Scarlett and the Feds (19 page)

The black SUV was waiting as I pulled up, dust flying behind the van. I shut off the engine and took deep breathes. Scarlett pulled out a brown paper bag in case I started hyper ventilating. My heart rate was racing. Both agents exited the SUV and headed my way. Grabbing my purse, I slid out of the van.

“Follow us,” Agent Davis ordered. Agent Parker opened the door to the SUV and I climbed in. Both Agents climbed in front and started the SUV.

“Wait. We need to do this here. I can’t be gone very long.”

Both agents exchanged glances and Agent Davis cut the ignition.

“Fine. What’s so urgent?” Agent Parker asked.

“My cousin Luke Costa is missing. I want you both to open a full fledge investigation to find him,” I said my eyes darting back and forth between both agents.

“That’s something for the local police to handle. It’s not federal,” Agent Parker stated very officially.

“I understand that, but it’s not a priority of the local police in Rhode Island. My cousin has had some minor altercations with the local cops in town so to them his disappearance will just be thrown on some cop’s desk and he will get to it at some point.”

“We have bigger issues then you’re missing cousin, Miss Ellington,” Agent Parker said.

Scarlett was thumbing through the FBI handbook and found a page that contradicted both Agents. She took the top off her highlighter with her teeth and was marking that section. I needed a carrot and a fuckin’ big one to get them to help me.

“I have two more names on that list I gave you and both are high value targets that, as you say, would be federal. I give you both names and agree to wear a wire if you will open an active investigation into my cousin disappearance.”

Neither agent expressed any reaction to my revelation. Scarlett was so intrigued she was preparing the syringe of truth serum, she was going to find out how they pulled that off.

“Wait here,” Agent Parker instructed and both exited the vehicle.

Glancing at my cellphone, I started to get anxious. I suspected Jeff was looking at the door to the garage every few minutes, hoping I pulled in.

Scarlett climbed into the front seat and was just about to switch on the blue lights when the doors opened.

“Miss Ellington, this is the deal. You give us those names as part of our original agreement that keeps both you and Mr. Salvatore out of prison, and you agree to set up a meeting with Joe Salvatore and wear a wire.”

“Why don’t you just drop me off on his doorstep wrapped in a big red bow and the word rat tattooed on my forehead?” I seethed.

“That’s our offer. It’s non-negotiable unless you want to tell us the reason why Rhode Island’s finest is not good enough for you. I suspect there something about your cousin and his disappearance you’re not telling us. So unless you want to be upfront, that’s our deal take it or leave it. You have the next thirty seconds to decide.”

“Fine. I’ll do it,” I snapped. “I need to get back to the station,” I said trying the handle to the door. “Could you please unlock my door?”

“I think you’re forgetting something,” Agent Parker said, disdain dripping from his tone.

I grabbed the thumb drive out of my purse and threw it at him.

“Here,” I said, “Now unlocked my door please.” Scarlett had a hammer and was ready to smash the window.

I heard the locks click and I opened my door.

“We’ll be in touch very soon,” Agent Parker snapped.

“I hope with an update about my cousin,” I seethed, slamming the door.

I sprinted to the van worried that Jeff was in melt down mode because I wasn’t back yet.

Scarlett pulled out two valium and a nip of rum as emergency supplies for Jeff just in case. He was pacing as I pulled into the station parking lot. I saw the look on relief flash over his face.

“I’m sorry, are we good?” I said looking around.

“Yup. I was getting worried, but all is fine.”

“Thanks again. Mr. Stone owes you one, Jeff.” A big grin filled his face as I imagined the favor he would ask of Nelson. Scarlett hoped it was embarrassing. She wanted to use her new camera and her face book page needed a makeover.

I
put on my running clothes and headed out the front door. I had to clear my head. I really had no clue how to tell Victor that I had sold our souls to the Feds and now I needed a sit down face to face with his father. My stomach was doing gymnastics and vomit rose in my throat. I fought it off. The crisp air bit into my cheeks and the sky was brilliant with millions of stars overhead. It was peaceful. I knew Victor would lose his mind that I ran to his house in the dark, but I had Scarlett and her arsenal of weapons, not to mention her bad ass bravery. Besides, lurking along the perimeter was a highly trained goon squad. They were always watching me and I was sure Victor already knew I was running up the dirt road to his house. I needed more time to find the words to tell him what I had done, and that once again, I had gone behind his back.

I’d made a promise to him that night in my bedroom at Ella’s that I’d be more transparent and wouldn’t hide anything from him. The deal with the Feds was walking the tightrope between life and death, and it was swallowing me up. It was suffocating to know there was no easy way out. Scarlett used to only show up in a crisis or when I needed a burst of courage, but Scarlett and I were becoming one. Our lives were hanging by a thread and every option led to someone I loved getting hurt or even worse. Collateral damage of decisions I’d made. Luke would forever be a reminder of what I’d done. I had to make Victor understand the deal I’d made without him to the Feds was to protect both of us.

