Chapter 9 - The Wire
My blood ran cold.
Tell them yes.
How did Nico know about the burner phone?
How did he know what Miller was asking me?
And why, in god’s name, was he telling me to agree to wear a wire against him?
I looked up at Agent Miller, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird.
His expression was expectant, slightly impatient.
“Well?” Miller prompted. “We don't have all day, Evelyn. Nico’s high-priced sharks are already pacing the lobby.”
I swallowed hard, forcing my voice past the lump in my throat.
“Okay,” I whispered. “I’ll do it.”
Miller’s grim face broke into a shark-like smile.
“Smart girl. I knew you had more sense than your father.”
The next hour was a blur of hurried instructions, signatures on heavily redacted documents, and the humiliating process of being fitted with a tiny, sophisticated listening device.
They taped it beneath my breast, the wire running down my side, perfectly concealed beneath my silk blouse.
“Remember,” Miller said, his tone dead serious as he adjusted my collar. “Don't push him too hard. Just get him talking. Business operations, names, dates. Anything we can corroborate.”
“And if he finds out?” I asked, the reality of what I was doing finally settling in.
“He won't,” Miller assured me, though his eyes lacked conviction. “Just act natural.”
Act natural.
Right.
Act natural while spying on a mafia boss who somehow already knew I was spying on him.
When they finally released me into the lobby, Nico was waiting, flanked by two men in impeccably tailored suits—his lawyers, no doubt.
He looked completely unruffled, his dark suit perfectly pressed, his expression calm.
He didn't look like a man who had just been interrogated by the FBI.
He looked like a man who owned the building.
“Ready to go, darling?” he asked, his voice smooth and entirely devoid of the tension I was feeling.
“Yes,” I managed to say, my voice tight.
We walked out to a waiting SUV.
The ride back to the Hamptons was agonizingly silent.
I sat stiffly, acutely aware of the wire taped to my skin, every bump in the road feeling like a betrayal.
I waited for Nico to confront me, to demand to know what deal I had made, to rip the wire from my chest and throw me out of the moving car.
But he didn't.
He just stared out the window, occasionally checking his phone.
When we finally arrived back at the estate, he dismissed the guards and walked me inside.
“My office,” he said quietly, not looking at me.
I followed him, my stomach tying itself into knots.
His office was a study in dark wood and leather, smelling of expensive scotch and old books.
He closed the heavy oak doors behind us, turning the lock with a loud, definitive click.
He walked over to his desk, poured two glasses of scotch, and handed one to me.
“Drink,” he commanded softly.
I took a sip, the liquid burning down my throat, grounding me slightly.
Nico leaned against his desk, swirling the amber liquid in his glass, studying me with those cold, calculating gray eyes.
“So,” he began, his voice perfectly modulated. “What did Agent Miller offer you?”
I froze.
The wire was recording every word.
If I told him the truth, the FBI would hear it.
If I lied, Nico would know.
I took a deep breath, deciding to follow his cryptic text message to the letter.
“He offered me witness protection,” I said, my voice remarkably steady. “In exchange for wearing a wire and getting you to confess to your family’s illegal operations.”
Nico didn't flinch.
He didn't even blink.
He just took a slow sip of his scotch.
“And did you accept?”
“Yes.”
Silence stretched between us, thick and suffocating.
I waited for the explosion, for the anger, for the violence.
Instead, Nico smiled.
It wasn't a kind smile.
It was the smile of a predator who had just watched his prey walk willingly into a trap.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, metallic object.
A frequency jammer.
May you like
He clicked a button, and a low, almost imperceptible hum filled the room.
“Good,” Nico said softly, setting the jammer on the desk. “Because Miller doesn't work for the FBI, Evelyn. He works for my Uncle Carmine.”
