The Windfall (22 page)

The detective looked at me hard for a moment and then pushed his chair back, grabbing his suit jacket off of the chair. “Walk with me.”

I rose and hurried after him, following him through a maze of desks and then into a hallway where he pushed open a door. Behind the door sat a large man in a suit, who looked up from the paper that he had been reading. “What?”

“This guy has a pretty impressive story to tell,” the detective said, gesturing toward me. “But he’s on a deadline, and I need permission to wiretap him so that he can make a $100,000 drop to some gang members.”

I wanted to thank the detective for not making me explain the entire story to his chief, whose eyes raised in surprise, then narrowed at me as he laid his paper down. “Are you fucking serious?”

“As a heart attack,” I rushed out, not caring anymore. “There are two people’s lives at stake right now and if I don’t do this, you will have two innocent lives taken in a homicide. Which one would you prefer to deal with?”

The chief sat back and eyed me for a moment before looking at his detective. “Suit him up and by God if he’s lying, drag him in for false reporting. I want someone’s ass in jail by the end of the day.”

“Yes, sir,” the detective responded, walking back out of the office. I didn’t know really what to say so I just followed behind him, my anxiety at a peak level. I was itching to get to Emma, to ensure that she was okay, but this was necessary. If I wanted to stop Felix and his goon of a friend from doing this again and again, I needed to involve the law. They weren’t going to stop, no matter what they said. I could potentially have to deal with this later, and I would rather just put an end to it right now.

We walked past the room with all of the desks into a storage closet, where he pulled down a small mic the size of my pinky nail attached to a small black box.

“This part goes onto your chest right here,” he said, pointing to the center of my chest. “This box goes into your boxers.” I raised my eyebrow, and he laughed. “Trust me, it’s the last place they ever expect to find this. We are going to run this down from your chest and conceal it under your shirt. If these guys are as dumb as I think they are, they won’t even expect you to be wearing a wire.”

“And what if they do search me?” I asked, eyeing the wire. Could I take that kind of risk? Could I actually bet on the lives of Emma and her dad like this?

“Trust me, by the sound of it, they won’t,” the detective replied, pushing the wire to me. “Are you in or not?”

***

Ur time is almost up, Coop. I don’t want to hurt her,
the text read.
But we will if you don’t bring the money and come to the house. You know where we are at.
Shit. I threw the phone in the passenger seat and started up the car, peeling out of the police station parking lot as I raced toward my original destination. Emma was probably scared out of her mind, and I hoped to God that they hadn’t laid one hand on her. Felix was not the guy I had grown up with. He would never do something like this to put anyone’s life in danger but since his affiliation with this gang, he was making stupid mistakes. And I was going to make him pay for it. Giving him money wasn’t going to make him or any of his new friends go away. I had to end this now, once and for all. Picking up the phone, I started dialing a number. I had a plan.

* * * * *

Thirty Minutes Later

“You have arrived at your destination.”

I looked up at the ramshackle house on the right, frowning as I took in the state of the place Emma’s dad called home. How could anyone get better with a house that looked like this? The yard was in a sad state, the grass starting to look more like a field, the paint peeling from its boards and a porch that looked like it had seen better days. I had been where he was now, but he was sick and this situation couldn’t be helping him get well or even concentrate on his health.

I looked in the driveway and noticed Emma’s car right away. There was also another car, one of those four-door deals with massive rims and an out-of-state license plate. Had those goons really driven all this way for what they considered easy money? They’d probably spent more on gas getting out here!

Shaking my head, I cut the car off and climbed out, grabbing the suitcase from the passenger seat. I had delayed my arrival by ten minutes, making several calls to get the cash that was now in the suitcase in my hand. It paid to be a billionaire sometimes and today was one of those days. The detective had also pulled some strings as well, and without his help, I probably would still be trying to get the money. Otherwise, I would have still been arguing with the woman on the phone.

