"I don’t know anything I can help you with."
It was jumping the gun a little, but I didn’t think he'd want anything else from me besides information. Info that I couldn’t give, since all I knew really implicated Alex more than Angelo. Alex, who handled the transactions, provided the software that rigged the games. There was the thing with his dad, but I didn’t have proof of it. And it was something I'd have to tell Alex before I thought to tell anyone else.
I doubted he wanted dirt on Alex, though.
The Sputafuocos were mafia. They wouldn’t be so effective at what they did and not have the police after them. Why was I surprised the FBI had gotten involved?
"I don’t need information from you," the FBI agent said.
I frowned, confusion wiping away some of my fear. "What, then?"
He took a bite from his pastry, took a sip of his tea, and swallowed before he answered.
"I need you to stay right where you are."
I gave him a flat stare. "What?"
"You heard me. Go back to the hotel, act like you just stepped out. Since you're not eating, you can take the stuff back with you.
"You're asking me…. To go back…" my voice was blank, I was beyond confused. Did they know the situation I was in, why I needed to run?
Why the hell would I go back there?
Like he read my mind, he answered me.
"Angelo will find you no matter where you go. If you stay where you are, we can help you," he offered.
"How?" I demanded to know.
"Your friend Alex, for one."
"What does he have to do with anything?"
"He's been under our radar for one thing. I can't tell you anything specific, but we are aware both of you are victims in Angelo's game. If you stick with Alex, we can look after both of you that much easier."
He didn't try to convince me to do what he wanted, just laid the figurative chips on the table and waited for me to play my hand.
But did I have much of a choice really? Running away was a spur of the moment thing. I wasn’t sure if I even could get away, and he was right that if he wanted to, Angelo could hunt me down. If he ever went to the trouble to do so, I would pay for it tenfold once he caught me.
My sudden burst of bravery died quickly as I thought about it like that. I didn’t tell him out loud I was going to go back, I didn’t think he'd been overly worried about me refusing.
But now that I didn’t have to leave, I felt almost ashamed. Because I thought of Alex again and there was nothing else to divert my attention from the thoughts surrounding him.
How was I going to tell him that his dad was dead? And after trying to run away from him.
Oh, God…. How was I going to face him?
Chapter 9
Alex
I let Belt take me somewhere. We didn’t go far, he had someone take care of the car for me and took me to a small park a short distance away. We sat on a bench, in a spot under the shade. There weren’t a lot of people out; it was too cold for that. When was it not cold in Chicago?
I kept my mouth shut and listened as he told me about my dad's death. I wasn’t sure how he found it all out, but I didn’t sweat the details. I didn’t care about that.
What I did care about, was that my dad was dead and no one had thought to tell me about it. It had happened a few days ago, but I didn’t doubt Angelo already knew. I'd gotten over the shock, but I was just blank for a while.
Honestly, I had no idea how to feel. The man was my father, I'd gone through a lot just to ensure he stayed alive, but I was way better off with him gone. For a second, it felt like a weight getting lifted off my shoulders. But when I thought that, I felt a little guilty.
Life alone with my dad hadn't exactly been stable. One day we'd be living the high life, and then we'd be poor as dirt. The times we were poor usually lasted longer.
Dad had a bad habit; several, but gambling and women were the worst. Expensive, too. He'd go to loan sharks to fund his habits. He'd have his good days with the gambling, pay back his debts and have plenty more to play with. Many times, however, he wasn’t so lucky.
Of course, then he had me. He was supposed to go straight then, or so I thought. My mom had hoped he would, probably why she stuck around so long, but it didn’t last. After she left, he didn’t know quite what to do with me; so, he turned me into a mini version of himself. I didn’t know whether that was deliberate, but he started teaching me his 'particular brand of talents' when I was eight. I was a fast learner and he was proud. He even brought me, once, to a live poker game he played with some guys regularly. It was also my first experience with poker. It wasn’t the last by far.
Back then, I loved that. That my father deigned to spend time with me. He was a superhero in my eyes, but I think most boys around that age thought the same of their dads.
I changed my mind as I grew older, though.
When I was in high school, there were times when I couldn’t stand to go home, because I knew the kind of shit I'd find. Dad, passed out drunk or about to be, with some bimbo that he picked up from who knew where. No food anywhere in sight. At times, he'd be gone and he'd stay away for a while, and that habit had begun long before high school, when we still lived with mom.
After that kind of life, it wasn’t like I knew my dad. I didn’t feel the need to mourn him, he lived life how he wanted and got only what he deserved, but he was still the only family I had.
I suddenly knew exactly how I felt. I was mad.
"I'm sorry about your loss," Belt was saying, done with outlining everything that happened.
Apparently, my dad had been going through torture in the time since he was taken. I wanted to feel cheated, but no one had made the promise that he wouldn’t be hurt. That they'd go so far he'd end up dead. 'Accident' my ass. They should have just locked his ass somewhere and left him the hell alone.
"I'm not suddenly gonna break down just because he's gone you know," I remarked.
"So you don’t feel anything?" Bent asked.
