by Gemma Hart
Step one, how did I feel about Marco Desmond?
I blew a big gust of air through my lips as the heavy question echoed through my head.
Obviously, I now realized that Marco Desmond was not just his reputation. He was more than just a womanizing mob heir. He was more than just a lethal killer with a heart of ice.
He was a man who had grown up in a hell house and had managed to become a man who could still stand on his own two feet thanks to his survival skills. He was a man who was trapped against his will by a greedy and murderous father so that he could save his brother.
She had felt the ache in him last night. She could feel just how starved he had been of true connection, of true unadulterated, sweet passion. And it nearly broke her heart.
But how did I feel about him?
My heart fluttered at even the thought of the question. And that was clearer than any answer I could think of.
I wanted him. I wanted Marco. And at this point, I think I could even say….I loved him.
“Oh god,” I whispered as the truth hit me.
I loved Marco Desmond, heir to the most powerful crime family, and I was working with the FBI as an undercover agent who was working to take down everything he knew.
I groaned as I raked my fingers through my already very mussed hair. There couldn’t have been a messier situation than this scenario. I couldn’t very well just go and tell Marco about who I was and what I was doing. That would not only jeopardize everything the FBI was working to do but would also put Marco into a lot of danger.
It was clear the FBI wasn’t perfect. There were obviously flaws within the system but they were working to prevent the largest crime syndicate from forming. Such a merger would terrorize all of North and South America.
But I couldn’t keep going on like this. I felt like a horrible fraud every time I met with Marco and now after last night, I didn’t know how much longer I could continue the lie.
No, I couldn’t tell him the truth but maybe I could find another way. I couldn’t keep letting things get bigger and bigger while keeping him in the dark. That would just lead to disaster.
Standing, I quickly ran my fingers through my hair to arrange it into something less crazy and headed out of the office. I was going to find Marco and we were going to talk. The quicker we got everything—or at least as much as we could—out into the open, the better.
I rushed out into the hallway, trying to decide where I might best find him. I decided to at least head downstairs. I knew sometimes he spent time in the den downstairs with some of the men.
But I hardly made it a dozen steps before I saw Roy Desmond and his cadre of personal guards heading down the opposite way. I stopped in my tracks, watching the small army head down the hall.
Roy caught sight of me.
“Ah, just who I was looking for,” he said, barely throwing me a glance.
“You were?” I asked, surprised.
“Yes, yes. Come here,” he said unnecessarily as he grabbed me by my upper arm, leading me down the stairs.
I tried not to stumble as I followed Roy down the stairs, unable to comfortably share the steps with his large girth.
“Wait, sir,” I said, trying not to fall. He was walking with a speed that belied his weight. “Wait. Where are we going?”
The guards marched behind us, silent and stoic. We passed the den, which was empty anyway, and headed towards the front doors.
“The Juarez deal. I’m closing it tonight,” he said, waiting as his men threw open the doors. “I’ll need my accountant with me, of course.”
“Wait. The deal? Me?” I asked, my voice nearly squeaking in surprise. The Juarez deal wasn’t supposed to happen for another week. When had this sudden change happened? I hadn’t received any word from the agents about it. Had they been notified of the changes? If they weren’t aware, Operation Raven would be a complete bust.
And why would he need an accountant there? It’s not as if there’s going to be briefcases filled with money or something ridiculous like that. Everything would be done through digital transfers. I didn’t need to be present for any of it.
“Yes, you,” Roy said roughly as he opened the door to his black Range Rover and pushed me into the backseat.
“But, but,” I stuttered, trying to think of a way out. I didn’t know how this would affect the agents’ plans for the raid. Not only was this happening a week early, no one would be expecting me there. And now that I was in the car, there was no way of notifying them the change of plans.
“But, sir, I was heading to meet Marco Desmond to give him the transfer papers,” I lied, trying to find a way out.
Roy slid into the seat next to me as his men sat up front, starting the engine.
Roy waved a hand dismissively. “Marco’s already there waiting. You can talk to him there,” he said. He gave a nod to the man behind the wheel and the car started moving.
I sat back, feeling my heart pound against my chest.
Holy shit. I was about to go to probably the biggest criminal merger in history where I would also be witness to potentially the biggest sting operation by the FBI.
I watched as the car swung down the long private driveway of the Desmond compound.
I had a terrible feeling about this.
Chapter Nineteen
Marco
“Damn, boss. What are you trying to get in shape for? The fucking Olympics?” Gary said as he grinned at my sweaty face.
