“Taking a bullet for you?” Franco suggested the end of my sentence. He said it breezily, as if he’d let me borrow the car for a quick errand.
“Yes,” I told him. “That.”
“You can take a seat.” He nodded his head to the chair beside his bed and I perched on the edge of it, keeping my eyes on him. “I did the job I was assigned to do,” he continued.
“I know.” The ‘but’ hadn’t left my mouth but it was clear that there was more I wanted to say. Franco kept his eyes on me until I cracked. He never gave me the benefit of the doubt. “You don’t like me very much.” It wasn’t quiet or timid but a simple statement.
Luc, Dante, Dom — these were people I wouldn’t have thought twice about if they’d put themselves between me and a bullet, but Franco adding his name to that list had left me questioning why. It was no secret that Franco and I had a strained relationship at the best of times. We barely exchanged words and he looked permanently pissed off by the fact that he was stuck with me. Unlike the others, there was a clear line between me and Franco that neither of us were interested in breaching.
“The feeling is mutual, no?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “Despite what you might think, I don’t want to see you dead.” Franco sighed. He winced immediately and I balled my hands, uneasy at seeing him in pain. “I’ve grown accustomed to you. And your little one.”
My natural instinct when anyone apart from Luc or Dante mentioned Link was to tense, preparing to defend him. A few months old and Link had no idea just what lengths I would go to in order to keep him safe. My cub was my life. If I’d been on friendlier terms with Franco, I’d have brought Link with me but unsure of how this conversation would go, I’d left my baby in Lydia’s capable hands.
“Are you going soft on me, Franco?” I asked him.
“I still think you’re a pain in the ass,” he assured me confidently. My teasing was not returned. “I don’t like your boyfriend—”
“Fiancé,” I corrected him.
Franco pulled a face that said he couldn’t care less. “And I think Katia talks way too much. But you’re tolerable.”
“High praise from you.”
“You won’t get any more,” he told me, and I nodded in understanding.
“Have you had many visitors?” I asked him, eyes flicking around the bare room.
“Prefer my own company,” he said as a way of explanation.
I refrained from asking him whether Gabe had stopped by to see him. With what Luc had told us about Chas, Gabe would most likely prioritise her over the man he was happy to ship off with me when I left him. “If you need anything, Franco, just let me know. It’s the least I can do.” I chewed on my bottom lip before adding, “I understand if you don’t want to come back to work.”
He laughed, stopping abruptly, thanks to the pain.
“Please, be careful,” I pleaded.
“Mia, this is my job. A stray bullet isn’t going to scare me off. I need a little time to recover but I’ll be back at work unless you’re ready to send me back to Gabriel.”
A few weeks ago, I would have jumped at the chance to get rid of Franco but Xavier’s disappearance and more importantly, seeing what he’d done for me, even if it was solely down to duty, had made me think twice. He saved my life and if he was willing to stay in the job that was forced on him, then I wasn’t about to turn him away.
“Take all the time you need. I’ll look forward to having you back.”
I didn’t stay any longer than necessary with Franco. Although it felt like the frostiness between us had thawed slightly, we weren’t friends and I didn’t want to impose, especially since he’d made it clear that he liked his solitude.
“Are you sure about this?” Dom asked as I hopped into the car. He waited for me to buckle in before pulling off.
“Yes. Gabe should still be at work.”
“Unless he’s decided to stay with her.”
“You think he’s that dedicated to her?”
“Your guess is as good as mine as to what goes on in Gabriel’s head,” he said, sparing me a glance. I wanted to point out that living with Gabriel for a short period of time hadn’t told me anything more than what everyone already knew.
If Luc hadn’t been keen on the idea of me visiting Franco, he had been ready to lock me up and throw away the key when I mentioned stopping in on Chas. Despite Luc’s reservations and my lingering fears, it did us no favours to fall out with the Morettis. People were still watching us, assessing the way we conducted business, and so this wasn’t so much a social visit as it was damage control.
Once more, Dom and Michael fell into step with me as I walked up to Gabe’s front door. Dom stood so close behind me that I could feel the heat of his body. “A little space, Dom,” I said after I pressed the doorbell, juggling a large bouquet of flowers in my arms.
“No chance, Mia. I value my life too much for that.”
