“Once she saw the new Mustangs, she forgot all about her snit. When she saw a GT with a badass chrome package in a convertible, she’d forgotten we’d even had words.”
“Yeah, I can see that new convertible being an issue for me. Ava wouldn’t stop talking about it after Harper took her for a drive. She’s even trying to work the kid angle. Telling me how much JJ and Melly would love driving around with the top down.”
Ava was a smart woman. Reid rarely told her no. If she threw in the kids, Reid didn’t stand a chance; he’d give in. My guess was they’d have a new car by summer.
My phone rang again and I glanced at the caller ID, the name on the screen reminding me why’d I come to see Reid in the first place.
Quinn Alexander.
I slid my finger across the screen to accept, put the call on speaker, and set my phone on Reid’s desk.
“Quinn. Thanks for calling me back. You’re on speaker. Reid’s here,” I told him.
“It sounded important.” Quinn jumped right in.
“Are we secure?” I asked.
I really wanted a face-to-face, talking over the phone in light of everything I’d found out didn’t sit well. But with Quinn’s schedule and mine, it would be impossible to find time over the next few days. What I had to tell him couldn’t wait.
“From my end, yes,” he replied.
“I have confirmation Graham Cartwright is trying to renegotiate payoffs. The DA’s hit up a few of the powerhouses in the drug trade and has begun moving down the ladder, approaching the up and comers. I’m concerned about the mid-level players. They don’t have a mind for proper etiquette yet and are reckless. They believe that they can catapult themselves into the big game by a show of force. That often times leads to innocent people getting caught in the melee,” I started.
“I have taps on both of their home phones and cells. Seems that the DA isn’t trying to hide what he’s doing moving into the PC’s business. Either he doesn’t care or knows that Brown is going down and won’t be able to stop him from taking his payoffs. At first, I thought he just wanted a bigger cut of the action but that’s not it. He’s making moves to take over completely. I highly doubt that Brown’s had a sudden change of heart and has decided on the straight and arrow,” Reid added.
“You think the DA is planning on taking Brown out?” Quinn asked.
“That’s one assumption. But I haven’t heard anything on the wire about a hit being taken out. That’d be a big contract and Dustin’s been monitoring all assets. There’s been no chatter,” Reid answered.
“What about the girl? Any closer to finding her yet?” Quinn questioned and I winced.
Reid’s eyebrows shot up and a scowl crossed his face. He didn’t like that I was indebted to Nico and knew that I’d have to lie to Quinn to protect myself.
“I am. I have a pretty good idea where she is.” At least I could be honest about that.
“Are you gonna share?”
Quinn’s inquiry hung in the room. Was I going to share? Fuck no.
“Not yet. Give me a few more days.”
“What is it you need from me?” Quinn sounded like he was a tad pissed I wouldn’t share the intel I had on Nicole Brown’s whereabouts, not that I knew for certain where she was or who had her. It had been conjuncture and speculation on my part. Nico never actually confirmed he had taken Nicole or for what reason.
“I can’t trust my department. I don’t know who Brown has on his sideline payroll—and I’m sure he has some because he’d need people on the inside to cover his tracks. I need warrants. Everything I have so far would be considered fruit from the poisonous tree. The taps we have in place aren’t exactly legal; nothing will be admissible.”
“And? What exactly do you have?”
“Brown’s been talking about the 50K he’s into Tuscani for. He’s also trying to work out a deal with a gangbanger, Evan Johnson. White boy from Sacramento who goes by the street name of Loco. Grew up in the Fivers’ territory and worked his way up. One of the few white kids that’s made it into a position of power in a Mexican gang. His mother being half Guatemalan was his in.”
“Fivers?” Quinn stopped Reid’s explanation. “Word is it was a Fiver that killed Holly Springs.”
“You’d be correct. They’re trying to branch out into Oakland and San Francisco. They’re also responsible for some of the riots. They’ve been showing up to the vigils for Holly and the protests demanding the police do more to stop the gangs. The Fivers stir up trouble and the peaceful protest turns violent.
