Page 138 of Made in Love and Blood

“I asked to do it, too,” Frankie spoke up.

Carmine sighed, barely glancing her way. “He still—”

“I asked to go somewhere like that. I asked to do things with him that he liked to do here. I wanted to do all those things with him. We are equally responsible.”

“Frankie,” Nico murmured to her, pleading with his eyes for her to stop.

She wouldn’t.

“I can’t say I’m gonna do it again,” she admitted, “but I’m a legal adult, and so what I do in my own private time, is none of my father’s business.”

Carmine blinked, standing a little straighter. “Is that so?”

“Yeah, it is.”

“Frankie,” Nico repeated.

She ignored him altogether. “Thank you for the message. I’ll call my father when I’m ready.”

Carmine glanced back at Nico just as the nurse bent over his side to remove the IV from his arm. “Frankly, the man doesn’t want to speak to me again unless it’s to confirm to him that I’ve laid eyes upon you both and have passed along his messages. Anything else is not required. His words not mine. You’re both lucky. I’ve got a good mind to...”

He didn’t finish the threat.

Frankie didn’t even care. “Are you done?”

“Babe,” Nico urged quietly, “stop.”

“No,” she told Nico firmly, “I won’t. Thank you,” she added to Carmine, needing this to be over with. “Thank you for coming at the right time, and looking out for us, but that’s enough now. You can go.”

“When I’m finished,” Carmine replied blithely.

“Excuse—”

He turned on Nico, interrupting her altogether as he said, “Your message—you’re to have dinner with your father at his home on Monday. You know what time he likes to eat, so be there. Salvatore will see you when he sees you, otherwise. Understood?”

Nico nodded once, jaw tight. “Yep. Got it.”

“Good. And now I’m done,” the man told Frankie as he headed for the door. “And you’re welcome for the new room. That’s covered, but only until Sunday evening. Don’t be here Monday morning, or my men will personally escort you onto a private plane. I promise, that will not be enjoyable for either of you. Enjoy your last night, and tomorrow’s a new day. A better day. I suggest you both use it wisely.”

The nurse took her leave shortly after Carmine. The woman hadn’t even asked their names, or any details about the situation when she showed up to do her job.

The silence in the room grew between them like nothing Frankie had ever known. She didn’t know what to say to him, and every breath she took hurt until each one came faster, harder, and felt like she wasn’t getting enough air at all. The panic attack took over as her tears spilled and she started throwing thing after thing within her reach at Nico.

He took every single one. The pillows from the bed and the small bowl of candies left by the staff. The notebook and pen on the nightstand. His bag. Her shoes.

She threw things she didn’t even look at—just grabbed.

Nico didn’t say a thing. He didn’t move an inch.

“I’m so sorry,” he told her when she’d finally threw herself out and just sat on the floor and cried. “I didn’t mean for that to happen.”

“You almost died, Nico!”

“I shouldn’t have brought you here. I shouldn’t have taken you to—”

“I wanted to do all of that, too!”

Her scream shut him up.