Disastrous: Cautious Part 17

"No, well, not right now. After this semester, during winter break. I can't focus on a move at this moment with my upcoming exams, but definitely when it's all over. That is, if you still want me?"

"Are you kidding? You can move in tonight. h.e.l.l, you don't need to move a thing. I'll do it all so you can focus on your studies."

Laughing, I rolled my eyes, "Marcus, you can wait a few more weeks."

"What if I withhold s.e.x from you until you move in? Would that make you move in any faster?"

My jaw dropped open with a gasp. "You wouldn't dare."

With a mischievous grin, he leaned back in his chair, placing both his hands behind his head. "Oh, how the tables have turned. You remember that two-week bet? It'll be a bit similar."

My expression fell. He did not just go there! I reached for the napkin and tossed it at him. He burst out laughing.

"That is so not fair."

"Maybe you're right, but I remember having that same argument about your little arrangement." He winked.

When I went to speak again, his phone beeped. He grabbed it from the table and swiped the screen to read the message. His facial expression went from humorous to unreadable within a matter of seconds. "Everything okay?" My eyes scanned his face.

"Yeah, but I need to get going."

"What? You mean our night is over?"

He glanced at me with apologetic eyes. "Yes, babe, I'm sorry. I have to be somewhere, and it's very important."

"Where do you have to be?"

"I have to meet with Jimmie."

"For what?"

"To collect some information."

"What kind of information?"

Our eyes locked. We were pleading with each other; he was pleading with me to stop the interrogation and I was pleading with him to answer.

"Mia, can you just drop it? The information is confidential."

I dropped my gaze. "Okay. I'm going to use the restroom and then we can go." I stood from my chair and began to briskly pa.s.s him when he caught my wrist.

"Mia, just trust me, okay?" I nodded and hurried to the restroom.

After Marcus paid the bill, we jumped in his car and drove in silence back to my apartment. For the entire drive, my mind raced, wondering what the information could be that he claimed was so important. I shouldn't be upset that he was leaving, but in a way, I couldn't help it. I hadn't seen him in over two weeks, and I wanted to be selfish, even if it was for one night.

As he pulled up in front of my building, Marcus tugged at my chin for me to look at him. I tore my gaze from the pa.s.senger window and focused on him. "Mia, I'm sorry. I promise we'll have plenty of nights together. I just really need to take care of a few things. I'm working on our future."

What was that supposed to mean? But I knew that questioning him was problematic, so instead, I leaned in and kissed him. "I know you are." I gently smiled. "We have the rest of our lives together, right?"

His eyes gleamed. "Exactly."

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE.

MARCUS.

After Mia entered her apartment building, I waited for a few minutes and then sped off. As I kept my eyes focused on the road, I quickly dialed Jimmie's number, only glancing a few times at the screen. On the third ring, he answered, his voice in surround sound coming out of my car speakers. "Are you on your way?" He asked.

"Yeah, you're home, right?"

"Yep."

"Are you going to give me any clue about this urgent info that you retrieved?

"Nope." The information he had must have been intense because he didn't disclose it over the phone.

"Fine, I just dropped Mia off. I should be home in forty minutes."

"See you soon, Bro."

With traffic, it was impossible to go any faster than I was already going. As I ripped through the hectic city of Greater Boston to Back Bay, where trucks double-parked and pedestrians hadn't a care in the world as they risked walking in front of moving vehicles, my mind was immersed in the last couple of weeks. Mia was busy with school, which prevented her from questioning my absence. Jimmie and I had been working hard on trying to find any piece of information that could link us to who Michael was working with. We searched old doc.u.ments and emails he had sent us.

It was difficult to trust anyone, so we walked on eggsh.e.l.ls and were careful with whom we spoke. We knew that any of Lou's men were out of the question. Even if we suspected one of his men, we couldn't risk it. I hadn't spoken to that b.a.s.t.a.r.d since our encounter at Gio's home a couple of weeks back. Jimmie wasn't thrilled with it, but it got us away from Lou, for now at least, until we found something to bring the f.u.c.ker down. Lou used the club last Sunday for the first time. I had heard it was a smooth transaction, but I knew that it wouldn't always be the case. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out his infatuation with the d.a.m.n club.

