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“The cuffs won’t be necessary if you agree to come quietly, Ms. Graham,” Roberts says holding up his hand. “Back off, Jim. Leave her be. I think she knows we mean business.”
Begrudgingly, Hall backs down and I have to wonder if this had all been rehearsed ahead of time as a scare tactic. I must say, it’s working.
“Look, Ms. Graham,” Roberts says, “We all know you’re lying, but I suspect that you’re afraid of what will happen to you if you rat out your mobster boyfriend.” He gives me a sympathetic smile. “We don’t want you, and I’d honestly hate to ruin your career. You give us what we want, and we’ll make this all go away. Alright?”
I look away from him, but nod.
“You’re an aspiring doctor, you know you don’t have a future with that low-life, scumbag. You had your fun with the pretty bad boy, but now it’s time to hand him over and we’ll see that no harm comes to you. We handled plenty of cases like this, we know what we’re doing.”
“H-how will telling you how I got there help you get Sebastian if he had nothing to do with it?”
Their eyes brighten as they sense victory. Roberts scoots forward in his chair making it squeak against the floor. “We need to find out what happened to Sergei. I’m positive that he knows. We need you to get him to talk about it.”
I frown at them. “What? Then report back to you?”
“No, we want you to wear a wire.”
“Are you insane?” I exclaim. “You know what he’d do if he found it? He is my lover, I think he’d find it.”
“We’ve got that covered, Ms. Graham,” Roberts says practically salivating now. “You’ll arrange to meet him in a public setting, you know, a restaurant or here to meet you for lunch. You get him to talk about it and then you simply remove it before you return home with him.”
I stare incredulously at them. “Oh, yeah, over dinner I casually ask, hey babe, how’s your steak, by the way, do you know anything about Uncle Sergei disappearing because for some inexplicable reason, shortly after meeting with the DEA, I’m extremely curious.” I shake my head. “Trust me, he’d sense the trap and there’ll be nothing you can do to protect me.”
Roberts gives me a clever smirk. “Not if we do this our way. I want you to meet agent Mitchell. She’s very experienced with this sort of thing and she’ll explain exactly how this is going to go down. Cooperate or plan to spend the night in a jail cell. The choice is yours, Ms. Graham.”
Chapter 26 – Two Birds with One Stone
Forourfour-monthanniversary,I wanted to do something really special for Madison to make up for all the turmoil of the last few weeks. Especially after she came home completely freaked out about the latest DEA visit. I told her that she’d handled the whole thing marvelously. Yes, the photos of us leaving Last Call were problematic, but nothing truly incriminating.
So tonight, I want to give her a glimpse of how good life can be for us now that she knows the full extent of the role I need her to play in my world. I want to dazzle her and remind her of why she fell in love with me. She needs to know that despite everything, we’re worth it.
I contacted Lisa and arranged to have her switch shifts with Madison on the day of our anniversary. That morning, we’d had breakfast together and really hadn’t mentioned a word about it being the anniversary of our first date. Not surprising as we really haven’t been making a huge deal out of it with so much going on in our lives. While I was at work that morning, I called her and asked her to check in the guest bedroom to see if Nick had left his running shoes there from when he’d stayed with us in December.
As expected, Madison called me back within a few minutes to rave over the beautiful gown elegantly draped across the bed, along with the matching pair of heels, but the piece de la resistance was the diamond broach necklace she found in the jewelry box placed there. I told her to be dressed and ready by 6pm because I had a big night out planned for us in Manhattan.
She was so excited and animated that I switched on our security camera just so I could see her bouncing around with joy as she held the dress up to her and spun around. A little later she called to say she had to run out to pick up a few items for tonight and that she’d be gone for a couple of hours. I thought nothing of it until she left the house carrying the dress in a garment bag. I hoped it was simply that she wanted to find a matching shawl and not that I’d bought the wrong size or something like that. I started to call her and ask, but I was afraid she’d be offput by the idea that I’d been watching her at home.
I switched off the camera and decided to let the matter go.
When I arrived home at 5:50pm, Madison was still upstairs getting ready.
“It’s not 6pm yet,” she calls down a little anxiously, “I’ll be ready, just wait down there, alright?”
I freeze on the second step. It’s not like Madison to be so caught up in her appearance. She’s not one to primp in the mirror for an hour before going out. It’s one of the things that I love about her.
“Okaaay,” I say as I turn around. “Let me know if you need any help zipping up or anything.”
“I’m fine,” she calls out. “I’ll be down in five minutes.”
The limo doesn’t actually pick us up until 6:15pm, but I don’t tell Mads this. Her punctuality is getting much better, but for tonight, I’ll allow a little cushion.
But the jokes on me because at 5:58pm, Madison is an exquisite vision standing at the top of the stairs. The form fitting burgundy evening gown, hugs her in all the right places. The slit up her thigh shows off her long-toned legs, the thin spaghetti straps showcase the delicate slope of her shoulders. Her hair is neatly pinned up in an elegant Audrey Hepburn-ish kind of do accentuating her graceful, swanlike neck.
Mads is absolutely breathtaking as she descends the stairs. It’s so hard to believe that she can be the quintessential epitome of feminine beauty yet turn around and slice open a human chest and hold the heart in her hands without blinking an eye. Indeed, my dear bride-to-be is as lethal as she is stunning.
“Hello gorgeous,” I say as I take her into my arms and gracefully dip her.
“Bash,” she laughs as I pull her upright. “I take it, you like?” she spins around slowly for my viewing pleasure.
