Accused

by Sharon C. Cooper

  “Recently, we determined that the eldest son of this family has rebuilt their empire here in Atlanta. Unfortunately, he’s moved into the LinKenzoy family’s territory, and we don’t want a turf war. So far, we haven’t been able to get this guy on anything. He’s savvier and a helluva lot more ruthless than his father.”

  Two photos appeared on the screen, and Egypt’s heart stopped.

  No. No. No. It can’t be.

  “Marco Pisano is now the head of the family, and he is one dangerous son of a bitch. We believe Ross Hoakley was working with Marco and the relationship went bad. We just haven’t been able to prove that Marco Pisano is responsible for Ross Hoakley’s murder.”

  Egypt didn’t hear anything else. Chills seared a path down her spine, and her body trembled with a vengeance. Panic like nothing she had ever experienced gripped her, and the coffee mug slipped from her hands, crashing to the floor. Hot liquid splattered over her hands, and she yelped.

  Kenton and Angelo moved in unison, blocking her from view.

  “What’s wrong?” Kenton whispered, his hand cupping her cheek, his worried eyes searching hers.

  Someone wiped coffee off her hands, but Egypt couldn’t speak. She couldn’t stop shaking. Her chest heaved. The suffocating sensation, like someone holding a pillow firmly over her face, was too much. She couldn’t breathe.

  Before she could process what was happening, Kenton rushed her out of the room.

  “What happened?”

  “What’s going on?”

  Several people talked at once, and Egypt couldn’t process who the voices belonged too. But when strong arms wrapped around her, lifting her off her feet, she knew who was carrying her.

  Kenton.

  “I—I ca—can’t brea…” she wheezed. The heaviness in her chest was so overwhelming. She was going to die.

  Chapter Sixteen

  With Egypt in his arms, Kenton hurried into Hamilton’s office with Angelo hot on his heels. “Come on, sweetheart. I need you to calm down.” Kenton sat on the sofa with Egypt by his side, and she slumped against him her chest still heaving as she struggled to get air. It was killing him to see the tears streaming down her face.

  “I’ll grab Kleenex and water. Need anything else?” Angelo asked.

  “No.” With a gentle hand on Egypt’s back, Kenton nudged her forward. “Put your head down, and try to take some deep breaths.” With her head between her knees, her shoulder-length dreadlocks framed her face as he rubbed her back. “That’s it. Just breathe. You’re okay.” The calm in his voice didn’t match the hammering inside his chest, but he kept telling her that she was fine, that she was safe.

  What the heck had triggered a panic attack? One minute everything was normal, and she was sipping her coffee, the next minute…

  Kenton had to steady his own breathing. His pulse was racing like an out of control train heading downhill. Egypt had scared the hell out of him. The fear in her eyes, the shaking, and her inability to speak threw him off balance.

  He thought back on the last bit of information that Griffith shared, and tried to recall what she might’ve seen or heard. Photos. There had been photos on the screen.

  The Pisano family. Marco Pisano.

  What the hell did she know about them? The thought of her anywhere near Marco had Kenton’s chest tightening. While with the FBI, he’d heard of the Pisano family. They made the famous Gambino family out of New York look like choir boys.

  But there had also been a moment in Griffith’s speech that had given Kenton pause. It was disturbing to think that someone within the FBI could have been feeding Hoakley and the Pisano family information. That thought only reminded him of how he, Santana, and Quaid had been ambushed because of a traitor within the agency.

  Kenton looked up when Angelo returned with the box of tissue and a bottle of water.

  “I’ll leave these. I’m heading back to the meeting, but holler if anything else is needed.”

  “Thanks, man.”

  Angelo left the office, closing the door behind him. Kenton released a long, drawn-out sigh and laid his head against the sofa while continuing to rub Egypt’s back. Several minutes ticked by before her breathing sounded normal.

  “You okay?” he asked, stuffing a few sheets of tissue into her hand. While she wiped her face, he opened the water bottle for her, and then swapped it for the used Kleenex.

