Michelle leans in again. “You wanted a way out—this is the way out, Melanie.”
“W—what if I say no?”
“You’ll be arrested and charged with possession and intention to distribute cocaine, ecstasy, heroin, and I don’t know how many other drugs.”
It takes everything in my power not to argue with him, to deny, deny, deny.
“Carries a sentence of up to twenty-five years in prison, and after you make bail you can explain to Jack Vittorio why you brought an undercover FBI agent into one of his clubs.”
This isn’t happening. This is not fucking happening.
The back of the chair cuts into my legs as I stand up abruptly, flinching horribly when I hear it topple and crash to the floor. Michelle shifts in her seat and I gaze at the mannequin sitting in front of me, who is so unlike the girl I called “friend.”
“Is this what you were trying to do when you spent all those fucking nights at the club? You were trying to get me killed?”
She licks her pink lips and looks up at me, her hands shaking slightly. “I was doing my job.”
“Your job is going to get me fucking killed, and you know I had nothing to do with any of it! Fucking bitch!”
My foot slams into the leg of the table, and it shakes violently. She pulls back her chair and stares at me with wide, guilty eyes. The other agents look distinctly unruffled.
“Calm down, Ms. Ronaldo.”
“I will not fucking calm down!”
Not when everything is falling apart, not when I might not live to see another day, and my only choice—my only choice is to join a program and be whisked away somewhere far away. I had plans in New York. Sure, I want those bastards in jail, but I didn’t want to be the one to testify against them. Who the fuck would? My heart keeps slamming into my chest, the rush of blood sending dizzy spells to my head. I grasp the edge of the table, and Tommy’s blade sinking into that guy’s chest replays itself over and over again in my head. That’ll happen to me. If I’m lucky.
“I want it in writing. I want my lawyer here.” I look up at them with the sensation that I’m signing my death sentence. “I’ll talk.”
* * *
Mob RICO trial begins on the 3rd of December
FBI uses key witness in trial to nab Vittorio mobsters
Biggest arrest in ten years leaves Vittorio Crime Family decimated
“You’re doing the right thing.”
I tear my gaze away from the newspaper headlines, abandoning my obsessive search for any mention of my name, and look at the girl standing over my shoulder. A flash of heat ignites the skin on my chest when I look at her stupid face.
“What the hell would you know about the right thing?”
“You’re going to help put away very dangerous men, Melanie. It’s a good thing, believe me.”
“I should believe you when all you did was lie to me about who you were?” I snap. “Do me a favor and get the fuck out of my face.”
Yes, I might be doing “a good thing” by putting away Vincent, Joe, Paulie, and the rest of them, but at what cost to myself? Other gangs will move into the club, peddling the same coke they were. It’s a futile enterprise. And I’ll be somewhere else entirely, my identity stripped away from me.
At least I’ll be with Mom and Dad.
But thinking of them is just painful. I thought my dad would die of shame when they told him what was happening in the club. He gave me such a wounded look, as if it were my fault. As if I caused all this. He was the one who partnered with the goddamn Mafia. Why the fuck should I suffer for his mistakes?
“You never gave us anything about Tommy O’Sullivan,” she says, giving me a pointed look that tells me she’s going to ignore my request.
I sigh loudly. Thinking of him gives me a painful twinge in my chest. “I will not name him. I will not testify against him.”
She leans in over the moth-eaten couch, smiling under that curtain of blonde hair. “Mel, I know that he visited the club all the time. I know you have feelings for him, but—”
“That is my one fucking condition,” I growl, refusing to be goaded by her. “Drop it or I’ll walk.”
A knowing smile spreads over her face. “We both know you can’t walk away from this now.”
Hating her, I get up from the couch before I do something stupid like hit an FBI agent in the face. I walk through the shitty motel room and enter the bathroom, slamming the door shut. The light flickers like a strobe light, reminding me of the club. My chest constricts and I place both palms on the cool sink, my arms shaking. I barely recognize the face in the mirror; the deep lines under my eyes make me look as though I aged a few years in the past few weeks.