“I checked Brown’s bank records. He has control of an account in his ex-wife’s maiden name, and, in the last month, there have been large deposits from a bank in Sacramento. After the last conversation Brown had with Johnson, there was a deposit for 50K from the same bank. That was the exact amount they’d agreed on,” Reid finished.
Reid pushed a bank statement in front of me with the Sacramento deposits highlighted. I quickly did the math and added them, 250 thousand dollars. Where in the fuck was a street gang getting that kind of cash flow?
“So what’s Brown’s end of the deal?”
“He’s allowing the Fivers to move in on Tuscani’s territory,” Reid told Quinn.
The marshal let out a low whistle. “That’s not going to end well. Tuscani will burn the city down.” Quinn observed.
He was not wrong. When Nico caught wind that the police chief had double-crossed him, he would indeed torch the city, uncaring of all the innocent people he killed along the way. It would make all the recent unrest look like a walk in the park.
“Fuck me. How fast you think you can pull a warrant?” I asked.
“Not long. You need one for Cartwright, too?”
“No. I have his balls nailed to the wall. I’m holding off taking him in until we have everything set with Brown. I don’t want to tip our hand and spook the DA. We need to take them both at the same time.”
“You never did tell me what evidence you had on Cartwright,” Reid asked.
“Cartwright bribed Judge Barnes to railroad Jason Riggers. It was an easy trail to follow. Let’s just say Barnes owed me a favor. All it took was a little nudge and he sang like a canary. He knew he was fucked and didn’t want to spend his golden years in the pen. He’s a smart old man and kept emails and voice mails he’d received from the DA, and he’s got dirt on fifteen other judges, past and present, who are in Cartwright’s pocket. He’s ready to strike a deal.”
I wasn’t about to tell either of them what I had on Barnes. It made me sound like I was just as dirty as Brown and Cartwright. Maybe in the eyes of the law I was. Ten years ago, during a prostitution bust, Jacob and I saw Larry Barnes sneak out the maintenance entrance of the hotel where the sting had gone down. Barnes knew we saw him. If I had known then that Barnes was dirty, I would’ve turned him in. However, at the time, he looked like a fragile broken man who had lost his wife to cancer. It was wrong, but I looked the other way. I didn’t have it in me to ruin his career after what he’d lost. Jacob felt the same way. We let him walk. I fucked up back then and the innocent men and women of the city I had sworn to protect were now paying for it. Jason Riggers was paying for it.
“I’m going to have to bring my partner, Bryan Owens, in on this—he’s got the intel and contacts I don’t have yet. He’s going to want to know which judges are out, so he knows who’s safe to approach. It might take a couple of days. I want to be certain whomever we go to isn’t going to throw us to the wolves. What are you going to do with Barnes? Do I need to pick him up and put him somewhere until we can sort through the charges and round everyone up?”
“That’s a good idea,” I agreed. “This is a need-to-know operation—only people you trust. We have to assume Brown and Cartwright have eyes and ears everywhere.”
“Agreed.”
“Be safe. Call if you need me,” I told Quinn.
“Later.”
Quinn disconnected and before I could look up from the phone, Reid started
in.
“You’re fucked.”
“I know that, brother.”
He wasn’t telling me anything I didn’t already know. I was fucked. But I couldn’t muster up any regret. I’d do it again if it meant that Harper was safe, that she could live out the rest of her life being as normal as she wanted to be.
“I have to go,” I told Reid and stood up, gathering up my uneaten lunch.
“Where to?” Reid’s eyes narrowed.
He knew where I had to go.
I had bought all the shit that was on my plate. It was time for me to start paying for it.
“I have a meeting,” I answered.
“Yeah, you do. With the fucking devil.”
20
Nonna Maria
Harper
I loved my new car.
Loved.
Loved.
Loved it.
I got off work early today and decided before I went to the grocery store and went home I was going to drive around with the top down. It was a beautiful day, there was no sense in wasting it. I had nowhere in particular to go, just cruising the streets, the wind blowing in my hair, radio on, high on life.
