Accardi (Genevieve and Matteo) by Allison Franklin novel Chapter 61

Matteo glared across the hospital bed at the four bouquets sitting on the side table. They were meant to be for their first date. He had planned on showing up at her door, arms loaded down with the four large bundles of flowers. Instead, Alexander had brought them in along with a “Get Well Soon” card signed by everyone in the office. He’d been staring at them for hours, listening to her heartbeat through the monitor like a metronome. She luckily hadn’t needed any surgery. She received a few dozen stitches, needed her arm put back in its socket and plenty of fluids, but overall she wasn’t in bad shape considering where she’d spent three days.

Matteo sat back in the chair and pulled his eyes away from the flowers to look at her peaceful face. He jerked slightly when he saw her bright eyes open and looking at him. He was afraid to move. He didn’t know how she was going to react to seeing him. The fear of her pulling away from him again as if she didn’t recognize him was enough to paralyze his entire body. Her eyes continued to watch him for a few moments before she turned her head and stared up at the ceiling. She licked her dry lips.

“Where’s Jada?” she asked, her voice a bit hoarse.

“She was here until about an hour ago. Louis wanted her to get some rest,” Matteo explained. “I can call her and…”

“No,” Gen interrupted. “I don’t want to see her.”

Matteo’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Gen, I…”

“Did you kill them all?” she asked, still looking blankly upward.

Matteo swallowed hard, unsure how she would react. “Yes.”

“That’s a shame,” she whispered almost to herself.

“Gen, please let me…”

“What about Leo?” she asked, her lip trembling slightly at the name as if she was terrified to speak it. “Is he…”

“He’s alive,” he said softly. She let a breath slowly out as if a weight had just been lifted from her chest. “He’s right down the hall with his fiance. He’s going to be okay. If you want you can…”

“I want to know what you’ve gotten me involved in,” she interrupted again.

Matteo sat straighter in his chair. He looked at the door as if someone had their ear pressed against it, listening in. “No. I won’t let you

get involved in this life.”

“Matteo…” she said softly. His eyes slowly ticked back to her. The sound of his name on her lips again was life–giving. It warmed his stomach, set his skin alive with jitters. It brought him back to reality. Their eyes connected and he gulped at the sheen of unshed tears glistening in her eyes. “Look at me.”

He did. His eyes moved over her pale face and the purple–yellow bruising on her still swollen cheeks and eyes. He looked at her hair,

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normally vibrant and silky, it had been washed but still looked dull and knotted from laying in bed. He looked at the bruising along her neck, down her arms where tubes interlaced with each other before entering her skin. He looked over the parts of her hidden beneath the

blanket, knowing what lay beneath because he’d inspected her carefully after the doctors were done. He looked back at her face, at the beauty that could never be diminished even after everything she’d gone through. She licked her lips again and his eyes tracked the movement with envy. He wanted to crawl onto the bed and hold her in his arms. All he needed was one word of encouragement.

“I’m already involved,” she said instead. “I deserve to know.”

Matteo bit the inside of his cheek hard and sat back again. “What is it you want to know exactly?”

“All of it.”

Matteo sighed and scrubbed his face with his hands. He placed his elbows on his knees and sat forward. “My family came over from Italy

in the early 1800s. We quickly found a place for ourselves in the underbelly of New York City.”

“Drugs,” Gen said as if she was certain.

Matteo shook his head. “No, not drugs, not guns, not sex… liquor and gambling were our main endeavors.”

“Gambling is legal now,” she said, shaking her head as if he were still lying to her.

“I’m not talking about sports betting apps, Weakness. I’m talking about underground card games, secret casinos, illegal races…” He flexed

his calloused fists. “Fighting. To name a few.”

Her misty blue eyes looked back at him. “Animal fights?”

He smirked dangerously. “Depends on what you define as animal.” Gen went silent again and looked back up at the ceiling. “We have a few clubs, secret locations all across the country but most are focused in New York. We take the dirty money we earn and funnel it through our legal betting enterprises. Hire a schmuck who will take our money and place a bet with the promise he’ll get a certain

percentage.”

“O’Brien’s men in Austin,” she guessed.

“No, they can’t be affiliated with a crime family. They have to be a regular Joe off the street.”

“Is that what happened with me?” she asked, showing emotion for the first time. “You cheated someone out of their percentage?” She

quickly swiped a tear that spilled down her cheek before going back to smoothing the sheets tucked over her body.

“No,” he whispered quietly, his voice clogged with guilt. “The man who organized your kidnapping used to be a member of our club in which we host fights. He lost a lot of money and Louis threatened to go to his dad if he didn’t pay up. He didn’t want his dad to find out so he thought he could threaten us into dropping the issue. Instead of taking Jada like he’d planned, he went after you for some reason.”