I chugged down a bottle of water as I took a break from the punching bag. I hadn’t kept track of how long I’d been at it but looking up at the gym clock, I could see that over two hours had passed.
Gary, one of Roy’s men, had been passing by when he had heard the punching bag from the gym. Curious and clearly bored, he had stopped in and sat on the weight bench, watching.
I looked over at him as I took a breath. “What are you doing here?” I asked. “Roy give you the night off or something?”
I had spent the majority of the day in a riotous mood. Halle had taken over every corner of my mind and it was hard to focus on anything. The entire day, I had been debating on what I should do. Should I find her and tell her my plan and ask her to come with me? Or should I push her away with a good, clear warning of just how dangerous it was to remain in this environment? Or should I follow my baser calls and find her so I could bend her over and take her again, letting my cock sink into that sweetness once more?
I somehow wanted to do a combination of all three. But I knew I had to pick one. I had to figure something out so I didn’t cause damage elsewhere.
Gary shrugged as he picked up a dumbbell and did a lazy bicep curl. “I guess so. He only took a few for that deal thing. So me and a few others were left behind.” Gary dropped the weight. “Clearly we weren’t the chosen few.” His bitterness was clear in his voice.
I paused, my bottle halfway to my mouth. I stared at the man.
“What do you mean, ‘that deal thing’?” I said slowly, hearing my pulse crash against my ears.
Gary looked over at me. “You know, that Juarez deal. Roy went to close it tonight.” Gary dropped the weight. “Apparently, Davidson and Gus and Vic are all worthy of the great honor of driving the Big Boss there but me and Jocko and—”
“Wait. Wait,” I said, cutting off his pity party. My body hummed with adrenaline as I could feel the action about to start. The inevitable drama. The horrible and sudden showdown.
“The Juarez deal is happening tonight?” I said, enunciating each word clearly in hopes that Gary had his information wrong.
But Gary nodded instead, looking at me as if it was obvious. “Yeah. The boss left like an hour ago.” He grinned at me knowingly. “Took that pretty little accountant with him too.”
“Fuck!” I shouted as I rushed out of the gym. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!”
I ran up the stairs towards my room. I needed to change and grab my weapons as quickly as possible.
I had no idea why the deal was suddenly h
appening tonight and I had even less idea about why Roy would take Halle. There was no need for her to be there. No accounts manager had ever accompanied Roy or myself to a deal before.
As I threw off my sweaty clothes and searched for my gun and knives, I suddenly jerked to a stop.
The deal was tonight.
My heart pounded.
That meant this was my chance.
With the influx of money that would be coming in to various accounts and holdings, this was my chance to pull my share out and leave undetected. And with Roy out of the house for a set number of hours, I could call the private plane I have on standby and head out. I already had a place and a number set up in Germany, which would be my first stop. I needed to make sure it was a clean break before I headed over to England and put Jamie in danger.
This was it.
This was the moment I had literally been planning for for years.
But if I left now, that meant leaving Halle.
And I wasn't just leaving her. I was leaving her in the clutches of Roy Desmond who had clearly kidnapped her and taken her to possibly the most dangerous place in all of America this night. If any minute thing went wrong tonight, it could be lethal. And Halle would be standing right in the crosshairs.
“What the fuck!” I shouted as I punched a wall, leaving a sizeable crack.
Why did he take her? Why would he take an accounts manager to something like this?
Goddamn the man to fucking hell!
I realized now that I had to make a choice. Either leave tonight and make my way over to Europe and to potential freedom. Or head out to find Roy and Halle and rescue her from what is certain danger.
Energy crackled through my body. My muscles twitched from how taut they were with adrenaline.
Godfuckingdammit!
Chapter Twenty
Halle
I could hardly let myself breathe as we exited the car. We had finally arrived at the meeting zone.
I had watched carefully as we drove, trying to memorize exactly where we were going in hopes that more information might help calm me. It didn’t. But I had watched us drive for miles out of the city, eastward.
By the time we reached our destination it, was close to midnight. But even in the darkness of night, I could make out the hangar that stood in the distance. It was one of those smaller hangars meant for recreational planes. It was a little dilapidated and worse for the wear with the lights hanging outside flickering ominously.
Holy shit, it’s just like in the movies, I thought as I followed Roy and the Desmond men towards the hangar.
It was exactly like the movies. The dark, abandoned space. The quiet, beefy muscle men. The overhanging moon. The tense environment that followed any situation where multiple guns were present.
Roy stopped just a few feet from the back entrance. He turned toward Gus who stepped forward. “I’ll do the sweep, boss,” he said before heading towards the door.