I never gave up Tommy, even though they pushed me to give up evidence against him. I just couldn’t do it to him.
You’re a fucking fraud.
His voice booms out of the mirror, making me shiver all over. I could have told them about the murder, but I didn’t. I don’t want to hurt him. He was the one guy I could stand, out of all of them. I could care less about the rest of the guys. They’re bad men—people who used me, extorted me, and hurt me. If they want an apology, I won’t give it. I’m not sorry.
The ghost of his hand brushing the hair from my shoulder still singes my skin. His lips still burn against my mouth as if he was just here, wrapping his arm around my waist and pushing me against the wall of the bathroom.
I wonder what he thinks of me now that I’ve ratted out all his friends.
My fingers whiten around the edges of the sink and I grind my teeth together as my heart gallops forward, too fast for me to keep up with. I’m in a motel room separated from my parents for our safety, and there will be weeks left of the trial. Weeks of staring Vincent, Joe, and Jack in the face across the courtroom, and them staring back at me as they consider the best way to kill me from across the room.
Suddenly I am sorry.
What have I done?
TOMMY
Occasional moans shake through the steel room, whose door is ajar. My head snaps toward the sound and I frown. I’m supposed to get rid of him, but I just don’t feel up to it today. It’s my job and I take pride in it, even if it has lost its thrill, but now the screams grate against my ears like sandpaper. Uneasiness is like a sickly feeling, and it takes command of my limbs, freezing me into place.
My heart is just not in it, today.
He moans again, and the noise reminds me of one of those haunted houses I went through as a kid—the speakers playing spooky ambient music and ghosts moaning. I snicker at the thought, and Jack gives me a furious look from across the room. My expression falls immediately.
Right. I’m supposed to be somber.
The door in the back slams open, and I reach for the piece strapped to my ankle, but it’s only Vince. His wide eyes flash in my direction.
“I’m fucked,” he announces to the room in a desperate voice. “Fucked.”
It’s not every day you’re indicted in a federal RICO case. My heart goes out to him and I stand up, but Jack gets to him first. He envelops him in a hug and Vince lets him pound his back, a numb look freezing his face.
“I’m facing twenty-five years to life. I cannot go to fucking jail—Adriana and I wanted a baby. How am I going to explain this to her?”
The agony in his voice gives me a twinge of sympathy.
“I’m sorry, Vinny.”
He gives me the same shocked, blank look before disengaging his arms from Jack and sinking lifelessly into a chair. “Joe and Paulie are out, but they’re under house arrest.”
“We’re open season for anyone who wants to take us out right now. With all of you in the can—”
“What the fuck do you want me to do, Jack? I’m being watched. We all are!” Then he buries his face in his hands as despair twists his mouth. “All because of that fucking cunt. I fucking knew she was a risk.” His head turns down the table and I feel the heat from his eyes. “She didn’t give you up for anything, you know.”
> “I do.”
When I found out, I was surprised. It would bring a smile to my face if she hadn’t fucked us over so badly. It’s curious. Why not give me up? Is it because I took care of that thief? Hell, it does make me laugh a little to know that my small acts of kindness worked tremendously in my favor when I was only trying to get laid. I still think about her all the time. She’s all anyone talks about now.
I can’t believe that she’d do something so stupid.
“Maybe you should have hit on her.”
He glowers at me. “Not fucking funny.”
I bury the smile on my face. He’s right. It’s not.
Another desperate groan from the room makes Vince’s head perk up anxiously. Jack frowns at me. “Will you shut him up?”
Sighing, I walk over to the heavy metal door and disappear behind it, only to discover that my prey’s hand is halfway out of his restraints.
Fuck. I’m getting sloppy.
“No—no!”
