“Yes.” His brown eyes crinkled at the corners as he scanned me intently from the black folder he was holding. “This true?”
Shit.
“Well, that depends on what it says.” I knew what those black folders meant. Had they finally forced my hand? Finally sent the FBI something that meant this would be my last day?
My badge burned in my pocket as I crossed my arms.
“Sit.” He pointed to the cold metal chair.
I stalked over to it, trying to fit my giant frame into a tiny seat was hellishly uncomfortable. Maybe a few years ago, I would have been able to, but not since working out with Ash.
I’d thought Quantico was rough.
Ha, they should just send in Ash, Junior, King, Maksim, and Valerian. That would be tough.
They bled like they liked it.
They were grumpy when they weren’t injured.
And I rarely saw them smile without at least some blood on their person.
I’d been forced to fight. Forced to lift more weights than I’d ever seen in my entire life, forced to live their life in order to survive.
I didn’t feel sorry for myself.
I just felt bad for my sore ass as I moved on the chair and tried to get comfortable.
“You’ve changed,” Thompsons said with a sigh. “I’d believe it with my own eyes even if I hadn’t been sent this folder this morning.”
“I’m assuming this is where you ask me to turn in my badge, gun, and—”
He held up his hand. “I just need to know if it’s true.”
“You’ll have to be more specific.”
“Are you made?” He leaned forward, clasping his hands together so tightly, his skin turned a palish white.
Shit.
He didn’t know, then?
He’d seen the bruises on my face.
He’d seen the limps as I walked into the office.
He knew I was undercover.
Everyone assumed that I was working for one side but pretending to work for both.
They were wrong.
Because, somehow, the Five Families had become my family. Somehow, they’d healed me in a way the FBI never would and never could.
I was half De Lange, after all, wasn’t I? Half-blood of the most hated mafia line in the entire universe. Yay.
Maybe that’s why I chose the good guys, only to realize too late that both sides were good—both sides justified the spilling of blood.
But only one side was loyal to the death.
And it wasn’t the one with the badge.
“Yes,” I finally said. “I’ve been made.”
His sigh was long and drawn out. “What the hell do you want me to do with this information, Tank?”
“Burn it?” I offered.
The lines on his forehead deepened. “So that’s it, then? You go undercover too young, and now I lose you forever?”
“You have other informants. I’m easily replaceable.”
He flinched. “How do you know that?”
“Because you would never just lay all your cards out on the table. Quite honestly, I think you have someone else in the Family, I just don’t know who would be desperate enough to work with you the way I was.”
He pounded his fist onto his desk. “I saved you!”
“I know,” I said softly. “You saved a lot of us. You gave us purpose. You gave us a life. But now it’s time for me to make my own choices.”
“I knew you were too young when I sent you in undercover.”
I shrugged. “I was already so old in my own head, you know that. I was forced to live a rough life, and you gave me an out. I’ll never forget that.”
“And yet…” His smile was sad. “You choose the bad guys.”
“They aren’t bad,” I said defensively. “Just…misunderstood.”
“Justified killing is misunderstood?”
“You tell me,” I fired back.
He tossed the black file toward me. “One more job, and then I’ll be taking that badge, son.”
My eyebrows rose in surprise as I leaned forward and checked out the folder. It was me standing next to Kartini at Valerian’s wedding last year.
God, she’d been so pretty that day.
And then she’d just disappeared on everyone after the scene with Ash. Fucking Ash. Thank God he was himself again and not such an asshole, though he still had his moments.
Annie, his girlfriend, balanced him like a pound of Xanax.
“Kartini Abandonato.” I gulped. “What about her?”
“A few men in the field were killed that day. One of them was undercover for the Petrov Crime Family. I received his head in a cake box with a note signed: xoxo, K.”
I barked out a laugh. “Yeah, she would never do that.”
“The daughter of a mobster? You sure?”
“Positive.” But even as I said it, I knew something had shifted in her. But it had to be something other than chopping someone’s head off. “What do you want me to do? I’m already her new babysitter for the next two weeks. So, if it’s following her around, save the energy. It’s already done.”
He grinned. “Follow her. Befriend her. Get her to trust you. Seduce her.” I flinched. “And find out what really happened to my men.”