“You are fuckin’ shittin’ me,” Ben growled, making it to his kitchen.

“I’m not. Got that, but yesterday, I got more.”

Fucking brilliant.

More.

“What?” Benny bit out.

“PI down there, sleazebag and middleman for a variety of shit, he’s got himself a job trailin’ some boy who’s boinking his secretary. Guess where that boy works?”

“What the fuck?” Ben clipped, now taking the stairs to his second floor two at a time.

“This shit is not good shit, whatever this shit is. But I do not know what this shit is and I do not like that. So I’m gonna find out. I also know two hits called on two folks who work where Frankie works, this PI—who is not a good guy, Benny, he’s a piece of shit—if he’s involved, I’m not likin’ this at all. I got friends down there. They’ll put a man on Frankie until my boy gets down there to take over.”

Ben stopped dead in his bedroom. “Why’re you doin’ that?”

“Why?” Sal clipped. “’Cause this is Frankie. She could be standin’ in a field in the middle of the day and a dead body would drop on her.”

He was not wrong.

Frankie got born into a family who bounced her around, didn’t give that first shit about her, and caused her headaches to that day. Her first and only real boyfriend before Benny got involved with the mob, then was murdered. Her play for redemption with his family got her shot. Now she had a job where people were getting whacked.

Fuck.

“Why is the computer guy a target?” Ben asked.

“No fuckin’ clue,” Sal answered.

“You know if Frankie knows him?”

“Nope, but I do know the boy who’s bangin’ his secretary has a job title just like Frankie’s, ’cept it says ‘west’ and not ‘east.’”

“A close colleague,” Ben muttered, making a decision. He put Gus on the floor and went to his closet. He pulled out the bag that had seen a lot of use the last months, telling Sal, “I’m gonna be on the road, headed down there in ten minutes.”

“Got a boy already on his way, Benny. He’ll trail her everywhere, keep an eye. You got the restaurant.”

“No disrespect, Sal, and I mean it this time, but I’m not a big fan of one of your boys trailin’ Frankie.”

“You think she’ll make him?” Sal asked, and Benny’s brows shot together.

“You weren’t gonna tell her this shit’s goin’ down?” Ben asked back.

“Fuck no, figlio. She knows this, she’ll stick her nose in. She’s in that field and that body that drops on her?” he asked, but he did it not wanting an answer. “It’d be a friend she was helping.”

He had a point.

Ben tossed his bag on the bed. “That’s not why I don’t want one of your men on her.”

“He’ll take care of her, Benny.”

“That’d be my job,” Ben returned.

Sal was silent.

Ben wasn’t.

“Explain to me your take on this.”

“Got no take,” Sal replied. “All I know is that it’s not good and Frankie’s in the firing line.”

That was Benny’s take.

“She’s got a guy who works with her, forgot his first name but last name’s Bierman,” Ben told him. “He’s a dick and Frankie says he’s targeting her boss for a takedown.”

“Another hit?”

Fucking hell, the world Sal lived in.

“Office politics, Sal.”

“Oh,” he muttered. “Right.”

“To get to her boss, he’s got his eyes on Frankie and her colleague,” Ben told him. “You got a name behind the ordered hit?”

“Don’t work that way, Benny. Only thing exchanged is money and the name of the guy goin’ down.”

“What’s the name of the guy goin’ down?”

“Peter Furlock.”

“You got a guy on him?”

“Don’t give a fuck about him.”

He’d grabbed shit from his drawer and was tossing it into his bag when he told Sal, “I gotta call the cops on this, Sal.”

“You cannot do that, Benito Bianchi.”

Ben went solid at his tone.

“I got my name all over Indy askin’ these questions,” Sal stated in a cold voice. “You put the cops on this, they stick their noses in, me askin’ around, one and one will make two, and that’ll fuck me. Don’t got a lot of business in Indy, but the business I got and the relationships I got I wanna keep. I ask around about somethin’ the cops get wind of and move on, my name takes the kind of hit I don’t like. I love you, figlio, but no one fucks me, even you.”

Goddammit!

He should never have asked Sal to get involved. He knew it. Problem was, this was about Frankie, it was important, and he had no one else to ask.

“Then you put a man on that guy,” Ben returned.

Sal was silent.

“Sal, put a man on that guy or we got problems,” Ben said quietly. “I do not want to have problems with you for obvious reasons. And I do not want to have problems with you for Frankie.”

