Clean Slate (New Mafia Trilogy #2) (31 page)

The sound of a door closing
woke me up. I was naked and lying next to Jason, my head on his chest and as
far as I knew, we were alone in the house.

Lifting my head off of
his chest, I gently shook him awake. “What?” he mumbled and rolled over onto
his side, giving me a view of his tanned back.

           
“Someone is in the house,” I hissed, poking him in the
dimples right above his ass that the blanket barely covered.

The panic in my voice
did the trick and he sat up. I did too, pulling the covers to conceal my body
so I didn’t feel as vulnerable. We both listened closely to the sounds coming
from downstairs. Someone was definitely walking around and they weren’t making
any effort at being quiet. Jason looked at the alarm clock on the nightstand.

           
“Shit! I forgot my dad was stopping by this morning.” He
leaped out of bed and threw on his jeans and black t-shirt from the night
before.

           
“Your dad is here?” I clutched the blanket tight. “What
if he came upstairs?” It didn’t matter that Jason’s dad didn’t barge into the
bedroom, just the idea that it could have happened was horrifying enough.

           
“I’ll be downstairs.” With that he left me alone, naked,
in the bed where we had sex not even five hours earlier.

Unable to face Jason’s
dad with the smell of his son on every inch of my skin, I quickly showered and
thought I heard the doorbell chime when I was rinsing conditioner out of my
hair. After putting on jeans and a sweater, I dabbed on some light make-up
before going downstairs. Following the sound of male voices into the dining room,
I walked in and froze.

Jason sat to next to
his dad at the table, a steaming mug of coffee before him. His father, Jonathan
Fletcher, had his dark brown leather briefcase open on the empty chair next to
him and he was shuffling through papers. But it wasn’t these two who made me
pause; it was the man who had heard me approach and turned around in his chair
to look at me: FBI Agent Phillips.

It took a few seconds
for me to find my voice and these moments were spent with my eyes locked on
Agent Phillips. “What’s going on?” I asked, finally looking away from him.
 

Jason basically ignored
me and stared deep into his coffee like he was reading tea leaves or trying to
figure out if he could somehow crawl into the mug and hide. His father held a
stack of papers and he tapped them against the table top to make the edges
straight before setting the pile down. He crossed his manicured hands over top
and looked up at me with a fake smile – all tight lips and no teeth. His eyes
were the same aqua blue as his Jason’s, but lacked any warmth.
 
“Take a seat, Natalie.”

I chose the seat at the
head of the table, closest to Jason and furthest from Agent Phillips. Now that
I was sitting down, from this angle I saw that Agent Phillips had a manila
folder at least half an inch thick on the table in front of him. He too had a
fresh cup of coffee. Everyone was prepared for this gathering except for me
with my still wet hair, bare feet and zero caffeine.

           
“My son told me quite the story about you Natalie and now
that you’ve gotten him involved in your criminal lifestyle, he’s seeking
representation for him and for you.”

           
“Criminal lifestyle?” His choice of words shocked me as
much as a slap to the face would. “Jase, what did you tell him?” I leaned
closer to him and my movement forced Jason to finally look at me, but it was
fleeting.

           
“I’m doing the talking here,” Jason’s dad interjected,
maintaining control of the room, and I imagined he was a force to be reckoned
with in the courtroom. “Let me start with conspiracy to commit a felony. Both
you and Jason were aware of plans for Dominic Grabano and Grant Ross to kill
Marco Grabano. Then there’s the matter of you possessing an illegal firearm and
harboring a known enforcer for the Los Angeles crime family.” Jonathan Fletcher
narrowed his eyes at me. “Jason showed up at my house with this man’s blood on
his shirt.”

With each allegation, I
sunk further and further down in the chair. “You’re a threat to my son’s
future, Miss Ross and because of this I need to do some damage control. I’m
willing to represent you and cut a deal with the FBI, but I’m not doing this
for you, do you understand?”

           
“And what exactly does this deal entail?” I asked. It was
my turn to narrow my eyes.

           
“You become a witness and all of the charges against you will
be dropped.”

Rage began to burn in
my blood, making my muscles quake and it was all I could do to not chew Jason
out. Struggling to keep my voice even, I turned to Jason. “I told you no
authorities. I’m not a rat.”

