Page 30 of Maid For The Mafia Informant

I feel the blood draining from my face as I pass Ben the phone.Chapter SixteenBenI’m expecting Partridge, maybe even Sophie’s dad judging by how pale she gets so quickly.

But once she hands me the phone, I know it’s not her dad at least.

The familiar, dry rasping voice of Franco De Falco is enough to make me feel ill though.

Her phone creaks in my hand as I listen, my eyes narrowing as I turn, scanning the way we just came, ready for whoever’s followed us.

But it’s only his voice on the phone that’s got me.

For now, so he tells me.

“I want a truce, Slade. You made your point. You’ve got big balls and I like that, now stop being such a pain in the ass and drop this whole business, I’ll pay you and call off that price on your head… but for Christ’s sake, Ben, tell those feds to back off. It’s bad for business!” he wheezes, taking a moment to get his own breath back as I try to master my own, clenching down on my hard jaw until I see spots.

I step away from Sophie, so she doesn’t have to hear any of this, but at the same time, I feel like holding onto her like never before.

The thought, the very idea of De Falco or anyone like him anywhere near her makes my blood boil.

He finally breaks the silence, reading my mind.

“You gotta girl now too, eh? Nice,” he says, telling me in so many words what I know he means.

That he can hurt me most by hurting what I love, the usual mob bullshit. Trouble is, it’s so effective because it works.

“I can’t stop any federal indictments,” I tell him factually. “You’re a big boy Franco, handled tougher times than this,” I say, deadpan, not wanting to give away a hint of any emotion.

Especially where Sophie’s concerned, I don’t even mention her deliberately.

“I mean those cases you’re working on… now,” he says patiently. “Your little DA slut told us a whole of things, not just where you were staying. That you were still alive even. Pity we missed you last night. I so badly wanted to catch up. Still do,” he says ominously, losing that patience in his voice.

“I don’t know how you got to her, but a crooked DA is no concern of mine, De Falco. She’ll have her own trial coming up, along with yours. I promise-”

He cuts me off, pure venom in his voice now. “I don’t know how you thought you could get this far and not pay you little cunt!” he spits, knowing he’s this mad gives me a mild satisfaction and I feel my lip curl.

But he’s right.

Nobody embarrasses De Falco for long, not without reprisal.

“I never told them to frame you for my disappearance,” I comfort him. “That was a police-media thing. As you know, I’ve been living in a damned cave for what, a week now? Two? Don’t even have a cell still…” I tell him truthfully.

“If I can find your girlfriend’s phone number, I can find her… and then I’m coming for you,” he says coldly before hanging up.

Deal’s off, I guess.

Not that I wanted to play his game. I’ve represented De Falco and his family for years, and dozens more just like ‘em. They kill each other when things don’t go to plan, why should they give me a break?

They just want me to slip up, to give away a detail so they can zero in.

Like the sounds of the waves at the beach…

Fuck!

It’s not much to go on, and I tried to keep the call short, but the feds aren’t the only organization with their own intelligence.

If I’d hazard to call it that, on either side.

“He knows we’re here, doesn’t he?” Sophie asks, shivering as I hold her again.

“No, no he doesn’t,” I tell her firmly, wishing I could believe that a hundred percent myself.

“He couldn’t,” I reason quietly.

“What do they want?” she asks but makes a sound that sums up just how hopeless it is to even bother trying to reason with these types of people.

“Just everything their own way, as usual,” I remind her. “But we are safe here, Sophie, please believe me,” I tell her, holding her elbows as I look into her eye.

“Enrico’s not just some two-bit car guy… he’s… he has his Mexican friends. People that the likes of even De Falco wouldn’t want to cross.”

“Great,” she groans, making me wish I’d never gotten her into this mess. But if I didn’t, I wouldn’t have her, so a fair price for both I say, and I tell her so.

She hugs me, tight.

“Let’s get inside,” she says, and I agree. The passkey clicks the front door open and in seconds we’ve both almost forgotten the phone call.

Enrico’s little Villa is more like a palace. A stronghold built right into the side of the whole cliff face.

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