Mafia Legacy

Chapter Thirty One- Charlotte

"It's not your fault. And besides, as soon as the divorce is final, it won't be my problem anymore.'"

"Speaking of the divorce..." He slid a packet of papers across the desk toward me. "I took the liberty of speaking with a friend of mine who is a judge. He was able to expedite the paperwork and since Luca was incarcerated and it was no contest, he was able to grant the divorce. Congratulations, you're no longer Mrs. Luca Carenthos."

My heart fell into my stomach, but I tried not to let my emotions show on my face. "I'm... you're..."

"I know it's a lot to take in, and I have to admit, I wanted to help you out, but I also did it for selfish reasons. This way, you'll be able to testify for us when Luca goes to trial. When you're married, there is a certain level of immunity to what he tells you. Now we don't have to worry about that."

I felt like throwing up. Dissolution of Marriage. The words were printed on top of the paper, but they felt like daggers to my soul. Whitaker was a bastard, and he was even more vindictive than we gave him credit for. If he talked to a judge, he knew I hadn't filed the paperwork yet, and he did purely to safeguard himself. In my head, I knew it was meaningless, and it didn't diminish my relationship with Luca in any way, but my heart was shattered. From the beginning, our marriage had been something so sacred to me. We'd had to battle to get to a point where it was even a possibility, and it had sealed us together in the most intimate of ways. I loved the way we had done things—just signing a paper in our bedroom by light of the dim Christmas tree. It was perfect and so sentimental to me, and I couldn't help but feel like that had been ripped away from me. This would forever be on record, even when we got it reversed. Luca and I weren't currently married, and I hated the very thought of that.

"Thank you." I whispered, biting back my tears. I was boiling with anger towards him, but if I could compose myself, I could steer that anger toward my goal. I could make sure this asshole paid for all the pain he was causing us.

"Of course, Charlotte." Whitaker came around the front of his desk, sitting on the edge of it. He reached for my hand, and I fought every fiber of my being to not pull away. Like I said, I care about you, and I care about your future."

"Right." I said, plastering a fake smile on my face.

"You know, I've always thought you had so much potential and wanted to work more directly with you." Whitaker worked his way closer to me, leaning in so that his hot bourbon breath was heavy on my neck.

"I agree." I said. "I think you and I could make a good team."

"I'm so glad to hear you say that." Whitaker put his finger to my chin, leaning forward to kiss me.

The ring of his desk phone jolted both of us.

Marco. I was overcome with relief.

"That's odd. No one is every here this late. Give me one second." He said as he reached for it, frowning. "Yes?"

I didn't recognize the voice on the other end, and I couldn't hear what was said, but Whitaker didn't look happy.

"I'll be right there." He clenched his jaw, hanging up.

"Charlotte, I am so sorry. There is some kind of issue with the security alarm that needs my attention. I'll be back in just a few minutes. Please make yourself at home." He refilled my glass of bourbon and then headed out the door.

I sucked in a sharp breath, putting all the other bullshit out of my mind and focusing on what I had to do.

I wasted no time getting to work, first sifting through the papers on his desk and then working my way to the tall file cabinets behind his desk. I thumbed through them quickly, looking for his file on Luca.

As much as I hated to admit it, Whitaker wasn't an idiot, and he'd probably have Luca's file somewhere safe where it couldn't be tampered with. I scanned the room quickly, looking for anything that looked promising.

In the back corner, there was another door that I hadn't noticed originally. I tried the knob, and after a little jimmying, it opened. There were several boxes with Luca's name on them, and inside were all kinds of video tapes, binders, and catalogs of evidence. Still, there was nothing that I could use to show he was fabricating anything. There was a noise in the hallway that spooked me enough to shove everything back where I found it.

I glanced out into the darkness but no one was there, and so I continued my search. This time, a drawer that was slightly ajar caught my attention. Inside was a computer. I pulled it out and opened it up, completely surprised there wasn't a password on it. The homepage popped up and there were several files posted without names. One of them said Witness A, another Witness B. At first I didn't know what I was looking at, but as I read further, I realized I was holding all the proof I needed. Not just to show Luca was innocent, but to prove several of Whitaker's latest high-level convictions were also fake. These were transcripts of interviews Whitaker had done, and in each one of them, Whitaker promised all kinds of things to people in exchange for their fake testimonies against defendants. And not just transcripts, but every interview was taped. Even Carlo's. But I couldn't bring myself to watch it alone. I shoved my jump drive into the computer and made sure everything was copying.

The elevator dinged, and I quickly shut it off, putting the computer back where I found it and sitting down in my seat.

"So sorry about that." Whitaker said, coming back into the office. "Now where were we?"

"I'm so sorry to have to do this, but one of my kids just called, and they have an emergency at home. I think we'll have to continue this another day."

"I hope everything is alright." I couldn't tell if I was paranoid, or if he was suspicious of me.

"I think so. You know teenagers, they think everything is an emergency." I rolled my eyes, reaching for his hand to make sure I sold the act. "I'm available tomorrow afternoon if you are."

He grinned. "It's a date."

"It's a date."