by Hart, Gemma
“We had a man get in on the inside of the Juarez Family a few months ago,” Agent Hadfield continued. “He’s been giving us regular updates and has been moving up into the inner circles.” He put a hand on his chin, staring at me regardingly. “And only a rookie agent as well,” he added pointedly.
The comparison was clear.
I was the blonde bimbo fuckup. This new guy was the rookie success story with the massive balls to prove it.
“He has information on the deal?” I asked, swallowing the blow to my pride.
“Yes, he does,” Agent Truman said. “He’s also been able to give some good nudgings to the right people so that the deal goes through smoothly. He’ll be with them when they arrive in the States to close.”
“He knows the date? There’s a date?” I asked, surprised. Holy shit, this was the big moment. This was it. This was what the whole operation was about.
Then it hit me in a sudden wave.
This would be the end of anything I had with Marco Desmond. Whatever it was—attraction, lust, longing—it would all be over after the bust. He would know who I really was and who I worked for. And I just couldn’t imagine he would be too pleased to learn the truth.
“Yes, he’s a hardworking agent,” Agent Truman said, unable to help himself from throwing another barb at me.
“In two weeks. Operation Raven will be a go. You’ll be notified once our men are in place for the raid. You are to stay at your location until we have escorted you out. Understood?” Agent Hadfield looked at me through the camera.
I nodded. “Understood,” I said. As an accounts manager, I would not be accompanying the Desmond Mafia to the deal. I was expected to just manage the books and funds. Once the bust happened, the FBI will probably send a team to the Desmond Family compound to round up any lingering members and to escort me out.
And that would be the end of it.
That would be the end of my mission.
And the end of my time with Marco.
I was about to shut my laptop when Agent Truman piped up again, asking in a casual offhand voice, “Oh and one more thing, Agent Margot. Do you happen to know if there have been any changes in the holdings for Marco Desmond?”
Something cold slipped down my back.
Were they asking about the transfer of holdings that Roy had requested of her? They had asked about Marco’s holdings once before but now to ask again….There was no reason to.
This had no bearing on the Juarez deal. I should know. I worked in fraudulent accounting before being assigned to this case.
Why were they so interested in Marco’s holdings?
“No,” I said, truthfully. Marco had been assigned some jobs that had kept him away. There had been moments that I could’ve broached the subject again but I hadn’t. The paperwork had been drafted and everything was ready but I just hadn’t said the words to him yet.
And now I wondered if that was maybe a good thing.
“Oh,” Agent Truman said, his face showing some confused disappointment. “Fine then. Till next time, Agent Margot.”
The line went dead.
Chapter Sixteen
Marco
“And how’d you find our old friend, Lloyd Pratchett?” Roy asked as he blew out a thick funnel of smoke.
I snorted. “Who cares how I found him? When I left him, he had a bullet in his head. That do you?”
Roy gave a husky laugh. Smoke billowed out from his nose and his gold teeth glimmered in the dim light of his office as he laughed.
“Yeah,” he said. “Yeah, that’d do me.”
Roy gestured towards the leather chairs across from his desk. “Take a seat,” he said.
The last thing I wanted to do was take a seat and lengthen any amount of time I had to spend with the man but having no choice, I took a seat. I crossed one leg on my thigh and stared at the man who had given me the miraculous chance at life and then had shit on every moment of it once I had been born.
“The Juarez deal will be happening soon,” he said, taking in another draw of his stubby cigar. “Once it closes, that means there’ll be more work to do than ever before.”
I sat quietly, waiting for the rest of his point.
“Maybe you’d want to try your hand down south?” Roy said, staring at me through his cold hooded eyes. “There’ll be plenty of room for growth.”
I pressed my lips together. Go down south where I’ll be surrounded by none of my men? What kind of fuckwit did he take me for?
“Too sunny,” I said casually. “I might get sunburnt.”
Roy huffed a laugh but his eyes were sharp and they were pinned right on me. “Well where do you want to go?” he asked.
As far away from you as fucking possible.
I shrugged. “Trying to get rid of me now, are you?” I said lightly but leveling him with my own gaze.
Roy’s lips curled up. “Now why would you say something like that?” he said as if hurt by words. “I’m just making sure that boy is taken care of and doesn’t do something stupid.” He paused to take a deep draw on his cigar. “I hear England has pretty shitty weather.”
My spine jolted as if I had been electrocuted but I kept my face clean of emotion. Roy spoke as if he had said something completely ordinary. “Pretty shitty,” I echoed without much rancor. He couldn’t possibly fucking know. There was no way.
