Page 14 of Escape You

“We’re not sure. According to the FBI’s informant, Rossi is looking to bring all of Jersey into the fold. They’re starting with Rogue River.” He met my gaze and let me connect the dots.

Mia was the Rogue River new boss. Rossi was going after her first. “How does he plan to make Mia agree to it. I met her briefly, but I can tell you she won’t give up easily. She’ll fight to the death.”

“That’s exactly why we needed you there. We were afraid the crews would go to war to claim her territory. Seems Rossi had the same idea. With his resources, he could do so much more damage. We’ll play along with the FBI, but our top priority is to keep the peace in Jersey.”

I didn’t want Mia to go to jail, but I also didn’t want her to die. If she went head to head with Rossi to defend her crew, she would not come out on top. “What about the arms deal she had cooking?”

“Our source says that’s still in play. But we need her as boss. Otherwise, Rossi will come in and wreak havoc.”

I shouldn’t care what happened to Mia. She lied to me about who she was. She was a criminal, and she needed to be stopped. Not to mention that while serving time, she would be safe from Rossi. “She’s selling millions of dollars’ worth of guns to the Mexican cartel. We can’t turn a blind eye. She deserves to go to prison.”

“Agreed. We’ll worry about that later. For now, our focus is getting you inside.”

I didn’t have a choice in this. For Mia’s and Rebecca’s sake, I had to take the job and bring down Rossi. “When do we start?”

“Right now.”

Mavell started with a high-level overview of the plan. In the three days since Chase had died, they’d moved his mom to a safe house. They’d offered her protection, but in truth, they wanted her out of the way so she wouldn’t be tempted to tell Rossi the truth in exchange for money. Before she left, the FBI had her call Rossi and set up a lunch meeting with his grandson.

The official story was that Chase had always wanted to meet his family, but his dad never allowed it. After his dad passed away, he thought meeting his grandfather was a betrayal of sorts. But now he was ready to move on and join Rossi. Despite his distrustful nature, the old man ate up the story and agreed to meet Chase immediately.

“Be yourself. Special Agent in Charge Clifton believes Rossi will take to you. You have full autonomy to run the case as you see fit.” Mavell rubbed the back of his neck. “Apparently, your bedside manner from the last time Clifton saw you is what he’s banking on today.”

I might have lost my temper with Clifton the day I asked him to open a case to investigate Rossi and his connection to the Venezuelan cartel. Did he deny my request because he was already working this angle? No, he couldn’t have known Chase would overdose just a few days later. The tables had turned. He needed me as much as I needed them.

“What is Clifton hoping to find out? Last month, I told him Rossi was involved in a human trafficking ring, but he didn’t seem to care. What does he want really?”

“For now, he wants you to be his eyes and ears. He thinks Rossi’s plan to take over Jersey is the onset of something bigger. We can’t allow him to gain more power.”

“What’s bigger than human trafficking?”

“You have to trust me, Tyler. We won’t let it come to that.”

Neither Mavell nor Clifton saw what I saw in Maracaibo. The people there were desperate for a better life, which made them vulnerable to people like Smith and now his son Marcel. I promised Rebecca I wouldn’t let them win. We didn’t have time to sit back and watch.

“There’s one more thing I thought you should be aware of.” He handed me an unmarked envelope. “Take the rest of the day to go over the files. We’ll do formal debrief and planning with the team tomorrow.” He shook my hand. “Good luck, Special Agent Cole.”

I nodded as he shut the door behind him. When I opened the envelope and unfolded the note on an official ATF letterhead, all blood rushed to my feet. My cold fingers gripped the page as I read. With blurred vision, I glared at the last line in the second paragraph: Mia Torelli is pregnant.

Was Mia carrying my child? We were together last month. We used condoms, lots of them, but maybe one of them didn’t work. Jesus fuck. Was the baby mine? Was she planning to tell me? More importantly, was she planning to continue with the pregnancy, or…? I had to see her, talk to her.Mia.

My skin burned hot, and suddenly the room smelled of her perfume. After I found out who she really was, I told myself I’d never see her again, no matter how many times she visited my dreams, how much my body ached to touch her and be with her.

The day we met, she made me promise I wouldn’t look for her. But now, we had a connection that could never be broken, and I couldn’t make good on that vow. My chest tightened, and I crumpled Mavell’s letter in my hand. Flitting images of a baby with Mia’s green eyes flooded my mind. Mia and I were not over.

I wanted her, and I wanted our child.

5

If We Pull This Off

Mia

“Come on.” Vic shuffled his feet and rammed his boxing pads on my shoulders. “One minute left. Take a deep breath in through your nose.”

The fatigue that came with training had settled in about twenty minutes ago, but Vic wasn’t ready to let me go. I squeezed my eyes shut to make the red spots go away before I continued with the three-punch combo: jab, cross, lead hook. My strikes pelted on his pads like bullets.

He offered a small smile. “See? You have plenty of juice left.”

---