Angry, I seize the kitchen knife I have lain on the tray and I approach his head. He’s an older man. Could be my grandfather. I’ve no idea what the fuck he did, but I’m no mood to play with him. I just want to get rid of him. The edge of the knife slips under his chin, and I find his carotid artery. Just a little bit of pressure. A red dot of blood blossoms from the point of the knife and then I cut, opening up his neck. Blood spurts from the slashed artery. His gaping mouth opens and closes as he feebly covers the wound with his free hand. I take the knife away from his neck and hold him there. Dark, thick blood pulses from his neck, slopping all over the pristine floor. Then his eyes still and glaze over, and the gulping sounds stop. He’s gone. It takes less than a minute.
Definitely the quickest kill I’ve ever done.
It does nothing for me.
I slam the knife on the tray and leave the room to rinse my hands.
This fucking girl distracts me. I can’t get any fulfillment from their deaths anymore, because this fucking trial has consumed our lives. I’m angry with her, but mostly at myself for thinking that she would have never done something so stupid.
The strangest feeling seizes my body when I walk back into the room. Vince and Jack both look up at me at the same time as if they were both talking about me. Something freezes in the air when they look at me like that, with quiet desperation. A sneaking suspicion crawls up my spine, tingling my nerves.
“What?”
“We need your help.”
A reluctant smile spreads over my face as I look at each of them, their expressions almost identical. “With what?”
“We need the girl to change her testimony. We need her to fucking disappear.”
My laughs echo hollowly in the room as I realize what Jack wants from me. The tingling feeling spreads over my skin as I walk closer to them. “And how the fuck am I supposed to find a witness protected by the FBI day and night?”
Jack licks his lips. “I’ve been following the girl who stopped showing up to work. I knew someone in that club must’ve been an undercover, and I just had a feeling.”
“Who?”
“Michelle.”
I close my eyes painfully. Michelle. The bubbly girl who everyone wanted to fuck, except for me. She was likable, charming.
“She’s a fed?”
“Yep.”
I blow out a low whistle, feeling a sharp stab of sympathy for Melanie. She would’ve had no idea.
“That must’ve been how they got her. They charged her with something through that cunt.”
“I thought she was harmless,” Vince says, shaking his head in disbelief. “Who would’ve thought some puttana from Queens would be in the fucking FBI?”
“Anyway,” Jack cuts in. “She’s been visiting some motel in Jersey every couple days.”
“So get your men to abduct her. I’m not going anywhere near her.”
“You’re the only guy who can do this, Tommy.”
The raw sound of Vince’s voice makes me feel powerful. For the first time ever, they need me more than I need them. If that’s not power, I don’t know what is.
My shoes clip over the floor as I walk toward them, my chest burning with acid as Vince begs me with his eyes. I sneer at him.
“Why the fuck would I do this for you? What have you ever done for me?”
“C’mon, Tommy—”
“Abducting a federal witness in a RICO trial, are you out of your fucking mind? I won’t do it. You do it.”
“Tommy, please—I would if I could. I’m begging you.”
“You know what you sound like?” I say, grinning. “You sound like all those poor fucks I take care of in that room.”
I point toward the slaughter room.
“Fuck you!” Vince stands up and shoves my chest. “I would do it for you!”
“Oh really? You would lay your life on the line to help an associate out of jail, a half Italian not even good enough to be made into a member? Fuck you, Vincent. Fuck you.”
I relish the look on his face as the hope drains from his eyes. I’ve wanted to say this for a long time, and now I can say whatever the fuck I want because they need me so badly. Taunting both of them makes blood rush to my muscles, until Jack stands up and looks at me with an expression like I just killed his dog.
“If you do this, I’ll make you into a member.”
Goddamn it.
He’s a clever old bastard to tempt me.
No. Out of the question. If you’re caught, you’re going to prison for LIFE.
But the yearning leaps inside me, soaring above me before I’ve a chance to send it crashing to the earth. I’ve wanted this for so goddamn long. Otherwise, what’s the point of being in the life?
