Page 18 of Maddest Temptation

Fuck it.

“Text me the address,” I said and raised my finger. “For a few hours, nothing more.”

Vitelli tried to hide his grin but failed. “Yes, Boss.”

5

FRANCESCA

“You’re a terrible friend, chérie.” Antoine kissed both my cheeks and grabbed my hands. He stared at me with his all-seeing eyes and shook his head. “What did I tell you?”

“Sorry.” I smiled shyly, tempting him not to be angry at me. “I got carried away.”

“You need to answer the phone, Frankie.” He pulled me down onto the sofa next to him. “I was worried, you should have called me when you got home.”

I knew that. Antoine and Marie had grilled me hundreds of times about answering my damned phone, but I never did. It wasn’t intentional, after all, they were the only two people I spoke to.

“I know.” My cheeks burned with shame. “I’m all right.” Now. The word almost slipped through my lips.

Antoine eyed me suspiciously, knowing there was much more to the story, but decided not to press me further, at least not right now. At that moment, Marie arrived with Jasmine tea and a few chocolate bonbons I loved.

Reginald’s little head lifted as he sniffed the treats, and he stood to sniff what Marie had brought for us. “I haven’t forgotten you, baby.” She produced a dog treat from her pocket and offered him the small bone. He barked in excitement and twirled around with the bone in his mouth.

A few seconds later, he came to lay by my feet and rested down to eat his treat as we served ourselves tea. Jasmine scent filled my nose, and I inhaled deeply, enjoying the scent of my favorite drink in the world.

“So, now that she’s here,” Antoine began. “Tell her the news.” He clapped his hands eagerly.

“What news?”

“I’m having a party on Friday.”

I looked at my friend suspiciously. Although Marie was not a saint, she and I couldn’t be more different. While I indulged in alcohol, the strongest drink she had during the day was coffee. While I lost myself in drugs, she enjoyed meditation. She was the sun, and I was the moon. Yet we fit somehow. Two completely different peas in a pod.

“A party?”

“No need to sound so suspicious.” Marie set her teacup on the table. “It’s for a good cause.”

“You mean a charity then?” That fit her better.

Her father was Remy Bousset, one of the richest men in France, and from what I knew and had overheard, he was one of the Outfit’s greatest suppliers. Marie had a falling out with her father after he threatened to disown Antoine for being gay. As a fuck you to her father, she spent his money by giving it to charity—as much as she could.

Antoine and Marie exchanged a glance, then they both looked at me. “I have something to tell you, please don’t be mad.”

“Why would I?” The truth was, I also had something to say, except I wasn’t courageous enough to do so.

“I didn’t want to hurt you, and I meant to tell you when it started, but with the move and your father’s threats and...” Marie paused, offering me a tight smile. “I’m seeing someone.” She announced. I was stunned into silence. “Aren’t you going to say something?”

I opened my mouth and then closed it. “As in dating?”

Marie nodded tightly. “It happened the day we moved in, we met at a coffee shop down the street.” She bit her lip and looked at me, waiting for my anger to surface. “Our orders were accidentally switched, and one thing led to another, and now…

“You’re seeing him,” I mused, still working on believing what I’d heard.

Her cheeks pinken, and she nodded. “It was all so fast, I didn’t mean for it to happen like that, I wanted to tell you. “She said again.

“Why didn’t you?” I wasn’t angry, but I was hurt that my best friend had forgotten to tell me something major had happened in her life.

“Well, chérie,” Antoine looked at me. “You’re not exactly at your best right now.” He tapped my hand in the typical Antoine fashion. Spilling whatever was in his head and not caring about it.

---