Total pages in book: 157
Estimated words: 154525 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 773(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154525 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 773(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
“Yeah. Where’s Nico, anyway?”
“Carmen asked if he’d read a bedtime story; Vanna said yes. I had to beg him to go, he didn’t want to leave me alone. He didn’t think I would be okay. I guess I wasn’t.”
“You are okay. You handled that situation better than he would’ve, and I don’t mean disrespect to Nico by saying so. He would really give Marco what he deserves, but Nico would pay for doing so ultimately.”
Regrettably, Salvatore wouldn’t get that dance he wanted with his daughter. The bedtime story must have been a short one, as Nico re-entered the room with annoyance written heavily across his face. It didn’t take long to figure out why when Marco’s date followed close behind him in heels that really weren’t made for running.
“Would you fuck off,” Nico snapped loudly. “To literally fucking anywhere, Mina.”
“At least let me say goodbye, baby.”
“No.”
All he saw passing him by was the red swish of his daughter’s dress. Salvatore wouldn’t have had the time to react if he’d thought to try.
He did say, “Frankie!”
But she didn’t hear him.
Salvatore headed after her anyway. Five steps too late for what she planned, though. Nico hadn’t scanned the room for Frankie, heading for another connecting one. Mina followed. So did Frankie. Marco’s date grabbed Nico by his arm at the same time Frankie snatched her by her wavy blonde hair.
Frankie grabbed Mina at the scalp, fingernails and all. She yanked her back so hard that the girl stumbled in her heels, and then she held her until Mina’s neck muscles visibly strained from the strength of Salvatore’s daughter holding her in place.
“Frankie, stop,” Salvatore ordered.
Nico, turning back, muttered only, “Shit.”
“I know I fucking told you not to touch him, didn’t I?” Frankie asked Mina, those maroon smoked eyes of hers narrowing viciously. She pulled on the girl’s hair again, forcing her closer to the floor. “Bitch, I will hurt you.”
“You’re hurting me now!”
“Good.”
“Frankie, hey,” Nico said, stepping closer again. “Come on, babe. Let her go.”
She looked his way, arching one eyebrow high. “Oh, I will, when she learns—”
“What the fuck?” came a snarl from behind everyone.
Marco came in fast, pushing between the two girls to break them apart, but in the process, Nico headed straight into the fray. Salvatore moved then as well, knowing this would lead nowhere good. In the scuffle, Frankie’s backside hit the floor.
The ruffles of her dress flattened over her midsection as Marco helped Mina stand, and told the story they had tried to keep hidden. Nico was not fast enough to get in front of Frankie before his older brother saw the swell of the secret pregnancy.
“Holy shit, she’s fucking pregnant?” Marco asked.
Nico’s shoulders tensed.
Frankie’s eyes widened.
Salvatore stepped between Marco, and his daughter and her fiancé on the floor. “Take her to the car, Nico.”
“She’s fucking pregnant, bro!” Marco hollered, clapping.
The bigger problem? Currently standing in the connecting entryway. Giorgio.
“Party’s over,” the man uttered, eyes blazing. “My office. Everyone. Now.”
•••
Salvatore hated Giorgio’s office. The whole third-floor wing where it belonged. An entire section made up of wood paneling that soaked in years and years of bad energy, untold sins, and cigar smoke.
“Where’s Nico?” Giorgio demanded, standing behind his desk.
Salvatore stayed near the door, ignoring a smirking Marco. “Escorting Frankie to the car; he’ll get here when he gets here.”
“I said everyone!”
“My daughter is not your responsibility, Giorgio.”
The man pointed a beefy finger his way. “You...you have seriously overstepped your bounds, old friend.”
Salvatore sneered blatantly. “We are not friends, Giorgio. I am a tool at your disposal, as you made very clear to me each time I had to pick up a phone call from you; every fucking check I wrote; all the orders you gave. Friends? Please.”
“Matty,” Giorgio demanded.
The enforcer, never far from his boss’s side, even if he blended in well with a crowd, appeared at the door. “Yes, boss?”
“Find Francesca. Bring her here, now.”
“He won’t find her. She left in a different car than she arrived. Said vehicle will change within three miles of this house, then change again, and within the hour, she won’t even be in this fucking state,” Salvatore informed, his tone the same as it would be had he been ordering breakfast from his favorite diner. “You see, I know the games you like to play, Giorgio, and so when I tell you that my daughter will not be a piece you think you can move on the board, I mean it.”
Giorgio’s stare burned with his growing hatred. “I see you and I are going to need to revisit all the ways you can learn, Sal.”
“I learned quite well the first time around.”
Matty still stood in the doorway. “Am I finding her, or...?”
“Watch the halls,” Giorgio barked. “I’ll see the girl on another day, I’ll make sure of it.”
“You got it, boss.”