Accardi (Genevieve and Matteo) by Allison Franklin novel Chapter 119

Chapter One Hundred and Nineteen

Genevieve let her head fall back on the rock ledge of the hot tub she’d been simmering in for the last hour. She hadn’t gotten in the hot tub alone. One by one each of her roommates succumbed to their jet lag, Jada and Lucy were retrieved by their husbands and Alessio’s sisters were hauled away by their

mother

She was getting married tomorrow. No matter how many times she reminded herself of that, it never seemed quite real. The dress was upstairs in their closet. Het nails had been done. She’d picked out the meal they would have. She’d decided on a bouquet. All in a few hours she’d arranged the wedding of

her dreams. Perks of marrying a wealthy man.

Gen hummed to herself as she let her hands float atop the water. The sun had long since set. The bubbling water was doing a great job in loosening the coiled muscles of her back. If she wasn’t careful, she’d fall asleep like this. She felt fingers tracing through her hair and moaned as soft lips caressed her

forehead.

“You’ve called me home, Siren,” Matteo whispered. “What will you do with me now?”

“Mmmm,” Gen hummed as his hands slid into the water and his fingers skimmed the string of her bikini. “Why spoil the surprise?” she teased. She opened her eyes and smiled up at him.

He bent down and gently kissed her lips. “How was your day, Weakness?” he asked.

“Perfect,” she replied honestly.

“Good. Can I steal you away?” he asked.

She smirked mischievously up at him. “Isn’t that what you did when you brought me to Italy?”

“Look how well that turned out.”

“I can’t argue with that logic.”

Gen stood up carefully, knowing the effects the hot water had on her limbs. Matteo held a towel in one hand while offering the other to help her step out.

He wrapped the towel around her and proceeded to massage the soft, fluffy cotton along her damp skin.

“I can do that, you know,” she said, her voice filled with humor due to the stern look of concentration he wore while completing the task.

“Why?” he asked. “Isn’t this a normal duty for a husband?”

“Are you going to vow to stand outside every shower to towel me off for the rest of our lives?”

“I am now,” he said, eyes gleaming with excitement at the thought. Gen rolled her eyes and giggled. “I brought you a dress to put on,” he said, handing over a sheer white cover to slip over her swim suit. “I thought we could go for a walk.”

“I would love that,” Gen said, slipping the dress on and taking his hand.

Matteo tugged her along past the pool. He opened an iron gate and led her down a pebbled path. The walkway was canopied by sweet smelling wisterias. Lights were strung up in their branches casting the path in a romantic golden glow. The walk went on for a while, long enough to make her imagination run wild with possibilities. If there was one thing she loved about him, it was his ability to always surprise her. Soon she could hear the crashing of waves. The wisteria canopy opened up and Gen gasped at the sight.

A stone terrace, surrounded by tall trees whose branches shrouded the space in warm security, had been decorated for their wedding. Round tables with

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Chapter One Hundred and Nineteen

white cloths held plates of china, no two the same, crystal glasses and candles that flickered with the ocean breeze. Gen released Matteo’s hand and walked by him to admire the lights twinkling overhead. Her fingers caressed the soft table cloths as she approached an area where white, wooden, foldable chairs faced an iron archway. She took the three steps up onto the stone platform and stood beneath the arch. She wrapped her arms around herself as she looked out over the cliffside where the water shimmered under the neatly full moon’s glow.

Matteo’s arms wound around her waist and his lips grazed the skin where her neck met her shoulder.

“What do you think, Weakness? There are florists coming tomorrow morning so it will look a little different.”

“… You did all this?”

He chuckled softly. “No, I merely told them what I wanted.”

She turned in his arms and stared up at him. “You flew my friends here. You brought my dad. You arranged all of this…” she whispered, gesturing around herself. “And you want to know if I like it?”

“It’s all for you,” he said with a nod. “I want to make sure you’re happy.”

She shook her head in disbelief. “Do you not already know?”

“Humor me,” he said with a smile.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down for a kiss. “Every time I think I have met the threshold for the amount of love I can feel for one person, my heart makes more room just for you,” she told him. “I love you, Matteo. I would have been okay getting married at a dusty courthouse in New York. This… I never dreamed I’d be here with someone like you. I need to send Mallory a thank you card.”

Matteo chuckled. “Send her one with your new letterhead. At least drive her a little crazy.”