After a pain-in-the-a.s.s car ride, I finally reached my home. Hopping out of the car, I hurried into the house, tossed my keys onto the table by the door, and entered the living room area. Jimmie was there with Elle. He nodded in acknowledgment.

"Uncle Marc!" Elle squealed in excitement. I hadn't seen Elle for the past couple of weeks either, with her being in school and with my sleeping in my d.a.m.n car at night watching Mia's place.

"Hey, sweetheart." Elle ran over to me and pulled me into a hug.

Jimmie stood up from the couch. "Elle, Uncle Marc and I need to talk, and it's past your bedtime. Get ready for bed, and I'll be up in a little while to tuck you in."

"Pfft." She sucked her teeth. Jimmie sent an authoritative glare her way. She slightly pouted and bowed her head. "Sorry, Daddy. Good night, Uncle Marc."

"Night, baby." I waited until she made it up the stairs then shot Jimmie a narrow glare.

"What?"

"Why are you making my little girl pout?" I asked him.

"My little girl, Marcus. Remember that." He shook his head. "She's been giving me a lot of att.i.tude lately. I need to show her who's the parent, or she'll walk all over me, as she does with you."

"Whatever." No point in getting into that. "What's going on?"

He looked over my shoulder and then leaned in to whisper, "I found out who was working with Michael, and you won't f.u.c.kin' believe who he is."

"Who?" He nudged his head behind me. I turned to see my office door closed. "He's here?" Jimmie nodded. "What the f.u.c.k, Jimmie? Are you sure he's not working with Lou?"

"Marcus, I have evidence: photos of Michael and him together trading information. When I confronted him, he didn't deny it. Marcus, he knew every single detail of the info Michael gave to us. Everything."

With a deep breath, I nodded, spun around, and stormed over to the office door with Jimmie following closely behind me. I wasn't sure who to expect as I opened the door, but once I entered the room, my chest constricted when I saw who it was.

Vinnie, my right hand man when it came to jobs for Lou, was standing by my desk. "Vinnie?"

"What's up, Marky." He nodded his head.

"You were working with Michael? But . . ." I tried to make sense of it. Nothing came up.

"I know it comes as a shock."

"A f.u.c.kin' shock is an understatement, don't you think?" I shook off the uneasiness in discovering that bit of information and walked over and grabbed a seat behind my desk and looked over at him. He and Jimmie took a seat in front of me.

"I don't understand. Are you with Boston PD?"

"Nah, I'm actually with the FBI."

I laughed once, but I wasn't the least bit amused. How the f.u.c.k did I miss that? An agent? I shook my head in disbelief, "For how long?"

He leaned back in his chair lost in thought. "Well, I've been working with the agency for six years now and on the Sorrento case for about three years."

"That's around the time Vinnie became involved with the Sorrentos." Jimmie reminded Marcus.

"Yeah, I remember that," I replied to my brother, then focused my attention back on Vinnie. "So when you began working for Lou, that's when you started the investigation?"

Vinnie nodded. "Yeah, pretty much."

"But, Michael didn't confront us with any information until about a year ago."

"Michael was working with us, trying to bring down any corrupt cops working with the Sorrentos. He was involved with the case from the very beginning, but we needed to get in deeper. What we had wasn't enough. Granted, it takes time to build a case against someone like Lou. I worked on a case before this one in New York, which was a five-year investigation and still ongoing."

Jimmie adjusted in his seat to face Vinnie and asked, "So why were we involved?"

"Bait." Vinnie shrugged. "We knew the two of you were the closest to Lou. He trusted you guys with anything, well, until recently, that is. When he requested information on Mia, we knew you guys were f.u.c.ked. I was the one he asked to collect info on her. I've had one of my men looking out for her ever since."

Ignoring that, I continued to question him. "Michael said he had evidence and a confession from a source that Lou was the one who killed our father." I leaned into the table, placing both elbows along the wooden surface. "Are you saying that was a lie to get us involved?"

Vinnie let out a heavy breath. "We needed something to lure you guys in. We needed the two of you on our side and against Lou."

"So you're f.u.c.kin' saying our father's suicide wasn't a set up?" Jimmie asked to clarify.

Vinnie nodded in response.

What. The. f.u.c.k.

Everything we'd believed the past year was all a f.u.c.king lie!

