Dance or Die (White Oak - Mafia Series Book 3) (7 page)

“Do you believe him?”

“Yes.”

“Then let me get off and wrangle up the reinforcements.”

“Call me back when you can,” she said and hung up, keeping the phone. She glanced in her rearview mirror, Cobbs was no longer behind her. Her bravery diminished with the loss of the sheriff.

Now she felt terribly alone. What if Frank had lied?

“Frank, if you gave me the wrong address, then you’ve caused me to lose Steel and if that’s the case, I’m running the SUV right into a tree.”

“Why would you think I’m lying about the address?” The tension in his voice worried her.

“Because we should have caught up with the car carrying Dan and Steel, but we haven’t, which means you’ve been lying to me from the start.”

She rubbed her chest and hit redial on the phone in her pocket, praying the sheriff’s phone wouldn’t go to voicemail while he was on with someone else.

“Father told you exactly what to say to get me to come willingly, didn’t he? He even figured out a way to ensure any help would arrive at the wrong place.”

“No! I gave you the right address. I’ve sided with you, Tess. My girls are in your hands.”

“This is your last chance. Give me the right address.”

“I told you the address!” he yelled.

“Jack told me you divorced your wife seven years ago?”

“Yeah, so what?”

“You’re claiming daughters of three and five.”

Frank snorted softly.

“Give me the correct address, or you’ll die in a crash along with me.”

“Don’t you want to save your boyfriends?”

“Friends, and yes, I do. But I can’t do that unless you give me the correct address.”

“All you have to do is tell your father you’ll return to the family and do as he asks. He’s not a monster, Tess. He has your best interest in mind.”

She stared at Frank in shock. “Are you as crazy as he is? He only cares about becoming a monster like my great-grandfather.”

Frank rubbed his temple. “If you want to survive this reunion, I would strongly suggest you take a different attitude with him.”

“Ah, so you know he’s a monster. What does that make you, Frank?”

“A contender for your hand. Benito has finally realized his sons lack the brains and discipline to run the family when he dies. My job was to seduce you, but unfortunately, that field was already sowed before I got there.”

Tess growled at his words, but didn’t protest his poetic way of declaring her ‘ruined’.

“You said you were a contender. So there are others vying to be my father’s new son?”

“Yeah, but you don’t have to worry about them. Benito promised me if I deliver you back into his loving arms, the honor is mine.”

“I’m assuming the honor you fancy is being his son-in-law and marrying me.”

“Honestly, I was dreading having you as my wife, until I got to know you. Once you fall into line and accept your new life, I think you’ll be a real asset to me. You’ve impressed me a great deal, especially today.”

“How so?”

“You saw through my act. Most people don’t.”

“It wasn’t that hard, Frank.”

He snorted. “Then why did you give the Sheriff a false address and send him off?”

“I was slow on that one,” she admitted.

He turned to face her. “See, that’s something I like about you. You’re willing to accept when you’re wrong. Most women can’t.”

“I guess you won’t have to beat me quite so often then.”

He rapped his knuckles on his window. “I haven’t heard sarcasm from you before and I better not hear it again once we marry.”

“How did you even get to be considered for this great honor? Last I heard I was to be shipped off to some monster in Chicago.”

“Yeah, well, your father is a smart man. Plans ahead. So six years ago, he pulls me in and tells me I’m going to become a forest manager. I don’t ask why, I just say, ‘Yes, sir.’ Only later did he explain my job.”

“Which was?”

“To get close to you. And as fortune would have it, to become a real contender for your hand.”

“And what happened to the creep in Chicago?”

“Danny Spadoni…yeah, he lost interest when he heard you had two lovers at the same time. In fact, that made most of the Chicago contingency drop out.”

“You spread that rumor?” she asked.

“Me? Of course not.”

She glanced over and he grinned, clearly pleased that he had removed so many contenders for her hand.

“Well, for that, you have my gratitude.”

He shifted closer to her and slid his hand over her right then left leg.

“Frank,” she growled.

Suddenly the back of her seat flattened and Frank threw himself into her seat, knocking the air out of her as he sat on her stomach.

He turned the SUV off the road and brought it to a halt. He then turned, so he was on top, facing her.

“We’re here, Tess, without reinforcements. So if you want your two lovers to live, you need to make nice with daddy dear.”

He then forcefully kissed her, his teeth cutting into her lips.

She tried to push him off, but Frank had gravity on his side. Still, she managed to break the kiss by turning her head. When he attempted to turn her face back to him, she bit down on his hand.

He grabbed her hair and glared at her, pure evil seething from his eyes. “If you want to survive our wedding night, you need to change your attitude right now. This is your first, last, and only warning. I have no problem breaking you into pieces if that’s what’s required.”

Her body chilled and trembled as she remembered the brutal beatings her mother had incurred by her father.

“I call a truce,” she stated.

“No more fighting me?”

“No.”

He smiled with such satisfaction. After a few minutes, he relaxed his painful grip on her hair. “I have hopes for you, Tess.”

***

Frank climbed from the seat and then helped her out. Once she was on her feet, he plastic-tied her wrists behind her back. With an unnecessary shove, he pushed her forward to the old gray barn. When he reached the door, he called out, “It’s Frank and Tess.”

He waited a minute and then opened the barn door and held her before him, using her like a shield from bullets.

A coward, just like the monster
.

“You're late,” a deadly and familiar voice growled.