  After a few sips, Egypt tried handing him the bottle.

  “Drink a little more.”

  She did as told without arguing and for Kenton, that was a sign that she wasn’t herself yet. Normally, Egypt challenged him at every turn.

  “I have to go,” she rasped, still not looking at him. This time he did take the bottle when she handed it to him.

  Kenton leaned forward and wrapped his arm around her. “Where do you need to go?”

  She finally glanced at him, her eyes brimmed with tears. “Away from here. I can’t stay.” She tried to stand, but he held her firm.

  “No. Not this time. I’m not letting you off the hook. We’re not leaving until you tell me what the hell happened back there. What’s going on?”

  He noticed the moment her sadness turned to anger, and she pushed against him. “I can’t stay here!” she yelled, her voice thick with emotion. He loosened his hold, and she shot up but wobbled on her heels before he stood, steadying her.

  “You can’t stay here? Where? The office? The building? Where can’t you stay, Egypt?”

  Kenton had a bad feeling the “here” was Atlanta, but she didn’t answer. He blocked her path to the door and didn’t care that he was crowding her. “Does whatever you’re running from have to do with the Pisano family?”

  Egypt swallowed hard and the fear he spotted in her eyes moments ago returned.

  Okay, now we’re getting somewhere.

  “Talk to me. You have my word. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

  “You can’t promise that, Kenton. No one can.”

  “Well, if you can’t talk to me. Stay and talk to Hamilton.”

  She shook her head, tears slipping down her cheeks. “I can’t,” she whispered.

  He gently wiped her tears. “You’ve said more than once that you trust me. If that’s true, I need you to prove it. Tell me why you have to leave?”

  “Because…Marco Pisano wants me dead.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  “What?” Kenton choked out, shock dangled from the word, and his mouth hung open. He stared at Egypt as if seeing her for the first time. “How the hell did you get involve with the Pisano family?”

  Egypt released a shaky breath and ran her hands down her face, still reeling from the terror of seeing Marco’s photo on the screen. Still remembering the evilness in his eyes when he made her a promise years ago.

  You’re going to pay for ripping my family apart.

  And Egypt believed him.

  Still shivering, she rubbed her hands up and down her arms. It didn’t matter that she wore a suit jacket. She couldn’t seem to get warm.

  “Kenton, I know you want answers, but I have to go. I’m not safe here,” she said, her voice shaking despite trying to keep herself together, which she was failing at miserably. Standing in that meeting, seeing Marco’s face, her nightmare had become too real. “Once I’m settled somewhere, I promise I’ll call.”

  She made a move to go around Kenton, but he blocked her path and gripped her shoulders, forcing Egypt to look at him.

  “Really? You tell me some shit like that about Pisano, and you think I’m going to let you walk out of here? Clearly, you don’t know me.”

  “Kenton, please. I ca-can’t stay. Marco will find me, and he will kill me. He accused me of ripping his family apart. He told me I was going to pay.” She bit back a sob, unable to look at Kenton as a tear slipped down her cheek. He wiped it away.

  “Sweetheart, I know you’re scared, but I can’t let you go. If Pisano is after you, being with all of us is the safest place for you.”
<
br />   In her heart, Egypt knew he was right, but in her head, all she could think of was—run. It was only a matter of time before Marco found her. More importantly, she didn’t want any of her friends to get hurt because of her.

  “And there’s another reason you can’t leave me. We have a date tonight, and I’m holding you to it.”

  Egypt tried to laugh, but sobbed instead, sounding like a wounded puppy. She knew he was trying to lighten the moment, which only made her care for him that much more. Her heart ached knowing that she’d never get a chance to explore a relationship with him.

  “Aw, baby. Come here.” Kenton pulled her to his hard body and his strong arms encircled her.

  Egypt leaned into him, absorbing his strength and wishing that the last fifteen minutes had only been a dream. She tried to calm down, but even the sweet kiss Kenton placed against the side of her head didn’t help the fear raging through her body.

