The Deal

by Sarah J. Brooks

  How could I have been so wrong about him? I thought as I sat and watched Aldo, his wife and Briggs eat dinner and act as if nothing at all had happened. Clearly, I wasn’t as good a judge of character as I had thought I was. I should have listened to Theo. Really, I should have listened to my own damn heart.

  This was my life on an even larger scale. I found peace, or happiness, and then I searched to destroy it. Theo and I had something. We had something that was different than I had with any other guy in the past, and I went and destroyed it in search of money. It was ridiculous. Theo even offered to give me whatever money I needed, but I still went off in search of the money from Aldo. My stubborn pride made me feel like I had to earn it, and I knew damn well how Aldo was going to have me earn it. Sure, I tried to think he really just wanted to spend time with me, but I knew better.

  Why did I do this crap to myself? Surely, I was worth having happiness. But every time the opportunity for happiness presented itself in my life, I ran away. Or worse yet, when happiness was right there, I stomped on it and then ran away. I was a horrible person, and Theo would be better off without me in the long run.

  Theo was a good guy, sure he owned an escort business, and if any normal girl was bringing him home to their mother that wouldn’t look good. But I didn’t have a mother to bring him home to and had pretty much been living the escort life the last few years in New York City. My fees were much cheaper than the women that worked for Theo. I simply required a meal, some drinks and a bed to sleep in; all in exchange for my company.

  It was funny to me that I had judged Theo for the decisions he made to become successful when he came to New York, yet I had made some pretty horrible decisions myself.

  “Briggs, tell Abby about your sexual fetishes. I think she would be enlightened to know my fetishes are not as weird as she might think,” Aldo demanded as he drank his wine.

  “It’s alright, I’m sure they are plenty weird,” I said in as casual a tone as I could muster.

  There was no way I wanted to hear about what Briggs liked to do in the bedroom. Briggs was a slightly balding older man with a bulging belly and slicked back hair. If there was a stereotype for what a used car salesman looked like, it would have fit Briggs exactly.

  “I insist,” Aldo added.

  “Sure thing Aldo,” Briggs said as he slapped his food in his mouth and began talking while he chewed. “I like to hear screaming. Any kind of screaming. I like when I ram myself into her ass and she screams. When I slap her around and she screams. Pretty much the scream of a woman turns me on so much I need to fuck her brains out until she stops screaming.”

  I just sat there and stared at Briggs as I tried to hide the disgust on my face. I could only assume that it was some sort of warning that if I didn’t behave myself, they were going to make me go with Briggs. So I did my best to act the part that had gotten me invited to the dinner in the first place.

  “Nicole, I don’t know about you, but I prefer a much gentler approach,” I said as I let my hand slide over to her leg.

  “Yes, these men can be such Neanderthals sometimes,” she said as her face lit up.

  I could see in her eyes that she liked me flirting with her, and since she was the one with the gun, I figured it was probably a pretty damn good time for me to start flirting with her. I needed to do absolutely anything I could to make it out of that damn dinner alive.

  “I can still remember the moment I met you,” I said, looking at Nicole. “I remember thinking your life was so perfect, that you were so perfect.”

  My gaze didn’t look away from Nicole as I tried to convince her that I believed she was as perfect as she clearly believed she was.

  “You are so kind. I knew it when I saw you in that restaurant too. You looked at me and talked to me instead of to Aldo. Most of the young waitresses gravitate toward him, but you were respectful and sweet and just so perfect.”

  “I wouldn’t have gone out with a married man, ever. Please know that I didn’t know he was married when I accepted his first invite,” I said with enthusiasm, even though it was clear that Nicole and Aldo didn’t really have the married and unattainable thing going for them.

  “Oh, I know. I told him he would have to keep things platonic with you until he explained our situation.”

  “Are you two ladies going to fuck because I would like to watch that,” Briggs said as he continued to slop his food around in his mouth.

  “We are, it’s going to be romantic and hot and so amazing, but you’re not invited,” Nicole said.

  Aldo laughed at the interaction but didn’t chime in. It was clear that although he was definitely in charge of all his business related matters, it was Nicole that was in charge of their sexual freakiness. I wondered if Aldo had always been into threesomes and group encounters or if it was his relationship with Nicole that had perpetuated it.

  So my goal was no longer to concentrate on making Aldo happy; instead, I needed to make Nicole happy. If Nicole liked me and wanted to be with me, then I would be in the good graces of Aldo for sure.

  “Aldo, how did you get so lucky to find such a beautiful and kind woman to marry you?” I asked in a light-hearted tone.

  “Me, oh no, it’s Nicole that got lucky,” he joked.

  We continued on with our meal and the absurd conversations that came with it. My mind was beyond baffled by the ease at which Aldo and Nicole could switch from wanting to kill someone to having a flirting romance with them. But I played along the best I could as we finally finished our meal and got ready to leave the restaurant.

  My idea was that I could make an excuse that I couldn’t go home with them. Certainly, they didn’t expect me to give up everything and go live with them right away. But I had learned there was no real telling what Aldo and his wife were thinking, so I was prepared for almost anything.