I couldn’t remember a time I had ever been this happy. Mac was… perfect. The perfect combination of protective, in control, demanding and gentle, sweet, loving. He had no problem being demonstrative and showing me how much he loved me. He was always touching me, cuddling me, and holding me close. Why had I fought him for so long? Frankie Russo, that’s why. It was easy to forget now that Mac had shown me what it meant to live again. I hadn’t given my brother a second thought. Mac had me wrapped up in a bubble. I liked it there. I didn’t have to worry about much of anything. I was… happy.
That’s what I was thinking when I pulled up to a red light and stopped. The smell of garlic and tomatoes had me craving a good lasagna. One like my Nona used to make with layers of melty cheese and crumbled sausage and veal. I could eat a whole tray of Nona’s famous dish. I glanced around at the restaurants and shops, with the top down all the sights and smells of Little Italy were unobstructed. On the corner, there was a bistro ironically named Nonna Maria’s, that was my grandmother’s name. I giggled at the coincidence and when I turned back to the traffic in front of me, something caught my attention.
Mac was walking out of the restaurant. Even from a distance I could tell he looked pissed. His hands were on his hips, his face to the heavens. The door behind him opened and Mac turned to see who had followed him out. A good-looking man in a suit with dark hair and olive complexion stuck his hand out in Mac’s direction, handing him something. Mac took it and put it in his pocket.
The more I stared at the man with Mac it became clear who Mac was talking to. Nico Tuscani. Even if my brother wasn’t Frankie Russo Mob Boss, I still would’ve recognized Nico Tuscani. Pretty much everyone knew of Nico. He’d been in the news enough on charges of racketeering. Yet, he always got off, nothing ever stuck. Witnesses vanished or evidence went missing.
What the hell was Mac doing shaking a mob boss’s hand in front of a restaurant?
Mac nodded and started to walk down the street and just like that, the bubble burst.
When the light turned green, I slowly pulled forward, thankful for the afternoon traffic. I didn’t want Mac to see me. My mind was racing and all thoughts of normalcy flew out the window as I went back into self-preservation mode. Had Mac set me up? Had he known who I was all along? Had he made a deal with Nico to turn me over to Frankie?
I had to hurry and pack. I had to be gone before Mac got home. But there was one thing I had to do first. This time I was not going to sneak away like a coward.
Once the traffic broke I sped, trying to reach my destination. I pulled into Ava’s driveway and cut the engine. I hightailed it to the front door and impatiently waited for her to answer.
“Hey. I wasn’t expecting you.” She smiled and opened the door for me to enter.
No, I guess she wasn’t. I also wasn’t expecting the man I loved to have lied to me.
“Sorry to drop in but I needed to come over to say goodbye.”
“Goodbye?” Her brow scrunched up and she tilted her head. “Are you and Mac going somewhere?”
Of course, she would think that.
“No. Um, just me. I don’t have time to explain. But I didn’t want to leave like I did last time without telling you how much your support and friendship has meant to me. You’ve been the best friend I’ve ever had.”
And I meant that. I’d never been close to anyone, even before I had to run.
“What do you mean leave? What’s going on?”
“I’m sorry. I really don’t have time to talk right now. I have to go. I’ll try to contact you soon.”
I reached to give her a hug, but she stepped back. “Harper! What’s going on? You’re scaring me.”
“What’s scaring you, Ava baby?” Reid’s voice boomed from behind me.
How had I missed him coming in the house? Ava always complained how silent he was when he entered a room, but I’d never experienced it.
Ava looked over my shoulder, then back to me. I hoped she could read my expression. I was silently begging her not to say anything.
I knew I was fucked when her hands slid into mine and she squeezed. “I’m your friend. I’m not letting you leave here until you tell us what’s wrong. You are not doing this alone again.”
“I’m fine. Promise,” I lied.
“Bullshit. You came here to say goodbye.” Ava’s voice had become two octaves higher than normal. “We can help you if you’re in danger. But I swear to God, Harper, you’re not running again. Where’s Mac? Is he okay?”
