Chapter 4: The Confession
1115 Words
Marco POV
I can barely breathe. My heart is so mercilessly beating I believe it could jump out of my chest. I stand at the door of the office of Dominic and attempt to articulate the words, which continuously choke me. Everything is falling apart. All we have planned disintegrates.
Domic looks at me as though I have spoken some foreign language. The face of Isabella turns even whiter than before. She stands on her chair and whiskey glass drops on the floor. It breaks into pieces and the sound scares everybody.
What do you mean they know everything? Dominic asks. The voice is low and frozen. The type of ice that freezes the people where they stand.
I run my hand through my hair. I cannot look at Isabella. I cannot look at my brother. I am not able to see anything, I am about to ruin both their lives with what I am going to say.
I have been stealing money out of your competitor Vincent, I say. The words just fall out like I can not hold them back. I have been feeding them two years of information about the operations of the FBI. I have been taking bribes. I have been corrupt."
It is as though somebody had given Isabella a good punch in the stomach. She extends her hand to stabilize herself using a chair. I do not see Dominic change his face, but his hands are fisted.
"Why would you do this?" Dominic asks. His voice is too perilously low. Softly than ever I ever heard it.
I finally looked at him. My big brother. The man that brought me up after my father passed away. The man who spared me to his criminal world to get a real life. The man I have just betrayed.
I say because I wanted power, and it is like poison in my mouth. "You had everything. Money. Respect. Fear. I had nothing. So I went to college as you wished. I created a real estate business of your choice. But nobody was scared of me. No one held me in high esteem as they hold you. So I found a way to matter."
Dominic turns away from me. He strolls to the window and glimpses the FBI agents coming out of their vehicles. His shoulders are tight. His jaw is set so firmly together, I can feel the movement of his muscle beneath the skin.
You have sent them here, Dominic says. It is not a question. It is a statement of fact.
"No," I say quickly. "No, I did not mean to. I was to see them to-morrow. By that time, Isabella was expected to be off. After signing the divorce, you were to be arrested. After you moved your money. But something went wrong. Last night they called me, and told me that they were coming this evening. They told me that internal affairs was enquiring into me. They claimed to be aware of the money.
Isabella's head snaps up. She gazes at me with hate in her eyes to the extent that I step back. I have never witnessed her look at anyone this way.
"You used me," she says. Her voice shakes with anger. "You were my handler. You were expected to defend me. And you were covering up your crimes with me.
I did guard you, I say, but I can hear myself how feeble it is. I did all this to protect you. I overturned the transfer requests that you were making to remain on the case. I ensured that no one would become suspicious of whatever I was up to.
Dominic turns back around. The look in his eyes is empty. Completely empty. As though some one has taken his soul inside and pulled out all the humans.
"Get out," he says to me.
Listen, Dominic, listen-- I begin, but he interrupts me.
Get out of there now or I will have Vincent take you out myself, he says. His tone is so cold that I can feel ice in my veins. This is the Dominic Rossi whom people are scared of. The Dominic Rossi whom I have heard of. The Dominic Rossi that my big brother interred in his heart to become the man he desired to be.
I am about to walk away, but Isabella catches me by the arm. She turns me about and faces me. Her eyes are flaming with fire and rage.
"How long?" she demands. Since when have you known I fell in love with him? Already, how long have you known that I was compromised?
My silence is answer enough. Isabella's face crumbles. As though I burnt her, she let go of my arm and walked away.
In the very beginning, she whispers. You did know the first thing I said to you was that I really felt the way I did. You were aware, and you made me believe that I was mad. You made me believe that I was the only one who violated regulations.
I have no words. I cannot say a word to rectify this. I ruined everything. I ruined Isabella. I ruined Dominic. I ruined my own life. Now the FBI is waiting to arrest me of all I have done.
The door of the front down crashes open. I hear shoes running all over the mansion. Agents shouting. Guns being drawn. It is over. Everything is over.
Dominic looks at Isabella. She looks back at him. Something is transmitted between them at this point. Some kind of understanding. Some kind of decision.
Then Dominic does that which makes me more shocked than anything that has happened to me this evening. He extends his hand and grabs the hand of Isabella. He pulls her close. And he puts something in her ear that I can not hear.
Whatever that he says alters the expression of Isabella. The anger fades. The hurt fades. Something else replaces it. Hope appears to be something.
"What are you doing?" I ask.
But before either of them can answer, the office door flies open again. This time it is not Marco's FBI team. It is Agent Sarah Martinez from Internal Affairs. She is holding a badge and a stack of files. Behind her are three other agents in dark suits.
"Dominic Rossi, you are under arrest," Agent Martinez says. But she is not looking at Dominic. She is looking at me. "Marco Rossi, you are also under arrest for corruption and obstruction of justice."
And then she does something unexpected. She looks directly at Isabella and smiles.
"You did good, Agent Chen," she says. "You did real good."
- Writer
