Ben.

"Get rid of him," I finally say.

"Copy," Drake says.

I listen to the sound of Drake's car speeding up and the sounds of traffic behind him.

I hear the sound of various cars honking followed by tires screeching.

I bite my lip before I intervene.

"Wait, Drake stop. Don't touch him," I say.

I can tell Drake is shocked by my words when he takes a moment to respond.

"Are you sure? He asks.

"Yes. Don't question me," I say as I hang up angrily.

I run my hands over my face in frustration.

Frankie would never give me the time of day if I killed Leo. As much as I wanted him out of the picture, I wanted Frankie more.

FRANKIE.

"So I'm really sorry about the way I reacted towards you in Seattle. I just didn't know what to do and I lashed out on you," I explain.

"Frankie, it's okay. I already told you that I was over it," he chuckles as he takes a sip of his drink.

Claude and I were currently having lunch together at one of our favorite spots in Florida.

I decide to come down there for a few days to see him.

Since Seattle we haven't really communicated much nor did we hang out because of the way we left off.

It was really weird for us because we never stop talking to each other for days at a time.

"Well thank you. I was afraid we weren't going to talk nor see each other again," I say.

"And miss your graduation? No way," he smiles.

I still couldn't wrap my head around the fact that I was graduating this Saturday. It was all surreal to me that I will finally be done with school.

"It's so bittersweet," I frown.

"I bet it is. High school graduation was like that. Especially since you moved and we had to graduate separately," he says.

"That was pretty sad. I was so convinced that we'd walk that stage together. Then that whole Ben thing happened and next thing I knew, California,"

"Yeah but that's all in the past. At least we see each other most of the time and Ben is.." he trails off.

I couldn't help but be curious.

"What did you guys do about Ben?" I ask.

He sighs.

"Well from what I know, your brothers are trying to find out how they knew to contact you. Especially with the notes," he points out.

"Most importantly they're trying to find him. He's pretty much been MIA since the whole thing and none of us can find a trace of him," he finishes.

I slowly nod my head.

"How do you feel about all of this?" He asks.

I sigh.

"I don't know honestly. I didn't really expect Ben to be back in our lives after all this time. It was very unexpected and now that it's happened, I don't know how I feel," I say honestly.

He nods his head in understanding as he takes a bite of his food.

Slowly chewing on mine, I internally debate on telling him what's on my mind.

After a moment of silence, I decide to speak up.

"Claude, I want to see him," I say.

He slowly meets my eyes.

"What do you mean, Frankie?" He questions.

"I feel like there's so much I can get from him if you guys allow me one conversation with him," I say.

He sighs.

"Frankie I don't think your brothers would ever put you at risk like that," he states.

"I know which is why I was kinda hoping you could keep it between the two of us," I plea.

"Frankie are you actually insane?" He exclaims.

"I know, I know. I just feel like there's just so much that we don't know. I want closure, don't you? Just one conversation tomorrow. " I ask.

"No Frankie. There is no closure. We're not doing this whole thing again," he says.

"Claude I only told you this because I wanted you to know. I'm doing it regardless," I say.

"So you know where to find him? He questions.

"I don't, but I have an idea. Either way I just wanted you to be there just in case," I tell him.

He shakes his head and sighs.

"Fine, I'll come. If the slightest thing goes wrong, I'm telling your brothers and I mean it Frankie," he says sternly.

"Thank you so much Claude," I say.

He responds in an annoyed tone but nevertheless keeps conversation flowing.

"Have you talked to Xander about working at the company yet? It's almost that time," he says.

"I have yet to do that. I'm really looking forward to working for them though. I'm excited to see what I can do for them event wise," I smile.

"I'm glad to hear that. You know I was thinking of moving to Seattle or California permanently. You guys are the closest thing I have to family and I wouldn't want anything more than to be near my family," he explains.

I couldn't help the shocked expression that I wore on my face.

"Oh my God Claude! No way! I exclaim.

He chuckles.

"Yeah. I've been in Florida all my life and the only thing really keeping me here was you guys. Now that y'all are no longer here, I feel like there isn't much for me here anymore," he says.

"I know my brothers will be so excited to have you closer to us now. It'll be amazing," I smile.

"I'm of course going to need someone to come house hunting with me," he says.

"Duh! Imagine going with anybody else?" I chuckle.

"I could list a few," He smiles.

I scoff as he laughs at my reaction.

I couldn't wait to get back home so I could help Claude search for his new place.

____________✍🏾

"How'd you even find this place?" Claude asks as we overlook the waterfall.

"He showed it to me," I simply say.

"It's a nice view. A bit scary but overall nice view," he says.

"Yeah. I was terrified the first time I was here. I even jumped off this cliff," I say as I smile remembering the pure adrenaline.

"He convinced you to jump?" He asks.

I nod my head.

"I can't believe I did that," I reminisce.

I look up to see him looking at me.

More like studying me.

Until I see his demeanor change completely as he stares at something behind me.

I turn around to see the familiar blue eyes that I saw only a while ago in Seattle.

More of his tattoos were on display and they covered both of his arms.

My eyes met his as we stared at each other and I found it hard to look elsewhere.

His eyes then fix on something behind me and he smirks.

"Nice to see you Daniels," he says.

"Wish I could say the same to you," Claude says.

Ben only chuckles.

"I'm guessing you aren't here to reminisce about old times," he says.

I shake my head.

"I want answers Benjamin. Honest ones," I say.

"Why the sudden change now? The last time I tried to talk to you, you could barley look at me," He mentions.

"I haven't seen you in years. You don't exactly look the same. You're definitely not the same person," I comment.

He looks down.

"That's life Frankie. I don't know what more to tell you," he shrugs.

"What do you want from us?" I ask him.

He takes a step closer to me.

"I already told you Frankie. I want you," he says.

"That's absolutely disgusting," Claude comments.

I turn to give him a look to which he shrugs his shoulders.

I turn my attention back to Benjamin.

"I don't understand why you're putting so much energy towards me and my family. We haven't doing anything to you," I say.

"Are you sure about that?" He asks while glancing at Claude.

"It's not like you didn't come for us first," Claude says.

I squint my eyes in confusion.

"Wait you guys have been fighting each other this whole time?"

"Only because this clown and his circus decided that they would start killing our men in order for him to try and win you back," Claude says.

"Let's not pretend that from the moment you all moved across the country you haven't threatened my sister and fathers lives," Benjamin shoots back.

"Yeah. You guys needed to know your place," Claude simply shrugs.

Benjamin steps closer to him with a cold glare.

"My sister and father had nothing to do with it and you all knew that. I always tried my best to keep Frankie out of the mix." He says.

"Well that didn't go so well did it?" Claude asks.

"Notice how all the times Frankie was in danger was on yours and the others' watch? Never on mine. I did a better job at keeping her safe than you ever did," Benjamin says.

"Notice how all the danger she's ever been in was because of you? Your pathetic uncle was the reason she was in that situation anyway," Claude says.

"Why do you think he was the first person I killed? I can handle my problems and anything that gets in my way," he smirks devilishly and it makes my stomach turn in the worst way.

I didn't like this new version of Benjamin at all.

He gives me a glance and I stare into those blue eyes that are so familiar yet so foreign.

I couldn't bring myself to say anything to him.

He turns around and begins to walk away.

"We also handle our problems better than we used to," Claude says before I hear a sound of guns cocking.

I whip my head around to see Claude now accompanied by Leo pointing their guns at Ben.

My face instantly twists into one of horror.