Page 52 of Made in Love and Blood

Giorgio had known.

The bastard.

•••

A chopper flight and short drive later, Salvatore took the open seat in the stadium stands with Sissy at his right, and Carina on his left. Neither of them noticed that he’d dropped in and he figured out why immediately.

Beyond where Nico stood bent against the field barrier, Frankie had the ball. The crowd around and beyond in the stands roared with excitement while Sissy’s crossed knee bounced nervously on her leg. She didn’t look away from the field, sitting back in her seat with arms crossed. Carina, on the other hand, had her eyes closed, red-bottomed heels tapping against cement, while her fingers pressed against her lips.

“There you go, girl,” Sissy murmured suddenly, eyes lighting up.

The crowd hollered louder.

“There you go,” Sissy repeated.

Salvatore zoned in on his daughter heading beyond mid-field to beeline it for the opposition’s net. Behind him, Larkin, his two closest employees and their four kids, stood and started shouting. Even ahead, with the ball back in Frankie’s control, Nico stood straight at the barrier. Arms crossed, he practically stomped his booted foot through the cement as he shouted his approval with a loud get it hollering across the field.

“She’s amazing,” Carina said beside Salvatore. He realized she’d been looking at him when he hadn’t been watching her. “But some of these girls are—”

“That’s part of sports,” Salvatore interrupted, unable to stop his spreading smile. “When you stand out from the rest, you make yourself a target. It’s worth it to take the penalty for some to take out the best, because then you have a real chance at winning. It’s dirty, but it’s sports.”

Carina scrunched her face up in the cutest way, squeaking out, “She spit blood at a ref.”

“What?”

Sissy filled in the details. “First quarter, they went right for the immediate answer. Try to take her out. Racked up five minutes in penalties before the ref called a time out because a Flyers girl pretty much body slammed the next one that tried it.”

“Oh, okay then,” Sal murmured, eyes back on the field. “And the ref got spit on because...?”

“Elbow to the face; the ref said she barely touched her.”

“Right.”

The tussle with the ball twenty to thirty meters from the net had Frankie breaking away and running closer to the goalie. This maneuver had been practiced by the team repeatedly. They only had to get the ball and move it to her.

Frankie looked back to catch the sight of a kick her way, and she immediately positioned her body for the oncoming ball. Everyone stood up when she caught that ball mid-air for the shot. A shot that cleared the net with inches to spare to tie the game with less than a minute on the clock.

Approving cheers reverberated within the stadium. Larkin grabbed Salvatore by the shoulders, shaking him in congratulations as if he’d just done that amazing fucking thing.

“That’s all yours, boss man,” Larkin praised.

In a way.

“There she is!” Nico shouted through cupped hands that he clapped after.

Salvatore used two fingers to whistle across the field, a sound that Frankie would’ve recognized could she hear it while the team celebrated on the field. It spilled into the outbound line, while those on the sidelines scrambled. Another, louder, horn blared.

“Timeout!”

The speakers around them crackled. Teenagers scrambled up in their grass-stained jerseys to head for their respective benches at the sides of the field. Francesca, the first up from the pack of tumbling, happy girls, didn’t seem to hear the call for a timeout as she headed their way.

The coach shouted for her, but she didn’t hear him, either. Her run picked up speed as Nico, wide-armed, leaned further over the barrier. The section brought them near field-side, but the border had some height to it. Nico needed to lean out to catch Frankie’s outstretched arms. The exchange happened fast, but while everyone else continued to celebrate the shot, Salvatore watched his daughter.

She didn’t see him.

“Did you see that?” she practically cried to Nico.

“That was all you. I told you so.”