           
“So you’re admitting you have knowledge of criminal
activity?” Jason’s dad said, immediately twisting my words against me. Damn, he
was good.

           
“Dad, stop.” Jason reached out and captured my hand.
“Natalie, you wanted out and this is it. I don’t want to see you covered in
blood again.”

Either Jason didn’t
realize the scope of what he was asking me to do or he didn’t care, but then
again he didn’t know I killed a man, he didn’t know that I would never turn
against my brother, especially since he was going to be a father. There was no way
I’d take that away from Grant. Then there was Dominic. “Jason, is this really
about me or is it about you? Is this your way of getting me all to yourself or
keeping your record blemish-free so you can grow up to be a lawyer like your
dad?”

           
“I’m doing this for you…for us!” Jason said, squeezing my
hand, which I pulled out of his reach.

           
“For us? Are you saying that you’re going to be a witness
too?”

           
“No, just you Miss Ross, that’s the deal,” Agent Phillips
answered. I turned my head and focused my attention on the federal agent.

           
“What are the statistics for keeping witnesses alive once
they make a deal like this?” I asked.

He regarded me with
bloodshot eyes and was wearing the same gray suit with a cornflower blue tie as
the last time I saw him. I briefly wondered if he had a whole closet full.

           
“Contrary to what you’ve probably been told, we actually
have a one hundred percent success rate for WITSEC. It’s those who voluntarily
leave the program and go back to their former lives that run the risk of being
killed. People have a hard time adjusting to WITSEC because they have to leave
their identity, family and friends behind.”

When I said I wanted to
wipe the slate clean, I hadn’t meant like this.

 
“That’s interesting. Now, Agent Phillips, I
had heard that Marco was murdered. Is it true there isn’t any evidence aside
from bullets?” The last article I’d read online said the case was growing cold
and that all the usual suspects had solid alibies.

His right eye twitched
and I was surprised when he answered honestly and said there weren’t any leads
or much evidence. This confirmed my suspicions that they were desperate for
information. It also meant I could walk away and wasn’t backed into a corner.

           
“Mr. Fletcher, I’m going to pass on your offer because
whatever information you think I have, I don’t.
 
Besides, hypothetically, if I did have any information I sure as hell
wouldn’t turn on my own brother.”

My statement silenced
the room so I stood up and left the room. I sprinted upstairs to Jason’s
bedroom. “Natalie, wait!” Jason called and his footsteps pounded on the
hardwood floor behind me. Before I could shut the door, Jason was blocking it
with his body.

           
“I don’t have anything to say to you,” I said as I threw
my stuff in the overnight bag.

He stepped into the
room, closing the door. He approached with his hands out like he was cautiously
approaching an angry animal, which was fairly accurate. “Nat, I was only trying
to help get you away from those people.”

           
“Those people?” I practically shrieked. “My brother is
one of ‘those people’!”

           
“We can get him out too. Maybe?”

           
“There’s that ‘we’ again. You don’t seem to upset over
the fact that if I did go with your father’s plan, that you wouldn’t see me
again.”

           
“I’d be willing to make that sacrifice to keep you safe.”

           
“Oh please, you got scared. You know what, Jason? We’re
done. I told you no cops and you went right to them. Did you think I was just
going to roll over and show my belly? You don’t get to make decisions for me.”
I angrily zipped my bag closed and flung it over my shoulder. Pushing past
Jason, I left the bedroom. Agent Phillips was in the foyer with Jason’s dad and
they both turned to look up as I thundered down the stairs.

           
“Miss Ross, there are still options for you,” Agent Phillips
said, raising his hand as if to flag me down.

           
“Yes, this has been enlightening and my options are
really clear now,” I said, not even stopping, as I bolted through the front
door. I was so glad I’d driven last night and my red BMW sparkled in the sun
like a beacon of hope. Within seconds, I was peeling out of the driveway,
leaving behind a cloud of dust.

It took close to
forty-five minutes for me to get home and I cursed every asshole on the road. I
checked my phone once I walked in the door and had a million texts from Jason.
Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration, but there were a lot. Chelsea had texted
me too since Jason seemed to go to her and Derek whenever we had issues. That
just pissed me off even more. Some petty part of me wanted to be the one to
tell my best friend first. After grabbing a diet Coke from the fridge, I dialed
Chelsea and she answered immediately.

