Accardi (Genevieve and Matteo) by Allison Franklin novel Chapter 98

Chapter Ninety–Eight

It was nearly two in the morning. Matteo was finishing drying the dishes Gen had just washed despite his many protests. Her argument that the water would ruin the fresh bandages on his knuckles was enough to make him compromise and let her do the washing if she let him dry and put away. She’d spent half an hour painstakingly cleaning his knuckles and making sure they were bandaged properly. All while he made small innuendos and touched her with his free hand, loving how he could make her squirm. He set the plate down on the counter and cast a glance her way. She was falling asleep on the stool she sat on. He needed to get her to bed. Then someone started banging on the door.

Gen jumped in the stool, now wide awake while Matteo opened a drawer to his right and pulled out a handgun. Her brows shot up at the speed with which he switched off the safety and stalked across the apartment.

“Stay,” he ordered.

He kept the gun by his side as he looked through the peephole. The muscles in his body relaxed as he recognized the person on the other side. He rolled his eyes and turned to Gen.

“You have a visitor. Hold the fuck on, Jada!” Matteo yelled through the door as he started the long process of unlocking it.

Gen got down from the stool just as Matteo opened the door and Jada came storming inside. Matteo already knew what would come next and walked to his office.

“I’m divorcing him!” Jada yelled, heading straight for the kitchen.

*Uh… hello?” Gen greeted as Jada started rifling through the drawers.

“Hi. Where’s the booze?” Jada asked. Matteo returned to the kitchen island and held out the glass decanter from his office. “Thanks.” Jada uncapped the bottle and poured a hefty amount into a glass of her own. She threw it back and winced at the taste.

“So… What’s going on?” Gen asked, leaning against the counter opposite of Jada.

Jada threw her head back in aggravation. “I didn’t want him working at the club. He has a gambling problem so I didn’t think it was wise to have a gambling addict working at a club with gambling,” she said, sending a pointed look at Matteo.

“You didn’t want him working in the field with me, either,” Matteo reminded her. “Or leave New York to work somewhere…”

“I’m not talking to you,” Jada quipped back, making Matteo raise his hands in the air and turn away.

“You’re lucky I’m in love with your sister,” Matteo mumbled under his breath as he pulled out his phone, earning a smile from Gen that made his chest feel tight.

“So you’re mad he gambled tonight?” Gen surmised.

“Six thousand dollars, Gen! He bet with two different people and lost six thousand dollars!” Jada yelled.

Matteo was stunned. Louis hadn’t bet in ages. He had been doing better. “Jesus, I don’t know who he bet with, they know not to take his money at the betting booth,” Matteo said, looking down at his phone and pulling up Louis‘ contact.

“Um, about that…” Gen said.

Matteo glanced up, scrutinizing her expression. “You?”

Chapter Ninety–Eight

“You!?” Jada screamed.

“Yikes, Jade, you need to lower the decibel. Yeah, we had a bet and he lost.”

“What was the bet?” Matteo asked, intrigued. She glanced over at him and smirked. “Oh,” he said with a roll of his eyes before going back to his phone.

“Oh, what?” Jada asked.

“Nothing, it’s not important.”

“It is to me!”

“It’s only six thousand. I know what he makes and he can stand to lose six thousand,” Matteo interjected.

“Is that so? How much money do you have in your account, Accardi? How many back up funds?” Jada started going through the drawers again. “What’s six thousand every week, hm? That’s 312,000 a year! What if something happens and we need a quick escape, hm? What if I get pregnant and we need to move, hm? What if…”

“Jada, what on earth are you looking for now?” Gen asked, eyeing the cutlery drawer Jada was going through as if the sound was causing her physical pain.

Jada held up one of their sharpest steak knives. “I’m cutting out my tracker.”

“Don’t do that,” Matteo said with a sigh.

“Why not? I hate being lowjacked. I might just leave this apartment and go somewhere he will never…”

“He’s already here,” Matteo said, placing his hand on the back of Gen’s stool.

“What?!” Jada screeched again making Gen wince.

“I texted him the second you walked in,” Matteo said with a shrug.

“Matteo,” Gen said with disapproval. “We shouldn’t get involved.”

“He’d do the same for me.” He leaned down so they were face to face. “Do you hear that?”

Gen rolled her eyes and pushed him away just as the door to the apartment opened and Louis strode in.

“What the fuck, Jada?! You can’t just walk out on us talking and steal my fucking car!”

“Oh, I see, so you can steal my money but I can’t take your car?”

“It’s not your money, it’s my…” Louis snapped his mouth shut.

“Oh, hell no. Gen, give me the key to the old apartment.”

“Gen, don’t,” Louis ordered despite the fact that Gen hadn’t moved. “We’re going home. Now,”

“Fuck you. Why don’t you go stay with your sister since the two of you are being buddy–buddy now anyway.”

“You see what you’ve done?” Louis asked Matteo.

2/4

3:40 pm M

Chapter Ninety–Eight

“What have you done?” Gen asked, looking up at Matteo.

Matteo opened his mouth when Jada beat him to the punch. “He’s told Louis to take Mallory to the Royale rather than taking his one fucking wife!”

“Dante’s family will be there, Jada. I don’t think…”

“I can handle those fucking…”

“Oh for Christ’s sake!” Matteo said, slamming his fist down on the marble. He shoved off the counter and walked toward the door. “This is my fucking house.

My private residence. I’m a Don for fuck’s sake not a fucking therapist.” He walked back to Jada and handed her the key to the spare apartment. “Code is

1233. Get the fuck out.”

“Thanks,” Jada said with a proud smirk as she walked away and past her husband.

Louis turned on his heel and followed after. The yelling began again before Matteo even slammed the door shut. He grumbled to himself as he put the locks

back in place and set the security system. All the while Gen watched him from her stool, thoroughly amused. He walked back over to her and held his hand

out.

“So, tell me about this ‘Royale‘ Jada mentioned,” Gen said as they walked hand in hand through the apartment.

“It’s an event we’re going to on Friday,” Matteo answered.

Gen pulled on his hand, stopping them in the hallway. “Oh, is it?”

Matteo placed his palm against the wall, forcing her back until she was caged between it and his body. “Mhmm, a charity thing I have to attend every year. You’re going with me this year.”

“I don’t recall you asking me to go,” she said with a raised brow and a look of mock irritation.

“That’s part of your punishment.”

“Is that so?”

“Mhmm, you see it’s not really a charity function. It’s more of an event where every upper class criminal gets together to… discuss business,” he told her, leaving out many important details. “I decided your punishment is going to be having to go in blind.”

“And why is that?”

He shrugged. “I want to see how you do. See if you got what it takes.”

“To be your girl?” she asked with a raised brow.

He lowered his head until their lips were nearly touching. “To be my Donna.”

“And if I fail? What then?”

“Hmmm,” he thought for a moment, trying to think of the best response to throw her off. “I guess I’ll have to kill you. And him.”

Accardi