Straightening my shoulders, I walked up to the porch, my nerves a jumbled mess. I didn’t know what I was about to encounter in there or whether or not they had already killed Emma and her dad. I could be shot as soon as I entered the house. But there was only one way to find out. I twisted the knob and the door opened easily.

“Come on in and join the party, Coop.”

I gritted my teeth at the sound of Felix’s voice, wishing he would be a man and let us go a round so that I could beat the shit out of him. While I didn’t condone violence, I was willing to put all of that aside to get my hands on my former friend. He deserved everything he had coming to him.

I stepped inside, seeing the interior of the home was in no better shape than the outside. The small living room gave way to a smaller kitchen. My stomach lurched uncomfortably as I came in view of Emma and her father seated at the table, a gun pointed at them. Felix was standing behind Emma, a gun resting against his chest and a weird look on his face as I approached them. The other guy I recognized from the neighborhood, his clothing telling me that he was one of those gang members that Felix idolized. He had a sneer on his face, and I wanted to hit him, hard. This was the guy who had actually threatened to kill the two people before me. He was stone cold, and I couldn’t believe that Felix was part of this. I didn’t want to believe it, but the proof was right in front of me. Surely this wasn’t what Felix wanted to be part of.

“That’s close enough, Coop,” Felix said, his voice nervous, his eyes darting around as if he were high on something. A few sodas sat on the table, along with an open bag of chips, like they had made themselves right at home while scaring the bejesus out of Emma and her dad. “Put the case on the chair over there.”

“You don’t have to do this, Felix,” I said slowly, putting the case where he had indicated before backing away, my hands in the air. “This isn’t the guy I knew from the hood, the guy who was with me the night I got that lotto ticket. This isn’t the guy I played basketball with before we were even old enough to dribble properly.”

“That guy is long gone, Coop,” he said, a hint of sadness in his voice as he struggled to maintain his easygoing smile. “Long gone, dude. I’m looking out for me and my boys, Coop. Surely you can see that.” He then looked over at the case, his eyes gleaming with greed. “I didn’t want it to turn out like this, Coop. All you had to do was give us the money, and everything would have been okay. We wouldn’t have to do this, you know.”

“These are innocent people,” I argued, holding up my hands. “They have no idea why you are doing this. Why would you want to scare them like this?”

Felix’s smile slipped a little, and he motioned to the case. “Open it, Cooper.”

I moved to do as he asked, showing both of them the money. “It’s five hundred thousand dollars,” I said, my eyes briefly connecting with Emma’s. She was looking at the money in surprise, her eyes flitting up to mine so I could see that they were tear filled and scared. It nearly broke my heart to see that. She shouldn’t be in the midst of this! It was because of me that she was even in this situation but I was going to get her out, even if it cost me my life. “It’s all I could get my hands on in the timeframe you gave me without tipping off the cops. Take it or leave it.”

“It ain’t no million like he said,” Axe said, looking over at Felix angrily. “He’s playing us for a fool.” He then pointed the gun at me, and my heart came to a dead stop in my chest. This was going to be the end of it all. I was going to die over this money that I had never wanted in the first place. It had nearly ruined my life on more than one occasion and now it was going to cost me my life. I was never going to see my family again, never hold Emma in my arms, never get the chance to tell her how I felt. “I swear that was all I could get,” I said again, allowing the tremble to come out in my voice. “It’s more than enough. Just take it and go.”

Felix reached up and turned the gun away from me, forcing his partner to point it elsewhere. “We ain’t gonna kill anyone,” he said, looking at me. “We came for the money and we got it.”

“It ain’t enough, I tell you,” his partner replied, his hard, cold eyes now looking at Felix. “You said he would give us more if we came and messed with his girl here. Maybe I should rough her up a little. Then he will cough up the rest.”

Emma whimpered and ducked into her chair, her body cringing at what was about to come. I flexed my arms angrily, shooting a look to Felix that was pleading in nature. He wasn’t this guy he was pretending to be. He wasn’t a guy who hurt innocent people just to get an easy buck. I watched Felix’s expression as he stared at his partner, trying to weigh in what he was going to do about it. All this time I thought Felix was a follower. I thought he wasn’t strong enough to be the one doling out orders and bossing people around, but this was telling me otherwise. Could he turn the gun on me and shoot me in the head without a second thought? Could he really stand back and watch Emma get hurt or worse without feeling a thing? I really hoped that he wasn’t capable of such a thing.