  She didn’t want to leave town. Atlanta felt like home, and for the first time in her adult life, she had friends. But running and taking care of herself was all she knew. Marco was ruthless. He wouldn’t think twice about putting a bullet in her head.

  A sense of foreboding, like an ominous cloud, weighed her down, siphoning what little energy she had left. Marco’s face kept replaying in her mind, and her heart rate soared as fear continued to build.

  How could he be in Atlanta? Did he know she was there? There was no way Pisano just happened to move his family’s operation to Atlanta.

  He was closing in.

  “Come and have a seat. It’s time you tell me everything.”

  Egypt sat on the sofa and wiped her face, watching as Kenton shook out of his suit jacket and draped it on the back of a chair, his thick biceps flexing with each move. When he sat next to her, he loosened his black tie and undid the top button on his dress shirt. “Now, talk to me. How do you know Marco Pisano?”

  “When I was seventeen, his father had my uncle killed…and I witnessed the murder.”

  *

  Kenton just stared at Egypt. To witness a murder at any age was a traumatic experience but as a kid?

  He shook his head and tried to brace himself for whatever else she’d share. So far, the last few minutes had been one shock after another. He’d known that Egypt had secrets, but he wouldn’t have guessed they involved murder and a notorious crime family.

  Never ask a question unless you’re prepared for the answer.

  Kenton watched her carefully. It was clear she wasn’t as unaffected as she was trying to let on. The fidgeting, rubbing her hands up and down her thighs, and the fact that she hadn’t looked at him in the last few minutes proved just how uncomfortable she was.

  She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her thighs and closed her eyes. “It’s a long story. I had hoped by moving to Atlanta, I could finally put that time in my life behind me, but somehow it seems to keep popping up. It’s like I’m never going to be able to move on from my past. My nightmare.”

  “Why don’t you give me the short version. Like, where did this happen?”

  “Southside of Chicago where I grew up.”

  Chicago? Hell, all this time he thought she was from L.A. At least that’s what she’d told him years ago. What other lies had she spewed…and why?

  “I had just graduated from high school a few days earlier, and me and one of my friends were trying to hurry home because we both were supposed to be in the house before the street lights came on. But we were late, as usual.”

  A slight smile tilted the left corner of her lips as if remembering happier times, but it disappeared just as fast.

  “We cut through the backyard of this abandoned house, and just before we reached the front, we heard tires screeching, car doors slamming, and then people arguing.”

  Egypt finally made eye contact, and Kenton couldn’t take his gaze from hers. Each time she looked at him, those gorgeous doe-like eyes pulled on his heartstrings. It didn’t matter what she was involved in. He would do anything to protect her.

  “In our neighborhood, when you hear people arguing, you automatically go the other way knowing a fight or gunshots would be next. It was that dangerous. We started to go back the way we came, but then I heard my uncle’s booming voice, arguing, and I froze. My friend tried to get me to leave, but I didn’t.”

  Egypt pressed her fingers against her temple, then closed her eyes again.

  “No matter how many times I play that night in my head, I don’t know why I stayed.”

  “Were you and your uncle close?” Kenton asked, needing to keep her talking.

  “At one time. He was the one who taught me everything there was to know about computers. He was my father’s younger brother and super smart. My mother hated him, said trouble followed him around. That night…”

  “Tell me,” Kenton said gently when it seemed she wouldn’t continue.

  “There were five men: my Uncle Billy, his best friend, and three others, one was Marcelo Pisano, Marco’s father. He stood out. The man looked like money. Fancy suit, shiny shoes, bling on his fingers, and a big, expensive looking car that only high-end drug dealers rolled in.

  “My uncle and one of the other men argued about some deal that went bad, and the guy blamed my uncle. But Uncle Billy didn’t back down, told the guy he was full of shit and that one of these days he wouldn’t be able to hide behind his badge.”

  Hide behind his badge…

  The words rattled in Kenton’s head, but he forced himself to pay attention as Egypt continued.