Roy shrugged. “And the women there are supposedly fucking ugly as shit,” he said, smoke crawling out of his lips. “Shitty weather and ugly bitches—what’s the point there then, eh?”
I shrugged before letting out an impatient sigh. “Did you call me in here just for a geography lesson on where the sun and pretty bitches are?”
“I’d think you’d want to touch bases with me now and then,” Roy said expansively. “After all, you’re going to be leading this Family one day.”
“So you want to give me a preapproved list of where I should and shouldn’t go then?” I said evenly, definitely not liking this conversation.
Roy raised a brow. “I think as a Desmond, you’d want to do go where it was best for the Family,” he countered.
Where it was best for the Family….
And had it been the best for Jamie when he had been thrown in, completely untrained, into a dangerous operation where he had been shot and paralyzed?
He didn’t mean family. He meant Family. And by Family, Roy really meant himself. Everything operated so that it was best for Roy Desmond.
So why this sudden conversation of sending me away? Where was it that he wanted me to go? Where would I best serve the “Family”?
“I want you to come with me for the Juarez deal,” Roy said coolly.
I stared at him. What the hell? We never went to major deals together. That was protocol. Just like the President and Vice President don’t travel together, Roy and me were never in high stakes arenas together.
And that Juarez deal was as high stakes as it got.
Plus, the night of the deal was my shot. It was my shot to put my plan in action and finally leave this hellhole behind for good. It was my shot to try and lead a more normal life and to give Jamie a chance at life without the shadow of Roy Desmond hanging overhead.
“Why?” I asked. Roy was a highly suspicious and paranoid man. He would never make any kind of sudden or haphazard decision.
Roy shrugged. “It’s time you got your hands dirty,” he said, grinning. As if the blood my hands were soaked in wasn’t enough. “You need to be shown as the man next in line to move up. I’m getting too old to keep fucking around like this.”
I made no response but only watched the man carefully. As much as I hated to admit it, I was my father’s son and suspicion ran in my blood. Why the hell would he suddenly decide to take me out to the deal? If anything, I felt like he had purposely been keeping most of the details of the major deal vague in front of me, keeping me in the dark.
Roy watched me under his hooded eyes as he puffed on his cigar. He gave me a toothy smile.
“Don’t feel like leaving that pretty little accountant yet, eh?” Roy graveled.
It took a little more effort this time but I kept my face neutral despite feeling that cold sting of surprise.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I said in flippant irritation.
Roy nodded knowingly. “She’s definitely a piece, I’ll give you that. I’ll give you that.” He puffed on his cigar. “But is that ass so sweet, it’s worth risking your inheritance? Your place in the Family?”
What the fuck was he honestly talking about now? Was Roy actually thinking about stepping down? Roy was old but there was no way his greed and cruelty had diminished any with age. If anything, they’ve only grown. I couldn’t imagine him even considering retirement.
“I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about,” I said, making the motions to get ready to leave. “I’m not going to that deal. That was your idea, your planning. You go close it.”
As I almost reached the door, Roy called out, “What’s best for the Family. That’s what’s important. For the good of the Family.”
My jaw tightened in response and my entire back stiffened but I walked out, letting the door slam behind me.
Fuck this Family.
Chapter Seventeen
Marco
Walking out of Roy’s office, the tension was rippling off my shoulders. I could literally feel myself just shaking in anger and disgust at having to be in close quarters with that piece of shit excuse of a man.
I marched down the hall, intending to head back to my room when I stopped halfway. There was no way I could just sit in a room right now. I needed to do something. I needed to release this burning anger within me.
So I turned around and headed downstairs.
The gym.
The only other place I could find some measure of release besides between the legs of some random woman.
It was a relatively small gym compared to the size of the mansion but that was because Roy had never put any importance on fitness. Clearly. The man was the size of a boat.
The space gleamed in the dimness. I didn’t bother to turn on the lights. Instead the moonlight bounced off the dull gleaming wooden floors. There was a rack of weights in one corner and a treadmill in another.
Opposite them, there was a well-worn punching bag.
And it had been well worn by only one set of fists. Mine.
Already feeling my body jump at the opportunity to release some tension, I undid my shirt, throwing it aside. I picked up some wrist wraps and quickly wrapped my hands.
And within minutes, I lost myself in the steady, quick rhythms of the bag. I punched hard and fast, dodging imaginary blows as I went. I punched till the bag swung madly and I could hear the chain creaking as it fought to hold the weight.
Roy was definitely up to something. I was pretty sure he wasn’t aware of my plans but he was definitely sniffing up some tree. The sudden talk about bringing me along for the Juarez deal….That was so out of left field.