           
“So you heard already?” I asked.

           
“Yeah, I can understand why you’re upset.” I took a sip
of soda, waiting for the “but”. It never came. “If I had known he was planning
something like that, I’d have told him to stop. You would never do that to
Grant, but what does an only child know about sibling loyalty?”

I smiled and sunk down
on the futon, relieved that Chelsea had my back on this. She knew my
relationship with Grant better than anyone else. “Thanks for understanding. I
broke up with him.”

           
“Of course you did,” Chelsea said and she said it with a
snarky tone.

           
“What’s that supposed to mean?”

           
“It’s what you do, Nat. Things gets difficult and you
run. Although, I will say you don’t have normal relationship issues.”

           
“Ya think?” I rolled my eyes.

           
“Jason was wrong and fucked up big time, so I’m not going
to encourage you to work things out with him. I am going to tell you to chill
and take some time for yourself. Live the single life for a while. It helped me
become a stronger person. Now I know I can take care of myself and don’t have
to depend on anyone. I don’t need Derek in my life, I want him in it.”
 

           
“Damn girl, when did you get to be so philosophical?”

           
“I don’t know. Maybe it’s from taking yoga?” she said
with a snort.

           
“What are you doing today? Let’s get together for lunch.”

           
“I would love too, but Derek and I are looking at
locations for our reception.”

           
“Oh, okay.”

           
“Why don’t you come with us?”

The last thing I wanted
was to be the third wheel especially for a couple knee-deep in wedding plans so
I declined. There was a voice in the background and I heard Chelsea cover her
phone. “Hey, I have to go. Love ya!”

           
“Love you too.” I hung up, smiling. Talking to Chelsea
had mellowed me out.

Since I had the
afternoon to myself before having to head into work and face Jason, I went for
a run and then spent the rest of the day shopping for a new sofa with the wad
of cash from Gio secure in my wallet. Instead of buying a sofa, I saved money
by getting a new mattress for the futon with a nice dark purple cover. Delivery
arrangements were made for the following Monday and I left the furniture store
all sorts of proud of myself. The futon frame didn’t need replacing so I saved
money, leaving me extra cash to use towards my plane ticket.

When I pulled into the
parking lot at Dirty, Jason’s BMW was noticeably absent. I had been prepared to
be civil and professional…or to quit my job, but realized I didn’t have to do either.
Callie was behind the bar, removing caps from all of the liquor bottles and
wiping them down with a damp cloth. Her red hair was pulled back in a ponytail
and she wore a black apron that was covered in dusty handprints.

           
“Hey Natalie, what’s going on with Jason?” she asked me
when I walked in.

           
“Why, what did he say?”

           
“He called and quit over the phone - gave me some vague
reason about family issues.” She set the cloth down and leaned against the
counter. “Do you know anything?”

           
“He quit?” Feeling slightly relieved and deflated at the
same time, I walked over and sat down on one of the stools across from Callie.

She nodded and pushed
away from the bar to get a cup of water. One thing I noticed about Callie is
that she was constantly on the move and rarely stayed in one spot for long.

           
“We broke up this morning, but I didn’t think he’d quit.
I’m sorry.”

           
“Please, it’s not your fault, but I’m sorry it didn’t
work out between you two. Want to talk about it?”

I smiled at her and
shook my head, looking past her to where Collin was setting up his area. She
turned to look and gave me a knowing grin. “Well, if you need a private chat,
come find me.”

           
“Thanks Callie.” I slid off the stool and left to go get
ready for my shift. There was no way I was going to tell her how Jason tried to
get me to turn myself in as a witness to the FBI. Not only did it sound
ridiculous, but then she’d need to know more of the story. Chelsea and Derek
were the only ones who knew the truth and it had to stay that way. If Grant,
Dominic or even Victor found out what Jason had done, he’d be dead. I shook my
head at the thought as I grabbed my tray and started taking drink orders.

The rest of the night
was busy, lucrative and distracting - just what I needed.

***

As days went by, what
surprised me the most about the break-up with Jason was that I wasn’t a
weeping, hot mess. I missed him because he was a good friend, but I didn’t miss
“relationship Jason”. His calls and texts, which I never responded to, stopped
a few days after I left him and his legal dream team. I took Chelsea’s advice
and focused on myself.