I ran up the driveway and the front door opened. Victor grabbed me in his arms. I was panting from my run, but shivering from the cold air. Scarlett bolted to Victor’s stash of hard liquor and unzipped her special bag filled with emergencies supplies. She knew this was going to be a difficult few hours, but she was ready.

“You’re shivering,” Victor said. Pressing my body harder against his own. “I would have driven down and picked you up, baby girl. You know how I feel about you running at night,” he said sternly.

“I do, but in the confines of Salvatore Disney Land with the goon squad on high alert, I wasn’t worried and neither should you. No-one can get to us here. You know that, Victor.”

“I’m not so sure about that anymore,” he said.

“I needed the time to think,” I said, my tone solemn.

Victor pushed away and grabbed my face in between those massive hands.

“What’s going on with you?” he asked his eye searching mine for any hint.

“We need to talk,” I said.

A look of terror washed over his face and my heart broke.

“Don’t worry. I’m not leaving you or anything, if that’s what you’re worried about,” I said.

Victor exhaled and kissed me. “I never thought you would, but for a second I thought maybe all of this was too much for you to handle.”

“It is, Victor, but I would never leave you. You are my life and every decision, good or bad, I make is to protect you,” I said. “One of those decisions is what I need to talk to you about. But I need to go change into something warm. Pour me a glass of wine and meet me in your room.”

Scarlett was in the corner flip charting my options on the best way to spin what I needed to ask Victor to do so he would agree.

Victor was standing in the doorway holding two glasses of wine and my sweet spot whistled at how hot he looked. My sweet spot needed a time out for the moment. I had to fess up to the deal I’d made with the Feds before I lost my nerve.

Victor handed me my glass of wine and sat next to me on the bed and put his hand on my thigh. My sweet spot perked up again like I threw water in her face. I shifted my position hoping to quiet her down.

I grabbed Victor’s hand and looked into those gorgeous brown eyes.

“I love you,” I said my voice cracking. Scarlett slapped me across the face.
Hold it together don’t cry.

“I love you too, babe,” he said, suspicion filling his eyes.

“You know I will do anything to keep you and my family safe,” I began.

“Of course I do, and you know I’d do the same.”

“I took a deep breath. Do you remember when I ran out of gas a few weeks ago?” My ass twinge at the memory. Scar folded her arms and tapped her foot.

“Yeah.”

“My tank was full. I had just filled up on the way to work the day before. My car was sabotaged.”

“By who?”

“The Feds. They surrounded my car, threw me into a SUV and drove me to their secret headquarters where I was interrogated and threatened with prison.”

Victor’s body stiffened and rage filled his eye. “Those bastards. What did you tell them?”

“Nothing about the book, or that I’m the Mob’s most wanted. Nelson had given me a list of high value targets that are corrupt. He got the names from his covert informant. I used the list as bait with the Feds to distract them from us. Nelson has no clue that I’m wearing a wire for the Feds to incriminate these targets. So far it has pacified the two agents.”

“Fuck, Angelina! Why didn’t you tell me?” He was pissed.

“Because I’m trying to keep you off their radar. They threatened to throw you in jail if I told you, and I can’t let that happen. Especially knowing I can stop it. They told me I’m facing prison as well because of my relationship with you.”

“That’s fuckin’ bull shit and the Feds know it. It’s what they fuckin’ do. They manipulate the truth to intimidate and scare people into doing what they want. You should have called me.”

“It all happened so fast and they confiscated my purse and phone. I was their prisoner.”

Victor was on his feet, pacing trying to hold his rage in check.

“I had a contract drawn up, exonerating us both in exchange for helping them,” I said with desperation.

“Where is it?”

“It’s at the cottage in the top drawer of my dresser.”

“I want that contract. It’s going to my attorney. He is going to shove injunctions and motions right up their asses. It wasn’t smart to sign that contract without legal counsel.”

“I know, but this was a limited time offer. It was then or never.”

“What did you agree to?” Victor seethed.

“Wearing a wire for the targets on the list and…” I took a deep breath. “The non-negotiable one of this deal is I have to set up a meeting with your father, while wearing a wire.”

“Jesus H! Angelina. Absolutely not. That is a fuckin’ death wish. I’d rather let my attorney handle the Feds!” Victor yelled.

Scarlett came running with two shots of tequila.

“Did you agree to this?” he asked shaking with rage.

“Yes,” I whispered. I had never seen Victor this angry and it scared the shit out of me.

“God Damnit!” he snapped and walked out of the bedroom leaving me sitting speechless on the edge of the bed.

It felt like a decade had passed before Victor came back in the bedroom. He was in control and had simmered down a tad.

“Get dressed. We need to go get that contract you signed. I just spoke to my attorney and he wants to see it immediately.”

I nodded in agreement and silently disappeared inside the closet to change. Walking out of the closet, Victor was sitting on the edge of the bed his hands on his knees.

“Come over here.” His tone was strained.

I froze.

“Please, Angelina.”

I inched my way to the bed. Victor stopped me before I sat down. He pulled me to him and held me. I could feel the tension in his body, his breathing hitched.

