Accardi (Genevieve and Matteo) by Allison Franklin novel Chapter 64

Genevieve followed the path of Frankie’s finger toward a bench a dozen feet away. She gasped slightly at the man sitting there, his right arm in a sling. She started to run. Leo stood up from the bench as she got closer. When she was within a few feet she came to a

screeching halt and glanced over his person.

“… Can I hug you or will it hurt?” she asked, shyly.

“I think it will be okay,” Leo said, opening his left arm for her to step into. Genevieve delicately wrapped her arms around Leo’s waist. “Not a long one though,” Leo whispered above her head. “Frankie will tattle.”

Genevieve laughed and pulled away. Leo took a step back and sat down on the bench again. Gen followed suit and sat beside him.

“How are you feeling?”

“Uh. I’ve been better but I’ll make it,” he told her, looking down toward his chest.

“Leo, I’m so sorry this happened, I…”

“Don’t, “Leo interrupted. “None of this was your fault, Miss Sinclair.”

“Back to calling me ‘Miss Sinclair,‘ huh?” she joked, though it did hurt.

“I’ll be back to guarding you soon enough. Best to remain professional,” he told her with a nudge.

“You two are so cute,” Frankie said, standing in front of them with an exaggerated expression of adoration.

“Go fuck yourself,” both Leo and Gen said at the same time.

Frankie clasped his hands together in front of him and batted his lashes. “See?”

Gen rolled her eyes and looked at Leo who was sending Frankie a look that could kill. “You shouldn’t be here, Leo. You should be at home

resting with Lucy waiting on you hand and foot. How did you manage to get out of the house like this?”

Leo shrugged and winced slightly. “She understood.”

“Hah!” Frankie barked. “Is her screaming at you that if you left to never come back ever again a normal interaction?”

Leo glared. “She’s hormonal.”

Gen gasped. “Lucy’s pregnant? Congratulations!”

A shy, prideful smile lit up Leo’s face. “Thanks, she’s just worried, is all. The fact that I’ve been doing this for twenty years…”

1/4

9:08 Tue, Nov 4

Chapter Sixty–Four

“Fossil,” Frankie coughed into his fist.

“… doesn’t seem to matter to her.”

“She’s carrying your baby. Shockingly she might want you to stick around to see it born and grow up,” Genevieve offered.

“Yeah, well we might not need to worry about that much longer,” Leo said, nodding to Frankie as if it was time to get to the point.

“What’s going on?” Gen asked, looking between the two.

Frankie sighed. “Look, we are definitely not supposed to be telling you this.”

“As in, if Accardi found out you knew, we’d both be thrown into the river,” Leo added.

“With or without our heads still attached,” Frankie supplied further.

“So maybe don’t tell me?” she asked, not liking the image they painted.

“Accardi is in trouble,” Leo said.

92

Fear raced up Gen’s spine, telling her then just how little her recent situation had affected her feelings for Matteo. “What’s going on? Is he okay? Do we need to get to New York? I can get my bag and…”

“I knew it!” Frankie hollered, sending a fist bump into the air. “I knew you wanted him. Hah!”

“Shut up, Frankie,” Leo growled.

“Tell me what’s going on,” Gen demanded, one second away from stomping her foot.

“There’s about to be a civil war,” Leo continued.

“Accardi is one of three families,” Frankie explained. “One is in Italy and run by his cousin Palladino.”

“And the other is in New York and is run by the Galantes,” Leo said. “There have been some rumblings.”

“Not rumblings, Man, I spoke with Palladino myself. It’s happening.”

“Fine, there has been some intel leading us to believe Galante is going to make a move on the Accardi family,” Leo said.

“And what exactly do I have to do with all of this?”

“Galante knows who you are,” Frankie said.

Gen swallowed. Her palms became sweaty. “You think he’s going to kidnap me and use me like the other guys did?”

2/4

9:09 Tue, Nov 4

Chapter Sixty–Four

Frankie and Leo exchanged a glance. “No,” Leo said carefully. “There would be no kidnapping.”

“Just an accidental fall from a bridge,” Frankie added casually.

“Frankie,” Leo hissed.

A

92

“What? She wants to help, she should have all the information. Accardi wouldn’t tell her that, he’s too caught up in the vajayjay.”

By this point, Gen’s heart rate was at a dangerously high level. “I don’t understand. Then if I’m Matteo’s…” She swallowed and shut her eyes, “weakness, then shouldn’t I get as far from him as possible?”

“If you didn’t bite dudes‘ lips off when threatened, then, yeah, maybe,” Frankie said with a tilt of his head from side to side.

“You’re a strong woman, Miss Sinclair,” Leo said. “You’ve made a big impact on Accardi. You’ve leveled him out.”

“That’s what Frankie said,” Gen whispered, looking down at her intertwined fingers.

“You’re intelligent, capable, strong and devoted,” Leo continued. “You would make the perfect Donna.”

“Okay,” Gen said, her nervous energy preventing her from sitting any longer. “What the fuck is a donna and why do y’all keep telling me I

need to be one?”

“It’s a lady boss,” Frankie explained cheerfully. “The woman who leads the family.”

“The heart,” Leo confirmed. “Valentina was a great Donna. As Accardi’s mother and Donna to the family before Accardi took over, she helped run the family when it was at its most prosperous.”

“Helped?” Frankie scoffed. “After Accardi Sr. died she ran the bitch.”

1

Leo nodded in agreement. “A Donna is a strength, Miss Sinclair. Not a weakness.”

“But a woman dragging a Don along most definitely is,” Frankie argued.

“So you want me to be a good girl and sit in Accardi’s lap and tell him I’ll be his wife?” she asked dubiously.

“No,” Leo said quickly.

“Well…” Frankie said, rubbing his chin.

“No,” Leo said. “We just want you to decide. Put the man out of his misery already. He’s been much happier but he’s distracted. He needs his head in this, Miss Sinclair. So you need to either own up to your feelings for him…”

“I don’t…”

214

9:09 Tue, Nov 4

Chapter Sixty–Four

:

“Or,” Leo interjected forcefully. “You need to let him down easy so we can all move on.”

20

🙂)

92

“This is too much. The entire weight of a family’s success is on my shoulders? I don’t think so. We met in a fucking bar because I lost a bet! That’s it!” Gen started to walk away, hoping some distance from the negotiators would help her think.

Frankie caught her by the wrist and spun her back around. “He is thinking of giving it all up,” Frankie growled in frustration.

Gen’s eyes widened. “What?”

Leo stood up. “He told me in the hospital after you’d left, Miss Sinclair. The man will do anything to be with you. Even if it means tearing

down an empire if you say so.”

Comments

1

Write Comments

SHARE