If he expected a reaction he got none. I had done nothing wrong and I was not going to let them intimidate me.
“We have been monitoring the criminal Messana family for a couple of years now for various criminal offenses like corruption, money laundering, suspect dealings with the Russian mafia, and even murder. However, we’ve not been able to get anything or anyone to rat on those slippery bastards. This is especially true of the Capo Luca Messana who moves about almost leaving no trace, even digitally. His operation seemed to be iron clad and impenetrable… until you came into the picture. We need your help.”
My response was automatic: fuck you! I tried not to let it show and especially not to speak it out loud. “What do you want me to do?”
“We have solid reasons to believe a massive drug trafficking operation in collaboration with their associates in Italy is active. The biggest players in both countries will be involved in the deal so it is our big chance to catch them all red-handed. Having someone like you on the inside, who is on our side, would be invaluable.”
“I’m not on the inside,” I said calmly. “He barely speaks to me, let alone about his business.”
Gregory Wang glanced at his colleague, then back to me. “We understand this, but at this point, any leverage we can get would be akin to a miracle. This potential bust is the largest case we have ever worked on, and it has also already caused the death of one of our officers and tears of too many of our members. Lives are at stake here. We hope that you’ll be willing and able to assist us.”
“You’re not listening to me,” I said. “He doesn’t speak to me about business. Ever.”
They shared another look with each other. Sarah Yale took over. If they were playing good cop bad cop I wondered who the bad cop was.
“We have a script that you would have to follow. It’s very effective. Just follow it and for the most part it works. All criminals love to boast and they just need a bit of encouragement. It is especially effective after sex.”
I took a deep breath. “So this is a honey trap?”
“Not exactly.”
“How are you going to record the conversation? Do you plan to bug the house?”
“We will fit you with a wire now, and if you agree to help us we will send our operatives around disguised as your friends and fit up the place.”
“You want me to wear a wire?” I asked in disbelief. This was just so out there. Never in a million years did I ever think I would be having this conversation with FBI officers.
“Yes, do not worry. Your safety will not be endangered in any way. We’ll make sure that it is completely undetectable.”
I could feel a deep frown working its way into my forehead. Anger churned in my stomach. “Do you understand what you’re asking me to do?”
They nodded quietly.
“You tell me he’s the head of one of the biggest criminal enterprises in the States. You tell me you have been hunting him for years with no results and then you ask me, a little waitress to wear a wire and to put my life and the life of my entire family in danger. Guess what? Based on that information he’s smarter than you guys are and therefore smarter than me.”
“Miss Morrison, we will be at your beck and call, immediately ready to respond should there be any issues,” Gregory Wang said.
Sarah Yale’s voice was soft and persuasive. “This could really help many people, Miss Morrison. You’d be making a great contribution to the bureau and society by helping put these monsters where they belong.”
My laughter was dry. “Do you know exactly what my relationship with him is?”
“We are aware,” Gregory responded. “Salvatore Picollo informed us of the details.”
“Salvatore?”
“Yes. One of his men turned informant. We have him in custody.”
I shuddered. Did Luca make one of his men turn on him? “If you know what my relationship with him is all about then you should also understand that I cannot wear a wire without it being discovered. Also my time with him is almost over.”
“We know the details and this is why we need to give this a shot now. We—”
“I did this to save my father’s life.” I glared at them enunciating every single world. “I sold myself to two people because I couldn't afford to pay my father’s medical bills. But now you’re telling me to possibly sacrifice his life all over again just so I could… make a contribution to society? If I had asked society to help with my father’s bills would they have given a damn?”
“Miss Mo—”
“What about after all of this? What if you’re successful and his criminal enterprise is brought down? Doesn’t that put a target on me and my family for the rest of our lives?”
“You’ll be in the witness protection program. We will ensure—”
“I don’t care what you will ensure. I know what witness protection means. You guys don’t give a damn about the people you step on to get your big wins. You get to live your life while I have to look over my shoulder for the rest of mine? And what about my father? Do I leave him behind? Do I get to take him to a place that is completely foreign to him? Does he get to bring my stepmother? Does she get to bring her daughter? No? I thought so.”
Fuming, I straightened my back and gave my final and definite response. “No! I will not do it. Please find someone else.”
With as much confidence I could muster I turned around to exit the bathroom.
“We will prosecute you,” Sarah Yale said coldly.
I stopped in my tracks. There it was: she was playing the part of bad cop.
“For income tax irregularities,” she continued. “You received payments from both Salvatore Picollo and Luca Messana in cash, and you failed both times to put aside what is due to the IRS. Not declaring monies received in relation to services rendered is an offence that could get you incarcerated and will most definitely come with a hefty fine. And as we are government officials we are bound to report and act on such irregularities.”
I turned around slowly. “You’re threatening me?”
