Chapter 23
"Girl fuck you and your job. I hope the next operation you do, you die in the line of work." —Angel
I sat there playing with my fingers, lost in thought.
"Hey sweetheart, I'm gonna need you to look up here." Michael stated calmly, snapping his fingers.
I slowly raise my head and look at him sitting across from me. His head was in one hand as he studied me. It was making me uncomfortable, probably a tactic to make me feel like that on purpose. His fingers made a rhythmic beat on the table, while his eyes scanned my face. I blew out a breath and shifted my gaze away from him again.
My life was everywhere. One day Money and I were in foster care. Next we were young married teens, then we went to local stickup kids, to getting caught up in a web of murder and organized crime, to being interrogated by the FBI.
"I hope you have a warrant to search my house." I say.
"Of course, little girl. Unlike some of us sloppy killers, I make sure to cover my tracks. And quiet frankly, that should be the last thing on your mind right now, trust me."
He leans back in his chair, "I want to make you a proposal."
I wanted to tell him fuck his proposal. I was still processing the fact he was a federal agent. Him, Capri, Patrick and all the girls. Those fake ass bitches I trusted. But I guess it serves me right for befriending women I hardly knew.
"We both know you're not innocent in any of this, but that's beside the point. Who we want is in the other room. So how about I make you a deal? You give me Money, tell me everything and you'll walk out of here free."
There was no expression on his face, just a hard stare. He was serious.
"If you can tell me everything we need to know about Money, every charge we come up with will be pinned on him and you'll walk free. You can live your life and never look back." He continued.
Turn my back on Money, the idea once would've sounded so foreign. However, this man had been the source of my pain for so long. I once couldn't once go more than three hours without calling him. But this was the same man that slept around on me for half of our marriage, verbally abused me and left me over our unborn child. I was so angry, so bitter. I wanted nothing more than for him to pay.
The door opened and in walked Kianna, Tammy and Nicole. I felt a surge of anger rush through me, but I stayed calm. Nicole had a white plastic bag in her hand as they came over.
"Did you tell her about our compromise?" Nicole asked Michael, rummaging through the bags on the table. She pulled out something wrapped in foil and placed a cup of coffee on a brown tray in front of Michael.
I could hear my stomach grumbling, I didn't even know what was in the bag but everything smelled good.
"Yeah, she didn't answer yet." Michael said unwrapping the item in foil to reveal a bagel with cream cheese.
The rest of the girls took sandwiches out and cups of either tea or coffee out the bag. They all pulled up some chairs around the table like it was family gathering, as they began to eat. Once I thought nothing else was in the bag Tammy reaches in and pulls out the last sandwich, wrapped in clear plastic. A turkey and cheese.
"I bet you're hungry." Tammy says, sliding it across to me. She then takes a cup out the brown carton tray and places it in front of me.
I look down at the food, my mouth almost watering. I was so hungry and I wanted it so badly, but I was better than that. I look away from it, ignoring the hunger pains. I look exclusively at Michael, even though he wasn't the one who asked me the question. "I'm not hungry."
Frankly I hated all of them, but I felt more hatred for the girls because they made me believe we were actually friends. So I rather talk to Michael then them. I had nothing to say to those hoes.
He wiped his mouth, taking a large gulp of his drink before he nodded toward my untouched food. "You know starving yourself and your baby isn't gonna do anything to us, right? Your only harming yourself."
I don't even spare him an answer.
"Angel."
I look over and see Kianna looking at me. She was sitting on the right side of Michael. Not exactly that close to me, but she wasn't far either. I grill her, wanting to rip those stupid blue tracks out her head. The hair clips I once thought were cute. She was the one out of all the girls that hurt me the most. For some reason I felt especially close to her.
Before she could continue whatever it was she was about to say, something compelled me to pick my mind. I had a seething hatred for her, but I also had questions. "You let me stay at you're house, whether it was your real house or not I stayed with you for months. You knew the problems I had going on at home, I thought you cared. All of this was just an act? Why'd you allow me to think our friendship was real?"
I know I sounded like a baby and I couldn't have been that naïve not to see the signs; but there were no signs. No one ever acted strange, asked me anything out of the ordinary or behaved in a way that would make me question their behavior. I do take responsibility, though. Full responsibility. I'm a grown woman that should've known better than to go around calling people my friends when I've been without friends all my life. I was just so eager, I've never had anybody else to talk to besides Money. So, as soon as I started to hang out with them, I instantly thought that made us close.
"It's not like that, it's just my job Angel. You're not the first female to get caught up in something like this. You won't be the last either. I wasn't doing this for fun. I do think you're a decent person, you just got caught up with the wrong person."
She annoyed me by speaking, more than she did by just being in the room. I thought I was angry watching her walk in, but when she opened her mouth I rather she had kept silent. I pick my cup up and pop the lid off, it was tea. I blow and take a sip to test the temperature. It was green tea that was only lukewarm.
I tossed the tea in her face. Everyone hopped up like it was acid. Kianna's mouth was wide open and her eyes closed as she felt around on the table for a napkin.
