Page 53 of Maddest Temptation

He’s alive, I reminded myself. He was alive, breathing, and safe. Or at least that’s what I hoped. I had no idea of the extent of his bruises, or if they were serious. Most of all, I had no idea if he was safe. Cassio didn’t just freak me out of my mind—possibly giving me a heart attack—he told me things tonight that were undoubtedly very sensitive. He wasn’t just Cassio, if it were that, then my life would be easier. Cassio was Capo of the Outfit.

I looked at the phone once again.

I shouldn’t, I really shouldn’t, he asked me not to. What if I didn’t? What if something really bad happened and I didn’t do something to avoid it?

I reached for the phone.

The phone rang thrice before it was picked up.“Frankie?” A very sleepy Marie answered the phone.

“Can you put Vitelli on the phone?”

“Frankie it’s,” there was a pause. “It’s 5 a.m. Is everything all right?”

“Marie, I need to talk to Vitelli, now.” I hated to snap at my friend, but it was urgent.

“Francesca,” he called me back to earth.

“Shit.” I cursed; I hadn’t reached this part in my head. In fact, I didn’t even know I was going to call him until two seconds ago. “Okay,” I said more to myself than to him. I heard Marie’s voice in the background, and I knew she was thinking the worst right now. Better end this misery.

“I think Cassio screwed up. Screwed up big.” I heard covers being shifted on the other end of the line.

“What do you mean, where’s my brother?” The worry in his tone was apparent, and I hated myself for being the one to bring him bad news.

“He’s here, but he’s hurt.” There was no reason to lie. A long silence followed then.

“Here where? I’m leaving right now.”

“No. No. No.” I stood up. “You can’t come, he made me promise not to tell you.”

“Francesca.” He growled. “Where’s my brother?”

“He’s in my apartment. He’s safe.” I think.

“Your apartment?” he asked with the same amount of disbelief I was still feeling. Then I proceeded to tell him everything.

“What kind of meds do you have there?” he asked when I was done talking.

“None,” I whined. None since I took my last two pills yesterday. Aside from that, I only had my mini kit, and it was a pitiful little thing.

“Okay, that’s fine.” He assured me. “When you check his bandages make sure it’s not getting infected. If it keeps bleeding nonstop, put some sugar on his wound. That should stop it. Do you have chamomile or turmeric?”

“Hmm, yeah. I have both.”

“Give him as much chamomile tea as you can, it will help with the muscle pain, and make some turmeric tea as well, it should serve as a painkiller.”

How the hell did he know all of that?

“Francesca?”

“Hmm.”

“Don’t let him walk around or anything with too much physical exertion, from what you told me, I think he must have cracked his ribs.”

“Okay.” I made a mental note of all he just told me. “Vitelli, what if it doesn’t stop bleeding?” I asked because it was the one thing that worried me the most.

“Then you take him to the ER and call me. I’ll deal with the rest. It will be all right, Francesca. Just call me when he wakes up. Marie will text you, my number. Okay?”

No. It was not okay.

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