“Jules and CR only had unconscious bodies to deal with. Your daughter has been awake and nothing but trouble the whole way here.” He then explained how he had tricked her to come and how he stopped Cobbs from following them.

“You sure he took the bait?”

“Absolutely.”

Benito smiled and eyed Frank. “Maybe you truly are the one who should marry my daughter. What do you think, Tess?”

Tess had barely been paying attention to their conversation. Her eyes were glued to Steel and Dan tied to two of the barn posts. The only reason they remained standing were the ropes binding their chest and ankles. Both were slumped over, barely recognizable due to their bruised and swollen faces.

Frank jerked her arms, bringing her attention to her father.

She met the madman’s eyes. “I’ll do whatever you want. Just let them go.”

“Let them go,” Benito replied softly, then without warning, stormed to her, grabbing her shoulders. “You defile yourself with these scum of the earth and you think I’m going to let them go?”

“They haven’t defiled me. I’m a virgin.”

“She’s lying,” Frank said.

Tess remained focused on her father. “Get a doctor and have him check. I’m a virgin. If you heard otherwise, it’s a lie.”

Benito’s maddened eyes turned to Frank.

“She’s lying. Those two have been with her, at least, twenty times this week.”

Benito pulled out his phone. “I need you at Grady’s barn right away.” He then hung up the phone and focused on Tess. “If you just lied to me, Frank may have to marry a corpse.”

“I’m not lying. Frank misread the situation. While we did have meetings in the bedrooms at times, it was about park business. There is nothing romantic going on with either of them. They are very good men and you need to let them go now.”

“She said Dan was Secret Service,” Frank added.

That caused Benito to grab Frank by his collar and slam him against a wall. “When?” he roared.

“When what?” Frank asked, clearly astounded how quickly he’d fallen into trouble.

Tess couldn’t care less.

“When did she tell you?”

“On the drive here.”

Benito turned to Tess. “Is that true?”

“He’s our security guy, working on the park. However, when Frank kept yelling at me to slow down or the cops would stop me, I told him the vehicle was Dan’s and he’s Secret Service.”

“And what part of that was untrue,” Benito asked softly.

“The Secret Service part and the car’s a rental.” She glanced over at Frank, looking ready to kill her. “I’m sorry for lying, but I needed to get here as fast as possible and set things right with my father.”

She refocused on the monster. “I had planned to call you today, even before you took Dan and Steel. The four workers you tortured were enough. I can’t be the cause of other people being hurt. So here I am, your obedient daughter. I’ll marry whoever you choose and I won’t cause any more trouble. Just let them go. That’s all I ask.”

Benito smiled. “All right. Assuming you haven’t lied to me about still being a virgin—”

“I haven’t.”

“Then, let’s see how obedient you intend to be.” He walked to the corner and located his briefcase. From it, he pulled several documents. “Sign these.”

Without asking what they were, she signed page after page.

When she finished and passed the documents to her father, he smiled and stroked her cheek. “You just made me executor of Helen’s will, quit your job at the state park, and married Danny Spadoni.”

“What?” Frank yelled.

Benito stared at Frank in shock. “Did you actually think you were worthy of my daughter?”

“Sir, she is setting you up. I’m telling you, she’s been fucking both these guys.”

Benito breathed in. “Well, we’ll find out soon enough which of you has been lying.” He stroked Tess’s cheek. “I do hope it’s not you.”

She met his eyes. “It’s not.”

“She’s playing you, sir. She’s very clever,” Frank warned.

Benito pulled out his gun and shot Frank in the chest and once he was down, again in the head. He leaned over and ripped open the shirt revealing a bulletproof vest.

He focused on his sons sitting on haystacks sharpening their knives.

“Boys, come here.”

Like feral wolf pups, they scurried to their alpha male.

“This is why you shoot first in the chest, then once they go down, another to the head. The shot to the chest didn’t kill Frank because he’s wearing a vest, but it did knock him down and stun him, giving me the time to make a clean kill. Assume everyone is wearing a vest these days. Even those you trust.”

The boys nodded in unison. “Can we remove the jacket and use him as target practice? We’re bored.”

Benito sighed but nodded.

The happy feral dogs carried off their carcass and hung it up.

He thumped Tess’s nose. “You had better be telling the truth.”

“I am,” she assured him for what seemed the hundredth time. “I have trust issues which would probably have kept me a virgin for as long as I lived.”

He stared at her in confusion.

“Hearing you beat my mother,” she explained.

He smiled. “Well, be attentive to the needs of your husband and I’m sure you’ll do fine.”

His response infuriated her. Her mother did everything she could to please him. He beat her because she was kind and loving. He killed her because he wanted a new wife, someone more like him.

The crackling of car tires on gravel sounded outside. A moment later, an old man entered the barn and stopped, blinking while his eyes adjusted to the light change. “Mr. Campinelli, are you here?”

“Yes. My daughter insists she’s a virgin despite rumors which claim otherwise. I need you to determine if she’s telling the truth.”

The man frowned. “Bring her to my office and I’ll examine her.”

“No, you’ll do it here,” Benito said.

“Here? It’s too dark. I won’t be able to see anything.”

“You may use my flashlight.”

The doctor shook his head, but he set his bag on a crate and opened it. He put on gloves and looked at Tess.

“Benito, this isn’t going to work. Your daughter needs someplace to lie down—and privacy,” he added, glancing at the boys and then Dan and Steel. His brow wrinkled further at the sight of Frank hanging from the wall.

“Just do it,” Benito demanded.

“Perhaps the boys and these two could leave the barn?”