The Monster In Us

3- i believe in YOu

"This is good," My father tells me a few days after giving me the assignment as he's looking over the finished product of Elisa Margaret Bonheur. My dad's assistant has been running around for the past few days as well, grabbing hair extensions, colored contacts, tattoo cover, anything that I may need to change my identity. He hands the folder to Sergei, his number two, for him to look over too.

"You knew that it would be," I remind him. He knows that I'm really good at what I do, he knew that I'd pull it off with flying colors. Especially since I've been making fake identities since I was in high school. Sergei, who is standing beside my father at his desk, nods in approval of the folder and puts it back on the desk without saying anything. "Do I get to know what the assignment is now?"

"It's a big one," My dad warns me, sitting at his desk as I sit on the other side, my fingers playing with the frame of the only personal item in my dad's office—a picture of my mother. Sergei stands silently, crossing his gigantic buff arms over his chest. I don't know why he is here but it's not surprising that he is. He and my father are always together, he's kind of like my dad's body guard. "But everything is in place and I know that you won't like it. I hate the idea too but it's the best way to finally defeat Berardi."

"So it does have to do with Arizona," I realize although that's not very surprising, he still hasn't told me anything as to why he's given up our Arizona border territory. Having territory separate from the Berardis is the only way that we stay civil and although both mobs pay off the cops, you can only pay the police to cover up so many murders.

"Yes," He finally admits. "We gave them the Arizona codes in order to get route 15 into Los Angeles."

"Wait, what?" I wonder with raised eyebrows, still not understanding anything. "Why would we need 15 if we have 40? It's more of a drive but it's not worth the only hacked toll into Arizona from the east side."

"Vera," He scolds me. "Just listen. I know that it was a risk, but giving them Arizona means that he's going to have to put all of his techs on the project, checking out the tolls for themselves and changing what needs to be changed to mold it to their standards instead of ours."

I still don't understand and so I only continue to listen.

"So they won't have time to manage the actual casino," He adds and then that's when I realize what's going on and I'm even more surprised than I thought that I would be.

"You're sending me into the Berardi Casino?" I ask him incredulously. I really hope that I'm wrong about this because that's about the worst idea that he's ever had. Or if he didn't come up with it, it's the worst one that he's ever ran with.

"I am. Your resume is subtly catered exactly for the job, you just have to nail the interview and if you get it, you'll be able to earn their trust and sneak into their offices and get their information. Whatever they have on us, any sales that we can interrupt, without them even knowing that we know. Any Berardis that have ever seen your face are dead, they've only seen pictures so with the appearance changes, they won't have a clue."

"It only helps that he's into young brunettes," I mumble bitterly.

"Yes, it does help," He confirms with a nod.

"You want me to sleep with Berardi? The man that you've sworn your life to fight and hate?" I ask him, still not believing that he'd be willing to put me in this situation.

He raises his eyebrows at me, challenging me to continue questioning him. "I want you to do whatever it takes, Vera. Like you always do. This will work, you just have to nail the interview. And because I'm sure he's put a few spies of his own into our casino, this is completely confidential. To anybody else, it was just Arizona for 15 and that's it. I believe in you, Vera."