We waited outside.
I had no idea what we were waiting for. Was Gus sweeping to make sure the Juarez Family wasn’t there yet? Or was he sweeping to make sure they were there?
I looked around and saw no other vehicles except ours. But of course, we were on one side of the hangar. The other side could be chock full of cars. I had never been on a field mission before. Would the FBI ride in on specially marked cars or would they sneak in carefully on foot after parking miles away?
God, did they even know the changing of the dates?
I covertly glanced over at Roy who stood next to me. He had a look of casual impatience as he waited for Gus’s return. Standing next to him, I was reminded again of just how big of a man he was. Not just in girth but also in height. He was over six feet tall and weighed as much as a defensive lineman. He was an intimidating figure.
When such a man like that tells you to get in the car, it’s hard to say no. So of course, now I was here.
But why?
Why would he bring me along to the deal? All this time that I had been working for him, not once did he mention my coming along. In fact, up until just a few hours ago, he had only spoken to me along the terms of what I should be doing back at the office while the deal was happening. He wanted to make sure the money went through immediately.
“I’ll give you a call when I get the notice that the transfer has happened,” he had explained to me one night. “And then you tell me when you see that it has. I want you to stay at your desk that night until I call. Understand?”
“Yes,” I said. That had been my responsibility. To check the online accounts of several different banks and holdings to make sure the money went through smoothly and immediately.
But now that I was out here, there was no way to do any of that. I had been so rushed out of the house, I hadn’t been able to bring my laptop or cellphone.
Roy looked over his shoulder at the parked car. He looked like he was waiting for someone. Were we maybe meeting the Juarez Family outside? He looked around searchingly before grunting in impatience and turning around.
Gus finally came back out.
“It’s all clear, boss,” he reported. “The Family is waiting inside.”
Roy nodded before turning over his shoulder again. The men behind us looked confused by their boss’s action. They even turned around to see what he might be looking at. But it was just emptiness with one lone road leading out into the darkness.
Roy gave an irritated sigh before he grabbed my arm again. “Fine then. Let’s go in.”
We went in through the back door. I was nervous that my pounding heart would echo across the high ceilings. We walked through a narrow hallway before the room opened up into the main hangar.
With only a few lights still functioning, most of the space was cast still in shadow. And on the opposite end of this shadowy space sat the Juarez Family.
Or at least the main heads of the Juarez Family.
The clear leader was a thin man with a thick black mustache who stood in the center of the group but was flanked by several armed men. There were two younger men standing behind the leader who I assumed were either leaders within the Juarez Family or was the leader’s sons. And in the far corner of the group, I saw a shorter man who shifted regularly from one leg to the other. He had on a cool expression but it was clear by his body language that he was antsy, bordering on nervous.
I carefully studied him. There was something about him that was a little off. I could see his eyes darting around the room as if memorizing the entire space. Could he possibly be the mole agent?
“A little late, don’t you think?” the man with the mustache said with a bit of an accent. I was actually surprised at how subtle his accent was.
Roy huffed a laugh. “I got here though, didn’t I? Worried the deal wouldn’t fall through, eh, Bauti?”
Bauti rubbed his chin meditatively as he looked over our group. His hawk eyes zeroed in on me. “Who’s the woman?” he asked in a voice that sounded casual but had all the undertones of suspicion.
“Accountant,” Roy said dismissively, offering no more explanation than that. “And I see you brought your boys.” He gave a little nod towards the two men behind Bauti.
Bauti made a dismissive wave. “Enough of this,” he snapped, clearly sick of the pleasantries. “Tell me, why did you move the date?”
So it had been Roy who had changed the date of the deal.
I saw the Juarez man in the corner twitch a little at the question. I was almost positive he was the mole agent. Pretty impressive for him to have made it high enough into the upper circles to be present at this deal. But then again, wasn’t I here as well?
“I told you, Bautista,” Roy said calmly. “The quicker we do this, the better. Right now, I can tell somebody is sniffing around us and we can’t waste any more time waiting. There’s danger nearby.”
I stiffened. I had no idea what the status on Operation Raven was but Roy wasn’t mistaken. I was fairly certain there were two FBI agents in this room alone.
Was the mole agent actually nodding to an earpiece? I watched the man give quick, jerky nods while pressing a finger discreetly to his left ear. Even to the most untrained eye, it looked high suspicious.
Under the dim lights, I could see the thin sheen of nervous sweat on the man. There was a crackling energy of excitability around him that made me feel on edge. Clearly, he was not completely comfortable being undercover despite having been inside the Juarez Family for months now.