

Surprisingly, it didn't take long for Frank to answer.

"Frank, I'm about to be discharged from the hospital. Thank you for looking after me all this time. I've decided to leave and never bother you again."

I was so nervous that my words came out in a single breath.

I heard a sigh on Frank's line, followed by him saying impatiently, "I was busy and couldn't visit you, that's all."

"I'm not trying to find fault with you, Frank. I'm just saying, since you don't need me anymore—"

"What the hell, Selena? Did you hear something you shouldn't have?" Frank cut me off icily.

It was the first time he'd spoken to me so brusquely, his tone so harsh that it sent a chill skittering down my spine.

He'd been so gentle and loving with me once upon a time that I'd forgotten about the wariness and bloodlust that came with his mafia background.

"Frank, I… I'm just a nobody. I swear I'll disappear from your world. From now on, I'll have nothing to do with you."

I scrambled to defend myself, but it seemed to make him angrier. "Where did you learn this trick, anyway? You'd better stay where you are. Don't you dare leave!"

I was so stunned that I couldn't move.

I snapped out of my daze after the call ended. I wasn't embroiled in any ordinary family dispute, but a mafia family scandal. I could very well be killed off to maintain secrecy.

At the thought of that, I rushed to find my mom, who'd completed her chemotherapy. After that, I called my younger sister, who'd successfully quit drugs. We agreed on a meeting place.

The three of us fled to the train station, my heels blistering and bleeding from the running. I dared not dawdle for even a moment.

We opened the door to the waiting room. It was unusually quiet here. All inbound trains were delayed, as indicated by the red letters on the screen in the center. The waiting room had been cleared out.

Frank sat on the bench in the middle with his legs crossed. Behind him were his men, standing in two straight lines.

When he saw us, he rose to his feet and came toward me. He reached out and forcefully pulled me to him, his icy lips finding my ear.

"Our family's got a reputation to uphold. If word of what you know gets out, it'll affect our stocks on Bonaventure Street. You must return with me, Selena."

I stared at the gun in Frank's hand and suppressed the growing fear in my heart. "My mom and sister know nothing. Let them leave, and I'll go back with you."

But a low laugh escaped him. He spread his arms and turned to face my mom. "Sophia, Selena here got into a fight with me and wants to leave me. She plans to take you both with her. Talk to her for me."

It was as if my mom, who'd complained the entire way here, finally got to take center stage. She delivered an angry slap across my face. "I knew there was more to this last-minute baloney holiday! You bitch—have you forgotten your place?

"Mr. Luccasio could've asked you to wipe his butt forever, and it'd still be a job above your station!"

The slap left an intense ringing in my ear. It reminded me of when I was 12 and my father had slipped his hand under my dress. My mom had admonished me then the same way she did now.

She never stood up for me when I needed it the most, nor did she ask the important questions. As far as she was concerned, I was always in the wrong, even if I was the reason she got to live a life of privilege now.

"Yeah, Selena. My celebrity crush just agreed to go out with me. Try not to get on Mr. Luccasio's bad side, okay?"

My younger sister, Ariana Romano, came up to me and tugged on my arm pleadingly. She used to look so unkempt, but now, she was dolled up like a socialite.

I stared at Ariana in disbelief. I'd protected and stood by her since she was a child, only for her to take Frank's side over mine.

If her hooligan boyfriend hadn't gotten her into drugs, she wouldn't have exhausted our family's money and taken out predatory loans to fund her addiction. Consequently, I wouldn't have run out of college funds and nearly ended up being forced into prostitution.

My mother and Ariana were terrified of losing the privileged life they enjoyed now. Neither of them cared about what I was going through, even though I'd just recovered from severe injuries.

And yet, I was scrambling to come up with an escape plan for them because they were my only family.

Frank hadn't been laughing at my attempt to flee, but at how blind I was not to realize where my mother's and Ariana's interests lay.

As my mom and Ariana apologized profusely to Frank, I remained expressionless and let his men take me into custody.

Frank took me back to his high-end apartment on the upper-east side of the city.

We'd only just stepped through the front door when he took off his tie and bound my wrists with it. He then frog-marched me into the bedroom.

But I didn't give up on explaining my way out of this. "Frank, what will it take for you to believe me? I promise I won't tell—"

The next second, I felt the hard slant of his lips on mine as he pulled me into a demanding kiss. My brain short-circuited as every fiber of my being became revulsed by the contact.

I bit down hard on his lip until the taste of blood bloomed in my mouth. Only then did Frank release me.

I roughly wiped the drool and blood from the corner of my mouth, snapping furiously, "What the hell are you doing?"