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I rolled my eyes and shoved the cake platter toward him. The greedy bastard took yet another slice while the rest of us sat tense.
“Okay. I’ll do it. Any info on their last known whereabouts?”
Frankie groaned around his fork, completely unbothered by the awkward tension that had settled in the room.
Marco pulled a slip of paper from his pocket and slid it over. “This is the last place I traced them to.”
“They’re still in Missouri?” Malcolm put the scrap of paper in his pocket and frowned. “Shouldn’t be too hard to track them down if they’ve stayed close.”
“Really?” A glimmer of hope in the shape of a tall, handsome, tracker man sat in front of me. “You think you can find them?”
“If they’re alive and local, it shouldn’t be too hard.” He was so nonchalant. I truly believed him.
“Perfect!” I clapped and picked up my fork, taking a celebratory bite.
Marco took his phone out and quickly typed away. “I just wired you a retainer. The rest will come when you find them.”
Malcolm pulled his phone from his pocket, nearly choking when he saw the amount Marco had sent over.
“That enough?” Marco finished his coffee.
“More than.”
The night wrapped up pretty quickly after we cleared the dessert plates. Ashley and Malcolm basically ran from their dinner with mobsters—which was understandable—while Frankie waltzed out of my home and into the night.
“You rinse, and I’ll load the dishwasher?” Marco rolled up his sleeves as I put the stack of plates in the left side of the sink.
“You don’t have to help.”
“It’s no problem.”
“If you insist.”
Marco chuckled and motioned for me to start. “How are you doing with everything?”
The plate in my hand needed more than a rinse, so I soaped up the sponge. “You want to have a heart-to-heart?”
He shook his head. “Forget it.”
“No, no. If you want to chat, let’s do it.” I flicked water in his face, and he frowned, making me laugh. “Now that I’ve seen Luca, and Malcolm is on board, I’m feeling a lot better. What about you?”
“Eh.” Marco took the plate from me and put it in the dishwasher.
“Come on. You’ve got to give me more than that.”
He worked his jaw and sighed. “It’s nothing I can’t handle.” He took a handful of silverware out of the sink. “But I won’t lie—I can’t wait for Luca to get out.”
“That’s fair.”
We fell into a companionable silence as I rinsed and he loaded the dishes. As he hit the start button on the dishwasher, I finally worked up the courage to ask about Adriana. “I hate to ask, but is everything all right with Adriana’s mom?”
Marco’s face hardened. “She started treatment and feels like shit, so Adriana’s been staying there as much as she can before school starts for Dante. After that, the plan is for them to go up on the weekends.”
“That’s rough.”
“Yeah. But Dr. Wilson’s optimistic since they caught it so early. He was a tremendous help in convincing her to start treatment.” Marco frowned as he washed his hands.
“You don’t sound happy about that.”
