Accardi (Genevieve and Matteo) by Allison Franklin novel Chapter 144

Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Four

Matteo held his phone in one hand and half his world in the other. He hadn’t expected the sonogram picture to look like anything more than a peanut. That’s what they always

looked like in the movies. While waiting for the x-ray machine to become available to

evaluate the extent of Genevieve’s broken cheek bone, an obstetrician had come in to

check her pregnancy. Gen was only around seven weeks along but they could still get a picture… but first they listened to its heartbeat. He could still hear that quick little

drumming sounding through his ears despite O’Brien’s manic rambling coming through

the speaker of his phone.

If hearing his child’s heartbeat had undone him, seeing his wife’s face light up and her

eyes mist over completely shattered him. The words she’d spoken to him while gripping

his suit jacket in her desperate fist would stick with him forever.

“We have to protect him, Matteo. Whatever it takes.’

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Whatever it takes. That’s why the moment he’d arrived back at the apartment, while everyone settled down in the living room to eat pizza and decompress from the chaotic events of the past… months, Matteo had started making calls. He wanted everyone to

know he was out of prison. That he was back in the game. That he was done fucking

around. There was no more room for failures.

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What happened with Giovanni that started this entire ordeal? Another blind spot like that

couldn’t happen. It wouldn’t. Every member of Accardi Industries and Accardi family

would be re-vetted as soon as possible. An attempt to claim his organization? Never

again. He would make sure to plant one of his team in every family within the state to keep their ears to the ground. The death of his mom, his brother… He looked at the sonogram. He would make sure everyone in every circle heard about the lengths he’d go through to protect his family, his growing family. There was no more room for doubt, for letting up, for letting his guard down. There was only her and, he looked back at the

sonogram, whatever this little thing would be.

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Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Four

“… to meet at the restaurant tomorrow and explain to him what exactly went down

because I know he’ll want an explanation,” O’Brien finally finished.

Matteo couldn’t necessarily blame him for his one-sided rant. While Emmett had apparently always known Maisy wasn’t his full-blooded sister, he’d always treated her like

one.

“And the alleged rapes she endured?” Matteo prompted, not having heard him mention

anything about that particular accusation.

Emmett released a long, heavy sigh. “I never knew. She never mentioned anything to me.

But… I believe her.”

“What are you going to do about it?”

“Maybe this is the week for fathers to own up to the sins they’ve committed against their

children,” Emmett suggested.

“Glad to hear it,” Matteo said with a sigh of his own. He wanted to get back to his family.

He wanted to see Gen, to hold her and fall asleep with her. He’d been aching for it for

nearly a week. “One last thing before I let you go. I want you to arrange a meeting with

the Phelans. I want to know what their hand was in all this. We have a feeling our

business with them isn’t over.”

“Yeah, I’ll give Liam a call. See if he’s willing to arrange something,” Emmett answered, his voice despondent as if his mind was already on the soon-to-be confrontation with his

father.

“Thanks. I’m sorry, Emmett. I really am.”

“Yeah me too,” Emmett answered. Matteo went to pull the phone away when Emmett’s voice broke through the air. “Oh yeah, I almost forgot… Congratulations. The perfect girl,

now a child. You’re a lucky man.”

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Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Four

Matteo’s eyes cut to the picture, still being held between his thumb and index finger. “Thank you, Emmett. I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Sure thing.”

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Matteo hung up the call and set about putting the sonogram in a small picture frame he

and Gen had picked up before grabbing the pizza. He set it on his desk beside the last

family picture in which his father was alive and the one with himself, his mom and

Antonio at last year’s Christmas. He nudged the picture slightly to the right, leaving space

for a wedding picture of he and Gen. He rolled his desk chair back and went to find her.

Laughter echoed down the hall from the living area and he found himself smiling before

he even crossed the threshold. After orders were given at the warehouse and the cleanup

crew had been organized, Genevieve invited everyone to their home. Alessio and Raphael

were seated at the kitchen island, bickering in Italian over the quality of pizza in New

York. Louis was on the couch with Jada’s head resting in his lap discussing Conor’s plans

for the future while Conor himself stoked the fire in the fireplace. She’d even invited Don

and Juliano who were engaged in a not-so-friendly game of darts with Alessio’s guard,

Roberto. But there was no Genevieve.

Matteo backtracked through the apartment, checking all of the bathrooms, the bedroom

and sunroom. He returned to the living room.

“Where’s Gen?” he asked.

Jada glanced up at Louis with a smile as if she was keeping a secret and needed permission to spill. Louis nodded and she turned to face Matteo. “She’s upstairs on the

roof.”

“What?” Matteo growled, already turning for the door while shaking his head. “She’s

supposed to be resting!”

“She’s not alone!” Juliano called after him as if to defend his Donna.

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Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Four

“Yeah, Leo and Lucy are with her,” Don explained.

Matteo threw the door open. “What the hell are you all doing here if you can’t keep track of one woman? And clean up your mess! We didn’t pay to get this place cleaned just so

you can trash it again in one night.”

Matteo stomped up the stairs toward the rooftop garden. He knew it would be difficult to

make her stick to the doctor’s recommended two weeks of rest, but he thought he could

get at least one night out of her. When he opened the door to the roof, his feet paused on

the threshold. She’d hung up lights. They stretched from pole to pole from one side of the

roof to the other, illuminating the varieties of vegetables and flowers he’d planted with

Mrs. Henderson months ago. As he walked, his feet crunching on the pebble path, he

noticed all the raised beds were freshly weeded which made the soil look a dense,

nutrient-filled brown. He lifted his eyes toward the greenhouses and blinked a few times

to try to clear his vision because there was no way he could be seeing what he was.