Whenever I had completed another job successfully and had most of the Desmond Mafia men in awe of my prowess, Roy was always the first to knock me down a peg or three. He didn’t want me getting any high and mighty ideas of who was the real king of the Desmond Family. He wanted to make sure I knew that Roy was here to stay until the day he died.
But now, here he was, asking me to go with him to this deal, hinting at a possible retirement.
Was there something else about this Juarez deal that I wasn’t aware of? As far as I knew, the biggest lure for both families was the addition of territories. They would become the largest crime syndicate in the Americas. No one could defy them then. Not even the law.
But in that situation, Roy would never even entertain the idea of stepping down. He would have the most ideal situation of having literally thousands of men under him. His empire would grow by leaps and bounds and his reign would become even more powerful. Why would he leave that?
I punched a combo, making the bag swing back. I bounced on my feet, keeping my hands up as I threw another set of jabs, imagining Roy’s jowly face.
I couldn’t fail. Not when I was so close. Jamie deserved a life better than this. He couldn’t live his entire life on the chance of Roy’s good graces. He couldn’t be Roy’s bait forever.
The guilt I felt over Jamie’s injury was massive and I knew it would not be assuaged by simply getting Jamie away from Roy. But at least it would be a start.
But worst yet was Roy mentioning Halle.
Clearly I hadn’t been doing as good a job as I should’ve in terms of keeping away from her. And that means that Halle was now in as much danger as Jamie.
Roy was an expert in finding what exactly would twist my heart with pain and with his sights set on Halle, there was every possibility he would use her against me.
I threw in a hard punch, making the gym echo with a dull thwap. Sweat dripped down my back and chest.
If I was going to be clean about the getaway, I had to leave Halle alone. Forget whatever it was I was feeling for her.
But even just the thought of it made my body scream in opposition. If I left, she would remain in the clutches of the Desmond Family. And I knew what that could do to a person’s soul. And besides, I wanted her with me.
I wanted that body with me.
The gym echoed with my rhythmic punches. This wasn’t the fucking time to be so unsure. It was so close to go time. I couldn’t have any fuck ups. Not now.
I had never expected someone to ever take over my mind like Halle had and now that she had, I didn’t want to let her go. It was as if I had been hungry all my life but hadn’t realized it until Halle had walked in. Only then did I feel the extent of my ravenous hunger.
I wanted to eat her—
“What are you doing?”
I grabbed the bag, stopping it mid-swing. I turned and saw the outlined figure of a woman. The hallway lights cast a shadow on her as she looked into the dim gym.
Halle.
“Are you working out?” she asked, stepping into the room. Her blonde hair was tousled loosely down her back. She must be done with work. Usually she kept her hair back in a severe bun. I liked it when her hair was down. It made me want to run my hands through it, gripping it. “It’s like past midnight.”
I didn’t say anything. I was still a little out of breath from my rage induced punching session. Instead, I just watched her. I watched as she lifted her face up to me, her dark blue eyes studying me carefully.
“Is something wrong?” she asked, a crease between her brow. Clearly she saw something in my face. After a moment’s pause, when I didn’t answer, she lifted her hand to my cheek. She bit her lip, as if she was doing something against her better judgment. Gently brushing her hand against my face she asked, “Bad day?”
I grabbed her hand by the wrist and held her still. Her eyes widened a little at my sudden movement but she didn’t struggle. Instead she just stared up at me, worried and a little expectant.
With a sudden movement, I pressed my body against hers, pushing her backwards against the wall. Halle’s eyes widened into marbles this time.
“What are—” she started.
But I cut her off as I leaned in towards her, my face inches away from hers. “Remember, I told you that this was a house of villains,” I said lowly to her. I had given her fair warning. Those soft pink lips were just a breath away from mine. “There are no heroes, no saviors here.”
Halle opened her mouth to say something but I stopped her. Crushing her lips against mine, my body roared in pleasure as I finally tasted those soft sweet lips. Halle’s body tightened in shock when my lips touched hers. I felt her hand pull against my grip but she was going nowhere.
But as I plunged my tongue into her mouth, I felt her resistance melt a little. Shock and surprise turned into warmth and openness. She flicked her own tongue against mine shyly.
As soon as I felt her kiss me back, my body ignited into a firestorm. I pressed m
y length against her, completely pinning her to me. My cock pressed hard against her softness.
A small voice echoed within the furthest reaches of my mind, reminding me that this was exactly what I had told myself I wasn’t going to do but I knocked the voice away.
Roy might be controlling my job, my home, and even my brother but fuck him if he tries to control this. This sweet, brave, naïve, and bratty woman was mine and fuck him if he tried to come between this.