I shouldn’t’ve come here. I’d forgotten how protective my friend was. She was fierce when she thought someone she loved was upset or hurt.
“Shit,” I whispered. I was screwed. Why was Reid here anyway? “Mac’s fine. I really need to get going. Besides, I don’t want to intrude on family time. I’ll call you later.”
I pulled my hands free and turned just in time to see Mac fill the open front door. He stopped just inside the house, did a full body scan from top to toe, and scowled. “What’s wrong, Harper? Are you hurt? Did something happen?”
I took a step back and bumped into Ava. Mac cut his eyes, looking from me to Reid and he tried again. “What happened?”
“I got here and Harper was saying she was scared but wanted to say goodbye to Ava,” Reid told Mac.
I glared at Reid, wishing I could shoot lasers out of my eyes. I was up shit’s creek. There was no way Mac was going to let me leave without an explanation.
“Don’t look at me like that, Harper.” Reid smirked.
Ass!
“You called him,” I accused.
“Damn right, I did. I’d shoot his ass if something was upsetting Ava and he didn’t tell me.”
“What’s going on?” Ava asked.
“Harper thinks she saw something and she is getting ready to overreact. I’m trying to stop that from happening,” Reid answered his wife.
“Overreact?” I practically yelled, thankful that Melly and JJ were at school.
“Yes, Harper. Why don’t you ask Mac what he was doing with Nico?”
Well, fuck me running. How did Reid know what I saw unless he was in on Mac’s plan?
Mac stepped into the house and shut the door behind him. I was trapped. There was no way I could get through both men and out the front door. I could try to go out the back and run but I wouldn’t get very far.
They wouldn’t hurt me in front of Ava or in Reid’s family home, right?
“Ask me,” Mac demanded.
I shook my head. I didn’t want to hear the words. My heart was already shattered. Hearing Mac tell me he was involved in the mob would only further devastate me.
I should’ve known better than to hope. Happiness was never in the stars for me.
21
we’re over
Mac
What. The. Fuck
?
Harper was standing across the living room, shaking like a leaf and looking at me as if the sight of my very existence disgusted her. Reid obviously knew more than he was saying. When he called me and told me to get to his house ASAP, I didn’t ask why when I heard the urgency in his tone. My gut twisted when I pulled up and saw Harper’s new car in his driveway. My first thought was she’d been hurt but when I walked in and saw her standing in the living room, I was somewhat relieved.
“What’s wrong, Harper? Are you hurt? Did something happen?” I asked.
She didn’t answer me; instead, she backed away from me, bumping into Ava.
“What happened?” I asked Reid.
“I got here and Harper was saying she was scared but wanted to say goodbye to Ava,” Reid told me.
Harper threw Reid a dirty look and tried to move around Ava. Instead of allowing Harper to retreat, Ava put a protective arm around Harper.
“Don’t look at me like that, Harper,” Reid said.
What the hell was going on? Why was Harper saying goodbye to Ava?
“You called him.” Harper scowled.
“Damn right, I did. I’d shoot his ass if something was upsetting Ava and he didn’t tell me.”
“What’s going on?” Ava asked.
“Harper thinks she saw something and she is getting ready to overreact. I’m trying to stop that from happening.” Reid crossed his arms over his chest and settled in.
“Overreact?” Harper yelled.
“Yes, Harper. Why don’t you ask Mac what he was doing with Nico?”
My whole world tilted.
Fuck. She saw me with Nico. I didn’t know how Reid knew, and I didn’t care at the moment.
“Ask me,” I demanded.
Harper didn’t answer, instead she pulled away from Ava and glanced around the room like a cornered wild animal.
“Do you really think that I would hurt you?” I asked in utter disbelief.
Now that I knew she wasn’t hurt or in danger, I was beginning to get pissed. How the hell could the woman I love think I would harm her? She still wasn’t talking but she continued to inch her way toward the kitchen, placing more distance between us.
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