Page 90 of Fall Before Her Throne

I looked at Samuel, and he responded on my behalf. “What are you saying, Special Agent?”

“I understand how easy it is to get caught up in things outside your control,” she said quietly. “If you could give us anything that would help put these organizations behind bars, you would be doing a good thing.”

Our earlier jokes about good cop, bad cop came back to me. Greer tried to corner us, and she was clearly trying to offer a way out. Even so, she felt earnest where he was jaded and vindictive.

“We just want to put bad people behind bars,” she added. Then her eyes tracked to the scar running down my face. “Perhaps the people who gave you that scar. But we need your help.”

I crossed my arms in my chair, sat back, and went silent. I kept the emotion off my face as best as I could, but an angry heat flashed down the back of my neck and arms. The Vokshis did this to me. Not the mafia. Not Max. And while my father had allowed the Albanians to run wild inside this city with zero repercussions, he was dead. The Vokshis were dead, at our hands. We were the ones cleaning up this city, whether the FBI liked it or not.

Samuel bristled. “Exactly what kind of help are you asking for? Are you offering my client a deal?”

“Yes,” Badawi said. “These organizations are complicated, and so is their leadership. We understand that. All we need is Miss Vero’s testimony as far as who is the true person pulling the strings.”

“And if you received that testimony, you’d drop the charges against her? Is that what this deal is?” Samuel asked.

Badawi nodded. “The District Attorney would offer immunity to Miss Vero, depending on the depth of evidence and testimony she is willing to provide.”

They wanted me to snitch.

If I gave them someone else, someone responsible for ordering these crimes, they’d let me go.

“Who do you think is the ‘true person’ pulling the strings?” My hands clenched together. “I expect you have someone in mind.”

Badawi shook her head. “We just want the truth.”

Yeah, right. With my eyebrow raised, I looked to Greer instead. He pushed forward a picture of Max.

My heart thumped inside my chest. All the air seemed trapped in my lungs.

They wanted me to snitch on Max.

26

MAX

He fucking played us.

The casinos were my blind spot, and he went after them. I made a calculated risk, assuming he’d focus elsewhere, but he outplayed me. This was personal. It wasn’t just about the city. It wasn’t just about Luciano or Leona.

In his eyes, I had betrayed him and the Camorra—and he was going to make me pay for it with my blood or hers.

The beat cops had arrested us, but the agents took Leona away in the back of a black SUV. They took us to a station in Midtown, but after an hour, they turned us out onto the street and let us go. The lawyer, Achebe, had worked his magic, and somehow we were free. Maybe he paid a massive amount in bribe money; maybe they were letting us go now so they could come after us again later. Right now, I didn’t fucking care.

I just wanted her back.

Somehow, we’d made it from the police station to the FBI building, where we waited across the street. Everything else had been a blur. If it weren’t for Cas pulling me along with them, I probably would have walked away right then and there. Disappeared back into the darkness where I belonged. Alone.

“This is your fault,” Ryuji hissed. He crowded close, his eyes flashing with rage. But I could see the fear behind them, the worry for Leona.

I opened my mouth to argue, but I had no rebuttal. He was right.

“It’s not his fault,” Cas interjected, hand on Ryuji’s shoulder. “He didn’t plan this.”

“Why are you defending him?” Ryuji whirled on him. “He’s the one who wanted to go to the casino. It was his idea! For all we know, he could be working with Greco to pick us off one by one.”

“I’m not working with him,” I snapped. “He’s trying to kill me.”

“We should have let him!” Ryuji shouted, pulling a knife. He pointed it at me, the tip glinting in the streetlights.