AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Afterward, he presses our foreheads together—our breathing ragged and wild.“I needed you too much.”
“Needed you more.”
I had to see what was beneath your surfaces, too.
My eyelids start fluttering. I can feel myself drifting down into the darkness as he settles beside me, his head on my pillow, his fingers still tangled up with mine.
Eventually, I fall asleep to the perfectly imperfect sound of our silence.
* * *
“Ada, wake up.”
My eyes fly open. My vision clears. He’s standing by the bed fully dressed. His expression unreadable.
I sit up in a rush, clutching the sheet to my chest, my heart thumping painfully as I’m wrenched from sleep. “What’s happened?”
“Guido’s in the car outside. O’Sullivan’s gone AWOL. We’re going to check it out.”
“I’m coming with you.” I go to fling the sheet away, but he catches my wrist.
“No.”
We hold each other’s gazes. “He’s my half-brother, Frankie…”
“And you’re my whole fucking world now, Ada.” Brushing my lips with his thumb, he makes to stand, and I know this is one disagreement I’m never going to win.
“When will you be back?”
“No more than an hour.”
But I know he’s lying.
He knows I know as well.
A lump forms in my throat, an ugly beast of a thing that won’t let me say the words I want to say.
“Don’t forget to slide the deadbolt across when I’m gone.”
Please don’t be gone, Frankie. Never be gone.
The lump moves to my chest, making it harder and harder to breathe. I can’t even lift my fingers to take one last imaginary picture of him.
“In a couple of hours, we’ll be on a jet to Sicily, Ada…”
With that, his chameleon presence is reduced to fading footsteps and the loud slam of the front door.
Jumping out of bed, I rush to the window. There’s a silver SUV parked up outside with its hazard lights on. As Frankie approaches, the driver’s door opens and a giant of a man in a grey suit emerges. The image tugs unpleasantly at my memory, but it’s only when the man turns back to the car, giving me a glimpse of his profile, that my knees start to buckle.
No.
I’m back in O’Sullivan’s dining room again, sitting opposite my real father, hearing accents: British, Russian,Italian.
This can’t be happening.
I’m seeing the same giant in his grey suit dragging Danny out of the room on O’Sullivan’s order.
I need to reach Frankie.