“I’m pretty sure it hasn’t escaped your attention that I’m not in the business of doin’ good deeds.”

“Get in it for Frankie,” Benny replied.

“How in the firing line is she?” Sal asked.

“I don’t know what’s goin’ down with these hits, Sal, but I figure from what she’s told me, the PI was likely hired by Bierman. This could mean he’s got the same on Frankie. The hits, I’ve got no clue. The PI, it fits.”

“Right,” Sal prompted when Benny took a breath.

“There’s weird shit happening with this guy that’s beyond office politics,” Ben kept going. “I’ve never worked in an office, but it seems way over the top to hire a PI to find dirt on some random member of the team in order to take out a bigger fish. Frankie’s keepin’ clear, outside of cataloging all the weird shit that’s happening. Her assistant is not. She’s stickin’ her nose in with a posse of other women who probably don’t like this guy and wanna see his ass canned, but are maybe puttin’ themselves in harm’s way.”

“Detail, Benny.”

“I don’t have it.”

“Get it,” Sal ordered. “Get down to Frankie. You take her ass, I’ll take Furlock’s ass. And you want me to solve this quiet-like, you keep your ass in that ’burg and you just became a Giglia foot soldier.”

Ben’s throat started burning and he growled, “That shit’s not happening.”

“In my brand-new good deeds department, Benny,” Sal said on a sigh.

Benny drew in a deep breath.

Then he made another decision.

“I gotta make some calls about the restaurant. I gotta pack more shit. Then I’m on the road. In the meantime, you find out if she’s got a PI on her.”

“Done. You get info, call me.”

“Done.”

“Take your gun, Benny,” Sal advised.

Fuck.

“You got a bad feeling,” Ben guessed quietly.

“About Frankie? Don’t know. About whatever this shit is? Yes. Definitely,” Sal confirmed.

“Right. Later, Sal.”

“Later, figlio. And Benny?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re a good man.”

Great.

He had approval from Salvatore Giglia.

Sal disconnected.

Ben went to find a bigger bag.

***

“What?” Frankie asked on a muted scream thirty minutes later when Ben was in his SUV, heading down to the ’burg. He’d called Frankie to tell her he was coming for an extended visit.

She sounded partly freaked, mostly excited.

He liked the excited, wasn’t big on the freaked, and more, wasn’t big on the fact that when she found out why he was coming down, that freaked would get freaked.

“I’m headed your way. I’ll be at your place around the time you’ll be at your place and I’ll explain everything when I see you.”

She sounded a lot less excited and now quietly freaked when she asked, “Explain everything about what?”

“Babe, I’ll tell you when I see you.”

“Is everything okay?”

Absolutely not.

“I’ll see you in a few hours and explain it to you then.”

“Is Theresa okay?” she pushed.

“Yes,” he answered.

“Vinnie?”

“Yes, honey.”

“Manny and Sela?”

“Everyone’s okay, Frankie,” he said patiently. “There’s just somethin’ you need to know and somethin’ I need to do.”

She gave him a beat of silence before she stated, “This is weird, Benny.”

“I know, baby. But I’m not sayin’ anything while you’re at work. A few hours, you’ll have the story.”

“While I’m at work?” she asked leadingly.

“Babe,” he said a lot less patiently. “I’ll. Explain. Everything. When I see you.”

“Yeesh, Ben. Come on. You’re bein’ mystery man. I’m gonna be curious,” she replied.

Ben sighed.

“Oh shit,” she muttered.

“What?”

“I’m going out with Cheryl tonight.”

“Not anymore.”

“Ben, honey, she’s lookin’ forward to this.”

“She can look forward to it another night.”

“I love you. I want to see you. I’ve been away from you not three days and I’m freakin’ thrilled I’m gonna go home and you’ll be there, or I’ll be there and you’ll be there right after me. But she’s a sister. You don’t tell a sister who needs to get laid you can’t be her wingman, bagging on her last-minute.”

“You cannot be serious,” Ben stated, hoping she was not.

“I totally am.” Her voice lowered when she finished, “I’m sorry, honey. Hopefully she’ll hook up fast and I’ll get home early.”

Ben made another decision. “I’m comin’ with.”

“Holy crap, you can’t do that,” she returned immediately, sounding shocked. “I can’t be a wingman with my boyfriend with me.”

Ben clenched his teeth.

Then he said, “We’ll talk about this later too.”

She read his tone and he knew it when she replied, “Probably a good idea.”

“Leave at five, babe.”