Page 26 of Maid For The Mafia Informant

High tech on an older car never works, and it’s child’s play to disable the tracking unit, which Ben does in seconds before he raises a brow.

I can tell he wants to drive.

“If you know where we’re going, be my guest,” I tell him, tossing him the keys which he grabs with a grin that falters.

“You do know where we’re going, right?” I ask him again.

“Anywhere but here, for now. Before those cops wake up and your dad gets home.” Is all he says and as much as I dislike it, I have to agree with him.Chapter FourteenBenI overheard enough from Partridge to know that DA Fellini maybe isn’t quite as blond as she’s been making out. She’s up to her neck in the mob families and ratted me out after either seeing me herself or getting it from that poor bastard guard she was jumping.

But why was she under federal protection?

I have a lot of catching up to do. The media and internet blackout from my time in the safe house hasn’t done me any good.

And now, I have the biggest reason of all to keep safe, to lay low.

Sophie.

If it were just me, if I knew there was someone I could actually trust, I’d probably go back to Partridge. Work with him and his department to speed up a case that would by now have to include the very person we’d need to get approval from, Daniella Fellini.

How ironic.

But I don’t have just me to worry about now. And I certainly don’t feel like bringing new friends into the fold who I think I can trust.

Sophie’s dad, Matt. I could let him in on it, but no.

There’s gonna be a big enough fight once he finds out I’ve claimed his only daughter.

No.

It’s just me and Sophie against the world.

That’s what it feels like anyway.

I have plenty of cash, so we can hole up in hotels and keep moving. But it might be wise to lose this very conspicuous car, and soon.

All of this rushes through my mind in the first moments of leaving her dad’s house, but it seems the further away we get the more relaxed Sophie is again.

This makes me breathe easier too.

She breaks the silence, calmly asking me why I’ve turned on the mafia. Why would their golden boy attorney, the one who got them out of everything from parking tickets to back taxes suddenly turn on them?

It’s a fair question, and one I can answer easily.

“Money,” I tell her point blank because it’s true. “They owed me millions and put a price on my head once I asked for it, so I decided to play go fuck yourself with a dozen psycho criminal families instead.”

I laugh out loud. A little too loudly, but hearing myself say it like that for the first time is nothing but funny to me.

Not so much for Sophie though.

Watching the road, I take her hand in mine. “Sorry baby. I know it sounds weird, but all this happened before I met you… before us,” I tell her and feeling her hand squeeze mine, I know she understands.

“And which matters most now?” she asks me, not letting go of my hand, giving me the chance to squeeze my own answer right back.

“This,” I murmur. “You, and me. Us. That’s all that matters.”

I feel her chest pressing against me as she leans over to peck my cheek, I only wish it was that simple though.

“But, you still have to do what you have to do, don’t you?’ she asks, and not naively either, she’s drawing it all out of me in tiny, bite-size pieces. Enough so neither of us cracks under the very real and dangerous pressure I know I’ve brought on both of us.

I feel my head bobbing in reply.

“I can’t fight them without the law though,” I tell her and remind myself.

My plan was… is to catch them legally and thoroughly. I can’t go and shoot them all, so I have to have enough evidence that can’t be thrown out of court, so each and every one of them will have to pay for their crimes. Once and for all.

“I dunno,” Sophie muses. “I think you handled yourself pretty well back there. What did you do to those cops anyway?” she asks, not even flinching at the thought of a little necessary violence.

“I learned a thing or two being attorney for the other team, put it that way,” is all I can tell her.

I don’t like violence, never have. But the thought if anything happening to her. The very idea that she’s in danger, puts me on edge.

I grip the wheel tighter, shifting the rearview mirror so I can see her instead of the road behind us for a moment.

Telling myself she’s what matters most now, but I still know what needs to be done.

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