Gen shook her head. “It wasn’t him. It was the guy he hired. The guy you…” she stopped talking as if a lump had lodged itself in her throat. She blinked a few times, trying to dry the tears that threatened to spill. “I can’t do this. I need space from you. I want to go

home.”

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“They said you can be released in a day or two and then I can take you back to your apartment and give you some time to…”

“No, Matteo. I want to go home. To Boston.”

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Matteo’s stomach coiled. His fists tightened on the arms of the chair he sat in. So many thoughts and emotions wrangled in his mind for

dominance. He latched on to the one he could control, his anger.

“You have a contract, Geneveive. You have five more months with Accardi Industries.”

Gen closed her eyes. “I’m allowed one week paid vacation.”

Matteo let out a breath and sank back into the chair. “Yes, you can stay at the apartment and…”

“I want to go home.”

Matteo’s fists clenched painfully. “That’s not necessary. I’ll give you space. I understand what you went through is pretty traumatic but

you’ll stay in New York where I can keep you safe. If you don’t want to be at the apartment you can stay at the safe house.”

**Pretty traumatic,” she repeated in a whisper. “Keep me safe?” Her ice–blue eyes locked with his. “I was tied to a chair and beaten for…”

Gen looked around, obviously just now realizing she had no idea what day it was. She closed her eyes and shook her head. “You killed

someone right next to me. I could feel his blood…” She held her hand up and traced her fingers over her face. She pulled her hand away

and looked at it as if she expected the evidence to still be there. She fisted her small hands. She closed her eyes again and swallowed

several times, trying to wrangle her emotions. “I need to be away from you.”

“No.”

“I need time to think and come to terms with what happened.”

“You can do that here, Genevieve,”

“I want to go home and be with my friends.”

Matteo stood up and took two very controlled steps toward her bed. He placed his palms delicately on the bed and leaned over her. He

gripped her chin and turned her head so she was forced to meet his gaze. Her defiant eyes flashed in a way that reminded him of the

video. Did she see him as her adversary right now?

“I’m not letting you go, Genevieve,”

Her mouth twitched into a scowl. “You’ve never had me in the first place, Accardi,” she hissed. His eyes narrowed at her use of his surname. “Not really. I don’t know who you even are. The Matteo I was going to dinner with would have never…”

“Oh but he does. Don’t you dare claim to not know me, Weakness. You know me better than my own mother. God rest her soul. You’ve

seen parts of me no one else has. You’ve unlocked things in me no one knew were hidden. If you think I’m going to let you…”

“What about the things everyone else sees?” she suddenly asked, shoving his hand away from her face. “Yeah, maybe I know certain parts

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of you that others don’t but what about the other things? The things you display to the world day in and day out? The mafia boss who cuts peoples‘ hands off? The fighter who beats people up to earn a few extra bucks? The crook who uses innocents to funnel money?” She crossed her arms. “You can’t have it both ways. You’re Matteo to me but Accardi to everyone else as if they are two different people. You are Matteo Accardi and until you’re willing to show someone both sides at the same time…” Gen looked away as if she’d finished the

conversation.

Matteo stalked away. He leaned against the side table and rubbed a lily petal between his fingers. He plucked the full bloom and turned back to face her. Gen’s curious face turned to a scowl as if she hadn’t just been admiring the flowers he’d brought her. He smiled and her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

“Fine,” he said.

“Fine?” she asked, raising a brow.

Matteo walked over to the bed, smoothed some hair away from her face and placed the petal behind her ear. His thumb traced over her cheek and her eyes fluttered.

He nodded. “Fine. I’ll let you go home.”

“You’ll let me?” she asked, flicking his hand away again.

Matteo ignored the gesture. His hand moved to her jaw so he could hold her face tightly in his hand. “Yes, I’ll let you go to Boston. You have one week from the time you’re discharged, Miss Sinclair. Then I expect you back at work.”

Matteo looked her stubborn expression over one last time, memorizing it for what would be the hardest week in his life.

“And then what, Mr. Accardi?” she asked, crossing her arms as he pulled away.

He shrugged. “I suppose that will be up to you, now won’t it?” It took every ounce of strength Matteo had to walk away from her bed.

“No guards,” she said as he got to the door. “I want space. I can’t do that with your men breathing down my neck.”

Matteo didn’t answer. He wasn’t going to make any promises. If he couldn’t be with her for a week and she wanted to go to a different state than him, she would have someone there to make sure she stayed safe. He turned to leave when a nagging thought popped back in his mind. He gripped the doorframe and turned to find her holding the lily in her hand, smoothing the petals with her fingers.

“Why Frankie?” he asked. She looked up, startled, having expected him to have left already. “You’re terrified of him. Why would you trust him over everyone?”

Gen sighed and laid her head back. “He was the only one I recognized. The only one who has never hidden his true self from me.”

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