There was a point when I thought it was the most important thing in my life, then I had Bella. Now I had Nicholas, and everything else in the world seemed insignificant, even continuing the legacy that took my dad from me in the first place.
Even in my anger after I got the assignment, I felt like I could compartmentalize. I was a pretty good actress, thanks to spending a few years in the drama club. It was one of the thingsthat made me good undercover. I could be the doting girlfriend and the undercover cop at the same time. That was what I thought anyway. In the words of the incomparable Mariah Carey, I didn’t know nothing. I was stupid. I was foolish. I was lying to myself.
The lies and secrets were eating me alive. Bella and I had been back at Nicholas’s house for a couple of days after spending that initial night with him. I felt so comfortable there that I had to get away from him for a few days.In my last briefing, I didn’t have much intel to provide to the team. I let them know we were getting closer but that I hadn’t found anything that I thought would be significant to the case.
Nicholas didn’t discuss business. He had even been working on taking more time off from the casino to spend time with me and the girls. Tremaine didn’t like that idea, but Officer Christopher felt like the more time I spent with him, the more he would open up and let me into his world.
After I reported that we were at the point where I was spending a few days at his house, Tremaine had been on my line more than ever. If he wasn’t careful, he was going to blow my cover, calling and texting me all times of night, being jealous. He didn’t give a damn about that case as much as he wanted to control me. They didn’t know that I was praying that I never found anything that would help their case.
Once again, I was in an unnecessary meeting with little to no intel to deliver. Nicholas didn’t talk or conduct business at home. He wanted to spend his free time with us and not be a workaholic for a change.
“We’ve noticed some patterns,” Benton explained.
“Like what?” I quizzed, curious about what they had come up with since our last meeting.
“Large cash deposits are being made to the club twice a week from a known associate of the Vargas Cartel. We need you in that meeting. If you can’t get in, we at least need audio.”
“And how would I get audio if I can’t get in?”
“Find out where the meeting is being held.”
I nodded, knowing that whatever access I could get would make or break the case. More than anything, I wanted this to be over. No, I took that back. More than anything, I wanted Nicholas to be innocent. I had never felt so delusional and naïve, but I needed this to be a mistake or misunderstanding. I needed him to be innocent.
“OK. Is that all?” I asked, looking between Tremaine and Officer Benton.
“That’s all I have for you,” Benton confirmed as he stood from his seat.
I followed suit, standing and picking up my copy of the reports I’d submitted. Tremaine held up a hand to stop me.
“Hang back for a second,” he told me.
After a brief exchange, Benton left, and Tremaine turned his attention to me.
“It’s been weeks, and you haven’t given us anything, Officer Sutton. I’m going to need you to wear a wire. The tech department has some devices for you. A lapel pin or something that they want you to wear.”
“I’m not doing that.”
“That wasn’t a request. We have to move this case forward. I know you’re good at what you do. I find it strange that you haven’t produced a damn thing the whole time you’ve been investigating this case. All you’ve been doing is getting wined and dined and fucked.”
“Kiss my ass, Tremaine. I can’t help that I’ve been cursed with this flimsy ass case. Where is all this evidence you were talking about?”
“Don’t let me find out you’re trying to sabotage this investigation, Jameela,” Tremaine fussed.
“Just because I haven’t come up with anything doesn’t mean that I’m not doing my job. You know I know what I’m doing.”
“You think this is a joke, but I’m serious. You know I care about you, but I will not let you fuck this up for me.”
“I’m not worried about you caring about me. Meanwhile, you haven’t asked about your daughter in weeks.”
“Jameela, don’t start that shit.”
“I’m not starting anything. You stopped me. If that’s all, you can get out of my way and let me go do my job.”
“Just a minute. I have someone I want you to meet. You two will run into each other, so I need you to know him when you see him.”
As he was saying that, a man strolled through the door. His face was familiar. I just couldn’t put my finger on where I knew him from.
“Darius, this is Jameela. She’s working on the case from the inside as well. I’m sure you will run into each other.”
