by Sara Fields
“It has to be. She has the birthmark. It was exactly as Isabella described,” I answered. “The DNA results will confirm that she’s a direct descendent. Of that, I have no doubt. Once it does though, she’s going to have to be protected. If it comes down to it, I’m going to take her myself.”
“What would you have me do, boss?” he asked.
“I want you to watch over her. Make sure she stays safe and that none of the families know who she really is. If she leaves her apartment, I want to know. If she opens her window, it will be reported to me. I want to know everything, no matter how trivial it is,” I ordered.
“I will see to it that it is done,” he answered.
“Good,” I replied.
The image of her naked body flashed before my eyes again. I would have her again, and soon.
The lab results came in that night, confirming that Chloe was indeed Isabella’s daughter, just as I had thought she was. I called in a few favors with a few of my connections in the CIA and a file with her complete background history was emailed to me just a few hours later. I pored over it. I would learn everything about her that I could.
Her birth certificate had been forged, leaving no indication of her real parents. Instead, it claimed that she had been born to Betsy and Ronald Whitmore on the outskirts of Burlington, Vermont. There were no hospital records of her birth. Either the doctors had been paid off in cash or the records had been destroyed or she was born somewhere in the woods in secret.
There was no connection that I could find between Isabella, Betsy, and Ronald. They seemed like a random choice, but I knew that there must be more to the truth than that. She had chosen them for a reason, and I’d figure it out eventually. I moved on to the next part of the file that detailed Chloe’s academic records. It wasn’t particularly illuminating. She didn’t go to any expensive private schools because her adoptive parents couldn’t afford it. Nothing in their bank accounts suggested any payments for their role in raising her. She’d done well academically, but after she graduated high school at the top of her class, she decided against going to college. Instead, she had gotten a job and saved up several thousand dollars so that she could move to New York and pursue her singing career. By all my observations, it looked like she was blossoming here. She was on the right track and if she continued to work as hard as she was, she would be famous before long.
Her social media profiles were professionally done and when I looked into her business contacts, I was impressed at what she’d accomplished so far. Her agent was an up and coming star in his company, and he’d already made a move to secure a potentially big deal for her with a record label. If he actually succeeded, it would be a really big break for her.
I had no doubt in my mind that she could be famous of her own doing, but I wanted to help her. I knew quite a number of people in the music industry and it would simply take a few strong suggestions to really break things open for her. I started to make a few calls and laid several plans into motion for the coming weekend. When I was finished, my cell phone started to ring. I flipped the file shut and answered it. It was Dean. I answered the call and held the phone to my ear, waiting for him to speak first.
“Silas,” he said in greeting.
“Dean,” I replied.
“I think we should amp up our protective detail on Chloe,” he began.
“Why is that?” I pressed.
“I saw Matthew Lucchese lurking outside her apartment building this morning. I recognized some other Gambino assholes wandering the street last night. I don’t like it, boss,” he said.
I growled.
“I’ll look into it myself,” I replied.
“Of course. What would you want me to do?” he questioned.
“Stay on her. I’ll join you in just a little while,” I added. “Wait for my call. I’m going to look into a few things first.” I didn’t wait for him to answer me. I just hung up the phone.
I trusted my men, but when it came down to her protection, I would ensure that she was safe. I logged back into my computer and opened several different databases that I had access to. I pulled up the security feeds from every camera that had a view of her apartment building, setting the software to scan for every known face of the members of the four families. It would take some time, but I would have an answer of everyone who’d been in a three-mile radius of her home. I didn’t stop there. I pinged the location of her cell phone and began to track her movements. The software spent a short amount of time pinging her location, but once the triangulation was complete, I took note of the fact that she was inside her apartment building. I took out a burner phone from my desk and mirrored hers in it so that I would be able to keep track of her activity if need be.
I had one more trick up my sleeve to ensure that Chloe was protected. When Damon had dropped her off the night before, he had placed a few devices around her apartment when she wasn’t paying attention. A few were motion detectors that activated and recorded video. The others were activated by sound.
I opened the files already captured, watching as she practiced her songs. I listened to the beautiful sound of her voice as she wrote another melody while strumming on her guitar. Her raw talent was impressive. Quite honestly, she deserved the world and I wanted to give it to her on a silver platter.
I scanned all the captured files. All the footage was just her. She lived alone and didn’t appear to have any visitors, except for the pizza delivery guy who knocked on her door for dinner. I watched as she answered the door and tipped him. I couldn’t help but smirk when she sat down at the small table and winched just the slightest bit. Her bottom was still sore.
That pleased me.
She ate a piece of pizza and crossed her legs, occasionally rubbing her thighs. I wondered if she was thinking of the night before and when she visibly shivered, I knew that she was.
Dirty girl.
I keyed in several commands that would alert my phone if any additional captures were recorded. I finalized a few other things and after I was done, I left my office and signaled for my car to come around. When it pulled up a minute later, I climbed into the backseat and called Dean in order to let him know I was on my way.
