“Would you have shown me if it were?”
“Our family gave the blessing for him to leave, and they don’t go back on their word.” He sounded angry for me asking that question. Evidently, he wasn’t used to someone questioning his integrity.
“Why all of them?” My eyes were beginning to sting with the need to release the pain slamming my senses.
“His entire family knows too much about everyone in our organization. Giorgio has financial dealings with every person, the money they have, what they did to earn it, how they have invested it, where they have invested it; if he goes ballistic he could take us all down.
“And then there is the issue of his lovely wife, Celeste. She’s created new lives for so many of our people, documents and records, complete histories. She helps create identities for those that do complicated hits so things can’t be traced back to the family. If she loses her husband and son, she could wreak havoc.”
He pulled Gwen’s contract away from the others and tapped his finger on it for emphasis. “Gwen is truly the worst of them all. She is our inside connection to law enforcement. We have nearly free reign in Louisiana because of her knowledge about what is happening and where. She keeps heads turned the proper direction when we have a mess to clean up or records and evidence that needs to be, well, let’s just say adjusted. She almost blew that trying to cover for Micah’s escapade with you.
“The FBI is still curious and she’s had to become more legalistic since then so she doesn’t end up in the federal pen. She has a whole rank of officers that are loyal to her. She’s played them like fools, but should she decide to change her ways, we’d be all but shut down in that state.”
“Why are you showing me this?” My voice beginning to crack under the emotional strain.
“I’m going to give you the chance to change it. You see these contracts haven’t been assigned to anyone,
“Why do I have to leave him? Can’t I just convince him to return to the-the mob?”
He laughed and leaned back easily in his chair, as he seemed to size me up, “Do you really think you can convince him that you, of all people, want him back in a life of crime? A life where he is expected to go out and kill and then come back to a happy little home while you wait to ask him how his day went? Please, don’t even try to insult my intelligence with that ignorant question. And besides, there are plenty of people in our organization that would be too leery to have you that close to what we do.”
“He’ll never believe that I’ve changed my mind,” I stated honestly.
“Oh, I don’t know about that, I mean you must be a pretty good actress to have stopped him from killing you. And, I know Micah well enough to understand he doesn’t feel like he deserves you in the first place.”
He was right about that. Micah plainly stated he didn’t feel he deserved this shot at happiness. The pain inside was crushing me. I didn’t want to let go. I stubbornly wanted forever with the man I loved, but what was the cost going to be? “And if I refuse to leave him?”
“You can do that; selfishness means you can keep him to yourself and the mob won’t touch him. But I wonder when his entire family is dead in a few days, and he discovers you had the chance to stop all this, how will he feel about you at that point? Has he told you about his life before you met him?”
“I-I didn’t want to know too much about-”
“The first person he ever killed was a woman,” he hissed, cutting me off. “A woman he’d slept with.”
Fear cut into me like a knife and I didn’t want to hear more, “I don’t want to-”
“Whether or not you want to hear this, you are going to understand something about him; when he snaps, and he will snap when this happens, you won’t be able to control him no more than the first woman who tried to control him. Have you felt him on the edge of losing control, Annalisa?” He leaned toward me and the eyes narrowed, “He has a particular problem with women.”
I wanted to call him a liar. I wanted to tell him how incredibly good Micah truly was inside. Yes, I’d felt his control erode, but that was in moments of passion. He’d always been able to reign in his actions. I believed my husband when he told me he could never hurt me, no matter what D’Angelo said about him.
“I personally know women who’ve slept with him and they are all afraid of him.”
“Shut up, you son-of-a-bitch! Micah isn’t-” I tried to stand when I uttered my angry words, but the back of his hand slapped hard against my mouth, knocking me down into the chair.
He snatched the papers from the table and shoved them in my face, “Tell me right now! Do I make these effective or are you going to be reasonable?!
It was suddenly very clear;
My face was stinging, but I refused to cower in pain, “What if I tell Micah what you’re planning?” I grabbed my cell phone and flipped it open.
He looked at me and laughed, “Go ahead. I’ve got enough snipers in this building that he won’t get far. His name doesn’t have to be on these papers for him to lose his life, Annalisa. How about if I call him? Huh? Would that make you happy? I’ll bet he’d be here in minutes and I would kill you both. But this I promise you, you’ll watch him die first.”
My heart shuttered to a stop and then took off as if I’d just run a marathon. I couldn’t allow his family to suffer this fate, even if it meant letting go of the one thing I wanted more than life itself. D’Angelo was right, unarmed, Micah would charge up here to try to save me and I would be responsible for his death. My own life after that would mean nothing to me.
“I’ll let you live long enough,” he continued, “to know the rest of his family is dead-then I’ll kill you, personally.” He reseated himself and straightened his jacket, “It’s a shame really. I’ve known Giorgio and Celeste before they were even married. I was at the Christening of each of his children and I’ve helped train them to be what they are. I would hate to see so much waste. Tell me right now; can you leave him and make it convincing or am I wasting my breath on you?”
“I can do it,” I said, my voice quivering, but completely confident, “but I want one thing in exchange for preventing what would have to be a huge loss for your sick, demented family.” I rose from the chair and put my purse under my arm.
He leaned forward in is chair, his elbows on the arm rests, his lips were pressed against his index fingers as he clasped his hands, “Do you really think you are in any position to ask something of me?”
“Yes, actually I do-if you want this to work.”
“Name it.”
“David doesn’t die,” I uttered.
“That might be difficult, I-”
“Not for you. I know in this ‘family’ a lot of weight is put on a man’s word, I want your word that David won’t be harmed. I think you can find a way to convince the others that he should live.”
He took in a deep breath, still studying me. He’d been intently studying me ever since my eyes opened, “Agreed.” And then he smiled, “I hope you are a convincing actress, for Micah’s sake. But, if you try to get back with him or if you ever tell him what’s been discussed here today, his family won’t last 24 hours, is that understood?”
“I’ll do what I promised and you’ll make sure no one in the Gavarreen family is harmed. Do I have your word?”
“Yes,” he stated, seemingly relieved we reached an accord. He put out his hand to me. I knew he wanted to seal this deal, but the idea of touching him repulsed me. When my hand slipped into his, it was as if I had just shaken the hand of Satan. My world was over and now I had to destroy my perfect new life that was only days old.
Chapter Seven