“No, Miss Morrison,” Gregory spoke. “We’re not threatening you. We’re giving you a choice. You can either pay the amount owed, which at your tax rate we reckon would be close to a hundred thousand by the time all your dad’s bills are taken into consideration, or… you could simply agree to collaborate with us.”
Tears burned my eyes as I glared at both of them.
The bastards.
I swallowed hard, then spoke, every word even more painful as the last. “What exactly do you need me to do?”
“The first thing is to try to find a way to extend your time with him. This way we can work with you to obtain the specific type of information we need. Anything too sudden or direct will force him to become suspicious and clam up.”
“And what if he doesn’t want to extend the relationship?” I asked. “And anyway why do you assume our relationship is cordial?”
“Isn't it?’ Sarah asked. “Based on Salvatore’s report about the incident at the Hospital gala, it would seem to be.”
“Salvatore insulted me and Luca helped Salvatore understand the error of his ways. Isn’t that basic human decency?”
Sarah Yale hid a smile.
“Not for a man like Messana. Miss Morrison, as previously mentioned we have been chasing him for years and know more about him than his own mother probably does. This is not a man that is driven by affection or care for his fellowmen. He has sent his own men to their deaths.”
“And yet this is the person that you’re asking me to betray?”
Both had nothing to say to that. “The situation is the same. Do not help us and you are looking at prison time. If you don’t want to do this for yourself, do it for your father. It would break his heart if you were incarcerated.”
At the mention of my father I sighed. “All right. I’ll help you.”
The second I said that Sarah Yale pulled up a briefcase from the floor, opened it and took out her wires. Gregory wen
t out of the room while she fitted me up. She worked quickly and expertly. Then she phoned someone. “Is it working?”
“Loud and clear,” came the response.
“Good.” She turned to me. “All you have to do is start talking to him. Start by complimenting his business prowess and show admiration for his skill, then show just a tiny bit of curiosity about his business. Don’t rush it. Get him to talk.”
I nodded. Then a sudden thought jolted my mind.
“What happens if he comes close enough to discover I’m wearing a wire and he’s as dangerous as you suggest then I’m dead!”
“Don’t let him get too close to you at the moment. Once you agree to let him let you stay longer we’ll be able to bug the house properly, and then you can get as close as necessary,” Gregory finished smoothly.
I was unconvinced, but I said, “Okay.”
“Good. We’ll contact you again tomorrow,” said Sarah Yale.
“How?”
“Perhaps you can go to visit your friend again.”
“All right.”
She smiled encouragingly at me. “You’re doing the right thing.”
I did not smile back.
Chapter 44
Skye
Once I left the restrooms I wandered around the mall for a bit. I needed to think. I went into a shop and pretended to look through a rack of clothing. I felt eerily calm. I called Sergio and told him to meet me outside the mall.
The air outside was frigid, but I didn’t feel it. Inside the car, I wrote out a long text. Then I closed my phone and looked out of the car. When we reached Torrington Hall, I came out of my daze and began to look around the snow-covered grounds. My hand touched the cold glass of the window.
“I will miss you,” I whispered, as the car drove up the long, tree-lined driveway toward the house.
I knew Luca would not be back until dinnertime so I got into the house and was about to head straight up to my room when my name was called.
“Skye.”
My heart nearly stopped. I turned around and was able to breathe easier when I saw it was just one of his other men. The echo in the foyer had made his voice sound almost identical to Luca’s.
“Boss wants you in his study.”
My eyes widened. “He’s back?”
He nodded. “Come with me.”
I straightened my spine. So the deed could not be postponed until later, but done now. They were listening in through the wires they had attached to my body. This meant I couldn’t let Luca touch me intimately or he would find the device and everything would be ruined. I didn’t think however that that was going to be a problem.
Nervously, I followed the man until he arrived at Luca’s study and gave a hard knock on the door.
“Come in,” I heard the response.
The security guard pushed the door open, and stood back to allow me to enter.
A fire was burning in the fireplace and the study felt beautifully warm. Luca was dressed in a black shirt with the sleeves rolled up and he was working on his laptop, but he slid it away from him and his searing eyes found mine. No matter how many times I saw him I always felt that strange attraction build inside my belly.
Taking a deep breath, I set in motion the events that would change my life forever.
Luca
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVsWD1_GqwE
-Words-
I hadn’t seen her in thirty-six hours and I was desperate to crush her body against mine, but that look in her eyes made me stop and pay attention.
“What is it?” I asked softly.
She came forward. “Hello, darling.”
My eyebrows rose. I stared at her as she walked to my desk, then placed her phone on it. She pointed at the screen, then very gently pushed it towards me while she carried on talking. “I missed you so much and I was wondering if it would be possible to extend my stay with you?”
“Why?” I asked, pulling her phone towards me. I could see that it was a text message that she had composed to me, but had not yet sent it. As I read, she talked.
