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“No shit. I told you it’s dangerous.”
I shrug. “My apartment, my rules.”
Francesca guffaws. “I’d love to see you say that to Rhett and Joey. I’ve been on the other end of their anger and it isn’t pretty.”
“What is there to be angry about? It’s my apartment, and I don’t belong to no one.”
She raises an eyebrow and glances at my stomach. “It’s different now, and if they knew the truth, they’d watch you like a hawk.”
“But they don’t know and won’t find out this way.” I say sternly as I grab the paperwork off the table and shove it under the couch cushion I’m sitting on.
“Not a peep from me.” She pretends to zip her lips and throw away the key.
My apartment door slams open, making me and Francesca jump. Rhett glances over at us and frowns.
“Do you know how dangerous it is to keep your door unlocked? Do you know how many dangerous men are looking for the two of you right now?”
He stalks toward us. His heated gaze locks onto Francesca, and I swear I hear a soft moan come from her. But Rhett isn’t what holds my attention. It’s the bruised and bandaged man that has stolen my heart.
Not to mention impregnated me.
“Joseph.” I whisper. His name sounds sensual as it slips from my lips.
He closes and locks my apartment door before walking over to the couch. Glancing at the coffee table, he picks up my container of sweet and sour chicken, dips one in the tangy red sauce, and pops it into his mouth.
We stare at one another as he licks a drop of sauce off his lips.
Thankfully, Rhett plops down between Francesca and me, breaking the lust filled spell that Joseph holds over me.
I have read that hormones are heightened and there’s a chance I will become insatiable, but I’ll have to rely on my toys because Joseph Marino is off limits.
At least until I’ve told him about the baby.
Francesca breaks the silence. “So, do either of you want to clue us in on what happened and why your car is currently burning into a crisp on the interstate?”
I look at Joseph’s black eye that is yellowing around the edges and the small cut on his cheekbone. There’s no way he just got that. That bruise is at least a day or two old.
“Giuseppe Rossi fucking happened. He tried to fucking kill me. Hell, he almost succeeded. What do you think happened?”
“It was just a question, Joey. Calm the fuck down.”
“Calm the fuck down?” Joseph yells and waves his free hand around. “When was the last time you had to look over your shoulder? When was the last time you genuinely feared for your life?”
Francesca leans forward and places her container on the table. “Every fucking day! Don’t you think I worry about not only my life but everyone’s as well? I know this is my fault. I own it, and I’m sorry that everyone has to be on alert all the fucking time because of what I did.”
Joseph’s expression softens. “Franny, I-”
She jumps up. “Don’t bother. I know you think the sun shines out of your ass, but some of us have real problems we are dealing with right now. How about you take your head out of your ass and think about someone other than yourself for a change?”
She turns to head for the door, but Rhett grabs her hand and pulls her back down to the couch.
“We still need to discuss what is going on. The two of you can play nice for five minutes, right?”
I glance at Joseph, who is glaring at Francesca. “So you think this attack was from Giuseppe Rossi?”
“Yeah, Gage and I were monitoring both exits of the Rossi estate and noticed a couple of cop cars leaving his house. This seemed odd, so we followed them, but lost them on the interstate because Vincent and his men rear-ended me and pushed me into the concrete barrier.”
He pops another bite of chicken into his mouth.