Best Laid Plans (17 page)

Frankie had a feeling she was being followed. Just as she, Pardeep and Kate were heading back from a meeting with a victim prior to the court hearing next week, she caught a flash of caramel hair. It didn’t occur to her once that it could be Luca. He was far too stealthy to get caught by her lazy eyes. Plus he was at work. God knows how either of them managed after last night’s session, but they had done. She ached all over like a bastard. Worth it though. It was a shame she was now being followed. in the last month, everything had been going so well.

“I’ll catch you up,” she told the girls distractedly.

Kate frowned. “How, on a bus?”

“Two minutes.”

She crossed the road to where a woman in a black trench coat was half standing behind a tree. “Who are you and what do you want?”

The woman blinked rapidly. “I don’t know...”

“You’ve been following me. Who are you?”

The woman sighed. “I’m Gianluca’s sister. Giulia.”

Was this an absolute joke? “And why are you following me?”

Giulia’s hazel eyes followed the trail to where Pardeep and Kate were waiting. “Can we go somewhere and talk? For five minutes, perhaps?”

“I don’t know why I should give you the time of day,” Frankie snapped. “I don’t even know how you know who I am.”

“Gianluca has a friend in Naples who told me in no uncertain terms that he had a better family in London with you.”

“Then why are you here? Why aren’t you talking to your brother?”

“He won’t talk to me.”

Frankie’s fists were about to fly. “Can you blame him?”

Giulia clasped her hands. “No, not really. It’s just... Dafne’s left my mother in a really bad state and I just...”

Frankie kept her face neutral. So that was how Dafne came skipping over the Mediterranean. His mother had blabbed. There was no telling what Giulia would do or say, and more importantly to whom, if she knew where Dafne was. Actually, Frankie didn’t even know what had happened to Dafne’s body or that of the man Luca had savaged with his hefty size fourteen. “Why are you surprised? She attacked your brother, why did you think she would have any more respect for your mother?”

Giulia looked shocked by her knowledge. “We didn’t know.”

Oh please! “Didn’t Luca tell you what she did to him?”

“Yes, but, it’s just...”

“Just what?”

“Is he all right?”

“Do you mean is the money still coming your way?” At Giulia’s blush, Frankie sighed. “Jesus, seriously do one. Don’t talk to me, don’t talk to him, leave us alone. Stop following me, or next time I’ll call armed forces and tell them there’s a woman with a gun in my vicinity. Don’t think for a minute that they won’t shoot you.”

As Frankie turned to leave, Giulia caught her by the sleeve. Frankie’s eyebrows rose. “Are you touching me?”

Giulia removed her hand instantly. “It’s not about just money. I want to know if he’s all right. I’m saying it all wrong, I just...”

“Why do you care now?”

“My, er...my husband kicked me out of our home. We’re getting a divorce. And I just thought of all the things I’ve done wrong and the worst is to my brother. I’ve seen what he’s done for our parents and... I’m sorry. I really am sorry. Just, please tell me he’s all right?”

“He’s fine.”

Giulia nodded. “Good. That’s good. I’ll be working again soon and once my divorce is finalised, Gianluca won’t have to pay for Dad’s care. I’ll cover it.”

“What do you do?” Frankie asked, embarrassment forcing her to ask.

“I’m a bank teller. I stopped when I got married, but...needs must. Is he happy? Gianluca?”

“Yes.”

Giulia’s eyes trailed to her waistline. “And you’re…?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m going to be an aunt?”

“No,” Frankie said bluntly, trying not to react to the way Giulia’s eyes filled with tears. She didn’t want these hideously selfish, self-absorbed, Luca-bashing twats anywhere near Luca, interfering in their lives, and she certainly didn’t want them within spitting distance of the babies. Christ, no. She was au fait enough with harassment injunctions. It’d take less than an hour to sort one out if necessary...  “If Luca doesn’t want you or your parents around him, I doubt he’s going to want you around this.” She indicated her rounding belly. “I’ve got to go. Stop following me, okay?”

Giulia struggled to get a hold of herself. “I will. Thank you for telling me.”

Frankie crossed the road again and avoided Pardeep and Kate’s questions with a brief, “Someone I met through the unit. Nothing to worry about.”

Pardeep frowned at her. “You know, you’ve been lying so much more than usual. I thought being pregnant made you all earth motherly and honest and dumb?”

“Shush,” Frankie said, getting into the car and closing the door. Best she tell Luca and get this out of the way. The easiest way was to send him a text. That way she’d avoid all the fire.

He hadn’t reacted when Francesca told him about Giulia’s visit. In fact Luca hadn’t seen his sister at all, and that could only be a good thing if she wanted to stay alive. The anger he felt seemed limitless. How dare she? How dare any of them approach Francesca seeking forgiveness? As if she would turn to him and ask he bestow mercy on them after all their abandonment, their belief in the lies against him. He resented that they still believed he was that malleable and Francesca was that fucking gullible. What annoyed him most was that they even for one moment believed that he wouldn’t tell Francesca exactly what had happened, or that she wouldn’t still love him if she knew. Bastards.

With this fresh irritation, Luca realised the only way he’d get his family to back the fuck off would be to bring in the big guns: the voice of reason and the man who first escaped the toll of Caristos’ law-enforcement labour. Jovanni, Tony’s father.

“I don’t want to have to drop this on your head, Zio, but I can’t have them hassling Francesca. What I’m worried about is that she’ll drag all of them to court for a harassment suit. She doesn’t need that sort of stress, not when she’s pregnant.”