For the next few days, Dean and I paired up to ensure that Chloe remained safe. It soon became clear to me that she was being tailed by some of the families, although not seriously yet. When she left her apartment to go to the grocery store, I followed her to make sure that none of them grew brave enough to make a move.
By the time Friday came around, I was positive that at least the Luccheses and the Gambinos were up to something. I glimpsed the faces of their lower soldiers in a window of a neighboring building from time to time. One of them had even tried to blend in on the stoop across the street with a beer. I sent Dean on a walk in that direction and the asshole disappeared without a trace.
Chloe left her place that evening and caught a taxi. In order to remain inconspicuous, I paid off an Uber driver and borrowed his car for the night. I offered him enough money to more than pay off what he owed on the car and he happily took a taxi home. I ordered Dean to stay outside her apartment building, just in case the families decided to make a move while she was away.
I slipped into the driver’s seat and pinged her phone, quickly taking a few lesser known routes to catch up with her. Her taxi wasn’t remarkably fast, definitely one of the less aggressive ones that drove the city streets and it didn’t take long for me to see the familiar license plate of that vehicle.
I surveyed the people and the cars around her, and nothing appeared to be remarkably suspicious. I opened her calendar on the mirrored phone and saw that she had a meeting with her agent. The drive was uneventful and when we arrived at the small office building, I parked across the street and watched as she walked inside. After taking the keys out of the ignition, I walked down the block a little bit and got myself a hot coffee from a food cart. I sipped on it and leaned back against a brick wall, scoping out her agency for any shady faces.
For a while, everything seemed fine. People moved along in normal patterns, going from work and meeting up with friends and just slogging along through their daily lives. The sun began to set, and the crowd thinned out. I walked down the street, sipping my coffee and casually peering down the dark alleys encased in shadow.
A flurry of activity at the end of one caught my attention. A blacked-out car was parked between buildings and it was still running. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as four men in black coats climbed out. They talked amongst themselves and although I couldn’t hear what they were saying, I remained on high alert. I strode closer to Chloe’s agency.
I was dressed in casual clothing, a pair of jeans and a gray t-shirt beneath a black jacket. I adjusted the beanie on top of my scalp, covering up the wayward locks of hair that had managed to escape. I kept my head down and moved along. The men adjusted their jackets and I caught several glimpses of their guns in the process. One of them gestured toward the agency and I stiffened, watching even more closely now. They gathered in a circle and started talking together. With practiced precision, I read their lips and stilled once her name fell off their lips.
Fuck.
Quickly, I texted the rest of my team. I sipped my coffee and continued to walk down the sidewalk until I was directly across from the alley.
For about ten minutes, I scrolled the contents of Chloe’s mirrored phone, all the while keeping my eyes on the four men. They appeared to be unorganized as they talked to one another and one of them even had trouble loading their handgun. I rolled my eyes. No matter how dumb they were, I had to stop them.
My phone pinged and I lifted my gaze from the mafia goons to see Eric, Daniel, and Michael walking up.
“Anthony and Julian went to join Dean,” Eric said, and I nodded.
“They’re over there. I recognized one of them as a Lucchese. Nick is probably trying to make a move against me,” I replied.
“Fucking asshole. We’re going to have to teach him a lesson soon. He’s long overdue,” Daniel scoffed. He wasn’t Nick’s biggest fan either, but there was more to that story than he told any of us. I didn’t dig. If he wanted to keep his personal life to himself, so be it. I didn’t care as long as he got his job done.
All of them I trusted with my life. We’d served together for many years as a part of a special team in the CIA that was tasked with eliminating terrorists and other threats to the United States, but when it came to domestic threats to the states like the big five of New York, our hands were bound because the higher ups I worked for had their own financial ties to the mob.
Isabella’s death had been the last trigger.
The CIA didn’t typically investigate murder cases like hers, but I brought it to my bosses anyway because I was convinced there was more to the story. The higher ups wouldn’t allow me and my team to investigate, but I did anyway because I needed to. Isabella had gotten caught up in a dangerous world and I had been determined to bring justice to whoever had caused her death.
The day after the car crash occurred, I found her journal tossed on the side of the road. The police officers that had been tasked with casing the scene missed it, but I didn’t. The state cops were sloppy. They didn’t dust for prints. They were quick to call the crash an accident even though the brake lines to Isabella’s car had been intentionally frayed. They ignored the fact that the eighteen-wheeler was more than two hundred miles off of its planned route. The driver even received a large deposit in his bank account of more than twenty-five thousand dollars. All the signs of suspicious activity were there, but they called it an accident anyway.
Back then, I hadn’t been prepared to take on one of the kingpins of the big five here in New York City. The confines of working for the United States government were too much for me, so I left the CIA, and my team came with me. We made a list of targets and we took them down together. I led them and they followed me without question.
I answered to no one and throughout the years that followed, we’d taken down a number of corrupt billionaires, banks, criminals, and domestic terrorists that operated under the radar for years.