Gen chuckled and tugged on his hair so that he would lower his head down and kiss her again. She opened her mouth and slid her tongue along his lips, making him groan. His arms tightened around her and he drove her head back as he tried to take control of their passionate embrace. He devoured her lips and she returned the favor, wanting to express how much this day meant to her with more than words as they could never be enough. Matteo groaned in frustration and pulled away from her. He pressed his forehead against hers and sighed.

“Genevieve… Before we marry tomorrow. There is something you must know.”

“Your name isn’t really Matteo?” she asked on a laugh.

He smirked. “Well, technically my legal name is ‘M.‘”

She sat back and stared up at him in shock. “What?”

He shrugged. “The eldest Accardi is never given a legal first name. We’re supposed to only go by Accardi. My great grandfather thought it would be a good way to cement our name in the annals of history. Personally I think he just wanted to immortalize himself.”

“That’s… Wow.”

“Yes, but that’s not what I need to talk to you about. Come,” he told her, extending his arm so she could loop her hand through it.

He led her down the stairs. She looked up at her fiance and was hit with a maelstrom of emotions as she realized the next time he walked her down this

aisle, he would be her husband. He continued past the chairs to a table where a single manila folder sat. She raised a brow. He told her to sit and she turned the chair to face him. Matteo continued to stand and he rubbed his jaw as it ticked.

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Chapter One Hundred and Nineteen

“Matteo. what’s going on?”

“I promised I would never keep anything from you. As my wife and Donna I need you involved in every aspect of my business not because you need to be

but because I want you to ”

“Okay, has something happened?”

Matteo sighed and ran his hand through his hair. He got down on one knee in front of her and rested a hand on her thigh. “The day you told me you were

pregnant and we became engaged, O’Brien gave me some information.”

“From his FBI informant? Did he find Becca?”

“Yes and no. Guerra, Noah Bennett, is in a safehouse in Idaho.”

“You’re going to kill him,” Gen said, anger rolling through her stomach hot and thick.

Matteo chuckled. “Yes, I intend to. First I want to demolish him. Take everything from him piece by piece and only when he’s at his lowest point gut him like a fucking fish.”

“Can I watch?” she asked, recalling how good it felt to bring justice to Becca through Marco’s death.

Matteo’s smile twisted up at the corners and a dangerous gleam lit his dark eyes. “If you wish.” Gen nodded enthusiastically, already imagining what her strong mafia man had in store for the scum who hurt his own sister. “That isn’t all O’Brien discovered though.”

“What do you mean?”

Matteo watched her carefully and reached beside her with his free hand. He took the manila folder and brought it in front of himself. He stood up then and gripped the folder tightly as if he was afraid to hand it over to her. He sighed long, as if his decision was made, and held it down for her to take. She gently gripped the folder but kept her eyes on him for a few moments trying to gauge what could be so terrible that he was afraid to show her. She’d seen him beat his best friend to an inch of his life, she’d seen the lengths to which he would go to protect his business, she’d seen him kill. Yet, she’d never seen him this nervous. She swallowed hard as fear lodged itself in her throat.

With nerves prickling along her arms, she opened the folder. It took her a moment to understand what she was looking at. The letters at the top of the page swam a bit as she tried to force them to make sense,

“Wanted by the FBI”

Below the title was a long list of charges followed by Frankie’s full name and his photo.

Gen looked up at Matteo who had buried his hands in his pockets and clenched his jaw tight enough to crack it. She flipped to the next page: another warrant for arrest but this one for Louis. The next page was for Leo. The fourth page made her gasp: Matteo. She read the long list of charges including witness retaliation, extortion, business racketeering, sex trafficking and more.

Her chest felt fight. She put a hand to it as if she could relieve the sudden pressure there. She couldn’t breathe. Her skin tingled with sharp pinpoints of stabbing pain as if she’d been playing in the snow and was warming up too fast by the fire. Her fiance. The father of her child was wanted by the US government. Matteo knelt down and placed his hands back on her thighs for reassurance,

There was one page left. Thinking it must be O’Brien, with shaking fingers, she set Matteo’s page aside. She tried to take in a breath but her lungs refused to inflate. Cold dread wound its way up her spin along the nerve endings of her soul and threatened to stop her heart which was thudding in her chest with sharp labored beats. Her vision swam and spun as she looked down at the last person Noah Bennett was going after.

Wanted by the FBI

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Chapter One Hundred and Nineteen

Genevieve Sinclair

Computer fraud, tax fraud, extortion, money laundering, racketeering, witness retaliation, obstruction of justice… murder.