“Frankie, princess…” Dad reaches for me but I step back.
“No, don’t touch me. I love you, Daddy, but I love him too. And if you can’t put my happiness above your own issues with me dating, then you obviously don’t love me as much as you claim.”
With that, I turn and leave. Hudson is waiting in the foyer. He wraps his arms around me. “I fucking hate when you cry.”
Alfie picks that moment to walk into the house. “What’s going on? What did that ass do to make you cry?” he asks me.
“It’s Dad,” I tell him, wiping at my face.
Alfie pulls me out of Hudson’s arms and hugs me to his chest. “Don’t cry, sissy. I’ll talk to him,” he says, kissing the top of my head before letting me go.
I don’t tell him there is no use talking to Dad. He wasn’t even listening to Mom, and he almost always listens to her.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Iwant to go and get her. Ishouldgo and get her. She shouldn’t be facing the wrath of her father alone. This is the reason she’s pushed me away for so long.
“You know he’s not going to kill her. He wants to killyou,” Elias says from his spot on my sofa. He’s watching me pace back and forth.
“What if he talks sense into her? What if he makes her realize I’m not actually good enough for her?” I ask him.
“Pfft, please. If anything, it’s her who’s not good enough for you, Emilio,” Elias grunts. “You’re settling. You could do better.”
“What’s wrong with Frankie?”
“The way she’s been leading you around by your balls for years. That and the fact you’re obsessed, and that’s a dangerous place to be. Obsessed people do dumb shit.”
“I’m not obsessed.” I roll my eyes. “Love is not obsession.”
“Looks the same from where I’m sitting.” Elias shrugs.
“I can’t wait until you fall in love. I’ll be watching with a bowl of popcorn.”
“Don’t hold your breath. I’m far too smart to let that shit…” Elias points a finger at me. “…happen to me.”
“Sure.” I shake my head. I pull my phone out of my pocket and check the screen again. Nothing. “I should call her.”
“Or… you can leave her be. Let her sort her own family drama out, Emilio. It’s not your problem.”
“Her problems are my problems. I don’t like leaving her to deal with shit alone.”
“She’s not alone. She’s with her family.”
“You know what I mean.” I fall onto the sofa at the same time my front door opens.
“Get behind the kitchen counter now.” My Aunt Lailani walks in, dropping a bag on that same counter.
Elias and I aren’t stupid enough to sit around and wait when she tells us to take cover. “What’s going on?” I watch her pull out a rifle, and she starts setting it up.
“I got a tip,” she says. “Someone isn’t too happy with whoever you guys killed at the docks.”
“That fucker was trying to steal our shit.”
“That fucker had family,” Aunt Lailani says. “Family with money and connections who are now using that same money and connections to retaliate. Or so I hear.”
“What about the Giulianis? Alfie’s the one who shot him,” I press her.
“How did I not know that?” she grumbles.