I smiled, “With my strong swimmers, no surprise. Oh yeah, it’s right.”
She wrinkled her nose at me, looking adorable, “You’re so full of yourself.”
I laughed, “Come here, wife, so you can be full of me.”
She walked over, blowing out a slow breath, “We’re gonna be parents, Tommy.”
“I know, baby girl. You’re gonna be an amazing mother. Come here.” I dropped to my knees and tossed the shoe behind me and lifted her sweater and kissed her bare belly. She put her hand in my hair and smiled, eyes shining with tears.
“I love you,” she said.
“Love you, too, baby girl.”
“Thanks for the puppy.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Thanks for the new wheels.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Thanks for the baby,” she giggled.
I smiled, “Thanks for loving me despite my flaws. There’s a lot of them.”
“You’re welcome. Now go buy me some vanilla ice cream. And some pastrami.”
I laughed, “You’re the boss.”
Zack
“Dario, I might know where Holly Mooney is but I need your and Tommy’s help. There’s a very good chance she’s in a Mexican brothel. It’s run by the cartel your brother worked with to take down Juan Carlos Castillo.”
“Fuck, seriously?”
“Yeah, man. One of the partners of Kruna is part-owner in this one, too. It’s very likely that’s where they took her after they blackmailed your wife. Listen, we’ve gotta talk, too. I’m in the lobby of your hotel. I know it was your wedding night last night but can you come down?”
“Yeah man.”
When Dario Ferrano walked into my office three weeks earlier and sat with me I told him the truth. I’m an agent affiliated with a government task force, an organization working to take down places like Kruna. I admitted I made myself available to the Ferrano family due to Tom Sr.’s suspected ties with human slavery. I’d been undercover for 2 years, working for the Ferranos for 8 months and befriending them as well as working with them to figure out the inner workings of their father’s business as well as his leisure activities.
“I’m not out to put you or Tommy in prison, Dario. You’ve both been products of your upbringing and I can see, my superiors can see as well, that this is not who you are anymore. Being close to you both throughout the mess with your father has been very enlightening. We can get you both a deal where you’re immune to any prosecution if you both act as freelancers and help us out with bringing the Kruna resort down.”
Dario glared at me, shocked. And then he said,
“If you weren’t such a good friend and such a good guy you’d be a double crossing traitor who needed to be killed.”
Without missing a beat I replied, “If you weren’t such a good friend and such a good guy you’d be sitting in a jail cell awaiting indictment. Now, are you gonna help me recruit your brother? We are going to shut down Kruna. The intel you got me throughout all this, the names, all the shit I recorded, Jason Frost, it has been huge. We’re ready to take this to the next level. That next level starts at their partner summit.”
“If I say no?”
“If you say no you can’t help me bring down the organization that broke your girl. If you say no, maybe the organization I work for sees you and your brother as threats instead of friends who can help us. If you say yes I also go above and beyond to help you find your sister-in-law.”
Dario let out a big breath and told me he’d talk to his brother after the wedding. Then he punched me in the face and left the office.
We were cool now, though. I let him have that.
Lisa