Page 12 of Princess's Revenge
I stand, let out a breath and go to the balustrade. “Come here.”
She stands with a huff and comes to put her hands next to mine on the railing.
I gesture to the open vista, “Beautiful, isn’t it?”
“The view?”
“Yeah, all of it.”
“It is,” she turns and smiles at me…it feels like I’m watching the sun rise.
“Well,” I have to clear my throat to go on, “we have to do some very ugly things in this family. That’s why we contrast the ugliness with this beauty and these comforts. Andrea, you’re the first chance that we have of making all the ugliness worth something.”
“How’s that?” This time when she turns into me, we’re inches apart. I find myself holding my breath as I stare into her eyes.
“Because you have a chance to do something with all that we’ve created, Andrea. You have our resources at your disposal and you didn’t have to do the ugly things to get it. You’re not tainted by that legacy. You’re still pure.” It’s hard to breath…I’mtransfixed by her. The words come out as a whisper, “You can make something beautiful. You’re…beautiful.”
Her scent is driving me wild. There’s an animal impulse taking control of me. I feel her breath catch and I turn her so her back is to the railing, getting my arms on either side of her—it just happens.She closes her eyes and leans in, I do the same.
*BZZZZZ!*
I jump back in surprise. It’s my fucking cellphone! I see the look of disappointment mixed with surprise on Andrea’s face.
I pull out my phone and check the caller. “I have to take this, give me a second.”
She nods.
It’s the guy who runs my private high-roller card game. I step inside and answer, “What?”
“Hey, Franky. You know that thing we talked about last night?”
“Yeah, what about it?”
“You said I should give him the fifty-cannolis? Well he’s tapped out. He’s talking about going to that big boathouse in the sky. He’s begging. What you want I should do?”
What a piece of shit gambler. Takes the credit and then wants to kill himself. Guys like him are my bread and butter.“Tell him ten points this week and it goes up by ten every week after.”
“That’s all? What if he don’t got it?”
“I don’t want him taking a trip somewhere I can’t find him. I’ll go check in a couple weeks. They’ve got that nice place in town. Certainitems.”
“Oh, I gotcha.”
“Give him a last snort and send him away with a smile. Tell him Franky said—we’ll sort something out.”
“Right.”
“Okay,” I hang up. Either the fucker pays what he owes or I sell everything he owns and make twice the profit. We talk in code on the phone in case the feds are listening. The guy in question owns a luxury furniture story.
I step back out onto the balcony and see that Andrea has been watching me the whole time.
“Hey you wanna do something? Get out of here for a bit?”
“Sure,” she flashes me another gorgeous smile, “what?”
“I feel like shooting something.”
CHAPTER 5