Briella
“What the fuck is going on?”
“We’ve been watching the feed while you’ve been gone and nothing seemed weird to me. After you left the boat we kept those feeds going, hang on, let me three-way Cross in. He’s been watching the boat.” Sydney goes silent and a ringing echoes through my ear.
After a few rings Cross answers. “What a fucking shit show.”
“Preaching to the choir Cross, what do you know?” I sigh.
“Not much. After you left Nadia called Colm and asked him to…”
“To?”
“This is your Dad; do you really want to hear about his sexual exploits?”
“If its relevant to the case abso-fucking-lutley. Colm’s not my dad and Calvin isn’t my uncle. They haven’t been family since they left.”
“Well, I can leave the part where she said she wanted to be ridden like a prized bull and how she was feeling neglected by him…”
“Neglected? That woman is anything but neglected. She has a pussy you can yodel into for fucks sake!”
“Can I continue?” Cross asks seriously, and I remember I need intel and I’m here to do a job. Not make remarks about a woman, even if she’s fucking my dad with a loose flappy vagina. Fuck, not my dad. Just Colm.
“Go ahead.”
“Nadia mentioned how she got a call from the Mayor and how paranoid it made her feel. Marcus is working on getting their phone conversation to see what was said because all we have is one-side of the story. But as far as we can tell, she thinks he’s spying on her. We can’t assume until we get the other side of that conversation.”
“Thanks guys, I’ll be in touch.”
I hang up my phone and take a deep breath. Never in a million years did I think I’d run into my dad. I’ve never cared to search for him after everything I’ve heard from my mom. If he’s truly that horrible of a human being and was unwilling to step up for me and mom why the hell should I care what happens to him? I suppose it’s obvious why he left us so long ago. Steve Fairbanks… what a joke.
I open the door and see Colby and Calvin in a heated stare down. Rolling my eyes, I walk between them and push Colby back.
“What’s going on now?”
“My dear brother’s still banging his whore so avert your eyes.”
There’s a moment of tense silence until Colby breaks it. “I was asking Calvin why he wants to work with us. There’s obviously a catch.”
“No catch, that’s what I was trying to tell your thug.”
I laugh because really, Colby… a thug? “He’s not a thug Calvin, but he has a point. You clearly have a loyalty to that sorry excuse for a human being, otherwise why would you be here? We know you’re doing his dirty work. That first time we saw you on the camera’s… well I don’t want to talk about what was happening. You played Nadia which is going against the choir boy act you’re feeding us. This feels like a text book set up to me.”
Colby comes to stand behind me in solidarity. He always has my back, there’s no question.
“What you don’t know is that I’m here against my will.”
“What are you talking about?”
“My brother decided he wanted to use me as a pawn and what he wants, he gets. I tried getting out of the family business months ago and he hasn’t exactly been compliant. Family isn’t sacred to him as you know, so he threatened the life of my wife and kid if I didn’t come out here and help him. If you were thinking I’d actually want to cheat on my wife, I’d most certainly do it with someone that could actually get me off.”
I groan. Men can be pigs.
“Sorry, but I’m being serious. That woman is vile, and I had to think of anything but her. That’s the last I’ll bring up that train wreck of a night.” He looks down at the ground before looking up at me with unshed tears in his eyes. “He has Linda and Billy in lock down. I don’t know where they are or if they’re even alive at this point.”
“Who’s Billy?”
“My son. He’s in his last year, a senior. I need to get them back. I thought going into hiding was enough, but he found us.”
“Okay, let us check to make sure your story lines up. I’ll be right back.” Colby kisses my cheek then brings his lips to my ear. “Don’t hesitate to shoot him.” He whispers then leaves the hut.
“I haven’t stopped looking into you over the years Briella. Disappearing wasn’t a question but a necessity. My brother started making me do odd jobs for him and I got sucked too far into his life. I never wanted to be in the family business. Hell, that’s a lie. I loved every second of working for my dad. It’s after he died and my brother took over that everything went to shit. He’s not a good man as you can now see, and I knew this. But money’s a huge factor when you’re six months behind on your mortgage and struggling to put food on the table.”