We called ourselves The Seven and in the dark undergrounds of the world, they trembled at our name. The mafia answered to me. Criminal enterprises answered to me. We were infamous and I wasn’t afraid to punish those that stood against us. Sometimes that meant putting the right people in prison and sometimes that meant my enemies ended up dead.
Right now, Nick Lucchese was on fucking thin ice. If these men didn’t walk away today, I would pay him a visit to remind him who was in charge myself.
“Come on. Let’s put an end to this,” I said. I didn’t look back, but I knew my men would follow me anyway. We crossed the street together and approached the alley. The mafia goons lifted their gazes in our direction as we strode toward them. I took the lead and pulled my dark beanie off.
“Do you have plans tonight, boys?” I said, not caring that my voice echoed off the brick walls of the alley. Once they heard me, they took a step back. They knew who I was. One of them tried to stand tall and stand up to me and only then was I able to see his face.
“Matthew Lucchese,” I murmured.
“Silas, I didn’t expect to see you here,” he answered.
“I bet you didn’t, but here I am anyway,” I replied. “What are you four up to tonight?”
“We were just out on a walk,” he answered evasively, and I smirked at the audacity of his lies.
“Were you now? Did you plan on running into someone along the way? Perhaps a pretty woman in the dead of the night?” I pressed. He fidgeted a bit nervously in front of me. I reached into the back of my belt and pulled out a knife from its holster. Matt’s eyes dropped down to my fingers and I twirled the blade. I stared back at him with a certain amount of measured arrogance and his face twisted a bit in fear.
“No,” he answered, but the dishonesty was so obvious at this point that it would have been better for him to say nothing at all.
“Nick sent you here for Chloe Banks, didn’t he? He saw that I had an interest in the pretty little thing and he wanted to send me a message,” I offered, casually dragging the edge of my knife along my palm.
Matthew knew better than to answer.
“If the four of you do not leave this alley tonight, I’m going to be displeased,” I warned him. “And I can’t promise I will let you walk away fully intact if even a single one of you touches a hair on her pretty head.”
My men took a step forward, fanning in front of me in a blatant show of force as they unholstered their guns and aimed in the direction of the mafia soldiers.
Matthew watched me closely. It was obvious that he was second guessing his boss’ orders because he hadn’t expected me to catch him, but nothing happened in this city without me finding out about it. He should have known better than that.
“Silas, I have my orders,” he finally answered, the brave little shit.
I smirked and casually walked toward him. At the last second, I raced forward, grabbed him by the back of the neck, and pressed my knife to his throat. He stilled and I stared at him with malicious intent.
“You won’t survive this night if you decide to continue, Lucchese. You think that you answer to Nick, but he doesn’t run this city. I do, and if you defy me, the two of you will end up dead. I’ll make sure that they’d find your body in the morning and there’s not a person alive that would come after me for your death,” I growled.
A drop of blood oozed along the metal of the blade and the quietest whimper of terror escaped his lips. No one else heard it, but I did, and it made my grin widen with pleasure.
“Don’t test me, Matthew,” I snarled.
“We’ll leave,” he finally managed to murmur.
“Good,” I replied. I jerked the knife a bit enough to cut him and pushed him away. He staggered and struggled to catch his balance and I smirked as his hand desperately clutched at his throat. “Don’t worry. It’s not enough to end y
our life, but it’ll probably leave a scar. It’ll remind you not to test me the next time I give you an order.”
“Come on, guys. Let’s get out of here,” Matthew muttered to his men. They didn’t say a word as he rushed out of the alley and they followed.
“Oh, and Matthew?” I called out. He stopped on a dime and stared back at me with fear. “Why don’t you let Nick know of our little meeting? Tell him if I see him anywhere near Chloe Banks again that I’ll put a bullet right between his eyes myself.”
“I will let him know,” he answered. I enjoyed the way his voice shook as he said the words.
Once the men had left the alley, I sent Michael and Daniel to follow them and make sure they left the area. I had Eric stay with me just in case I needed backup. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and quick-dialed Dean. He answered right away.
“It’s all quiet here, boss,” he said.
“We had a run in with the Luccheses. Send Michael in to give her apartment a onceover. I want to make sure she’s safe for the night. Tomorrow night, she’ll be moving into my penthouse,” I instructed, and he grunted in agreement.
“Will do, Silas,” he replied.
I hung up the phone and Eric handed me another coffee.
I grinned at him and thanked him.
“This one has gotten under your skin, hasn’t she?” he asked. “We’ve protected a number of women before, but you’ve never offered your own penthouse as a safe house.”
I sighed.
Eric knew me far too well.
“This one is special. I can feel it,” I replied.
“The Seven will protect her for you, no matter what it takes,” he said boldly.
“Thank you, Eric,” I said quietly and the door to the agency finally creaked open. Chloe emerged and sidestepped down the stairs. I decided to allow her the privilege of catching her own taxi tonight and slid behind the wheel of the car I had borrowed. Eric opened the passage side door and sat down beside me.
“You’re going to let her go home tonight, boss?” he asked carefully.