“Don’t say it if you don’t mean it,” I say in a tight voice.
Vince looks up, hope renewed on his face without a trace of resentment. He doesn’t give a shit. None of them will if I give them what they want. Jack takes my shoulders gently.
“Tommy, you know you’ve always meant a lot to me. You would have been made years ago if you were full Italian. That was the only barrier, but I’m willing to change it.”
My stomach clenches. It still galls me that he’s only willing to change the rules because he’s desperate, and not because I truly earned it.
I can’t believe I’m considering this. I must be fucking crazy.
“I’m not killing any cops.”
“Of course not,” Jack says quickly.
But the more I think about having that piece of ass completely at my mercy, the more excited I get. I’ll take her to one of our safe houses and make her strip. Then I’ll make her beg for forgiveness for what she’s done. This will be so much more fun than what I usually do. I’ll break her down until she’s begging to suck my cock. I’ll make her worship the very ground I stand on, and then she’ll retract her testimony. Then, most likely, Jack will want her to disappear. Permanently.
She didn’t give me up. She likes me. Half the battle has already been won.
“I’ll need to be left alone with her. I know exactly what I’ll do.”
His fingers pinch my shoulders. “I don’t want you to spend the whole time fucking her. Just get her to retract the testimony, and then you can get rid of her any way you like.”
Fine.
The hope on Vincent’s face doesn’t falter. Even he doesn’t give a shit how I’ll carve up this girl. Now that his ass is on the line, I could wear her head as a hat, and he wouldn’t give a shit.
It’s the first time I’ve had so much power over them. I could demand anything I wanted, and they’d give it to me. What if I wanted to fuck his wife? Would he give me that, too?
A smile hitches on my face and Vincent smiles reluctantly.
If only he knew what I was thinking.
“The moment the job’s done, I’ll get made.”
I stick my hand out and he shakes it, refusing to break eye contact with me. “Yeah. Of course.”
“If you go back on your promis
e, I’ll put a bullet between your eyes as if you’re anyone else.”
Resentment boils in my chest as Vince dares to shoot me a glare, which quickly fades under mine.
That’s right, asshole. You’re under my thumb.
“I’m still the boss, Tommy,” he says in a voice quietly rumbling with anger.
“A boss with no captains,” I remind him.
“I don’t like the way you’re talking to me—”
“Well maybe I don’t like the way you’ve talked to me all these years,” I snap, shutting him up immediately. “I will get the respect I deserve.”
My voice rings in the back of the deli, and Vince nods along with me. I can almost hear his thoughts: Just agree with whatever the fuck he says, Jack.
That brings another smile to my face.
* * *
A simple bribe to the clerk at the motel gives me a copy of the keys to her room, though I doubt I’ll need them. I’ve staked out the place for over twelve hours, analyzing the patterns of the two cops guarding the room. Two fucking cops. That’s it? That’s all they have guarding their key witness?
It seems too easy, almost as if it’s an invitation. Of course, they’re not supposed to be seen. The cops sit in the unmarked police car. There are probably more inside the motel room.
Risky, risky, risky.
The guy sitting behind my seat lets out an audible sigh and squirms in his noisy leather. The guys I brought with me are ready to go. They’ve been waiting for hours to help me kidnap this girl.
“What’s taking so long?”
I look up into the rearview mirror, right into his impatient face. “Will you shut your mouth?”
From the darkened window of the car, my eyes flick to the gas station across the street, where just tucked in the corner of the building, there’s a black duffel bag.
And it’s filled with explosives.
I roll back my sleeve and check my watch. Three minutes.
The excitement ramps up in my chest, all over my body, making me want to do anything but sit still in a car. It makes me grin. I can almost feel the sparks in the air, zapping me. These are the moments I live for. This is why I love what I do.
The fucking thrill.
His Witness Page 7