Accardi (Genevieve and Matteo) by Allison Franklin novel Chapter 110

Chapter One Hundred and Ten

Matteo hung up the phone, picked up his coffee mug and hurled it across the room at the wall. The mug shattered into hundreds of pieces and he felt the pressure around his chest ease by a fraction of an inch. Then his cellphone started to ring and the pressure roared back. He took a deep breath and put the phone to his ear.

“Hello.”

“Ciao, Cugino,” Alessio said on the other end.

“I’m busy, what is it?” Matteo asked, sitting back in his chair and folding his arms.

“What is going on over there, Matteo?” Alessio asked, his voice ominous.

“Let’s see… Discovered an undercover cop. Michele tried to kill my girl. More attacks on my tracks in the last few days. Undercover cop killed my girl’s friend. Discovered Marco was my mole. My girl killed Marco. Undercover cop is now missing.”

“Genevieve killed Marco?” Alessio asked.

“With a monkey wrench.”

“Cazzo.”

“I have my hands full here trying to track down the cop. He’s gone underground. What do you want?”

“Michele called.”

“Oh, did he? What did he want?”

“He says you disrespected him. Put a gun to his head. You understand that threat cannot go unanswered.”

“He was a second away from killing Genevieve,” Matteo argued.

“Have you married her yet?”

“You know that doesn’t fucking…”

“To our family laws, it does.”

Matteo sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “He wants to fucking duel. He’s tried over and over to get into my business through different means the past few months and he’s failed. He thinks the only way to end it is to stand across from each other in a field.”

“Maybe it is.”

“You cannot be serious,” Matteo said with a shake of his head.

“All I’m saying is maybe you should think about it. Ife’s a fly on the wall, buzzing about your head. You’re the owner of the house who doesn’t leave any food out on the counter. Perhaps it’s time to get out the bug spray.”

“Since when did you start spouting off long–winded metaphors?” Matteo asked. He glanced up to see Frankie walking down the hall towards his office.

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Chapter One Hundred and Ten

“Since the lot of you have turned me into a scolding mother,” Alessio said, his voice dripping with aggression.

“I have to go.” Matteo said as Frankie neared his door.

“I would like to finish this conversation with you, Matteo,” Alessio warned.

“I’m seven years older than you and have run my family for two decades, Alessio. Just because you have the Palladino stamp on your arm doesn’t make you superior. Don’t forget who you’re talking to. I’ll call you later.”

Matteo ended the call as Frankie walked inside. He held a sealed envelope in his hands and a grim expression on his face.

“How’d the meeting with O’Brien go?”

“He’s met with his FBI informant,” Frankie said, slapping the envelope down on the desk. “Guerra‘ is in a safehouse in Idaho. He’s been communicating virtually with his superiors.”

“Any word on his sister?” Matteo asked, dreading the answer.

Frankie shook his head. “A missing persons report was filed this morning. Our guys haven’t found any trace of her yet. Based on the fact that it was Marco who did the deed…”

“She’ll never be found,” Matteo said, letting out a weighted sigh.

His gaze locked on movement down the hall. He noticed Genevieve running into the ladies bathroom. He narrowed his eyes. She’d just come from the direction of the elevator. When had she left? He grabbed his phone.

Accardi: Did you know Gen left the building?

Leo: Seriously? It’s just fucking insulting now.

Accardi: Where’d she go?

Leo: Out.

“Accardi?” Frankie interrupted, clearly annoyed.

“Sorry, do you have an address for Guerra’s hideout?”

“In the envelope, supposedly.”

“What did O’Brien want in return?”

A moment of silence fell as Matteo ripped open the envelope. He glanced up with a raised brow to find Frankie trying and failing to hide a grin.

“What?” Matteo asked again.

“Mallory.”

Matteo’s brow rose higher. “He wants Mallory? He has her, doesn’t he? He won her in the auction?”

“He wants you to take her back. He wants a refund. Says she’s useless except for a good fuck and he doesn’t need to pay for that,” Frankie said as if he was

3:48 pm M

Chapter One Hundred and Ten

quoting word for word.

