Page 74 of Time Served in New York
“Well, Frankie, if we’re doing this, we need to help you get changed and see if we can salvage your makeup.”
“You know the best part?” Frankie asked as she started walking toward the bedroom to change. “That other dress doesn’t have a fucking corset.”
The door opened again, and my brothers walked into the suite.
“Paola, are you okay?” Vincente asked as he pushed the door open just enough to get inside. Antonio followed him, and they both stopped and looked down at the bodies in front of them. “That’s Don Russo.”
“I thought that was him,” Frankie said from behind me. My brothers looked over my shoulder at her, and their eyes grew wide. “I’m not hurt. It was arterial spray from one of their neck wounds. I’m going to change. Paula, if you can leave them to that, you need to get dressed.”
“She’s going to go through with it?” Vincente asked as the door opened again, and Boss and Stamp walked in.
“One of the girls suggested she postpone it, and she gave that a hard pass. This is happening now more than ever. I think she’s pissed and has a point to make.” I put my hand up so Boss and Stamp didn’t come any farther. “Wait a sec, you guys. The girls are probably not all decent. Not that they ever are, but you get what I mean. I’ll grab your women, and you can talk to them here in the living room.”
“They’re okay?” Antonio asked.
“They just went two rounds with the mafia, Antonio. They’re a little testy.”
“Fuck. We should have killed him to start with, but I just thought . . .”
“That’s your father, isn’t it?” Stamp asked as he stared at the men on the floor. “And there’s dear old Uncle Don. I guess they put their differences aside for the day.”
“I want to know where the fuck the guards were while this was happening,” Boss said angrily. “We were promised that the women had protection!”
Vincente was looking at his phone, and as he slipped it into his pocket, he shook his head. “They’re dead in the stairwell. Zach and the Russo boys are collecting them. We’ll take care of this shit.”
“I have to get dressed,” I told them. “I’ll send Bernadette and Jenn out, but you need to be in tuxes within the next 20 minutes or Bridezilla will start tearing the place up.”
“It’s like nothing happened,” Bug said as he walked out of the hall bathroom with Boo in his arms. She was in a diaper and her hair was wet from the bath, but she looked perfectly normal. I reached out and booped her nose, and the little girl giggled. “Maylee’s shaken up, but she insists that she’s going to be with Frankie as long as Boo can stay with one of us through the wedding.”
“Give her to Hammer. He won’t be on stage, and Boo adores him,” I heard Stamp suggest as I walked into the master bedroom.
I shut the door behind me and looked around the room. “Where are Jenn and Bernadette? Boss and Stamp want to talk to them.”
“They’re in the guest bathroom cleaning up.”
I stuck my head out into the hall and told the guys where their women were and then hurried back to join the chaos. Brea stepped in front of me and studied my face. “There’s no blood on you, so you should be good to help Frankie. I’ll get my dress on and then relieve you so you can get dressed too.”
“This is one fucked-up day,” I whispered. “Is Frankie okay?”
“She’s handling it like any good mafia princess would.”
“Pissed off and calling for someone’s head?” I asked.
Brea laughed as she nodded. “That’s exactly what she’s doing.”
18.
JENN
“You’ve got to wash it or you’ll never get the rocks and dirt out,” Blue was sitting on the edge of the tub with her phone in her hand and feet in the water as she watched Bernadette use a washcloth to pat the scrapes on her knees.
“Iamwashing it,” Bernadette argued as she gently dabbed at the blood. “What does it look like I’m doing?”
“Being a pussy,” Blue said as she set her phone on the back of the toilet. “I sent a text to Sis, and she’s finding us some bandages to wrap your legs with. She’ll be up in just a few minutes.”
“She’s helping August get the kids ready, isn’t she?”
“August is doing the little girl’s hair, so she’s going to stay with them while Sis finds what we need.”