"It's not that, just… I've basically been looking after myself since I was seventeen. Hell, longer than that. Thanks to that bastard, I don’t trust anybody, so it's not like I have anyone else. Usually, even after I left home, I'd keep an eye on him. But somehow I missed this."
I'd chalk it up to my carelessness, as well as his. It wasn’t my job to look after him, but it didn’t change the situation, or the outcome; him dead and me working for bigger criminals.
"He wasn’t the best dad but he was still my old man," I replied.
"Wasn’t the best…" Belt muttered, sounding incredulous. "He left you alone. Often, even when you were a kid. He also left you with nothing."
"I'm not saying I even liked him. And I sure as hell don’t need anything from him." He'd taught me enough to make sure of that. "But he was all the family I had. And he had his moments. This isn’t something I can just let go."
I could feel his eyes boring into the side of my face, but I refused to turn to meet his gaze.
"Are you talking revenge?"
I shrugged. "Maybe. I sure as hell won't be getting more cash for them."
"Aren't you worried they'd just kill you?"
"Of course not. I can rig any game I want, remember?"
"This isn’t a game, kid."
"Of course it is. Look what's happened so far. And don’t call me kid when you know it annoys me, Belt."
He huffed, taking a second to mull things over. "And what about the woman you've been spending time with lately, hmm? How do you figure her into your plans?"
"Destiny Turner." I narrowed my eyes on him. "How do you even know about her?"
I hadn't been with her that long, not openly in public. Just how long had he been watching me? He didn’t answer me, and I knew he wouldn’t.
"Fine, setting that aside. I don’t want her involved in this."
"Why not?"
I hesitated. "For several reasons." One of them being my reaction to her nearnes
s. "I don’t know if I can trust her. She's working for Angelo, does pretty much what he says, but I don’t think she's confused about the kind of man that he is. She's looking out for herself, always has. As well she should. I don’t think I can ask her to risk her life for a near stranger."
"Think about it a different way. She works for Angelo; she knows the kind of man he is. She'd probably want to get out of his clutches like you would."
"I don’t know about that. She's good at hiding, but it's pretty obvious she's afraid of him."
"But if you work with her, you can get information. The kind of info that would put at least one Sputafuoco behind bars."
I gave him a sideways look. "You've been after them for a while, huh?"
He smiled, but it was bitter. "I picked up the case from an old colleague."
"What happened to him?"
He raised an eyebrow, like I was stupid for even asking. I tipped my head, conceding the point. Which left us with what he wanted from me really.
"I'm willing to come forward, tell you everything about my deal with Angelo and his dad. In exchange, I want immunity."
I met his gaze then, and his eyes were serious; it almost made him look like a different person than when he had his bad cop face on.
"You know that depends on what you did and what you know."
"No, you agree or I walk. If you're so sure that you can catch me doing something I shouldn’t, don’t expect to get anything directly from me."
"You're leaving me in a tight spot, kid. I can't be caught playing favorites."
I shrugged. That wasn’t my problem. "Tough. Nothing in this life comes for free, Senior Special Agent Belt. I know that a lot better than you do, believe me. You have my word. You know I'm a crook but you know you can trust what I say. And if we're bringing Destiny into this, she deserves it because she didn’t actually do anything wrong."
"We're not looking at her as a suspect."
"You say that, but I have some inkling about how your cases work, remember? Just because she isn’t a suspect doesn’t mean you can't hold her. I may not trust her, but I know she wouldn’t deserve being treated like a criminal for trying to protect herself."
He raised an eyebrow. "Was she protecting herself when she fell in with the mafia?"
"No. I can only assume she was young and pulled into the glamour. She sure as hell isn’t now," I answered.
"Be that as it may, we need her. Which means, essentially, since you want revenge, you need her. Unless you're willing to go through other means than legal," he replied.
Even if I did, I couldn’t just come right out and say it. We were acting all buddy-buddy, but he wouldn’t hesitate to arrest me, because it was his job. Which was why I wanted immunity before I came out with anything. I'd developed the software that was stealing money from people; he wasn’t just going to believe Sputafuoco realized I had the talent and commanded me to create it. He had some idea of my own exploits, but unlike my dad, I'd gotten used to covering my tracks.
Clearly I wasn’t as good as I thought, though; I was caught by an Italian mobster and was suspect enough to have a Fed follow me around for years.
"Why do you need her so badly?"
He hesitated, and I turned to give him my attention, my interest piqued. Belt didn’t hesitate. I was even more surprised when he looked away from me.
"We actually already have someone on the inside, so I do have some idea of what is going on. But we don’t have enough information on him. Destiny is the only one of his girls we thought might have some insight, at least to what he's been doing recently, since he's been having her meet a lot of his... business associates. Angelo has been growing a little bold in his actions recently."
He kept saying 'we', I assumed it covered other people with authority. And what exactly did he mean, having Destiny meet a lot of business associates?
"You have someone?"
"Yeah, not FBI though, an undercover cop. Understand I can't tell you anything about it just yet, it's an open investigation after all."
I frowned. "Right. Look, if we're done here, I do have something I was supposed to be doing. I've been delayed enough. " I pushed up from the bench, slowly, taking slow breaths and trying to decide if I was steady enough to be going off on my own.
