Skin Read Free Page B

She was back to square one.
    “Did you see anything out there that did it for you?” she asked her trusty assistant.
    “Not like what just walked out of here.”
    Great. Frankie stepped out into the anteroom. A dozen sets of hopeful eyes zeroed in on her. She forced a smile and began her scan of the room. From left to right, her gaze paused at each hopeful, their smiles promising to deliver, but her radar instantly dismissed them. When she came full circle, she made another round, this one cursory.
    Nothing.
    “I’m sorry, gentlemen, if I’ve wasted your time, but you’re all excused.”
    Before any one of them decided to take their frustration out on her personally, Frankie ducked back into her office and shut the door. She turned to wide-eyed Tawny.
    “Call Images and find out who else they have. If they’re dry, go to Models, Inc. If they can’t come up with the goods, find me an agency that can. We need a centerfold like yesterday. I was hoping to start shooting tomorrow.”
    “I’m on it, boss.” Tawny scurried out of her office, leaving the door wide open.
    Frankie shook her head. Tawny wasn’t the brightest bulb in the chandelier, but she could type, trash talk, and cajole a fish out of water. She was also loyal in a business that didn’t recognize loyalty.
    Getting up, Frankie closed her office door. Impulsively she picked up her phone and pressed a number. She needed Anthony off her back, and there was only one person who could deliver that.
    “Donatello.”
    Just the sound of her father’s COO (the PC word for consigliere) warmed her. “Unk, I need your help.”
    “Anything for you,
cara mia.
What do you need?”
    “Get my brother off my back.”
    Deep laughter filtered through the airwaves. “What has he done?”
    Unk never gave Tony enough credit. Maybe now Tony was looking for some payback?
    “He thinks he can fire me.”
    Silence.
    Alarms rang in her head.
    “Unk?”
    “I’m here.”
    “Talk to me.”
    “There seems to be a few gray areas with some of your father’s business.”
    Frankie felt as if her stomach just thudded to her feet. “Such as?”
    “Skin.”
    “Skin
is mine!”
    “Si, cara,
I know. I’ll settle things, do not worry.”
    A modicum of relief soothed her. She had complete confidence in Unk’s word. It was gold. However, she didn’t share his tactics in making it a done deal.
    “Look, I want what is mine because it’s right, not by default — or any other means.”
    “Of course,
cara,
I would expect nothing less. The last thing we want is more family distress.”
    By that, she knew he meant blood on his or her hands.
    “Any word on Father’s will?”
    “Aldo hasn’t produced it. But of course I can’t produce Aldo.”
    Another mystery. Her father’s personal attorney, Aldo Geppi. Gone. Disappeared. But then, with her family, nothing struck her as mysterious. People disappeared all the time. Some returned, but most didn’t.
    “But there
is
a will?”
    “There is a will. We’ll have to be patient a little longer.”
    And she could rely on her uncle to keep Anthony under his thumb. She needed time. “Can I meet you later?”
    “Of course. My office around five.”
    She chewed her fingertip. “Five is too early.” Knowing Carmine Donatello never left his office before eight on any given weeknight, she asked, “How about if I bring some of Gina’s cannoli for later. We’ll have dessert.”
    Rich laughter poured through the phone. Frankie smiled. The man she loved most in the world had returned. “You know I can never resist Gina’s cannoli.”
    And he had the belly to prove it. Since her first memory, Unk filled the shoes her father refused to step into. He was also the man who bridged the gap between father and daughter and brother and sister. It was Unk who stood quietly in the background in case she needed a hand up when she fell too hard. He had been a godsend after the Sean debacle, when her father fired her.
    It was Unk who threatened to