The Grifter
Chapter 32

There were literally fifty thousand places Frankie would rather be than the hospital gurney she currently inhabited. So, she’d gotten a little lightheaded from her head wound-slash-adrenaline overload and passed out for a quick second after the Intelligence Unit had burst through the door. It wasn’t a big deal. But between Shawn, who had insisted she be transported to Remington Memorial with full lights and sirens, and Tess, who was the doctor who had met them at the door of the ambulance bay, there was no chance Frankie was going anywhere until she got the all-clear.

“Well,” Tess said, tapping her way through a handful of screens on Frankie’s electronic chart. “Your head CT is normal, and you’ve passed your neuro exam with flying colors. You’re going to need a handful of stitches for that head lac, and some serious rest and relaxation for the next week to manage your slight concussion, though.”

“No narcotics,” Frankie said, adamant. Stitches without a local anesthetic would hurt like a son of a b!tch, and she had a feeling she was in for some pretty spectacular headaches without the assistance of painkillers. But there were no exceptions for addicts, and Frankie had toughed out worse.

“I’ve got it on your chart,” Tess said with a nod. “But I’ll make sure that Dr. Boldin knows when she comes in to stitch you up. Her specialty is plastics, and her hands are as good as they come.”

Frankie took in Tess’s smile. “She was your student, once, wasn’t she?”

“Oh, yeah,” Tess said with a laugh. “We should be able to release you after you get stitched up. Provided you have someone who can keep an eye on you for the next twenty-four hours?”

Ugh. Frankie had no idea how she was going to pull that off, but she’d tackle that hurdle when she got to it. “Yep. Thanks, Dr. Riley.”

“No sweat. I like it when the good guys win. And speaking of good guys”—Tess smiled—“Maxwell has been hovering outside your room for, like, fifty years. Do you want me to send him in?”

Frankie’s pulse tripped. The heart rate monitor ratted her out, of course, and Tess laughed.

“I take it that’s a yes?”

“That’s a yes,” Frankie said. “Please.”

Tess hadn’t been kidding, apparently, because two seconds after Tess passed through the door to the exam room, Shawn appeared in her place.

“Hey. How are you feeling?” he asked, and Frankie huffed out a laugh.

“Like I got pistol whipped by a murderous sociopathic drug kingpin,” she said. “My head hurts like crazy, but Tess said I’ll be fine.”

Shawn arched one black brow. “Fine.”

Frankie blew out a breath. She should’ve known Shawn wouldn’t let her get away with anything less than a full report. “I have a mild concussion and I need some stitches. But yes. Other than that, I’ll make a full recovery.”

“Good.” He looked at the bandage covering the cut at her temple that was throbbing like crazy, his dark blue eyes glinting with emotion. “You scared the sh!t out of me, you know. Out of all of us.”

“Yeah, I know,” Frankie said. She knew she’d have to make an official statement for the case report, but more importantly, she owed Shawn the truth. All of it.

“Beck figured out that you and I are cops on the night of Alfie’s murder, which he did confess to, by the way. He’d been watching us both all week. That’s how he knew about Isla, and where she’d be.”

Frankie relayed her conversation with Beck, not stopping until all the details were out. Shawn listened carefully, interrupting her with only a few pertinent questions, and finally, he looked at her, his brows bent in thought.

“So, you knew Beck was going to kidnap Isla, and you made him take you instead.”

“I know it was impulsive,” Frankie said, “and I know it was a gamble, and a dangerous one, at that. But, I just…I couldn’t let him take her, Shawn. She’s already been through so much, and, I don’t know. It was like something inside me just snapped and made me tell him to take me instead.”

“It was dangerous,” he said. “And it was also extraordinarily brave.”

“What?” Frankie asked, and okay, ow, pulling back in surprise? Not her best idea. Still… “You think I was brave?”

Shawn’s smile sent goose bumps over her skin. “I know you were brave. You didn’t hesitate, Frankie. You knew Isla was in danger, and you did whatever you had to in order to save her life, even when it meant risking your own.”

Frankie blinked. Of course she’d done what she’d had to in order to save Isla’s life. She was Shawn’s child, and Frankie loved him. She loved them both, so much that it hurt.

So much that she didn’t want to live without either of them, even if parts of it scared her.

She wanted them to brave it all together.

“Shawn,” she whispered, her eyes filling with tears. “I’m so sorry I panicked last night. You took me by surprise, and for a second, I just clutched.”

“Frankie,” he started. “You don’t have to—”

“No, I do,” she said. “Please, I want to get this out. I meant what I said. I am an addict, and that means that change is hard for me. But sometimes, I resist change too much because I get scared of how it might rattle me, and that’s what happened last night. Getting a new job, moving to a new city, that’s a lot of change.”

“I shouldn’t have blindsided you with it,” Shawn said, and Frankie gave up the tiniest shake of her head.

“Maybe not, but I shouldn’t have panicked, and I definitely shouldn’t have been so stubborn. I should’ve realized that you’d be there for me every step of the way if things got tough. That’s what people who love you do.”

“I do love you, Frankie,” he said, his dark blue eyes brimming with truth and hope, and oh, God, how had she ever thought she could live without this man?

“I love you, too, Shawn. And I love Isla. I don’t know what that’s going to look like, and I can’t promise that living with me won’t be messy, literally and figuratively.” She laughed. “But I can promise you that no matter what comes, I want us to face it together. I want to hold you up when you need me, and I want to lean on you when I need support. I want us to both let Isla know she’ll always be loved. I want to come back to Remington and move in with you and Isla. If you’ll have me.”

Shawn closed the distance between them, cradling her face gently as he pulled her close and brushed his mouth over hers. “I will always want you, Francesca Rossi. After all, we’ve always been the perfect team.”