I tossed my head back as a roaring laugh escaped me. Tears began to build from laughing so hard. Jimmie snapped his head at me with a wry expression. Although none of it was funny, not even in the least shape or form, I couldn't stop laughing. It was f.u.c.king hilarious how we were led to believe all of it. We were being played as f.u.c.king puppets either way. By Lou. By the Feds. My laugh triggered confused looks from both of their faces, as tears built from laughing so hard.

Then I thought of how my life had been turned upside down and ripped apart for the past year: How I wanted to kill Lou with my bare f.u.c.king hands because I thought he was responsible for my father's death. How my brother and Michael kept me out of the f.u.c.king loop for so long, because they thought I couldn't handle it-thought I would ruin it all. How I went on jobs for that f.u.c.king b.a.s.t.a.r.d, Lou, wishing that if I didn't live one more day, the last thing I would hope for was to see Lou gasping for air as my hands were wrapped tightly around his neck, squeezing the life out of him. How the stress and pressure built day in and day out, not wanting the life anymore, not caring to live. How for years I hated my father and then felt relieved that he didn't kill himself-that maybe, just f.u.c.king maybe, he wasn't a f.u.c.king coward-but NOW that was stripped away from me.

"Get out!"

Vinnie eyes widened at my raised voice. Maybe he didn't hear me the first time. Standing from my chair, I hovered over the desk, and with a hard glare, I yelled, "Get the f.u.c.k out!"

"Marcus- "No. Because of this c.o.c.ksucker, we've been walking around on f.u.c.kin' eggsh.e.l.ls, wondering what to do next." Straightening, I swung my arms in the air. "We were getting f.u.c.ked in the a.s.s the entire time, by a f.u.c.kin' pig at that!"

"Marky, I'm sorry for how everything went down. I don't mean any disrespect to you or Jimmie, especially with you, Marky, not after what you've done for me."

I reluctantly placed my hands to my hips and tried to calm my breathing as Jimmie asked, "What was that?"

Vinnie went on to answer Jimmie but kept his eyes on me. "He saved my life. It was my first night on a job. We had a trade with a cartel group. I made a mistake by turning my back on a bad trade. Marky warned me before we went in to never turn your back on anyone. I was f.u.c.kin' stupid and turned to put the money in the truck, but he shot one of the men before they got me. I remember a loud gun going off, and for a split second, I thought it was me, that I was dead. Then when I came to my senses and turned, Marky was standing behind me with a gun in his hand, and the douchebag he shot was on the f.u.c.kin' ground beside me." He shook the memory from his thoughts. "Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that I owe my life to you. I can make it all go away for you guys."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm the lead investigator in the Sorrento case. Due to cuts in funding, I only have two men working under me. There wasn't enough money for wiretapping, so we have to figure out everything from word of mouth or video surveillance, which isn't much. At the end of the day, we write down transcripts on a daily basis. You and Jimmie can easily be erased from those memos."

"But . . ." Jimmie chimed in, knowing that there was a catch.

Vinnie leaned into the desk, adjusting his position so that he could take a good hard look at the both of us. "In two weeks, Lou himself will have his largest trade yet-one hundred pounds of cocaine worth five million dollars."

Jimmie whistled. "With whom?"

"Salvatore Lombardi."

That was f.u.c.king huge. Salvi was the boss of one of the largest mob organizations in New York. He had been around a lot longer than Lou, knew all the ins and outs of the trade, but they'd remained friendly rivals. The two of them together caught by federal agents would be the largest mob bust in history.

"Do you know what this would mean if we had both Lou and Salvi?"

"Yeah, a f.u.c.kin' death wish." I spat as I sank back in my chair.

"Not without help from the two of you."

Jimmie raised a brow at that comment. "And how do you propose we help?"

Vinnie stood and walked around his chair, gripping the back of the seat. "There's surveillance all over the club except for the bas.e.m.e.nt, which is where the trade will occur. We need surveillance in every corner of that area. No blind spots."

"We can do that." Jimmie said with a shrug.

"But I'm sure that's not all you need from us." I added with a raised brow.

Vinnie nodded. "With the low funding, I don't have the pull or power for back up. I only have two men on my team: One is looking after Mia. The other just provides info when needed. The team that's working on the Lombardi case in New York is going to handle this bust with us."

"But?"