Our eyes briefly connected, and I was surprised to see the regret in his, like he didn’t know what he was doing here. I couldn’t help him now. He was in too deep and after today, I was going to never see him again. He had severed our friendship over money, and I didn’t need people like that in my life.

“It’s enough,” Felix finally said, motioning toward the case. “Go get it so we can get the hell out of here.”

Axe cursed and walked over to the chair, grabbing the suitcase out of my hand and closing the top. I watched as Felix pointed the gun at me, backing toward the door. “Dude, I’m sorry. I really am. This will be the last time, I swear.”

I don’t ever want to see you again, Felix,” I said evenly as he opened the door. “We are through.”

He gave me a nod, and they were both out of the door, leaving it wide open as they ran out. I watched as the police surrounded the two, forcing them to drop their weapons as they made them lay on the ground.

“You called the police.”

I turned to see both Emma and her father behind me, both watching the actions outside. “Of course. I wasn’t going to let them get away with threatening you. That’s what took me so long.” I had wrestled with the fact that I was taking a huge risk allowing them to wiretap me, but in the end it had been the right decision. So they had hung back until the right moment, which, by the looks of it, had been the correct moment.

The chief was going to have two people in jail tonight, and I wasn’t going to feel one ounce of sympathy for my former best friend. Felix had ruined his life by getting messed up with people he thought cared about him but in reality they didn’t care about anyone but themselves. I could help him out if I wanted to, but this was going to be a lesson Felix was going to have to learn by himself.

The detective I had worked with approached the door, the expression on his face one of surprise, as if he still hadn’t believed that I was telling the truth. “I can’t believe this,” he said, running a hand through his hair. “You were telling the truth all along. This is some crazy shit.”

I pulled on the wire box and slid it out of my pocket, not ever wanting something like that to be in my boxers. After dislodging it from my chest, I handed it over. “I hope this helps the case.”

He looked at the box and shook his head as one of the officers came over and handed him the case. “These were complete idiots to come all of this way for the money.”

“I told you,” I said with a sigh, feeling Emma’s presence behind me. I was going to have a lot of explaining to do with her but I was ready for it. It was time she knew the real me.

One of the officers approached the door, looking at all of us. “Anyone hurt?”

“No,” I replied, holding out my hand. “We are all okay. Thank you for coming.”

He shook my hand and jotted down our names, giving his card to Emma’s dad in case he had any questions. “We will have to keep the money until they get the prints off of it and extract the dye packets. Then you can pick it up from the station when you come in to make your final statements.”

“I’m in no hurry,” I responded as he tipped his hat and walked back toward where they were loading the two men into the police car. I saw Felix’s face through the window of the car and refused to even acknowledge him. Felix was going to jail now, and I just hoped that he could get straightened out and realize that this wasn’t the life to live. If he continued down this path, he was going to be killed one day.

I closed the door and turned back to the two people inside the house, my heart hammering in my chest. Now that the threat was over, it was time to explain myself and hope to God that she could forgive me for all of this. If she didn’t, I didn’t know what I was going to do.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Emma

I stared at Cooper, still in a bit of shock from what had just gone down. Everything inside me was still swirling, trying to make sense of all the emotions I was feeling.

“Are you okay?” he asked softly, gently placing a hand on the side of my cheek. His expression was filled with concern. I smiled up at him and gave him a slow nod.

“I do believe that was enough of excitement to keep me good for the rest of my life,” my father grumbled beside me, sticking out his hand. “Joseph. Thank you for coming.”

“Cooper, sir,” he said, shaking hands with my father, an embarrassed look on his face. “I can’t apologize enough that you two had to go through that. I never intended to put either of you in any kind of danger, sir.”