Accardi (Genevieve and Matteo) by Allison Franklin novel Chapter 145

Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Five.

Matteo pulled himself up the last wrung on the fire escape and settled down beside the bedroom window. He tested the lock and shook his head when he found it unlatched. Idiot. You’d think after he’d heard about the others, this one might be smarter, but no. It looked as though this errand would be just as boring as the others. Matteo put his lock picking kit into his pocket and slowly slid the bedroom window open.

He stepped inside, carefully placing his toes on the desk’s surface, testing his weight before moving all the way inside. There were two forms asleep beneath the blankets of the queen-sized bed. Matteo sighed and put his hands on his hips as he evaluated how to keep the second figure from waking up. He pulled out his secondary kit which was filled with first-aid supplies and syringes with the opposite purpose of healing. He found at syringe with sleeping properties and tip-toed to the opposite side of the bed as his true

target.

The woman’s eyes flew open the moment the needle punctured her arm. Matteo had

thought of that though. Her small scream was captured by the inside of his palm a

moment before her eyes fluttered closed again. He released her mouth with a sigh and

mouthed an apology, knowing what she would wake up to the next morning would

probably haunt her for years. Matteo had a score to settle though and a witness wasn’t

enough to stop him.

Matteo stepped to the other side of the bed. He leaned over the edge and placed his hand over the man’s mouth and his large pig-like nose. The prison guard’s eyes flew open and he immediately started to thrash. Matteo let him struggle for a moment, let him think he stood a chance at surviving. His eyes tried to glimpse his female companion while Matteo kept his head from moving, stealing from him that final clarity.

“My issue isn’t with her. She won’t die,” Matteo told him, suddenly realizing how soft

he’d become.

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17:58 Fri, Nov 7 GMG.

Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Five

Six months ago he would have left the man alive just long enough for the recognition to kick in, long enough to know why he was dying. Now, though, he felt the need to reassure the dying man. As if those words were enough of an assurance, as if the man knew he could trust Matteo’s words, the guard stopped struggling and nodded once, accepting his fate. Then Matteo flipped the knife in his hand and slashed the guard’s throat: quick,

clean, merciful.

The blood sprayed up onto his face and neck, saturating the fabric of his shirt and coating the hairs of his arm in a fine mist of crimson. The man gargled only once before the life left his eyes. Matteo removed his hand and sat back. He looked over to the wall of the bedroom, at the photographs. No children, at least. That was good. For the sixth time that

week he promised himself to never cross anyone without proper cause. He swore to

himself that no man would ever sit like this in his bedroom in silent reflection with his

blood coating the man’s arms.

Matteo shook himself off and climbed back down the fire escape. Leo was waiting at the

curb with the SUV already in drive. They tore away from the decrepit apartment building

and headed home. The ride was silent, Leo already knowing Matteo didn’t want to talk

about it. It was business. The fulfilment of a threat made. The completion of his plan to

tie up all loose ends and make sure the world knows not to fuck with Matteo Accardi.

Leo dropped Matteo off and drove away with nothing more than a nod of his head. He walked up the five flights of stairs. Before turning left to his apartment, he turned right and unlocked the door to the second apartment. He walked around the space, checking in

on the progress of the renovation. After Genevieve had surprised him with the greenhouse renovation upstairs, he knew he needed to get to work on returning the favor. He made plans with a contractor to renovate the second apartment on the floor and connect it to the other one creating a living space that encompassed the entire fifth floor.

He walked through the space nodding as he noted how far they’d gotten in just a few days. The kitchen had been gutted. Several walls had been taken down while the foundation of new ones had been started. He walked down the hall and into the bedroom

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17:58 Fri, Nov 7 G GG.

Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Five

that would soon be decorated as the nursery. He leaned against the doorframe as he

pictured what it would soon look like. He looked at the wall, knowing his wife would be

asleep on the other side. That knowledge made him push off the door jam and head back

toward the apartment not currently in shambles.

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After reengaging all the locks and resetting the security system, he made his way through

the apartment. As suspected, Gen was already in bed. She’d promised him she’d stay

awake but he knew better. The baby demanded a lot of rest from its mother. He kissed her

forehead before going to the bathroom. He stepped into the scorching hot shower and let

his head fall forward to soak his hair. He watched the water turn from clear to crimson.

He grabbed the scrub brush from the shower ledge and proceeded to scrub the caked

blood from under his nails. He closed his eyes and let the images of the night and the

previous five flood through his mind. He started to scrub harder as if removing the blood

from his nails would remove the sins from his soul.

