Page 5 of Tainted Princess
CHAPTER TWO
Francesca
Four hours.
I had been sitting in this goddamn interrogation room for four hours. The temperature had gone from sweltering to freezing and back again twice. I was almost certain they were doing it on purpose. The cup of coffee someone had placed on the table in front of me had long gone cold, but I refused to touch it. There was no way I was going to give my fingerprints or DNA to the feds; I was smarter than that.
So instead, I sat in a ridiculously uncomfortable metal chair, tired and hungry and mad as hell. I could feel eyes on me through the two-way mirror on my left, but I was determined not to look at it. I could imagine Rico there, staring at me, willing me to look at him, to show him how weak and needy I was.
Well, fuck him.
I crossed and recrossed my legs, trying to ignore the fact that I had to pee like crazy, and continued to wait for someone to come talk to me.
They could ask all the questions they wanted, but I wasn’t going to give them a thing. I was sure they thought they had a weak link here in this room. A woman so afraid of going to jail that she would spill her guts at the first opportunity.
Well, they could think whatever they wanted to about me, I knew for certain that it was going to be wrong.
Finally, just as I was about to give up and pee in the coffee cup, the door opened and in walked the female agent who had arrested me. She had a folder in her hands and a smile on her face, both of which I wanted to slap.
She sauntered over, her ugly square-toed shoes making a dull clunking noise on the floor, and noisily dragged out one of the chairs opposite me at the table. Dropping the folder, she leaned back and studied me the same way I was currently studying her.
She was tall; much taller than my own five feet three inches, and maybe ten years older than me. Slim but fit, with her blonde hair now out of its bun and hanging in a thin ponytail down her back, she had small brown eyes and absolutely no make-up on. The woman had no idea how to use her tweezers either, if her out of control eyebrows were any indication. She had the look of a ball buster, and in any other situation I could respect her for trying so hard to make it in a profession typically dominated by men.
But right now, she was fucking up my life, so I couldn’t really give a shit about how hard her job was.
She stared at me a few moments more, likely waiting for me to start bitching about my situation, before she sat forward and placed her hands on the table, fingers laced in front of her.
“Miss De Marco, I am Agent Caroline Anderson, and I work in the organized crime division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”
She said it as if I should be impressed with her, but I seriously wasn’t.
“Your family is in a lot of trouble, Miss De Marco.” I narrowed my eyes but said nothing. “Under the RICO act, several members of your organization are looking at hard time, your father included.” Agent Anderson waited again for a reaction from me, and I continued to give her nothing. The knowing smile that spread across her face was seriously pissing me off.
She opened her mouth to speak again, but before she could say anything, the door opened and in walked Enrico. My heart sped up at the sight of him, his light hair and strong frame so familiar to me. I ground my teeth together and strained to keep my expression neutral.
“Thank you for joining us, Agent Morrison,” Caroline said, her voice dripping with smugness. “Miss De Marco, you remember Agent Eric Morrison, don’t you?”
This fucking bitch.
I watched as Enrico—Eric—sat down on Caroline’s left, his face looking tired and his eyes sad. He stared at me, and there was a hollow thud in my chest where my heart used to be. I wanted to reach across the table and claw his eyes out, and at the same time, I wanted him to haul me onto his lap and tell me it was all going to be alright.
“Frankie,” he started, but my glare drew him up short. Beside him, Caroline cut her eyes his way, and I wondered at the anger in her expression. “Miss De Marco,” Eric continued, clearing his throat and dropping his eyes down to the pages in front of him, shuffling them in his hands nervously.
I stared at his hands, the hands that used to touch me like no one else ever had. The hands that held me, caressed me, made me feel alive in ways I hadn’t known were possible.
Lies. All of it.
I hated him. I hated him more than a woman had ever hated a man.
And, God help me, I still loved him, too.
But I showed him none of it, as my face remained completely impassive.
“Miss De Marco,” Agent Anderson continued when it appeared that Eric was not going to say anything else. “Several members of your organization are being indicted on some serious charges, but we are prepared to reduce or drop some of those with your cooperation. Tell us what you know about the actions of your grandfather, Carlo De Marco, and we will make this easier on your whole family, your father included.”
I let out a soft snort. She wanted me to rat? This woman clearly knew nothing about me or the Family. There was no offense more serious than talking to the police, and there was absolutely no way she was going to get me to talk about anything, especially the Don of the whole Family.
The woman was delirious.
