Page 22 of Her Dark Mafia Protector
“Youdidhurt her. You had her mother killed right in front of her. That was a monstrous thing to do.”
“Monstrous or not, I did what I had to do,” he says.
“Tell mewhy.”
Detective Monroe has little left to lose at this point. He’s been caught. He knows I can blow his cover or shoot both his legs off if I so choose. I’m the one holding the cards here now, and he’s about to give up the game.
“I had my wife killed because she was going to leave me,” he fesses up.
“Color me surprised,” I sneer sarcastically. “Who would ever want to leave a catch such as yourself? Seems like you took a bittoomuch offense to that rejection, though. Most men’s egos aren’t bruised enough to have their wives murdered.”
“I didn’t just have her killed because she was leaving me,” he glares. “Elle’s mother hadallthe dirt on me. She knew about all the dealings I had with the mafia, all the books I cooked, and all the crimes I turned a blind eye to. I confided all of those secrets to my wife because I needed an outlet to vent to. It got stressful trying to play several sides at once and keep it all to myself.”
I’ve known a lot of weak men in my life, but this guy really takes the cake. Not only is he corrupt and crooked, and not only is he a morally vapid wife-murderer, but he’s also weak as fuck.
“She was going to go to the police,” he says as if that statement will drive the point home.
“Youarethe police,” I remind him.
“The information she was going to release to expose me would have not only ruined my career but also my entire life. All of my connections would have been out in the open. Every mafia boss I’d ever dealt with would have come after me for having told my wife about what I, andthey, were doing. The Chief of Police would have not only fired me but likely also pressed charges against me. My reputation would have been ruined, and I would have been either dead or bankrupt by the time our divorce was finalized,” he bemoans. “I tried to get her to stay quiet. I tried to silence her through threats and even promises and bribes. But that damn woman thought she was a saint or something, and she wouldn’t relent. She said that our daughter deserved better than to have a crooked cop as a role model, and that I needed to atone for what I’d done.”
“So, you had her killed,” I say with disgust. “And you had it done in front of your daughter.”
“That part wasn’t exactly as planned. I didn’t know that she was taking Elle to see the show with her that night. I thought she was going alone,” Hale says without an ounce of empathy or regret in his voice. “Once the two of them were in the alley together, it was too late to change the plan. And it worked—my wife was murdered, and my daughter was spared. The only thing thatdidn’twork out that night was the fact thatyouwere there to witness it all. Elle was just a child; she would have eventually forgotten about it.”
“I can assure you that she wouldneverforget about that,” I growl at him as my anger grows and my patience wanes. “And the man you sent to kill your wife would have killed Elle, too. Isavedher from that murder, becoming a double homicide. What kind of man puts his daughter in danger like that?”
“Adesperateone,” he answers. “My wife forced my hand, and I did what needed to be done in order to save myself.”
It takes everything I have not to shoot this bastard right here and now. But if I did that, Ellestillwouldn’t find the closure that she thinks she so desperately needs. She needs to know what really happened that night, and she needs to hear it straight from this bastard’s mouth.
I lean back in my chair, debating how I want to handle the rest of this little impromptu meeting. Part of me feels as though the burden that I’ve been carrying around for years has suddenly been lifted. The monster that night wasn’t me. It was the man that Elle callsfather. My closure with this situation has been attained, and now it’s time to give Elle hers.
“You’re going to tell your daughter the truth,” I say. “After everything that you’ve put Elle through, she deserves that much from you at least.”
“And if I politely decline?” he asks in a measly tone.
“There is nodeclininghere,” I say as I stand up and point my gun at his groin. “If you thought your wife had you in a bad position all those years ago, I can assure you thatIhave you in a much tighter vice now. Youwillconfess your sins to your daughter and tell her what you’ve done and why, so that Elle can finally find peace.”
CHAPTER 17
ELLE
Ipromised Nico that I would stay away from that nightclub.I lied.
There isn’t a chance in hell that I’mnotgoing to that nightclub to search out the mafia boss who might be tied to my mother’s murder. Besides, it’s not like Nico hasn’t lied to me before.
What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.
It feels a little wrong to leave his safe house and head straight toward the place he told me not to go, but not wrong enough to stop me from doing it. Last night, I let myself lie with the enemy,literally, and now Nico no longer feels like the enemy at all. Instead of the years’ worth of feeling like he and I were on a collision course with each other, it now feels like we are heading down parallel tracks. OnlyIwant to reach the answer at the end faster than he seems to.
So, after making a quick stop back at my apartment to change into something that looks more “club appropriate,” I sit in my car outside the exact location that Nico pinpointed until the sunsets and the club opens. I watch the line to get in start to form and join it.
“ID?” the bouncer says with his hand stretched out toward me.
If I give him my ID, he could link me to the cops or my dad, and I most definitely willnotbe allowed entry if that happens. So, I do what any attractive woman trying to get into a nightclub would do. I pretend to reach down the cleavage of my top, rooting my hand around as if I’m looking for something.
“Oh, damn it!” I exclaim with a fake pout. “I must have left it back at my apartment." I make puppy dog eyes up at the bouncer, who is covered in tattoos and scars more than he has skin to hold them all. “And Ireallywanted to let loose and have a few drinks and some fun tonight.”