“I want to spend more time with you. I realized that you are the best lover I’ve ever had and since you don’t have anyone and I don’t have anyone it would be a good thing for us both to stay together a bit longer. It makes sense, doesn’t it? Well, I think it does. If you find someone, of course, I’ll leave immediately. What do you think?”
I finished reading her note. Her note said.
The FBI contacted me at the mall. They want to use me to get intel on you. I didn’t want to do it, but they threatened to put me in prison because I have neither paid nor put aside the sums due to the IRS for the money I got from Salvatore and you.
I am wearing a wire right now.
So when I ask you to let me stay a bit longer, please say no. Maybe we can argue about something and you can pretend to throw me out of the house today. That way it won’t be my fault and I will have no more use to them.
I lifted my gaze to hers.
“Also, I may need some more funds for my father. So if you don’t mind me staying a bit more then… I’d really appreciate that.”
I watched her quietly and she made a gesture of desperation with her hand.
“Marry me,” I said.
She froze. For the longest time she didn’t speak as she just stared at me, beyond stunned. Finally, her mouth opened and her voice came out in a croak. “What?”
“Marry me. I’d already decided that I wanted you to stay indefinitely so this is the perfect solution.” I deleted her message and typed my own message into her phone as I spoke.
Then I went around the table, and gave her her phone with my message on it. Her eyes scanned my message quickly.
Say yes. They cannot ask a wife to testify against her own husband.
“So, what do you say?” I asked softly.
Her lips parted to speak, but they were trembling so much she shut her mouth and pressed them together.
“Say yes,” I said persuasively.
“Yes,” she murmured, but it was far from audible.
“Out loud,” I mouthed to her and she repeated it this time a bit louder.
“Yes,” she said her tone breathless. “I’ll marry you.”
“Today,” I said.
Her eyeballs nearly popped out of her sockets. “What?”
"Right now,” I told her. “Our family is very familiar with a reverend down at the King’s Chapel. He’ll be more than happy to wed us. Then it’ll be official. We can have the big wedding later.”
“Yes,” she replied, in a daze. It was clear I had completely thrown her.
I linked my fingers with hers. “Now why don’t you go up and change into something more… slinky. I like that white dress you have that shows off your shoulders.”
Chapter 45
Skye
I knew why he asked me to wear a strapless white dress when I didn’t even have such a dress. The agents listening would understand that I couldn’t wear the wire with such a dress. I ran upstairs to my room, closed the door, and leaned against it.
I closed my eyes and waited. Sure enough, my phone began to ring.
“Hello,” I said calmly.
“Refuse him!” The order came fierce and harsh. “He cannot force you to marry him. Put a stop to this marriage now or you will be as guilty as him.”
It felt as though I was on a high-speed train to an unknown and very possibly dangerous destination, but it didn’t feel quite as terrifying as the second option, which was to jump off and roll into the sharp stones along the railway tracks, and that was what agreeing to betray Luca felt like. Because with that option I would be cutting my heart out of my body and feeding it to the ravens.
My lips trembled as I tried to speak, not out of fear, but out of a strange fury. How dare they? How dare government officials behave like thugs? I’d seen it in movies, the way the CIA and FBI went around threatening people to cooperate with them or have their lives destroyed and even then, I
thought it was wrong, but I never dreamed I would be at the receiving end.
The end did not justify the means.
They shouldn’t have the right to crush my life so they could have the kudos of catching someone who was obviously way smarter than them, judging by the way they had not managed to nab him even with all the high-tech digital surveillance and manpower power available to them. My life and my father’s lives had value beyond the promotions and back slaps they would get for catching Luca.
“I can’t put a stop to it,” I replied calmly.
“Miss Morrison, this will bring the entire might of the bureau cracking down on the both of you.”
With my phone close to my ear, I walked towards the window and stared out at the beauty around me. My gaze settled on a point far away. My heart fluttered in my chest. I wouldn’t have to leave this place, the greenhouse, John, my plants. I could stay a bit longer with Luca.
“He is doing this because he thinks if you marry him you won’t be able to testify against him.”
“He’s right, isn’t he?” I asked softly.
There was an explosive moment of silence. “Skye, did you expose us?”
I felt as calm as a still lake. I found a pair of small eyebrow scissors and cut the wires of their listening device. There was not a thing these people could do to me. Not now. Not ever. “You heard every word. I did as you asked, but looks like he outsmarted you again.”
“Miss Morrison, you don’t—” he began.
But I had lost interest. “You failed. Better luck next time. Now I have to go. I have a wedding I must attend.”
“Miss Morr—”
I ended the call and walked towards my wardrobe. I didn’t know what the future held, I knew I was marrying a man who did not love me. I knew Luca was doing this because it was the best way for both of us to get out of the predicament the FBI had put us into for now, and after a time the agreement would be dissolved, but I didn’t care. I felt as if my greatest dream had come true. For now, I was going to live in this beautiful house with the man I was in love with.
Beauty and the beast: A Modern Day Fairytale Billionaire Mafia Romance Page 20