Total pages in book: 157
Estimated words: 154525 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 773(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154525 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 773(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
“Couldn’t hurt me if you tried,” she told him again through more sniffles and hiccups.
“I gotta calm down,” he admitted.
She nodded. “Okay. And what, you need to leave to do that?”
“Yeah.”
She looked up at him, not the least bit afraid. “So, where are we going?”
“You can’t.”
She fisted his jacket, throwing familiar words back at him. “Fight me.”
Given what he’d done earlier, she had real nerve to look him in the eye and say that. Except she knew the truth. Said so herself. He could never hurt her.
16. — the thing about Chicago...
Staten Island, New York
Salvatore, Gallo Estate
The drum of his fingers against the desk did little to distract Salvatore’s racing thoughts. He couldn’t drag his stare away from the clock on the wall across the room.
The second hand taunted him, the minute hand continually reminded him, but the hour hand sealed the deal. It had already moved five digits since he first entered the study and began taking phone call after phone call until he couldn’t take it anymore.
Other than the people whose calls he couldn’t ignore, he pretended that the buzz in his pocket didn’t exist until it stopped altogether, likely because of the time. He silenced the phone on the desk, as well, although it continued lighting up every so often. Less, now. He would only pick that phone up if one of the estate numbers called, as it meant Larkin had something on Frankie and Nico.
Salvatore continued drumming his fingers as he massaged his temple with his other hand, willing the tension headache to lessen. That shit started right about the time when Nico landed his first punch against Marco and had yet to let up.
He didn’t hear the person come to stand in the study door until she cleared her throat.
“Hey,” he murmured.
Carina leaned against the doorframe. “Any news?”
“No.”
“I figured. So, they checked everywhere?”
“That they can. Nothing at the penthouse. Nothing in Vauxhall.”
Carina surveyed her nails before asking, “Bank accounts, cards?”
“Nothing new on Frankie’s. It took Larkin a bit for Nico’s. Turns out he, uh, drained it a month or more ago. I don’t even know where he’s stashed the cash or if he did something with it.”
“Are you coming to bed?”
“Not yet.”
“Sal...”
He checked the clock again. “It’s not three yet.”
“Didn’t you kill the curfew?”
He had, yes. And yet, he waited.
“I just think...”
Carina sighed, and shifted from one foot to another, hugging her silk robe tighter. “You think what?”
“That three will be my sign.”
“That they’re not coming back, you mean,” she said.
He shrugged, leaning back in the chair and finally letting the beat of his fingers against the wood come to a stop.
“You’d think the car being found at the airport would have been your first clue that they wouldn’t be back tonight,” his wife said, only sounding a little judgmental.
“You know, one of those is your children, too, my love.”
She smiled in that way of hers; it meant he’d just stepped in a huge pile of shit without even realizing it.
“Both of them are my children, if you think about it. But let’s not, so it doesn’t get weird.”
“Sorry,” he muttered.
“And both of them are adults,” she added.
“Eighteen does not make her an adult!”
“The law says it does.”
He glared at her. “Carina, get real. The law—”
“The army says it does.”
“Carina.”
“That trust fund you handed over the moment she turned eighteen also probably sounded a hell of a lot like do whatever you want.”
“Are you trying to make this worse for me?”
Her grin faded fast. “Sal, best case, they’re dipping out for a couple of days to figure out what the hell just happened and what they want to do about it.”
He blinked at her. “I don’t know what’s to figure out. Nico went ballistic. Now they’re gone.”
She pointed at him, nodding. “Mmhmm, right there. See, there’s a reason he did that, and maybe he’s not shared the reason with her, so now he has to. From what I saw, you didn’t really give him a chance to explain it to you before you sent him off, either.”
“Yeah, to calm down. We still had guests everywhere.”
“Okay, maybe that’s why they left. He needs to calm down. Away from here. Away from us.”
“With my daughter?”
“You’re assuming she didn’t go willingly? Frankie, really?”
Salvatore avoided his wife’s pointed stare.
“This has happened with him before,” Carina added after a beat of silence between them. “Where he’s taken off for a few days to get himself back in order. It’s happened more than once. You know it, and I know it. Even his father knows it.”
Salvatore cringed. “Not right now, his father doesn’t.”
“Probably for the best,” Carina replied. “Anyway, the only person who doesn’t know it, is Frankie.”
“Worst case here?” he asked his wife.
Carina smiled again and laughed under her breath.
“Why is that funny?”
“What’s your worst case here?” she asked him instead.