Page 52 of Take A Chance

The woman turned to answer me while the gentleman continued looking around the place. “It means supervisory special agent.” She was too serious for her own good, though I understood a situation like this was very serious indeed. I hugged my arms over my chest, and Blake slumped onto the barstool I had vacated only minutes before. Her eyes turned to him then back to me.

“Ms. Clarke, or should I call you Amelia?” She waited, and I said nothing. “We know you procured an alternate identity illegally. Now we’re not here to cause a stir about that. Given the circumstances, we are willing to overlook the—”

“Overlook?” Blake fumed, standing up. His hands were fisted at his sides, his eyes narrow and on fire.

“Blake, please.” I placed a hand on his chest, taming the lion. He took a deep breath, but his jaw was clenched. He sat back down, and I turned around as she continued.

“Identity theft is a crime in all fifty states, and because you crossed state lines, that makes it a federal issue.” She snapped her fingers, and the man was at her side instantly like a well-trained dog. He stared at me, beady eyes I knew so well. I just couldn’t place them. “As I said, we are willing to overlook that tiny issue, given that the real Emma Clarke was gone, and you’ve done no real harm.”

“What’s the catch?” Blake grumbled. His hands gripped my hips possessively, as if he would snatch me up should they want to arrest me.

“Well, Mr. Emmerson, we’d like Amelia Bonetti to testify at her father’s hearing. SSA Grim spent the past three years undercover in the Caruso crime network. He has gathered a lot of intel for us, but we need solid eyewitness testimony to certain crimes that he could not get admissible evidence on.”

Grim? I studied him, picturing him with more hair, darker, maybe. Suddenly, the lightbulb went off. “Ervine?” I asked, squinting at him. I knew where I’d seen him. He was one of my father’s men, though he was never really that high up.

“Yes, Amelia. Remember I drove you around a few times?” His serious expression sobered me. He’d been willing to go undercover to get dirt to bury my father. That took guts.

“Oh, God,” I mumbled, sitting back against Blake’s body. His hands braced me, my backside landing on his knee. “But you...”

“Yes, well they thought I was dead, but it was the only way out. Now we need your help,” Grim said, sighing. “I know how difficult the decision must have been for you to leave. How scared you must have been. And to leave your family, with no one out there for you.”

He didn’t need to play to my sympathy. I’d do anything to see my father behind bars. He was an evil man, full of poison and deceit. Not only had his men put a bullet in my fiancé’s head, splattering blood and brain matter all over me while I watched, but he’d treated me like a common criminal, stealing me off the street and trying to force me to commit murder.

“I’ll do it.” I stood, but Blake pulled me back.

“No,” he snapped, “she won't.” He stood, forcing me up, and pushed me around behind his back. “You didn’t even try to find her when I reported her kidnapping. I had to do that myself.”

“Mr. Emmerson, let me remind you that we have a file on you as well. I’d like to leave that one buried, but if we need to open it up and have a looksie...” SSA Morgan tipped her chin up and looked down her nose at Blake, whose chest puffed up instantly. I walked around him, frustrated by his behavior.

“Of course I’ll help. I want my father taken down as badly as you.” I looked up at him, and he seemed enraged by my choice, even hurt.

“Alright, then we will call in the US Marshals and get—”

“No,” Blake snapped again, cutting her off. “I have enough power and resources to keep her safe. You are not taking her from me, and I will not allow you to pretend you can protect her from Bonetti. People in Witness Protection go missing or get killed all the time.”

“Mr. Emmerson, let me assure you—” SSA Grim started, but Blake took two steps toward him, and the man shut up.

“I said, I have my own protection. Do you want to open that file you have on me to find out exactly how much?” He was menacing, leaning over the stout man comically like a cartoon character whose eyes are bugged out. SSA Grim shook his head, and Blake backed off, but a chill went down my spine. I couldn’t help but wonder what he was talking about. What file? What history did he have with these people?

“Good, well, we will need Ms. Clarke to come to the station where we’ve set up our headquarters. I’m assuming you’ve seen the news reports and headlines. We’ve been on the hunt for weeks. The seventeenth precinct in Midtown is where you can give your official statement. We can do that today or you can come in at your convenience. Now that we have your confirmation, we can move to make arrests.” Morgan nodded and looked a bit less tense.

“You’re arresting him?” I asked, now feeling the weight of what I was doing sink in. My child would never know its grandparents because I was about to do the unthinkable—betray my family. Only, the doubt stirring in my gut could never be spoken aloud, at least not until after I’d told Blake I was pregnant. I didn’t dare do it now. He’d send me away—say it was too dangerous.

“Yes, we already have a warrant.” Morgan sighed. “We’ll get out of your hair now. You can just call this number and let us know when you’ll be in.” She slid a card out of her pocket and handed it to Blake, but he only stared at it. I took it from her hand and nodded, putting it in the pocket of my hoodie.

“Thank you. We’ll call you soon.”

I showed them out, locking the door after them, and when I returned to Blake’s side, he hadn’t moved a muscle. His shoulders were tight, jaw clenched. His eyes stared off into the distance as if he were watching a memory play out before him on the wall. I wrapped my arms around his chest and breathed him in. I was terrified, both of what he was going through and of what I was about to do, but I needed him. Without his strength, I wouldn’t have the courage to do this. He said I was his. Now I needed him to prove it.

“Blake, what did they mean about a file on you?” My voice was timid, small and meek.

"You don't want to ask me that." Blake's hands moved to my hips again, forcefully guiding me backward as he had done before the agents showed up. "Don't ever ask me that."

"But I—" His lips stifled my next question. I'd told him everything, but he'd told me so little. Now I questioned who he really was. His tongue forced its way into my mouth, parting my lips. The way he manhandled me, directing me toward the bedroom, I couldn't refuse. He needed this more than me, and I wanted him to just relax already.

"You're mine, Emma. You don't decide what to do without me. You got that? I can't protect you if you don't listen to me." His dick was hard again, pressing against my stomach as he gripped my waistband and pushed the sweat pants down. His hands were rough, greedy and demanding.

"I do listen," I said, trying to pull away. "I heard you. I don't want to know anything else."

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