“Mr. King, you ordered an Uber?” Eli grins.
At this point, I am too shocked to hide it. I’m pretty sure my mouth is hanging open and my eyes are wide as fuck. Eli tips his head back and laughs.
“Someone tell me what the fuck is going on here. Is this a joke to you?”
“Not at all, but your face is priceless.” Eli chuckles.
“Eli has been working for us for a long time,” Agent Millerson explains. I see red, red hot rage. He fucking betrayed me. This whole time...
“What? You’re a mole for the feds?” I growl at him, fisting my hands, and feel the need to rip his head off.
“Not quite. At least not in the way you’re thinking right now. I am on your side, Enzo, always have been.” He walks over to the table and takes the seat Millerson just vacated across from me, and Millerson stands off to the side. It takes a lot of control not to wrap my hands around his throat.
“Explain,” I order, my patience running thin.
“We know you’ve done some bad shit, we have the knowledge, and the proof… lots of proof. We could easily put you away for the rest of your life. Thing is, there are people who commit far worse crimes than what you’re known for. Those are the people we’re really after.”
“I don’t have any info for you.” I shake my head. I won’t talk, even if it’s about other families.
“You don’t have to talk. You don’t have to do anything, really. Just keep doing what you’re doing,” Eli tells me like it’s the obvious answer.
“So, you want me to walk out of here and just keep doing what I’ve been doing?” Do these assholes think I’m an idiot?
“For now, yeah. Let me ask you a question. Do you know why Luccio really wanted you out of the picture?” I stare at Eli, not answering his stupid question. When I don’t say anything, he continues.
“Human trafficking, specifically underage girls, as young as eight… eight years old.” He emphasizes the last few words. My stomach churns, bile rises in my throat, and rage burns through my veins. Children, fucking children?
“He wanted you out of the way because he knew you wouldn’t allow it. Let me ask you another question. If we put you in jail for the rest of your life, what would happen with your territory? What is happening to Luccio’s territory now that he is dead?”
“Someone else will take over,” the answer falls from my lips without thought. It’s the first question I’ve actually answered since I got here. Eli grins smugly, probably realizing the same thing.
“There is no way to eradicate crime… the FBI and every other agency has tried that and failed miserably,” Millerson says, and an image of my mother flashes before my eyes. “We’ve come to accept it’s better to keep certain people in the game and take others out. Damage control rather than trying to snuff criminals out.”
I nod, understanding what he’s saying. I know what they’re talking about. Luccio’s family always had their fingers into some fucked up shit, but this… this is news to me.
“So what were the last five days for? We couldn’t have done this shit the first day you took me in?”
“It was a test. We needed to be one hundred percent sure we can trust you. That you are loyal and wouldn’t throw Eli or even Amara under the bus for your freedom.” I shoot Millerson a glare at his use of her name.
“Yeah, we know she killed Mack,” he explains. “But again, we don’t care about that. Hell, we should give her a medal for ridding the earth of that scum.”
My mind is buzzing with all this information, and I can’t help but run every interaction I’ve had with Eli over the last few years through my head. I can’t wrap my mind around him working with the feds yet, but my anger about that somehow dissipates fairly quickly.
Maybe it’s the idea of being able to go back home to Amara, or the fact that he kept her safe more than once.
“So, what now?”
“We’ll have to keep you with us for a few more days, but you don’t have to stay in a cell. No more interrogations,” Eli explains. “I’m going to take you to a safe house, and we’ll spend some time there, filling you in on everything you don’t know. We’ll go over details on how we’ll proceed. We are taking extreme measures to secure this operation and make sure it will remain off the radar, for our and your safety.”
“Amara?”
“She is with Jared and James. She is fine, but you can’t contact her, yet. We need to make sure everything is set before you can return.” Eli gives me a sad smile, knowing exactly how hard it is for me not to talk to her.