"Girl fuck you and your job. I hope the next operation you do, you die in the line of work." I say, dismissing her with the wave of my hand. She didn't care that I was potentially going to prison for the rest of my life. She had basically ended my life, so I didn't care about her's.
She was rushed out the room by Nicole and Tammy, once again leaving me with Michael. He wraps up his lunch and pushes it to the side. "Was that necessary?"
"Shut up you snake!" I snap.
He just chuckled. He stared at me like he'd been doing before, except this time it wasn't bothering me. I was now too angry to be annoyed. "I hate you! You and those stupid bitches! Why does everything bad always happen to me? Why doesn't anything ever go the way I plan?"
"Why can't you let go of a man that doesn't love you?"
He was completely right, but if he thought he was going to get into my head he had another thing coming. "You don't know anything about me."
"I know that your husband loves only himself. You may think because you guys knew each other for a lifetime, he would never do anything to hurt you. But look how easily he can say the most fucked up shit to you. Look at how he treats you, look where his love has gotten you. Locked away in some room being questioned by a federal agent."
Michael gets up from the chair and walks out the room. I blow out a breath and rub my belly, feeling the baby kicking. He stepped back into the room after a few seconds and is holding a large ziplock back with a label on it. Inside are two guns. A Ruger SR9 and a 9mm.
My heart starts palpitating and I feel my nose stinging. I couldn't cry right now; they would know they had me if I did. They had it the whole time, they just wanted us to get comfortable thinking we were in the clear because they didn't have evidence. Now that they did, my brain was overheating, because all I could think was now what?
"Angel I know this is yours, okay? We had it tested and your fingerprints are on it. But I can cut you a deal. Like I said, you're not the person we want. You don't deserve any of what you're being put through right now, the only person we want is Money. Give him to us and tell us everything we need to know about him and I could make this disappear." He said shaking the evidence bag.
"What if I tell you to go fuck yourself?" I say.
He shrugs, "You can. Like I said you're not the person of interest, but don't get it twisted. You confess or not we're still taking Money in. One less charge on him won't hurt because with the amount of shit he's did, he'll never see the light of day again anyway. If you wanna go down with him, do it. Because maybe you forgot that man you killed? Mackenzie Brown? He was an informant of the law. That's a serious charge. You'll see that kid in your stomach when he's fucking thirty with kids and a wife."
I put my head in my hands, not knowing what else to do. This was too much for me. I hated Money, but I couldn't deny that another part of me loved him, still. I couldn't just turn off how I felt about him despite how nastily he had been treating me. We've been married for four years but together for eighteen. He was part of me, I couldn't see myself pushing everything on him.
"You're a beautiful young lady, why would you want to throw your life away for him? You can go out into the world and find someone that will cherish you and your child. A child he doesn't even want, remember?"
That hit a sore spot for me, I wanted to tell him that it wasn't his business and he didn't know what he was talking about. But he did.
"Do you think if the shoe were on the other foot, he would even think about taking any charges for you? You see how long he was cheating on you. If he could do that while you guys were together, I could only imagine how fast he would move on if you went behind bars."
The Money that would protect me, be my shoulder to cry on growing up. The Money I knew. That was the part of me that was still weak for this man. I don't know where he went, but in my heart there was still a spot for him. The mixed feelings I had for him was intense, I felt like I was going crazy.
"You're lying." I whisper. "You have no proof those are our guns."
"Lying? What would I have to gain from lying to some little gullible twenty year old girl? They came out of your house and we already had you and your crazy husband under a microscope, of course it's yours. I'm just trying to help you out. A lot of women like you come in here brainwashed and so in love with a man that they take the bid. The man moves on while they're left in prison to rot. Pinning one more case on Money won't hurt. He's already going under anyway."
He did tell me to let him take it, I think. Money deserved it anyway with how much of a dickhead he was. They did say you never truly knew someone.
My mouth is dry and I now want that same tea I threw all over Kianna earlier. I use my feet to scoot the chair back and stand up. I needed some air and walking around the room was the best way to get it , I presume. I blow out small breaths, refraining from doing things that showed I was anymore nervous.
"It's easy Angel. All you have to say on tape is who you are and who committed the crimes. You'll be taken off the case as an accomplice and we'll put you up in protective custody."
"Go to hell."
"You want to be without your baby?"
"I'll never be without my baby."
"You keep playing and I'll scrap this whole thing and just stick your original charge on you. You're not affecting my life in anyway. Your child goes into adoption and that's that. You can be Money's true love then, sending letters back and forth he'll probably ignore half the time."
The thought of my baby growing up in what I have; the abuse, the neglect. It was a cold world and the system was a jungle within itself. Nobody cared for anybody and there was hardly such a thing as friends, let alone family. I couldn't fathom the thought of that.
"I need some time to think." I say, my lips trembling.
Michael didn't say anything to me. Just gave me time, he was quiet for so long I forgot that I wasn't alone in the room at one point. I don't know how long I was pacing back and forth. Could've been half an hour, could've be an hour. But however long it was, he wasn't annoyed. I finally look at him and just barely nod my head.
He smirks. "Trust me Angel, everything will be alright. He deserves what's coming to him."