Chapter 2 - The Agent in the Lobby
I stared at the photograph in my trembling hands.
Dante watched my reaction carefully, his dark eyes missing nothing.
He asked me how I knew a federal agent specializing in organized crime.
I lied and told him I had never seen the man before in my life.
Dante stepped closer, invading my personal space until I could smell his expensive cologne and gun oil.
He whispered that lying to him was a very quick way to end up on a plastic sheet in the warehouse.
I swallowed hard and admitted that Agent Miller had investigated my family years ago.
I did not mention my brother, Leo, or the expensive psychiatric facility in Evanston.
Dante told me to go downstairs and handle the meeting exactly as a naive secretary would.
He instructed me to find out what the FBI really wanted with his shipping company.
I walked out of the office, my knees shaking with every step toward the elevator.
When I reached the lobby, Agent Miller was sitting on a leather sofa, wearing a cheap suit and a smug smile.
He stood up and greeted me by my full legal name, Emily Sarah Carter.
I handed him the signed tax forms and told him everything was in order.
Miller laughed and tossed the folder onto the reception desk.
He leaned in close and whispered that he did not care about Dante Marino's taxes.
He told me he knew exactly how much money I was paying the Evanston clinic every month.
He threatened to freeze the clinic's bank accounts by tomorrow morning if I refused to cooperate.
I asked him what he wanted from me.
Miller told me he wanted the master ledger containing all of Dante's offshore accounts.
He patted my shoulder and told me I had forty-eight hours to deliver the ledger.
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I turned around to go back to the elevators, completely terrified.
Dante Marino was standing right behind me, holding a suppressed pistol against Miller's spine.
