Page 8 of Tainted Princess
“Frankie!”
“Francesca, and I want my lawyer.”
“Please. You know that no matter what other bullshit has gone on tonight, what we had between us was real, Frankie!”
Like it fucking mattered anymore. Regardless of anything he said, what we had between us was over, and that was the only real thing about it.
“You have your ring on another woman’s finger, Agent Morrison. That’s hardly a point in your favor.”
“The thing with Caroline—Agent Anderson—that started long before I took this assignment.” He spoke as if I fucking cared. “I had no idea that I would be asked to get close to the Family through you. And I really had no idea I would actually fall in love with you.” His eyes traveled guiltily to the mirror beside us, and I fucking hoped that bitch was watching.
Maybe hearing her man confessing his undying love for me would wipe that smug smile off her face.
“Say something,” he pleaded, and I felt bad that he couldn’t maintain some dignity. “Frankie!”
“My name is Francesca Contessa Renaldi De Marco, and I want my fucking lawyer!”
Agent Morrison stared at me like he had never seen me before, and in a way, I guess he hadn’t.
I had spent years—over a decade, really—carefully cultivating the two halves of my personality: the delicate female, and the fiercemafiosa, the first of her kind in our family, not that anyone knew it.
It felt good to finally let her free, even if it was only for a little while.
I watched the emotions play across his face, first desperation, then anger, then finally resignation. Each one was another nail in the coffin of my heart.
Finally, when it was clear that I was not going to talk to him, Eric gathered the papers from in front of him, slowly standing from the chair. I could feel him staring at me, his eyes boring into my skull, but I refused to look. I had seen more than enough of Agent Eric Morrison.
“I want you to know the charges against you have been dropped. There was never enough evidence to hold you anyway. But your father,” he sighed. “I’m sorry, but there is not much I can do to help him.”
I scoffed. Of course, there wasn’t, seeing as it was Eric who was responsible for this whole situation in the first place.
He sighed again, and turned from the table, his footsteps slow and despondent.
As he moved toward the door and away from me, I allowed him to take all the good feelings with him as well. Letting go of any thoughts of happiness and hope for a relationship like my parents had, I was left feeling nothing but anger, and I embraced it, holding it close and fanning the flames.
I wanted it to burn, fueling me in a way I had never experienced before, but would nurture until there was nothing left of the girl I had been.
I would never find myself in this position again, at the mercy of my heart.
Never again would my emotions lead me like a lamb to slaughter.
From now on, I would be the fucking wolf.