  “My uncle just kept talking and said, ‘Your ass is going to get got.’ I didn’t know what that meant at the time, but the guy pulled out a gun.”

  The tension bouncing off of Egypt was palpable, and Kenton reached for her hand, rubbing his thumb over the back of it. She looked depleted, which was understandable considering what she was telling him.

  “Pisano said something in Italian to the guy with the gun, and then he climbed into the back seat of the car. I think Uncle Billy and his friend understood Italian because they started backing up. Then I heard something like a faint pop, but wasn’t sure what it was until my uncle’s friend dropped to the ground.”

  “The gunman had a silencer?”

  Egypt nodded. “The gunman turned the pistol on my uncle. He said…” Egypt swallowed, tears filling her eyes as she bit her bottom lip. “I’ll keep hiding behind my badge because your ass won’t be around to say a damn thing. He shot my uncle in the head.”

  Damn.

  “I-I let out a little scream and then covered my mouth. I was so scared that they had heard me.”

  “Had they?”

  “Yes. I couldn’t get my feet to move. I just stood there shaking in the shadows. But the shooter headed in that direction until Pisano said something through the window. After another glance my way, he hurried away. Too afraid to run or do anything, I just stood there while my uncle and his friend bled to death.”

  I’ll keep hiding behind my badge.

  Unease swept through Kenton as those words played inside his head. No wonder she didn’t trust law enforcement.

  Tears trailed down Egypt’s face, but she quickly swiped them away. “Everything was a blur after that. Cops came from every direction, and I had to tell them what I saw. Then one day the FBI showed up at our door.”

  An icy trail of dread slithered through Kenton’s body.

  I’ll keep hiding behind my badge.

  Now the words taunted him. “Egypt, who shot your uncle?”

  Her sad eyes met his. “A dirty FBI agent.”

  Ah hell.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Egypt stared down at her hands as Kenton released a string of curses. She knew he didn’t want to hear that one of his own had been dirty. Though she didn’t know the whole story about why Kenton left the FBI, she’d heard that he had lost a witness under questionable circumstances.

  Kenton shot out of his seat and paced around the room aimlessly while rubbing the back
of his neck. “Tell me the rest.”

  Egypt hesitated, not wanting to say anything that would drum up bad memories from his time with the FBI. But she had promised to tell him her truth, the good and the bad, and the way he was looking at her left no room for debate.

  She continued, explaining how the FBI agent that had shot her uncle had been working for the Pisano family. Once the men were in custody, the feds built their case and wanted her to testify, but initially, Egypt’s parents had been against the idea, fearing her safety. Her father had just returned from burying his only brother. The thought of putting Egypt at risk hadn’t sat well with him. He hadn’t agreed until the feds told them that without Egypt’s testimony, her uncle’s killer might walk.

  “I testified.”

  “Hold up.” Kenton stopped in the middle of the floor. “Are you telling me you testified against a crooked FBI agent and Pisano, in a federal case? Did the feds offer you and your family witness protection?”

  “They did. My mother fought the idea, not wanting to leave her family and friends, but my father insisted that we get protection. I agreed to testify against the FBI agent and Marcelo Pisano, Marco’s father.”

  “How did Marco get to you?”

  Egypt’s pulse amped up at the mention of his name. “After the trial, my parents, my little brother, and I went into WITSEC with new identities, and they moved us to South Carolina. We were there two years, and I was in my second year of college. Marco confronted me.”

  Egypt’s chest tightened as she recalled one of the scariest days of her life. She knew who he was immediately since she had researched him and his family prior to the trial.

  Kenton walked back over and sat next to her, and just having him nearby helped.

  “I was heading across campus to get to my next class, and Marco came out of nowhere. Scared me to death. He said I thought it was time we met. It’s because of you the FBI destroyed my family and caused my father’s heart attack. You’re going to pay for ripping my family apart. Then I saw the knife. Before I could react, he jammed it into my side and pulled it out. I don’t recall much after that. I remember the pain and falling to the ground. I also recall someone…or people screaming, but supposedly no one saw Marco.”