chapter 4.47
August
The phone rang in the early morning, around 5 am. I noticed Alex's name and clicked as fast as I could, hoping it wouldn't wake up Jake. "Hello?" I whispered, moving away from the bed.
"Auggie?" she said, giggling. "Are you there?"
Auggie? She never called me that. I heard a bunch of shouting and music in the background. "Yeah, I'm here. What's going on, Alex?"
"We did it, Auggie! We won!"
My stomach leaped as a smile swished over my face. "The championship? My God, Alex, that's awesome! Congratulations!"
I heard more shouts and laughter then, "Auggie! I wish you were here with me. I miss you so much."
At that moment, my heart squeezed. I should have been there to watch her game. But I just couldn't get away from work. "I know. Me, too."
She hollered and whooped with some of her teammates and wasn't making much sense. She was probably on her third glass of champagne. God, I wanted to be there. But then Jake suddenly jerked into my mind. Oh, shit, he'd probably heard all of this. "Hey, Alex, you sound busy. Call me later, okay?"
"Okay! I miss you so much, baby!" She made silly kissing noises which told me she was definitely beyond three celebratory drinks already. The whole team was probably swimming in champagne.
"Yeah..." I swallowed, not being able to say it back for fear Jake would hear me, but she didn't seem to notice and clicked off.
Tail tucked between my legs, I caught a glimpse of Jake's hurt face. I dropped onto him, trying to make him feel better. "I'm sorry about that."
"Alex's team won the EU championship?"
"Yeah."
"That's great news." But he said it without much enthusiasm behind it.
"Are you mad?" I asked, knowing he was. Jake understood my relationship with Alex and told me he didn't care, but deep down, I realized he just put it out of his mind. And I was always careful not to mention Alex or contact her in front of him. It was as if I had two separate relationships that really didn't know about one another. I should have figured something like this would eventually happen.
All he did was shake his head. "No, I'm not mad."
But I didn't believe him. "Why do you sound pissed?"
"I'm not mad, okay, August? So just drop it."
Snuggling into him, I nuzzled his neck. "Do you forgive me?"
He sighed, blowing air over my cheek. "August..."
"Come on," I cooed.
He chuckled as I kissed him tenderly and tried to make it up to him for the rest of the morning.
*****
Monday morning, I reported to Agent McKeen and she gave me the information on the Bambino brothers. They were wanted for racketeering in illegal gambling and loan sharking, logging many murders for those who couldn't pay. Ultimately, they were swiftly becoming the most influencial mob family on the west coast with absolutely no informants testifying against them. We had to go inside. I was a perfect candidate. To be a part of the Bambino gang, they required at least one parent with Italian pedigree and no drug charges for members to weed out anyone who would be vulnerable to becoming one of our informants, trying to escape harsh narcotic prison sentences.
I had no clue that I actually had Italian blood, but the FBI knew. Through their extensive research of the Fortners years ago, they'd undcovered Sasha Fortner bragging online that she was cousins with my grandfather, Jackson Day. It seemed, my great grandfather, Knight, was part of a famous Italian mafioso family, the Corleonesi's, and although the bloodline was thin, just being a direct descendent of this great family would catapult me as someone they'd trust.
But how to infiltrate? That was my biggest problem. The team that was assembled to help me was going to meet up after this briefing. I'd already made a cover for myself within the city as an executive officer in my mother's corporation. We don't disclose personal information about undercover operators to the public, so my FBI affiliation was safe.
"Zane, the youngest brother, actually is the mob boss. Get to him and you'll break down the whole family."
"Who's that couple on the other monitor?" I asked. The surveillance picture was fuzzy and I couldn't quite make out their faces.
Agent McKeen pecked out a few commands and said, "She's Kristina Bambino, their younger sister."
"And the guy?"
She typed out a few more searches then shook her head. "I don't know. We haven't done much intelligence on him. He's seen a lot with her, but our focus has been on the brothers. They seem to keep her out of their operations."
Something about him seemed familiar but the picture was dark and blurred. "Could you zoom in on that shot for me?"
Tapping out a few commands, up popped the picture. It still didn't show much.
"Do you have another picture that's not so blurry?" I asked.
She shrugged and scrolled through what she had. "How about this?"
A different, clearer picture appeared. "Zoom in on his face for me, please," I said.
When his image flashed on the big screen, my mouth dropped.
"Wilder Roberts," I whispered. "What the hell are you doing with the Bambinos?"
Next chapter on Wednesday, March 2nd!
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