  “Let’s get you ladies home,” Aldo said as he pulled my chair out and then Nicole’s. “It was nice seeing you Briggs, I’ll let you know about the apartment, but I’m not really feeling it right now.”

  “Yeah, I’ve got some other ideas for you if you’d like. Just give me a call when you’re ready.”

  “Sure,” Aldo said as he shook hands with Briggs and then turned his attention back toward me.

  “You did very well tonight. I think you deserve what I promised you.”

  I really didn’t care about his stupid money any longer and wasn’t going to take it. There was no way in hell I would ever get away from him if I took that money. I knew that for a fact. But I couldn’t just deny him; I had to figure out a different way.

  “Thank you, but there’s no big hurry. I like spending time with you, and I’m curious about your wife.”

  “You’ve never been with a woman?” Nicole asked with eagerness in her eyes.

  “No, I haven’t.”

  “Oh, Aldo how could she be any more perfect?”

  “I’m not sure she could be,” Aldo said as he grabbed me and pulled me toward him.

  It was uncomfortable to have Aldo showing me attention when his wife was right there, but I decided to go with it and pretend that it didn’t bother me.

  His lips pressed against mine, and it was the final confirmation that whatever lust I had once had toward him was gone. At that moment, all I could think about was how badly I wanted to be with Theo. How the simplicity of a real relationship seemed like heaven compared to whatever the hell was going on with Aldo and his wife at the moment.

  I pressed my lips against Aldo’s and tried to hide my utter disgust with him. No longer did he look cool and hip. Instead, he had started to look like a desperate fifty something-year-old man who was doing whatever was necessary to hold onto his youth and his relationship with his wife. I couldn’t be part of such a weird relationship.

  “Let’s get you home so I can play with you,” Nicole said as she grabbed my hand and pulled me away from Aldo while we were still kissing.

  Although Nicole h
ad been the one who held a gun to Theo and then toward me, I felt much less threatened by her than I did by Aldo. Perhaps the reason she carried a gun was because of Aldo. Or perhaps I should have been more afraid of her than him. But I didn’t get the vibe that she had ever murdered someone or even actually shot her gun. But from Aldo, I certainly felt like he had experience taking the life of people who crossed him.

  “I’m exhausted,” I said as I wrapped my arm around Nicole’s and walked with her. “And I’m not sure that chicken is sitting all that well in my stomach.”

  “You know, I was thinking the same thing. They really should have the health department check them out and make sure they are cooking their food thoroughly enough. I would hate for anyone to get sick from their chicken,” Nicole added.

  It was like I was back in the olden days when I first arrived in New York. I had placed a small tidbit of information at Nicole’s foot, and she had run with it. I felt like it was a special talent that I had and hoped it would allow me to get out of the evening’s festivities that I was sure Nicole and Aldo were planning.

  “So please don’t be mad at me for asking this, but what is the sleeping arrangement. I don’t want to be rude or do anything that is inappropriate.”

  “You are just the sweetest thing,” Nicole said as she opened the car door and we both climbed in. “I’m sure we will figure it out as the night goes. Nothing to worry about. I promise I won’t be offended by anything you do.”

  I seriously doubted she wouldn’t be offended by anything I did. I had the great ability of offending people, even when I didn’t think I was offending them. Sometimes, I just clearly didn’t understand what was going on, but other times I was just speaking from my heart and not thinking things through. But the fact that I was going home with Aldo and his wife who both wanted to ravage me in their own ways, I knew for a fact I was going to offend someone before the night was over. It was my only way out of the whole deal.

  “Okay, just promise you will let me know if there is something I’m doing wrong. I really don’t want to offend anyone,” I said in a childlike quiet voice. “Could you tell me where the restroom is? I’m not feeling well,” I said when we walked into their house.

  As I rushed into the bathroom and locked the door, I quickly pulled my phone out and sent a text to Theo. “I’m at Aldo’s house. I’m trying to get free. Please forgive me.”

  I didn’t know if Theo was going to understand at all what I had done or why I had done it, but I had to hope that he would. There was no way I was staying with Aldo and Nicole, and certainly I couldn’t go back to the way things were before Theo had come into my life.

  I grabbed a cup from the counter and filled it with water as I went to the toilet and started to make heaving sounds.

  “Oh, man, this chicken sure isn’t sitting well,” I said loudly.

  “Are you alright?” Nicole asked.

  I splashed the water on my face and then made a horrible vomiting noise as I dumped the cup of water into the toilet.

  “Oh, God, nope … that does not look as good going out as it did going in,” I said.

  As I flushed the toilet, I looked in the mirror to make sure my face looked sweaty and my makeup had smeared a little. I was surprisingly good at faking being ill. It had been what had saved me from sleeping with dozens of men over the years. Certainly, it could save me from one woman and her plans for me that evening.

  Chapter 26

  THEO

  “I need to speak to someone in charge,” I said to the police officer behind the counter.

  She didn’t look at me with the same urgency that I was looking at her, though. It was like she didn’t even care that I was there, standing in her police precinct, trying to turn in one of the most famous men in New York.

