Storm's Cage by Mary Stone (uplifting novels .TXT) 📕

call him The Shark because he takes his victims out to sea before he kills them. How is it that the FBI isn’t all over him?”

Amelia’s expression darkened as if she were at war with her thoughts and what she was about to say. “We’re not looking into him at the moment because there’s no evidence for us to look at.”

That was a load of crap. The Feds had plenty on The Shark. Alex’s frustration got the better of him before he could stop himself from throwing both arms out to his sides. “Then find some! Isn’t that what the FBI is for?”

The instant he saw the venom in her eyes, he wished he could retract the outburst. She wasn’t some damn Fed. She was Amelia. And she was helping him, despite not being on the family payroll. He knew better than to have let his temper slip, but before he could open his mouth to apologize, she leveled an index finger at him.

“You know what? I don’t have time for this shit. Last I checked, you weren’t the Special Agent in Charge of the FBI office in Chicago. Yeah, you helped me find Leila Jackson, but it seemed like I was doing you a favor as much as you were doing one for me. I think that makes us square, don’t you?”

Alex took in a deep breath, but a response wouldn’t come to his lips. With each second that ticked away in silence, Alex fully expected Amelia to take off in a huff.

Though there was once a time when he and Amelia freely expressed emotions to each other, including frustration, those days were long gone.

And as much as he wanted the Bureau to hone in on Brian Kolthoff, they couldn’t arrest him until they had evidence enough to condemn the man to prison for the rest of his life. Alex reminded himself that Amelia wasn’t like the other law enforcement agents on the D’Amato family’s payroll.

Amelia wasn’t on their payroll, and at any point, she could flip him the bird and walk away.

Their history was the only tether that bound her to the D’Amatos, and with each passing day, the link grew weaker. Eventually, the meager connection would no longer be enough.

Did the D’Amatos need to pay her? Blackmail her? Negotiate with her? If blackmail was the only option, would he be capable of going through with such an underhanded scheme?

The whirlwind of what-ifs and doubt coalesced into a dull ache at the base of Alex’s skull. His pulse throbbed in his ears as he squeezed his eyes closed to massage his temples.

There was one way to push back the expiration date on their fragile alliance. Amelia had always been close with her late brother, Trevor, and Trevor had been on the D’Amatos’ payroll.

“Are you okay?” Amelia’s irascibility had given way to a tinge of concern.

Without opening his eyes, he nodded. “Just a headache. I’m fine.”

“Okay, well.” When he squinted through the golden sunlight, she’d crossed her arms over her white button-down shirt.

Shoving a hand through his hair, he straightened and returned his attention to her. “I’m sorry I snapped at you. But you have to understand, this thing with Brian Kolthoff, it’s personal. And it’s not just because he’s a rival of the family.” He’d wanted to maintain eye contact, but his gaze drifted to the wooden planks at their feet. “Look, I don’t know the specifics because the person who was investigating it died before they could get too deep. I’ve been doing my own research too, and I’m certain Kolthoff had something to do with Gianna.”

“You think Brian Kolthoff kidnaped your sister?” Venom spewed from Amelia’s words with such force that Alex was surprised he didn’t drop dead.

He rubbed his hands together—a longstanding nervous tic that he simply lacked the energy to suppress right now.

He forced himself to meet her incredulous stare. “Yes. Some of my guys started hearing these rumors about how some shark had taken Gianna out to sea, and well…” Shaking his head, he left the recollection unfinished. “I never knew who this shark was. Not until you told me Leila was being sold to The Shark. Then I started putting the pieces together.”

Amelia’s eyes burned into him like twin pools of green flame, but she didn’t speak. At the unbridled fury in her expression, he couldn’t help a pang of sympathy for anyone who’d ever been on the receiving end of one of her interrogations. “What pieces?”

He refused to let his stare falter. “Like I said. I heard stories about a shark. They were filtered through the rumor mill, so it wasn’t concrete evidence. Gangsters can be just as bad as a high school locker room. Dad and I didn’t put much stock in those stories at first. We figured it was just some Leóne prick running his mouth. But then a couple more years went by, and my uncle Tony…” He frowned. “You remember him, right?”

A muscle in her jaw twitched. “Yes, I do.”

Alex laced his fingers together so he wouldn’t be tempted to rub his hands. “Tony got a message from someone who claimed they were part of the Leóne family, and again, they claimed a shark person had something to do with Gianna’s…death.” He swallowed against the bile rising in the back of his throat.

If Amelia was sympathetic, her steely countenance belied none of the compassion. “Who sent him the message?”

“We never found out.” The not knowing still felt like a punch in the gut. “But that time, we decided to find out for sure, so we went to a detective who’d been working for us for about three years at that point. Nothing major. Nothing dangerous. We only asked him to find out what happened to Gianna. He kept it on the down-low, made sure no one he worked with knew about the inquiry.”

Her eyes were slits. “Is that so? I don’t suppose you’d be willing to share this detective’s name with me, would you?”

His heart knocked against