Matteo walked through the open door of the center greenhouse. Leo looked up from

where he sat perched on one of the beds. He smiled at Matteo’s expression of shock and

cleared his throat. Matteo looked to his right and noticed Lucy walking out of the third

greenhouse with a watering pail. She smiled even bigger than her husband, making

Matteo’s brows rise to his hairline. Lucy had never once smiled at him. She set the pitcher

of water down and turned back toward the greenhouse.

“Hey, Gen, baby is begging for food so I’m going to go feed it,” Lucy called.

“Okay!” Gen yelled back. “I’ll stay here. I just want to get this cleaned up before Matteo

comes looking for me. Thanks for your help!”

“No problem, Hun,” Lucy said with a chuckle. As she passed by she gripped Matteo’s

sleeve. “I still don’t like you,” she whispered. She bobbed her head back to the door. “But

for her, I’ll put up with you.”

“Glad to hear it,” Matteo said back with a genuine smile of his own.

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Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Four

Lucy patted his sleeve and went to join her husband. Leo placed his arm around her waist and hoisted her up bridal-style before walking her through the door. Matteo heard humming coming from the third greenhouse. He swallowed hard and walked toward it. Gen was standing in the center aisle. This greenhouse had been the first one his great grandfather had built. He’d filled it to the ceiling with plants from back home. Up until nearly a year ago, the garden had flourished. Then Matteo had slipped. It all seemed to

crumble from there. But that was then.

Just as she had done to him, Gen had somehow breathed new life into the greenhouse.

Where a few weeks ago there was only cobwebs, dusty glass, broken boards and starving soil, there was now greenery, shimmering glass, bright flowers and… her.

Genevieve,” Matteo whispered, his voice getting lost somewhere beneath the lump that

had formed halfway up his throat.

Gen’s head shot up and she dropped the broom she’d been using to sweep up a missed

pile of soil. Her face turned crimson and she smoothed, the apron tied about her waist. She smiled and gestured around, as if she’d had a speech prepped but because he’d

startled her she’d forgotten it all.

“What have you done, Weakness?” he asked, still watching her from the doorway.

“I-I know this greenhouse m-meant a lot to you and your family,” she began, her stuttering making the gesture even more endearing. She started toward him. “After you’d left Italy I saw all these beautiful flowers and remembered how your great-grandfather brought a bunch of clippings over and started this garden. I could see the pain in your eyes when you looked in here…” Gen was in front of him now but she didn’t reach out for him. Instead she twined her fingers together in a nervous gesture. “I talked to Alessio.

Asked if he could help me out. They arrived a few days ago.”

“When were you able to do this?”

She pursed her lips to the side and shrugged. “Last night.”

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“Last night?” he asked, finally reaching out to place his hands on her waist. She let out a breath as if she’d just been waiting for his touch to reassure her.

She nodded. “That’s why I invited everyone over for pizza. I had promised it last night but…” She looked around. “It took a lot longer than I’d expected.”

“No kidding,” he said.

“Do you like it?” she asked on a whisper as if she were actually worried he wouldn’t.

Matteo took a moment to look around, to let it sink in. Matteo’s ancestor wanted everything in the greenhouse to be native to Italy, his family’s home, its origin. More than that, he wanted it to teach the Don of the family endurance, patience, to remember the smallest organism needed constant attention and nourishment. He’d failed in that.

“About a year ago, I wanted out,” Matteo said, unprompted. “I wanted to leave this life behind, to do what Conor is doing now. Sell it all off apart from a few businesses: Accardi Industries, Valentina’s, maybe a few other restaurants.” Gen looked up at him with her ice-blue eyes that could melt him to the core, completely absorbed, completely in tune with him. “There was no reason for me to continue this family legacy. It took my family from me. My father. When it took Antonio and my mom too…” He looked around. “I burned it all down. I was going to get out. I was planning for it.” Matteo touched her uninjured cheek. She leaned her head into his palm. “Then you asked me if I needed a light. You came into my life because of Jada. Because of this life my ancestors had built. I was able to track you down because of it. I could afford to hire you because of it,” he said with a chuckle. “I’m not saying I want to do this forever or that I want this life for our children…. But meeting you has taught me that my role in all this is bigger than some

bloody knuckles and a few funerals. It gives as much life as it takes.”

“What were you going to do?” she asked quietly.

He smirked down at her. “Become a car mechanic.”

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She laughed as if she couldn’t help it. “A car mechanic? Really?”

He smiled with her. “Yeah, but cool cars, maybe set up a garage in Italy.”

“Ah, I see,” she said, still laughing. “So not some dumpy garage in the Bronx working on

Gremlins?”

He pulled her closer. “Maybe at first. Everyone needs to start somewhere.”

“Funny enough my first client was a car shop in Boston. I think I still have their number. I can give them a call if you want, see if they are in need of an apprentice,” she suggested,

only half teasing.

“Maybe,” he said. “One thing at a time.”

Matteo placed his hand over his wife’s stomach. They both turned to look out at the

beautifully restored greenhouse.

“It’s going to take a lot of work to keep this up,” Gen said with a sigh as she leaned fully

against him.

He wrapped his arm around her and squeezed. “It is,” he agreed. “But as long as you stay right here,” he began, tucking her head under his chin. “I’ll never be able to fail again.”

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