AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Barry pressed stop on his phone recording and put his cell phone in his pocket.
“Franco Hopkins is a gangster. He’s been running a crew for years, and he has unsavory men on his payroll who are linked to suspicious deaths, but no convictions.”
“Hit men.” My stomach sank.
Barry nodded in affirmation.
Shit.
I’d suspected the guy was dirty—but having hit men on your payroll took things to a whole new level.
“Until recently,” Barry continued, “Franco has been out of the country, building up another organization he planned to put his cousin in charge of. So, there hasn’t been a lot of chatter about Franco. Plus, the guy is good. Flying under the radar, never leaving enough evidence behind to get himself arrested.”
“So, he’s dangerous.”
“Very.”
I raked a hand through my hair so hard that a sharp pinch yanked a couple strands out as I stared at the unsuspecting cottage down the road.
“I’m sorry, sir. I hope your friend…”
Makes it? Survives?What was the end of that sentence?
Whatever it was, Barry cleared his throat and decided not to finish it.
“I’ll be in touch,” he said. And then he left me alone in the room to process this information.
What the hell was I going to do about this?
Anxiety churned in my gut as I began pacing, wanting to pull Barry back here, get him to help me more with Franco. But what, exactly, would I ask him to do?
Could someone locate and reach out to Franco? Offer him a payout to leave Luna alone? No. That would never work. Franco was convinced she had something of his, and without providing it to him, he wouldn’t be cooperative.
Could I get the word to Franco that Luna had no such evidence? Even if I could find Franco, he would never believe the lawyer who tried to put his cousin behind bars.
I paced faster.
There has to be a solution. This cannot become like it was when I was a kid, having a killer lurking in the shadows. How can I protect her?
Getting a restraining order would be a start, but I had prosecuted several murderers whose victims had an active restraining order in place. That piece of paper didn’t keep the likes of Franco Hopkins from killing their targets.
Fuck.
I picked up my phone and made the only call I could.
“I need you to do something for me,” I said. “It’s urgent.”
CHAPTER10
Luna
The clicking of camera shutters rose in intensity as I stepped up to the microphone positioned in front of television cameras, still photographers, and reporters packed within the media room. I squinted as cameras flashed like fireflies in a summer field and a hush spread through the crowd like an ocean wave, the room seemingly holding its breath.
Waiting to hear what I was about to say.
I should have braced myself better for this angry ache that pulsed through my stomach as I stared at reporters. I remember my mother, eyes red and voice shaky, dialing one news outlet after another, her pleas for them to listen met with cold rejection. They weren’t interested in running a single segment telling my dad’s side of the story, too busy labeling him a child killer. I had been desperate, naively convinced that if justonereporter would give us the opportunity to explain the truth, everyone would see he wasn’t a murderer.
But no one gave us the chance. And now here I was, standing in front of people just like them.