Jovanni watched him thoughtfully. “I understand, but I don’t know if they’ll listen to me. I hate to say it, but your father married a woman as pig-headed as himself. When I contacted him after the stroke, your mother was most unhelpful. We sent what we could.”

“I know you did, I would never doubt that you did. But they will listen to you. Because regardless of what your son has done or what you’ve done, deep down they respect that you followed your own path. No one else was brave enough to.”

Jovanni laughed. “I don’t know if it was bravery. Merely a lack of enthusiasm for La Madama. I will call them. Will you stay here?”

Luca nodded, bracing his forearms on his knees, leaning forward over the speaker phone. The dialling tone sounded for a long time before someone answered. It was the carer. “Good afternoon,” Jovanni said smoothly. “I need to talk to my brother, Alfieri, and his wife. Are they around?”

“Yes, Signor Caristo is just upstairs. One moment, I’ll transfer the call.”

Jovanni nodded at Luca, seemingly impressed. “He’s earning his keep then.”

“I’d hope so,” Luca replied drolly. Luca’s father finally came on the line. His voice was slow and shaken.

“Hello, brother,” Jovanni said gently.

“Hello, Jovi?”

Jovanni sighed deeply. “You and Giulia and the lovely Edrige need to leave Gianluca be. He’s very happy in his life, and asking more of him than what he’s already done will bring that to an end.”

Alfieri paused for a while. “Giulia told me his girlfriend is having a baby.”

“Does that make a difference?”

“If I’m to be a grandfather… I would think so.”

Luca leaned forward and scribbled fiercely on the notepad between them.
How?

“How? There’s a lot of damage that’s been done over a long time. You know that.”

“He still came here when I had my stroke. That means something. I wasn’t able to tell him because I wasn’t well enough. But he needs to know how grateful I am.”

Luca felt a lump forming in his throat. He didn’t know if it was sadness of all encompassing anger.
He’s not grateful, he just wants to know if the money train is still running.

“Luca won’t stop his financial responsibilities to you. The carer will still be paid.”

“It’s not the money, Jovi. I want to be able to live long enough to see my grandchild. Is that too much to ask?”

Luca wrote YES in capital letters and underlined it several times. “Please understand his position. For once. He has not received your support, your belief or care or your love for a very long time. Any trust between you has long gone, you know that, don’t you? He will want to protect his children from that.”

“Children?”

Luca squeezed his eyes shut, slapping a hand to his forehead. Jovanni made a face that made Luca almost start laughing. “Damnation. Yes, children. His girlfriend is having twins. Now…”

“But that’s wonderful!”

“You need to focus on what I’m saying to you. He wants to be left alone to enjoy that time with his girlfriend and his children. Without you, or his mother or his sister’s interference. It’s a delicate time—she will need to not be worried, and being the type of woman she is, she will worry if Gianluca is worried.”

Alfieri sighed heavily. “I’m glad he’s found himself a good girl. At last. I know I’ve got an end in sight, Jovi. I don’t want to go to my grave with regrets. I came too close to it before.”

“Those are your regrets. Don’t make them Gianluca’s as well. Leave him be. When he’s ready, if he’s ready, he’ll come to you. I’ll let him know what you’ve said.”

“Tell him…” Alfieri’s voice shook so badly, Luca could barely understand him until he controlled himself. “Giulia will start paying the carer from next week, so he can stop. I will understand.”

Luca breathed out. He didn’t know what he’d been expecting him to say, and he cursed himself for feeling disappointed.

“Jovi?”

“I’m still here.”

“Tell him, I’m sorry. For everything.”

Jovanni and Luca inhaled simultaneously. They stared at each other and then at the phone. Did that just happen?

“Jovi, did you hear me?”

“Yes. Yes, I did. I’ll…I’ll tell him. God bless you.”

Jovanni ended the call and gazed at Luca. “Did you ever in your life imagine this day?”

Luca braced a hand over his jawline, fighting tears as he shook his head. Jovanni wrapped an arm around his shoulders and patted him soothingly. “I think he took his brush with death seriously. But you have no obligation, Gianluca. Let him do what he says he’s going to, if that will give you some reassurance that it’s not all bluff. Does that sound reasonable to you?”

Luca couldn’t speak. All he could do was nod. His brain was completely occupied by his father,
his father
of all people, apologizing to him. The only person who could possibly understand what this was, what this felt like, would be Francesca.

Okay, now she knew he was trying to distract her from an interrogation. Her body was now a mass of nerve endings, and along with the double-edged sword that was her hormones, Luca was concentrating much too hard on keeping her on the edge of an orgasm. He was not. That. Cruel. No one was.

“Out!” she heaved.

Luca lifted his mouth from the sensitive spot between her neck and her shoulder. “Sorry?”

“You damn well should be. Get out of me.”

Luca glanced to the side, resting on his elbows. “What just happened? What have I missed?”

“You happened. You, trying to hide something. Now remove yourself from me and start talking.”

“Aren’t you close?” he asked, pumping his hips slowly against hers. Damn. She had been close for a long time, but he hadn’t let her come. Shivering beneath him, she closed her eyes with a sigh and let her head fall back. She felt the brush of Luca’s hair on her chin as he pressed kisses to her collarbone.

“Tell me...”

“
Non e importante
,” he murmured, capturing her lips. All right, fine, just this one last orgasm and he was getting grilled. Luca smoothed his hands along her hips until he reached her knees. As soon as he pressed his fingers against the pit of both knees, Frankie finally came. Luca’s echoing shudders above her were a precursor to his own release.