I couldn't imagine how the Whites would torture Frankie if he gauged my eye out.
As I'd expected, his eyes widened at the mention of the White family of Gothville. He asked, "You're part of the White family?"
I answered honestly, "I'm a third-generation member of the family, as well as its heir."
Frankie was floored. He repeated incredulously, "Heir?" Then, he burst out into laughter.
"Kid, if you'd said you were a distantly relative of the Whites, I would have believed you. Do you think I'm dumb enough to believe that you could possibly be the heir to the White family? Why would the White heir come to Welsington and have dinner at such a run-down place? You must be kidding me!"
Elaine leaned over curiously. "Mr. Russo, are the Whites a powerful family?"
Frankie scoffed and said, "Let's put it this way. If he really turns out to be the heir to the White family, our lives are ruined for good."
"They must be very powerful!" Elaine's eyes widened in surprise.
However, she soon broke into giggles."William, oh William. Even if you were making stuff up, you should have stuck with something more realistic. If you were going to say that you're the heir to the White family, you might as well just claim to be next in line to the royal throne!
"Right, Mr. Russo. I nearly forgot to tell you. The kid even put on a show for us before you came. He made a phone call and threatened to get some powerful people to help him out. It's hilarious, really. No one came!"
Frankie frowned and said disdainfully, "Stop wasting time talking to the boy. Wrap things up with him. I've got many things to do."
He shot a meaningful glance at one of his minions, Paxton McLean, who immediately grabbed my arms and forced them behind my back to prevent me from moving. The other held my head.
Without hesitation, Frankie stabbed at me with his cigarette.
I snapped my eyes shut immediately.
Agony washed over me as the burning stub pressed onto my eyelids.
I gritted my teeth to stop myself from screaming.
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