Matteo chuckled. “There are no refunds at the Royale. He can auction her off next year. Poor girl.”

Frankie shrugged. “O’Brien’s a good guy. She’ll be set up pretty nice for the next year: job, money card, freedom. Not like if she was sold to Sergei.”

Matteo detected a sudden shift to hostility. “What is with you and Sergei? He’s never bothered you before. In fact I recall you waxing poetic about some of the fucked up things he did to the Rubanov family before they settled their differences.”

“He’s a fucking scumbag who should be wiped from the earth,” Frankie growled.

Matteo sat back and studied his second. If he didn’t know Frankie down to the bone, he might actually shiver in fear at the expression he wore. It was one he didn’t have often: the look of impending disaster for whomever had wronged him.

Matteo shook his head and sighed. “Whatever it is, just wait until this shit is all over. I don’t need a war with the Russians on top of everything else.”

“So I have your permission?”

Matteo took another moment to watch his friend. Both brows shot up as reality hit him. He smiled from ear to ear. “You found a girl.”

Frankie’s expression twisted into disbelief. “What? Pfft, no,” Frankie stuttered. “Do you have a dimple, Man?”

“Classic deflection.” Matteo shrugged. “You found a girl. It’s okay. Happens to the best of us.”

Matteo finally managed to get the envelope open and pulled out a few pages. He scoured the first page detailing the three possible safehouses Guerra could be hiding out in. There were a few pages of printed emails to his superiors dating back months. Matteo’s name was highlighted on many of them as was Frankie’s, Louis‘, Leo’s… Gen’s.

“With Marco gone, I’ll have to do the tech work myself. I’ll use the emails to trace what server he’s using and narrow down the house. Then I want you to take a team and…”

The words died in Matteo’s throat. He’d gotten to the last six pages of the report. He took the first image out and turned it over on his desk. He continued like this until the last image. His fist clenched around the picture, crinkling it.

“When did O’Brien’s guy say Guerra was submitting his report?” Matteo asked, his voice soft.

“Two days.”

“Two days,” Matteo repeated,

“What’s up?” Frankie asked, stepping forward to see what Matteo was looking at. He took the pictures and his face turned from curiosity to rage. “What the

fuck? Is he serious?”

Matteo turned the picture in his hand around for Frankie to see. His eyes bulged and he gripped the desk to keep from collapsing out of shock. Just then Genevieve exited the bathroom. His eyes trained in on her as she leaned back against the bathroom door with a large smile. She turned her head toward his office. She gave herself a sharp nod and started in his direction. She must have taken the medication he made Leo pick up for her and something must have worked because as she walked toward him, her hips swaying, her lip caught between her teeth, her hair in an updo that showed off the slender curve of her neck, he could have sworn she was actually glowing.

“What do you want to do?” Frankie asked, his expression that of a determined soldier ready for battle.

“I want to meet O’Brien myself. Organize a meeting. Call Juliano and see if he can trace the emails for me.”

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Chapter One Hundred and Ten

“And these?” he asked, holding the picture up.

“I’ll call Alessio. Don’t let her see them,” Matteo warned, ripping his eyes from Gen’s radiant presence to send Frankie a look that told him to do what he fucking said without argument. “I’ll leave here in a few minutes. Get O’Brien on the phone immediately. I want to meet him as soon as possible.”

“Right.” Frankie swiveled on his heel and went for the door.

Just as Gen raised her hand to knock, Frankie opened the door with a flourish. He discreetly held the photos behind his back as he mock–bowed his Donna. She smiled up at him, her joy so palpable it even made Frankie’s hardened expression soften and his eyes to twinkle as if mesmerized. Gen stepped past him and Frankie gave Matteo a look of curiosity. Then Matteo met her gaze and found himself struck again by her transformation from earlier. She bit her lip as she tried to rein in her smile, an action that made him want to lurch across his desk, free her lip, and scold her for hiding her light from him.

“Can I talk to you?” she asked.