When It Falls Apart (The D'Angelos, #1)(96)

“Apparently she left.”

“What?”

“Should we stay here for Joe?” Chloe asked.

Luca shook his head. “They’re admitting him. No point in sleeping in the parking lot.”

“We’ll meet you at home.”

“Luca?” His mother stopped him. “Drive carefully. You’re no use to anyone dead.”

He kissed his mother as he and Brooke jumped into his car.

“Okay. That’s fine. We’re on our way.”

Brooke put the phone in her lap.

“She hung up?” Luca asked as he pulled out of the parking lot.

“The phone was on five percent and she forgot the charger in her room. She was afraid it was going to die.”

“Did she say what happened?”

Luckily no one was on the road at two in the morning on a Wednesday.

“Just that Rosa and Antonia had a big fight. Antonia was drinking and Franny didn’t want to wake her mom up to take her home.”

He gripped the steering wheel. “No more Mr. Nice Guy.”

“I agree.”

Luca stopped at a red light, no one was there, and he moved on.

“She’ll have to hire a lawyer.”

“I’ll find one for us tomorrow,” Brooke told him.

He turned onto the freeway and hit the gas.

Brooke placed a hand on his leg.

Luca glanced at her, saw the worry in her eyes. “I love you.”

Her hand squeezed and she looked at him. “I love you, too. She’s going to be fine. She’s just scared.”

Luca saw the speedometer hit ninety and eased up on the gas.

Brooke kept glancing at the phone as if willing it to ring.

It didn’t.

What normally would take them twenty-five minutes to drive, took them eighteen.

Luca skidded to a halt in front of Rosa’s house and jumped out of the car. He took the steps two at a time and didn’t bother knocking.

He opened the door, calling his daughter’s name. “Franny?”

Rosa’s home was a mess. A table knocked over, a lamp on the floor broken. Dishes everywhere.

“Franny?” He moved through the house, found Antonia across a bed sleeping. “Wake up!” he yelled.

He heard Brooke’s voice behind him. “What the hell happened? Franny?”

Antonia stirred.

She was drunk. “What are you doing here?”

“Where’s our daughter?”

“She’s sleeping.”

“Franny?” Brooke’s voice grew frantic.

Luca turned to see her put the phone to her ear.

He waited.

“It went to voice mail.”

He ran a hand through his hair. “She must have walked home.”

Brooke was back on the phone. “Friend Finder.”

Luca moved to her side and looked down as the app came into view.

A blip showed Franny one block away.

Because of the one-way street, they would have to go around, so instead they both started on foot.

“Franny?” Luca called as they got closer to the dot.

“Franny?” Brooke’s voice sang over his. She stopped, turned in a circle. “It says she’s right here.”

It was an empty street. All the establishments closed. Not even a stray dog wandering around.

Brooke ran to the other side of the street, looked around the parked cars. “Franny?”

Luca’s heart raced.

“Did the phone die right here?” he asked.

Brooke put it back up to her ear again.

They heard the ringtone from Franny’s phone.

Following the noise, they found her pink backpack forgotten on the side of a building.

Luca lost his shit.



Brooke rushed in front of Luca when he turned back toward Antonia’s house.

“Stop, stop.”

“I’m going to kill her.”

“Baby, stop. Think about Franny. Let’s go home. Maybe she ran and dropped this. If she’s not there, we have to call the police. C’mon, Luca, stay with me.”

Brooke had never been more scared in her life, but the look on Luca’s face was even worse.

Feral. He was serious about removing air from Antonia’s lungs and Brooke knew it.

She pulled him toward home. “Franny?” Brooke called again.

Hearing his daughter’s name snapped him out of the rage he was in.

He started to run.

“Franny?”

They hit the back door at a sprint, punched in the code to open it, and yelled all the way up the stairs.

Brooke started praying to anyone listening that Franny was in her bed.

Luca ran through the door first, his cry told Brooke she wasn’t there.

She heard footsteps running up the stairs.

“What the hell is going on?” Giovanni yelled.

“Franny’s missing.”

Just hearing Luca say that made it start to set in and brought a deep cold into Brooke’s soul.

Brooke turned to Gio. “Get the police here before he does something stupid.”

Luca turned toward the wall, punched both hands into the plaster, leaving a mark.

Brooke went to him. “Come here, honey.” She wrapped her arms around him.