Another short one! I'm trying to figure out where I want this story to go little by little, so if you have any ideas let me know! Also, a lot of my inspiration comes from your comments so feel free to leave as many as you'd like! Thanks for reading!
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It was impossible for Francesca to keep the bile inside of her after listening to Tony—if that was even his name—speak. His footsteps followed behind her as she sprinted to the bathroom and leaned over the toilet.
A multitude of tears fell from her eyes as the emptied the contents of her stomach. Tony was crouched beside her, holding her hair back. She smacked his arm and he released her hair.
"Don't touch me," she said in a scratchy voice, "ever again."
When she was finished she sat back against the wall of the bathroom. All Tony could do was stare at her, his hands twitching to grab her and hold onto her forever.
"So you've been lying about who you are to me since we met?" Tony nodded in response, but she wanted to hear him say it. Fran raised her eyebrows at him.
"Yes, Fran. If I had told you, would you have stayed?" She clenched her teeth when he immediately became defensive.
"You expect me to stay now?" She asked. His eyes closed and she was surprised to see tears leaking from them.
"No, Fran, I don't. There was just no possible way for me to not tell you after what happened last night."
"Were you ever going to tell me?" Fran asked. She removed her eyes from her husband and stared forward. Tony really didn't want to answer this question.
"No. I wasn't." That was it. The final nail in the coffin.
"Get out."
Tony couldn't say he was surprised to hear that.
"I can't Fran, neither of us can leave this house while there is still a target on both of our heads. My men are taking care of it."
"Your men? Wait a minute," Fran couldn't believe what she was hearing, "Nathan, Maran, Tate? They all know about this?" Tony didn't hesitate in answering that question.
"Yes, they're a part of my family."
"My family," Fran muttered sarcastically. "Am I your family?"
"Of course, Fran, you'll always be my family."
"All I have is you, Tony," she said, shaking her head. "Was that your plan all along? Find a girl that has nothing, give her everything so she can't ever leave you?"
"Francesca, look at me," Tony demanded.
"I can't look at you, Tony. I have no clue who my husband is. You need to leave."
"I told you, we can't leave for now because—"
"Because of a mistake you made a long time ago. I don't want to hear from you ever again."
"Fran please," he begged, "it was to keep both of us safe."
"Look where that got us, Tony!" She shouted. It was a shock to see Tony cower in the corner of the bathroom. "Two of my coworkers and seven employees are dead because of me. I'll never be okay."
"We can figure this out!" There had to be a way to save this. Tony didn't ever want this to happen, and this was why.
"I need you to leave me alone Tony, if that's what your name actually is," Fran scoffed. She stood and exited the bathroom. As soon as she realized Tony wasn't following her the tension left her body, causing her to almost collapse.
Luckily she was able to make it to their bedroom before letting her body flop loosely on the bed. How could she have let this happen? She wasn't naive, far from it, but this had been kept a secret to her for years.
What was she supposed to do now?
It wasn't until far later in the day that she actually left her room. Lunch she was able to survive without, but by the time dinner rolled around her stomach was about to eat her alive. Begrudgingly Fran left her room and made her way downstairs.
She was looking left and right to make sure none of Tony's "men" were going to jump out of her. Damn it to hell, now she was scared in her own home.
Tony's look of relief didn't go unnoticed but Fran as she entered the dining room. Nathan was also in the room but she ignored both of them and head to the table where her plate was waiting.
"How are you doing, Fran?" Tony murmured across the table. She continued to eat, not paying the question any attention.
The room was silent for about a minute.
"Fran?"
"Damn it, Tony, you really want to do this right now?" She asked. She calmly put her fork down and put her strongest glare on him.
"I just want you to talk to me, baby," he said nervously.
"Don't "baby" me," Fran scoffed and shoved a bite of food in her mouth. "Nathan," she said after swallowing, "give us the room."
