Mafia and His Dangerous Angel

Chapter 7: Nico

I stared at Grace. Her hand had a cast on, and her eyes had black circles under them. She was either agonizing over this or hasn’t slept in a few days. The waitress had brought over water and what looked like pie for her, but she hasn’t touched either.

“You want to know more about Devon?” I asked, not understanding, “I thought he was your best friend, which would mean you know him best.”

She nodded, “I thought so, too. Until I found this.” She slid her phone across the table, and I stared down at the screenshots. To think that Devon would be in this game as well.

I gestured for Luca to come over, “Message Bella and have her run it through the system.” Luca nodded, typing the number in his phone.

“Bella?” Grace asked, looking skeptical.

I smiled, “She’s my sister, and she plays a vital role in my organization. She has access to… systems of sorts that allow us to track people, addresses, phone numbers, license plates, and so much more.”

She shifted uneasily in the booth, her eyes wandering over to the old man at the front of the store before meeting my eyes, “This shouldn’t be happening. I don’t understand why Devon would do this. Who is that?” She gestured to her phone, “He’s clearly talking about me, and now the only friend I have in this town has betrayed me.”

“Did he see you leave?” I asked. She shook her head, which led me to my next question, “How did you find the phone?”

She hesitated, her eyes not meeting mine, “Something happened after you left, which resulted in me going over to his apartment and apologizing for my behavior.” She rubbed the back of her neck, “His girlfriend was there, and he decided to take her home so we could talk more about… our situation.”

“Your situation?” I asked, confused. She glanced away, “Grace, if you want my help, I need to know everything so I know how to help you moving forward.”

“You have to promise me that you won’t repeat what I said and that you won’t… act on what I’m going to say.”

I raised an eyebrow at her, “I promise you that I won’t act on what you tell me. I can’t promise that I won’t repeat it, though, because I may need to if I’m trusting bodyguards to protect you properly.”

She nodded slowly, “Fine…” She wet her lips, tapping her fingers on the table. She was filled with anxiety and very antsy. She was ready to spring at any moment. I just hope she doesn’t leave anything out, “The man before you, Marshall, used to be a loan shark. I guess my foster father owned his money. Not just 20k or 50k but a huge portion that was noticeable.” She shrugged her shoulders, “He gambled a lot, but he couldn’t pay for his debt, so he gave me to Marshall as a way to clear his debt.” She swallowed hard, “When I found out I was a ‘gift’, I joined the military as soon as possible. I shipped out before he could come to collect, but that didn’t stop him from taking his anger out on my family.”

I nodded, “I know.”

“You know!?!?” she yelled, her eyes wide with anger and her nails digging into the table.

“Marshall is an old friend of my father’s. Marshall gave me this territory as a gift for my birthday once my father said I was ready.” I gestured to her, seething with rage, “He told me about you and what he did as payment.”

“Payment?” she hissed, “He killed innocent children? How can you just be okay with that?”

I stared at her in disbelief, “He killed your foster parents and spared the children. They went back into the system. Who the f**k told you that?”

She blinked a few times, “I got a letter in the mail from the State saying that my family was killed and there was no one left. I had just assumed they meant the whole family. It didn’t say names or specific who was killed.”

I shook my head, “I promise you, Grace. Marshall may be a killer, but he would never kill children.”

She pinched the bridge of her nose, closing her eyes, “That’s beside the point. He still killed them, and I know that he’s still after me. I just need to know if Devon is in on his or not because if that’s not Marshall he’s talking to, then it’s someone else who’s after me, and I’m on everyone’s f*****g hit list, it seems.”

I clicked my tongue in annoyance, “Once Bella gets back to me about the phone number, I can give you some information, but for all we know, it could be from a disposable phone.”

“So, what am I supposed to do?” She looked frantic and scared. There was something else there, too, almost like she was on the verge of breaking.

“Finish telling me what happened after I left,” I said, gesturing for her to continue.

“I got upset with Devon for being involved with you, said some nasty things, and stormed out. I ended up having a panic attack in the elevator and was trying to get to the safety of my car when…” She trailed off. She looked sick to her stomach. “The man who identified himself as Mr. Cleaver from the party appeared.” She let out a shaky breath. “He essentially felt me up, and I froze.”

