Page 126 of Made in Love and Blood

“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.

Salvatore rolled his eyes. “I don’t know, an accident, or—”

“Yeah, see, not even close to mine.”

“What’s yours?”

“They could elope. That’s a real possibility.”

Instantly, he straightened in the desk chair. “Carina, I need you to be serious,” he told her.

Her smirk said she was.