Soft hands skimmed up his back and he let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been

holding. Genevieve’s fingers worked into the knots and stiffened muscles of his shoulders.

“Hand me the soap, please,” Gen instructed.

Matteo handed the bar of soap over his shoulder. A moment later her hands returned to

his back and glided more easily over the skin with the help of the suds from the soap. She

hit a certain spot that jolted through him. He let his head fall back as she continued to

pull the stress from his day, and his life, through nothing but the touch of her fingers. He

leaned forward and placed his palms flat against the tile to keep himself standing. A few

minutes later her arms wrapped around his waist and she settled her cheek against his

spine.

“Is it over? Are you done?” she asked.

Matteo sighed. He turned around so that he could hold her in his arms. He tipped her

chin up and claimed her mouth until she moaned and melted into him. He pulled back

and used his thumb to wipe the few stray drops of water from her face.

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Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Five

“It’s over,” he confirmed. “I’m done.”

“Good,” she whispered, her lids heavy. “Take me to bed, Matteo.”

He shut the water off and toweled her dry before using the same towel on himself. He picked her up and carried her to bed. She laid down with a sigh and beckoned for him to join her. Matteo gently laid his head against her stomach, planting a kiss where a second heart beat. Her fingers wove through his hair and he wrapped his arms around her back.

“Do you want to tell me about it?” she asked.

“No.”

“Are you hurt?”

“No, Weakness, I’m not hurt,” he whispered, grabbing the wrist of the hand weaving

through his hair and kissing the middle of her palm.

“I spoke with Liam Phelan today. We set up a meeting for next week,” she told him.

“Next week is no good,” Matteo said, closing his eyes as the sound of her heartbeat

thrumming under his ears started to lull him to sleep.

“Why is that? I looked at your schedule and it’s completely free.”

“There’s a reason for that.”

“And that reason is…”

“Our honeymoon.”

Gen pulled at his hair until he opened his eyes and tilted his head back to look at her

properly. One of her eyebrows was cocked upward in curiosity. “Our honeymoon? You

remember we already had one of those, right?”

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Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Five

Matteo scoffed. “That wasn’t a honeymoon. That was a break from chaos. I told you I

would take you on a real honeymoon after everything was over. After tonight, everything

is over so…”

Gen tried to fight her smile. She bit her lip but still couldn’t stop the lifting of her lip on

the right side. “Matteo… I’m not sure right now is the best time for a…”

“I know, you can’t drink or anything.” He settled his head back against her stomach.

“We’ll just have to go on a third once the baby is born and done breastfeeding.”

“Matteo Accardi…”

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“Hmmm?” After a moment of silence, he looked up at her.

She was smiling down at him, a tear threatening to spill thanks to her pregnancy

hormones… or so she would claim if he asked. “I love you.”

He smiled and winked before burrowing back down into her warmth. “I love you too,

Weakness.”

A few minutes later, Gen’s fingers were slowing in his hair and Matteo was nearing the comfort of sleep in his wife’s arms when his phone rang. Gen jolted as if her fingers had been on autopilot and the ringing had woken her up. He lifted his head and squinted his eyes at the nightstand. The screen went black and he set his head back down. Then it

started again.

“Matteo… please,” Gen begged, trying to roll away from the sound but unable to due to

his weight atop her.

“Fine,” he grumbled, pushing up on his elbows to grab the phone. “Keep rubbing though.”

She answered with a light laugh and her fingers returned to his head.

“This better be fucking important,” Matteo growled into the phone without looking at the

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caller ID.

“Matteo Accardi?” a heavily accented Russian asked.

Matteo pulled the phone away from his face to look at the caller ID. An unknown number.

“Yes?”

“My name is Sergei Vasiliev. I understand Frankie Donati is your second-in-command?”

Matteo sat back on his haunches, earning a raised brow of curiosity from Gen. He put his phone on speaker and held it out so she could hear. “Yes, Frankie is my second. Is there a problem?” he asked, already knowing the answer but wanting to understand the extent.

“You have five seconds to explain why the fuck your second-in-command just infiltrated my safehouse, killed fifty-six of my men and kidnapped my fiance before I declare open war against the three families of yours,” Sergei announced, his voice deadly.

Dammit, Frankie. Here we go.

THE END

Comments

T Taylor West

Ahhhh!! How can you leave us like this?? when will the next book come out?

7 days ago

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