Nathan was quick to exit the dining room and they were left on their own. His silverware clanked together as it was set on the table.
"You didn't eat breakfast or lunch today, Fran, you can't do that."
"The thing is I can, Tony," she said and leaned back in her chair. She felt confident in her argument.
"It's not healthy, baby," he murmured.
"The next time you call me "baby" this fork is going into your arm," Fran threatened. Tony gulped but remained silent.
"I have nowhere and nothing, Tony. I'm completely reliant on you and I didn't even notice until now," she told herself she wasn't going to cry, but it looks like she wasn't going to be able to keep that promise.
"That's not true, Fran."
"Is it not, Tony? Explain it to me then." She just wanted him to notice how she was stuck with him no matter what he did. He had wronged her in so many ways.
"You have an amazing career that you worked so hard for—"
"That's gone, now, Tony. Because of you. Continue." Fran crossed her arms and waited.
Minutes of silence drifted by, and Fran could no longer keep her sobs at bay.
"My career is gone now, because how am I supposed to work anywhere knowing they could die because of me," she could barely get the sentence out, covering her wet face with her hands.
"Fran, just let me—"
"No! Don't come near me and don't open your mouth again. I'm not near being finished."
Tony gulped but nodded. The room was filled with silence once more.
"I have no family, no job, no where to go..." Fran couldn't continue because of the sobs that took over her body. "None of it matter because I had you."
"I can—"
"No, Tony, you can't explain. There is not one explanation that can save this marriage."
"What? Save? You want a divorce?" Tony was scared of the answer, but knew the question had to be asked at some point.
"You're serious?" Fran asked. She allowed a sadistic, painful laugh to leave her lips. "Tell me, Tony, do you really think this relationship could ever be saved?"
"Yes!" He was shouting it in his dining room, but he wanted to shout it from the roof tops. "Yes, because I want to be with you no matter what happens in our lives. I'm in love with you, Francesca!"
"You're delusional," she accused. "There's absolutely no way for this marriage to be saved."
"I'm sad that after all this time you would give up on me so quickly," he murmured, "but I've made you feel that way. This is my fault."
"Of course this is your fault, how could you think otherwise?"
"No, no," he traced back, trying to reword the sentence, "I don't mean the cause of this fight, I mean you giving up on me. That's my fault."
"Newsflash, Tony, all of this is your fault. What are we supposed to do now?"
"We wait until Sangue Verde has gotten off our asses, then we can talk about this more thoroughly."
"Sangue Verde? Talk about this? You've gone insane," Fran muttered. Her breath was beginning to shorten, the sign of an oncoming attack. She kept it hidden as much as she could. There was no way she was letting this stranger know he had affected her.
"I can assure you, Fran, I'm completely sane. I'm just trying to combine my worlds and it isn't going as planned."
"Here is where you made the biggest mistake of your life," Fran murmured, letting her eyes drift down to her lap before she looked up at him with a new sadness in her eyes. "You should have had one world. One."
"I tried, Fran, I really did, but when I truly fell in love with you I realized I couldn't have just one," he said indignantly.
"You could have!" She shrieked. "I was so in love with you I would have forgiven anything, as naive as that sounds."
"You wouldn't have," he scoffed, "you would have never even let me finish my sentence before you were out the door."
"Well, I most likely would have given you another chance, Tony. There's no chance of that happening now."
"Fran if we could just wait Sangue Verde out then—"
"I think I'll have dinner in my room tonight. Have a good evening," Fran said quickly. She didn't want to hear what this monster had to say. As fast as she could she gather her plate, utensils, and drink before walking to their room.
Her tears were falling freely when she set all of her things on her nightstand and ran back to shut and lock the door behind her.
"Why did he have to do this?" Fran whispered to herself. "Why can't I get a happy ending?" She crouched down to the floor and finally allowed the attack to take over her body. Normal, even breaths began to come out as pants and her eyes burned as though she was holding back a sneeze.
"Why me?"