“What’s he into? I’ve never heard the name Colm O’Leary before and I generally hear a lot on the streets.”
“He keeps that name squeaky clean. But perhaps you should have your friends look into…” He looks skeptical of what he’s about to say. If what he says is true and why he’s here I don’t blame him.
“Frankie McGregor.”
My blood runs cold. Fuck, this is worse than I thought.
“Are you telling me Frankie fucking McGregor, the head of the Irish mob… is my father.”
“One and the same.”
“What the hell did you just say?” Colby slams the door and walks over towards me.
“I think you should call the rest of the team in, this is way beyond you and I at this point. Fuck, the Mayor’s been right this whole time.” I pace the room trying to wrack my brain and make everything fall into place, but I have one too many questions.
“Why Nadia?”
“She was strategic. The Mayor has been on our payroll for years helping us hide everything and taking a small portion of our earnings. He’s a slime ball with no moral code even though he comes off as a family man. Apparently, he grew a conscience as of recently. Or the Feds were breathing down his neck. It wouldn’t surprise me if he was in cahoots with the FBI and trying to take him down. Frankie sent me out to make a deal with him about using the ports in Boston. He has a new business venture…” He looks disgusted and completely defeated. “Trafficking. He’s been forcing people into prostitution and earning far more money than any of our gun or drug deals bring in.”
“You still haven’t explained why you’re here. It sounds like we’re being played which I don’t like. Not one fucking bit.” Colby growls the last part.
“I need your help to take my brother down. I’d like to take the family business in a different direction and for that to happen, Frankie needs to be out of the picture.”
“If what you’re saying is true, why not let the Mayor and the FBI take him down?”
“That’s purely assumption and if the Mayor’s working with the Feds he risks his entire campaign going down the drain. It is election season after all.”
“You’ll get intel and report it back to us immediately. There’s a lot of places we don’t have eyes and ears on this island.” I say running it all through my head.
“I’ll do whatever it takes.”
I walk away pacing once again. The Mayor must have sent us here purposely to get dirt on Frankie. There’s no way he didn’t know Frankie McGregor was a key player or that it was just a “hunch” as he called it. If he’s been working with him he knows what he’s into, what he’s capable of.
I turn towards Colby. “We’re officially starting our own case and no longer on the Mayor’s payroll even though we’ll keep up appearances so he’ll be none the wiser. Why don’t you call back home and get that ball rolling?” I turn towards Calvin. “You need to leave, you’ve already been here long enough. You know how to get in touch with me if you find anything out.”
“You’ll be hearing from me.” With that he leaves our hut and disappears from view.
“Fuck Colby, this is huge. We could potentially take down someone the police have been after for years.”
“I know, but we need to be smart about this. This all comes with a lot of unknown danger. We still don’t know if our covers been blown. I’ll call everyone in and get them here as soon as possible. We need to work on getting other rentals because no way can we fit all of us plus all the additional equipment.”
“Agreed. I’ll talk to the people I booked this through. I’m sure they have more in a close vicinity.”
Colby places his hands on either side of my face and stares intently into my eyes. “Are you gonna be able to do this? When the time comes can you pull the trigger and turn your father over to the authorities?”
“There’s no question I’ll turn that piece of shit in, he means nothing to me.” I try to look down but his hands prevent that from happening.
“Look at me.” I look into his gorgeous eyes and get lost in the sincerity I see swirling there. “You have me… always. We do this together.”
I nod my head pushing any emotion that’s threatening to flood me other than the anger to take down my father. I’m not lying. When the time comes I’ll be the one to take my father down. I’ve never really thought about getting revenge on my piece of shit sperm donor, but the thought has me giddy inside.
“Okay, let’s do this Colby.” I look behind him and at the computer screen that I’ve been trying to avoid. “Look.”
Colby turns and we see Colm… Frankie doing up his belt with a passed-out Nadia in bed. He’s still smirking at the camera like he’s conquered Mount Everest.
He turns on his heel and walks towards the bedroom door but not before turning back to the camera and mouthing something. The sounds down, but I don’t need it to see what he’s trying to say.
I’m coming for you.