“I’m pissed at you for agreeing to put yourself in danger without asking me first. But I understand you had to make an immediate decision. I’m angrier with the Feds manipulating and preying on your fear to get you to do their dirty work. They have been trying to take my father down for years without success. They want to use you for bait. I want my attorney to see if there is a way out of this.”

“There’s not. They told me not to tell anyone and if I did the contact was void. That they’d haul you off to jail in a big public spectacle.”

“My attorney is discreet and competent. He will tell me if there is another way than walking into a death trap with my father. If he even suspects you’re wired up, he will kill us both without a second thought.”

“I know that. But if the deal I struck with the Feds holds, then we need to come up with a plan to get what I was promised and come out alive.”

Scarlett was online shopping for some new weapons of mass destructions. She really wished she could buy a military equipped airplane to shock and awe the shit out of Joe Salvatore and wipe out the Mob in one fly over. I wish it was just that easy.

“Let’s hope we can figure out a way to divert the Feds until we can figure out another option.” Victor said, back on his feet pacing the room.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I was just trying to protect you.”

“I know,” he said kissing me on my forehead, “and I love you for it. But you’re in way over your head, Angelina. I know more than anyone what my father is capable of and what’s he done. That’s what terrifies me the most of all of this. It is knowing the depth of my father’s brutality and apathy. If you are a threat to him and his business, he will eliminate you without a second thought. He never pulls the trigger or commits the executions himself. He has men whose only purpose is carrying out who gets whacked and when. He doesn’t give a shit that I love you and will die protecting you. He might for a brief second feel remorse having his only child murdered, but then in his twisted, callous mind, he will justify it as a consequence of doing business.”

Scarlett shivered and started researching the Mob. They had to have a weak spot to expose and capitalize on. She would find it and build her tactical plan around it.

“Let’s get that contract,” Victor said, grabbing my hand.

He fired up the Camaro and sped down the driveway wide open. Scarlett had a grin plastered on her face and was high fiving me.

The house was silent when the front door creaked opened. I carefully eased it closed as not to wake Ella. Curran was asleep on the couch. Victor grabbed my hand and headed to my room. I flicked the light on and opened the top drawer of my dresser. I fished out the neatly folded paper and handed it to Victor. He bolted to my bed and sat on the edge. He unfolded the contract and started reading. The holy shit expression flashed across his face a few times. He hastily folded the contract, put it inside his jacket and grabbed my hand, leading me back out of my room. I stopped, covered Curran up, and kissed him on his head. He mumbled and shifted his position. I tiptoed to the front door.

“Should I stay here tonight, while you figure this out with your lawyer?” I said.

“No, I want you with me.”

“What about Ella? She’s not a fan of me sleeping at your house.”

“I respect that. But you’re a big girl and make your own decisions. If you’re that worried about it, then just be back before she wakes up,” Victor said carefully closing the door behind us.

Scarlett was hanging out the window, her hair blowing in the crisp night air. She yelled
Yee haw!
as Victor gunned it up the dirt road. She loved this car almost as much as the motorcycle.

Victor headed straight to his office to fax his lawyer the contract. I lingered behind and made my way to his bedroom, a hot bath sounded like heaven. Scarlett rifled through the vanity drawers in the bathroom looking for those suction cup handcuffs Victor used the very first time I took a bath with him. Scar made sure she had a fresh pack of smokes for after.

I slid out of my clothes and stepped into the tub, my body melting in the hot water. My eyes closed and I slowly started to drift off. I felt the water move as Victor slipped into the tub, his lips wasting no time as he kissed my stomach, inching his way up to my lips. My sweet spot erupted and Scarlett was tracing her name in the steam on the bathroom mirror. Victor’s lips engulfed mine with so much more urgency than before. His kiss was desperate, grateful, and passionate all in one potent elixir.

He thrust his hands into the water and grabbing my hips, lifted me onto the side of the tub. Spreading my legs, he devoured my clit and his tongue began its tango. My back arched, grabbing the edge of the tub, my orgasm arrived hard and fast. Victor slid me back into the hot water and the sensation on my sweet spot ramped up for round two. He sat in front of me and I washed that toned, muscular back. He sat silent, succumbing to my tongue licking the water beading up and running down his back.

He turned and lifted me out of the tub, carrying me to the bed. He stood in front of me, his manliness hard and thick, eager to be satisfied. I got on my knees and bent forward. Victor groaned as he thrust inside of me and came almost instantly. He collapsed next to me, both of us panting. Scarlett just lit her second cigarette and was still floating above the tub.

“I so needed that.”

“Me too,” I said. Pulling back the covers, I slipped in between the cool sheets.

Victor joined me and wrapped those big protective arms around me. “My lawyer has the contract. He will be in touch tomorrow.”

“Ok,” I replied. I wanted to tell Victor not to waste his time or money, I already knew the answer. There was no other option. My only way out was to give the Feds what they so desperately wanted.
Joe Salvatore.