I blink, stupefied. “Does that mean I’m on the approved list?”
“Yes, ma’am. You’re able to go in.”
I can feel Keith’s troubled gaze touching my face but before I can talk myself out of it, I take a step forward only to have Keith stop me. I turn back to him, meeting his eyes with a forced smile. “I can do it.”
He nods slowly on a heavy swallow. This is hard for him. My caveman doesn’t like this one bit. I stand on my toes and give him a chaste kiss, hoping that helps him.
It doesn’t do much, but he does let me go.
And as I enter the jail, go through the metal detector and let them search my purse, my breath is stuck somewhere between my heart and my head, unable to be expelled.
“You’ll have ten minutes. Visiting hours are almost over for the day.”
I can’t speak, so I just follow after the man leading me into a long row of booths separated with thick glass. They even have those phones you use in movies. For some reason that makes me want to laugh. It also relaxes me some as I sit in my instructed seat and wait for Giovanni Carvalo to come.
Not even two minutes later, the door opens and Giovanni, dressed in the orange jumpsuit I expected walks in and smiles the biggest goddamn smug smile I’ve ever seen on anyone. He picks up the phone, dark eyes piercing and assessing. “You came. I knew you would.”
For some reason, him expecting me aggravates me more than it should.
“Why did you want to see me? Why did you come out to California?”
I don’t ask why he killed my father. It’s honestly not really important, and I doubt he’ll tell me anything of worth considering our conversation is no doubt being recorded.
“I wanted to see you. Did you truly believe I would let you continue to pay such a small sum indefinitely with all that you owed? I only allowed it because I admired your fire. You were not afraid to speak to me the way so many others are. But I was also ready to collect what was originally owed to me. I was tired of waiting. I won’t be in here long,” he says confidently. “Soon enough you will pay me the full price of the contract.” His dark eyes take in as much of me as they can.
Such a sick, twisted man. I could look at him and tell him all the different things I’m thinking. Things like I would rather have died then become one of his harem. Things like it wasn’t my debt and I didn’t owe him shit. Things like he agreed to the term of our arrangement.
But instead, I look at the man in prison orange, stuck behind glass, walls, and bars, and lean forward as close as I can go without touching the nasty glass. “By killing my father, you nullified the terms of the contract.” His eyes go wide as I expected they would. “You told me if I didn’t pay then you’d kill him. That it was the money, my body—which I had refused to give you—or my father’s life. Well, you killed him, which means the contract is now paid in full. I don’t care if you ever get out of here. But if you do and try to come after me, I will unleash the full wrath of that fire you liked so much. And let me tell you, I’ll make sure you burn.”
With that, I set the phone back in its place. I get up and I walk out, not even bothering to look back to see if he’s watching me or trying to yell for me.
The moment I reach the outside and the gate closes, I blow out the breath I didn’t realize I was holding. Keith wraps his arms around me, folding me into his side as we head back to the car. Time to go meet with the FBI.
“How was it?”
“Fun. Seriously, I had a fantastic time. If I was ever considering committing a major crime before, I’ve since changed my mind.”
“Good to know. Bailing you out would be bad for my image.”
I smack his chest and he kisses my cheek. “Nearly done. Nearly done.”
The police station in the town I grew up in is small and old. Like everything else here. Bleach and two-day-old coffee permeate the air. The combination making my already nervous stomach roll and twist in protest. There are two agents with the FBI waiting on me, and thankfully they don’t waste any time with pleasantries as they guide us into a room.
“Ms. Angelo, I’m Agent Nobel and this is Agent Thomas.” He points to the guy beside him. “We’re grateful you were able to make the trip in.”
“I’ll be honest with you, I’m surprised you’re here,” I tell them.
Agent Nobel sits up a little straighter. “I can’t go into all the specifics, but we’ve had an agent inside Carvalo’s organization for about eight months now. We were building quite the case against him. We knew of your situation. We knew about the deal he made with your father. And when he went to California to look for you himself, we thought you might be a weakness for him. That’s when we dug deeper into your father. Carvalo’s activity with him had been increasing, especially since Carvalo seemed adamant in finding you and had yet to be successful since you moved from your apartment and left your previous jobs. Our undercover agent approached your father a week before his death, and your father readily agreed to help us in exchange for immunity. Your father had been involved in selling drugs as well as acting as a physical presence for Carvalo.”
I stare at the agents, floored by this. “My father was selling drugs?” They both nod, eyes trained on me. “And by physical presence you mean…”
“A button. An enforcer. Someone who was sent in when a customer wasn’t paying up or acting the way Carvalo wanted them to.”
I think I’m going to be sick.
“Did he kill people?”
“Not that we’re aware of.”
Keith takes my hand under the table, holding it tightly. It grounds me when I feel anything but.
“And the debt my father accrued in my name?”
“Was only the tip of your father’s connection with him. Your father was working for him to maintain his rather large addiction to pills. Oxycodone, in particular. We believe Carvalo discovered your father was up charging his customers for pills because he was skimming such a large quantity off the top for his own personal use. Carvalo shot your father during what your neighbors describe as a heated argument, and then he proceeded to set fire to the trailer to cover any evidence. He’s being held without bail and given the strength of our case, he won’t be on the streets again.”
“He disagrees with that. He told me he would be out soon.”
“He doesn’t know we’re involved yet. He still believes these are local and state charges only because at this time they are. We are set to drop federal charges tomorrow.”
“How do you know it was him who did all this?”
“Your neighbors called it in while the fight was still going on. More calls came in after the sound of gunfire. There is video of Carvalo fleeing the scene and then the inside of the trailer on fire seconds after.”
I sag back in my chair, my mind reeling as I try to think all this through. “So what do you need from me?”
“We’d like you to explain the exact nature of your dealings with Giovanni Carvalo. We’d like any physical evidence you have, things like voice messages, texts, letters, etc. And if necessary, testify against him.”
I spend the next two hours detailing everything I know for the FBI. Giving them everything I have, which really isn’t much. I think I have one or two texts from him with mild threats about payment. Most of our interactions were in person, so therefore it’s simply going based on my word.