"Where are you going?"
"To meet a client of Angelo's."
"Then why are you the one meeting him?"
I shook my head. I wasn’t hurt enough to let him trick me that easily. "Do as I ask and I'll tell you everything. Right now, why don’t you pray for me so I may walk away from this alive, after that fucking accident didn’t finish me off."
"You need backup?"
I snorted, giving him a look. "From a Fed? Like hell," I sneered.
He sighed, standing up, but he didn’t step forward to help me again, tucking his hands into his pockets. "You need to be careful kid. My hands are tied if anything happens."
"You know me, I'm resourceful. Just don’t come looking for me again. I promise I'll contact you soon."
"Do you need my number?"
"I still have it."
"I switched numbers a while back."
I waved him away, turning to leave. "I have the new one."
I heard him chuckle behind me as I walked away.
Chapter 10
Destiny
I was waiting nervously for Alex, wondering why he was taking so long to get back. Had something else happened? I hoped not. I didn’t think my nerves could take anymore. They weren’t exactly made of steel.
When the door suddenly opened, I jumped up off the couch, half stumbling in relief when Alex suddenly walked into the room.
"Hey. Why the hell did you take so long?"
"There was… an accident."
My heart nearly froze at the word. Did he…?
But he was rubbing his neck and scowling in irritation; not the reaction I would expect if he already knew.
"I was driving off this morning and some kid suddenly appeared in the road in front of my car. I had to swerve to avoid him. He's fine, though, thank God."
"Are you all right?"
"I'm fine," he sat himself in the single seat, his movements slow. "My car is totaled, though. I called a friend to help me find one I can use for the time being."
I hadn't even known he owned one. "Are you sure you're okay? Did you go to the hospital?"
"I didn’t go to the hospital, but I stopped by a clinic after I met the client."
Crap, I forgot about the client. If it went to shit, Angelo would be having kittens; he didn’t take well to excuses, no matter how genuine. "Did the meeting go well?"
"Yeah. Surprisingly. He was very sympathetic when he heard about the accident," but he sounded sarcastic.
"You could have woken me up."
He sighed, leaning back and closing his eyes. "You looked tired. I thought I should let you sleep."
I bit my lip, hesitating where I stood. I didn’t like that he'd just up and left without me. I felt a spike of guilt again, because I'd been more than ready to leave with him anyway. I fidgeted in place for a moment, but went to sit back down. If he'd gotten into an accident, the last thing he needed was me bothering him.
"Do you need something? Water, drugs, anything…" I let my voice trail off, biting my lip again when I figured he probably just wanted me to be quiet.
He was silent so long I thought I'd annoyed him. Then he squinted an eye open.
"Just water would be nice. I was given drugs at the clinic, but they told me I shouldn’t take any more for eight hours."
Wanting to be useful, I jumped up from the couch and went to the kitchen. I filled a glass up with water and carried it back to him. I stood beside the chair until he opened his eyes, and I handed him the glass. I waited while he drank, then took the glass back and put it on the table.
"Anything else?"
He arched an eyebrow at me. "Did something happen?"
My heart leaped in my throat, but I just widene
d my eyes in innocence. "Besides you getting into an accident? Not really."
"Hmm. You're hovering more than usual, though."
"Alex, you got in an accident. You're lucky to be alive, let alone not hurt."
"Oh, I'm hurt. I'm not gonna die from it, though, and that's good enough for me."
I scowled at him. "You shouldn’t be so blasé about something so serious."
"Hmm." He hummed again, closing his eyes. "Death is a serious thing, isn’t it?"
The way he said it, dark and speculative, like he was talking more to himself than me, made me feel guilty again. I wanted to tell him; about what I'd heard, my attempt to escape and meeting an FBI agent. Before I returned I'd asked if Alex was a suspected criminal, if in their bid to catch Angelo might he end up in jail too, for his involvement. If it happened to me, I would have deserved it for chasing all the wrong things, in all the wrong ways, and undeniably in the wrong places.
But all he'd told me was that it was classified.
I'd almost laughed then, because it sounded like something right out of a 'cops versus bad guys' b-movie. I hadn't, because I wasn’t sure I would stop, I also wasn’t sure I wouldn’t start crying in the middle of it. Then I got back and waited for hours for Alex to return. It wasn’t that late, but he must have left early in the morning and it was starting to get dark out.
When he didn’t look like he'd open his eyes for a while, or like he needed anything, I slowly went back to the couch and curled myself into it.
I felt marginally better now that Alex was back, at least I didn’t feel like I was about to jump out of my skin. I could relax, just a bit. But then I started thinking about what that agent said. They had people watching all of us including Angelo. I wanted to talk to Alex privately, but I didn’t think it was safe to do it at the hotel.
As much as they were meant to help, I didn’t like the idea of being watched by anybody.
I didn’t realize I'd fallen asleep until I woke up to Alex shaking me. He looked better, the furrows in his brow were gone; his eyes were clear, but they were also strange.
Dirty Money: A Dark Mafia Romance (Alpha Men Book 1) Page 6