“Excuse me?” I said in disbelief, “Felt you up? You froze?”

Grace looked away, fear in her eyes, “I’m… having trouble lately after my last tour. It’s part of the reason why I was discharged.”

I didn’t like where this was going, “Tell me. I don’t care about the laws or the VA. I need to know.”

“God, this is just a mess!” She whispered, staring out the window, “During my last tour, our unit was dispatched for a 3-man rescue. We had found the first two perfectly fine, a little beat up, but nothing too bad. The one person was being held in a ‘community room.’“ She used air quotes, her eyes darkening as she said it, “Someone had to go down for recon and retrieval. I got voted to go.” She met my eyes, “Do you know why they call it a ‘community room?’”

I frowned, thinking about it, “I imagine they share torturing the individual with each other.”

“Yup,” She said, “They called it that because everyone takes turns… doing their own specialty of torture to them.” My heart in my chest nearly stopped. I wasn’t opposed to beating the s**t out of someone, but I have two rules. Rule number one: don’t beat your woman. Rule number two, DON'T beat your woman! She continued, “The third person we were supposed to rescue was already dead, and they were… using her still.” My stomach flipped, and the dinner I had earlier threatened to come up.

I held up my hand to stop her, “So, you have some trauma or PTSD from seeing what they did, and it’s put you in a bad place?” I tried to connect the dots, thinking I was in the ballpark.

“No…” she whispered, “I got caught, and my team left me there for three months.”

Everything came to a standstill. She was… tortured while serving her country, and her teammates did nothing to prevent it? Rage burned through me, and it took everything out of me not to flip the table and demand their names. I noticed my knuckles turning white, and I tried to relax. It must be hard for her to be able to tell me these things.

“What happened after?” I asked, not even wanting to hear what happened during those three months.

She sighed, “They ended up bombing the compound where they were holding me, and a new team came for me.” She stared at her hands on the table, “My old team refused the rescue mission for me, and when I came back, I was given an honorary discharge for risking my life for my team to make it back with the two rescues.”

I stared at her in shock, “You’ve got to be kidding me!”

She met my eyes. Fear, guilt, and hatred were surfacing, “I didn’t pass the psychological or physical tests to be able to go back out. I… froze each time. My therapist thinks it has something to do with the fact my team was supposed to stand beside me and support me, but they, in turn, betrayed me.” She shrugged, “My brain and body shut down together, preventing me from actually facing combat or conflict.”

I stared at her. She didn’t want to continue to talk about this. I could see the pain underneath, and it was causing some sort of conflict right now. I cleared my throat, “So, when the guy approached you in the parking garage, you froze and couldn’t do anything?”

She nodded, “I wanted to knee him in the balls and take my keys back, but it was like my body was… scared. Even if my mind was telling me to do something, my body was paralyzed, and I couldn’t move.” She let out a big sigh, “I ended up fracturing my hand once I was in the car, and then I hurried over to Devon’s after the hospital and spilled my guts like I am now.” She gestured with her hands, “Although he didn’t get to hear about what happened when I was over there.” I was pleased I got the full story, and he didn’t, but I wasn’t happy about what had happened when she was over there.

“All of this leads up to you being alone in Devon’s apartment and finding the cell phone?” I asked, connecting some of the dots.

She nodded, “At first, I thought maybe his girlfriend had left her phone or he had left his phone, but when I checked, I couldn’t find any phones. I heard the ringing coming from the closet, and when I checked, it was from another phone. I thought it was a work phone, so I answered, thinking I could relay the info to him when he got back or I could call him if it was a work emergency, but nothing.” She shrugged, shaking her head, “The line went dead once I said ‘hello.’”

“And you found those texts on that same phone?” I asked.

She nodded, “It was the same number that was calling, too. I got… scared?” She shrugged, “I don’t want this. I just want to find a job and try to live a civilian life now that I’ve served my time.”

I nodded, “Thank you… for telling me. It pieces everything together a lot more now.”

“I didn’t tell you because I wanted to. I told you because it could mean life or death for me.” She said, meeting my eyes

She was beautiful, even now, with dread and a spark of hope in her melted chocolate eyes. I could see why Marshall wanted her, even after all this time, but he wasn’t going to get her. She’s mine. She doesn’t know it yet, but she will, and she’ll accept it because she won’t have any other options.