  I was desperate to get someone to help me and felt so out of control at that moment. My body was buzzing with a need to save Abby, and I literally would have done anything I could to get her away from Aldo. For the first time in my life, I really knew what love was. As I stood in front of the police officer, I was totally willing to give up my fortune and my freedom if it meant that Abby would be safe.

  “I am a police officer; you can speak to me,” she said, barely looking up from the paperwork she had in front of her.

  “I have evidence against Aldo Gioacchino, and I’d like to talk to someone in charge.”

  The mention of Aldo’s name was finally enough to get the woman’s attention, and she looked up at me. She eyed me over, and whatever she was looking for seemed to be there as she nodded her head in affirmation and went to grab someone. I didn’t really care who it was I talked to, but I needed to turn Aldo in. If that meant turning myself in, then so be it, but I couldn’t let him control Abby and threaten me.

  Over the years, I had been present for many of the atrocious acts that Aldo had committed. I had watched him tell his guys to strangle a man. I had watched him in action when the Mayor’s daughter overdosed at his house and they had to bring her to the ER. I knew more about Aldo than he knew about me, so he should have been more afraid of me than he was.

  “What’s your name kid?” A very official looking man in uniform said as he came to the desk.

  “Theodore Stern,” I replied.

  “Mr. Stern, you look like an upstanding citizen, and I can appreciate you want to follow the law and all, but are you sure you want to turn in information on Aldo Gioacchino?” The officer asked.

  He didn’t look excited at all that I wanted to turn Aldo in; in fact, he seemed to be trying to talk me out of it. In my mind, I had thought that the police would be clamoring to get hold of a bigwig like Aldo. I had expected that they would have been following him for years and trying to find just the right time to arrest him.

  But deep down, I knew that he had worked really hard to pay off a lot of the police force and that was how he had avoided jail for so many years. That was always why I had avoided investigations and jail over the years. But I still genuinely thought if they had an inside guy like myself, the police would have wanted to get Aldo and put him behind bars.

  I understood Aldo wasn’t the kind of guy you wanted to mess around with unless you could actually catch him. The police weren’t going to go after him for some little thing that he was going to get off from. And they certainly weren’t going to go after him for something that they couldn’t prove. But I knew so much about Aldo, how could I not be helpful?

  “I know him well sir, and I understand your concerns. He’s also got my girlfriend held up at his house right now, and I’m inclined to tell you everything I know about him over the last decade of working directly with him.”

  “Let’s get a room,” the officer said.

  I followed him to a small conference room and was prepared to put my entire statement on video or audio or something. I was even prepared to write it down if it took me all day. Whatever they needed to lock him up, I was ready.

  “Is this room videotaped? You are probably going to want that in case something happens to me after I tell you all of this,” I said, thinking of the possibility that Aldo would actually kill me after finding out what I had done.

  “Kid, there is no video or audio in this room. It’s just you and me. Tell me what’s going on.”

  “Officer Reynolds,” I said as I looked at his nametag. “I think we need a video tape.”

  “See right there, that’s how I know what you’re about to tell me is the truth. Only a man who really knew Mr. Gioacchino would understand the dangers of giving this information to the police. How about let’s start with why he had your girl.”

  I tried to explain everything to him. I didn’t hold back. It was what I needed to do to get Abby out of his hands. The officer was kind to me; he didn’t make a big thing about me running an escort business or having feelings for a woman I had only known for a few days. He shook his head and listened to my story with empathy. I thought perhaps he needed to hear what it was I had
to say before he brought me to a questioning room to get it all on tape.

  “Mr. Stern, I sympathize with what’s going on with your girl. But I don’t think the New York police department is in a position to take on Mr. Gioacchino at this time.”

  My body sat there stunned at what he was saying. Was he really turning me away? Did he really not want to hear about all of Aldo’s illegal activity, money laundering, murderers and everything else? How could a police officer not want to hear this information? But my gut knew exactly why the police didn’t want to hear what I had to say.

  I didn’t know for sure if this officer was paid off by Aldo, but there were probably dozens of officers in that building who were. It surprised me that they didn’t want a chance to make a big headline, though.

  “I’m not lying to you. I know where his illegal businesses still are. I know where he buried bodies. I know about the Mayor’s daughter overdosing at his house. I have a lot of information that could put him behind bars for the rest of his life,” I said emphatically.

  “Mr. Stern, do you have proof of any of these things? Proof that Aldo Gioacchino is the one that committed the crimes and not one of the people who worked for him?”

  His words sent chills through my body as I replayed all the important events that I had seen Aldo commit. It was true, Aldo always had someone else doing his dirty work for him. He always sent someone else to torture or murder someone. Even thinking back to what happened with Kimberly, Aldo ordered one of his guys to ‘take care’ of Rocco after the assault.

  I shook my head in understanding. I saw what he was getting to. They weren’t going to risk going after Aldo unless there was hard, physical proof that Aldo himself had been part of a crime. It was only Aldo that they wanted, and if I couldn’t prove his involvement, they didn’t want to hear anything I had to say.