SECRETS
“No touching, Corisi,” she hissed as she placed her nine millimeter gun on the desk. It wasn’t fancy, but the diamond encrusted hilt made her look the part. She shot the man a loaded look, fierce with all the warnings that words weren’t needed. “I’m here to count your money, not play French maid with you. Put your junk back in your pants and your money on the table.”
She walked around the desk, letting him take her all in before she hid behind the iron desk. Her white bandage dress hugged her curves and stopped a few inches under her round ass. Her long chocolate legs led into white pumps with metal studs at the heel. And up north her tongue swept over her thick glossed lips, as her long hair cascaded into curls down her back. She wanted to keep the meeting professional, so besides the light mascara and the golden brown eye shadow that enhanced her deep brown eyes her bandage dress had sleeves and a popped collar.
Charlie knew she looked seductive, almost edible; sex on stilettos was what Corisi called her. A woman needed to use her advantages in this male-populated business. Plus, having Alexandra Corisi lusting after her was the only way she would stay alive, be protected, and last in this game. Alexandra never handled this sort of business face to face. He had many deputies to do it for him. But when he heard of his new accountant – the sexy siren – he had come to get a glimpse of her himself. Her job was now her life and she had sacrificed the love of a good man to get here. She didn’t care what it took to get the job done at this point. She would have her day and the sweet taste of victory would come when she took the Corisi family down.
“Amore, how do you expect me to keep my hands to myself when you look so…” he hissed as he took in a deep breath, “so delicious.”
“I’m not a dessert, Corisi.” Her lips curved into a sly smile. The lord of the underworld liked his women nice and easy; that was why he discarded them soon after a short affair. She wanted to keep up the chase but she had to be smart about it. Getting him aggravated and worked up only to turn him down time and time again would only make him angry. And everyone who knew Alexandra Corisi knew he was dangerous when he was angry.
“Money on the table,” she ordered. “I have a busy schedule today, Corisi. You are not my only client.”
“I want to be.” He gave her a sly smile. “I want to own you exclusively.”
Alexandria Corisi was well over six feet tall; he had a heartbreaking smile and eyes that could lure the devil to the light, only to take his throne in the underworld. His jet black hair hung to his jaw, accentuating how strong he looked. His body was packed with muscle and he dressed to perfection in only the best. He commanded all the drug dens in the Washington State. Having conquered that world, Corisi had soon graduated to trading ammunition and nuclear weapons with terrorist cells in the country and internationally. That was why she was here.
She took a good look at him one more time, shaking her head at what a waste his beauty was. If he wasn’t the devil and if she wasn’t in love with someone else, Charlie might have cast her net in his direction.
“Let me guess, you want this to go to your charities,” she asked without looking up at him. His ‘charities’ were just shell organizations he used to launder his money.
He nodded. Alexandra pulled out a chair and sat across from her. He waved his men away and once they had left he leaned towards her. “I want you all to myself. Amore, I want you to be mine.”
“No one owns me.” Charlie leaned back in her chair and gave him a challenging gaze.
“Your eyes do things to me. It’s a temptation for me to come here and be so business-like with you, when all I want-”
“Corisi!” she barked, waning off his advances.
“The way you say my name, it makes my soul tremble.” A sly grin claimed his lips.
“I was not aware you had one.” Charlie stood up and walked towards the door, beckoning him to follow. “Corisi, I don’t mix my business with my personal life.”
“Then we don’t have to do business,” he offered as he stood and turned towards her.
Charlie panicked, regretting her last words. But she tried to recover from it. “There is no guarantee I’ll want to see you after our business is over.”
“Give me a few weeks to find a new accountant, then you and me, amore, we will be lovers.”
He tried to kiss her lips, but Charlie turned away, making him kiss her jaw. She pushed him out, shut the door behind him, and moved to the window. She watched as he and his men occupied three black range rovers and drove off.
“What the hell was that, Montgomery?” Charlie winced as the angry bellow pierced her eardrums.
“I’m sorry about that, Captain, but trust me on this one. There is no way Alexandra Corisi is going to let me slip away.” Charlie pulled her ear piece out when the man’s voice went from reprimanding to hysterical. She twisted the ring on her finger.
“The stress is going to kill him,” she mumbled as she thought of a new plan.
Charlie changed into a t-shirt and jeans that night. She wanted some time off from the tight clothes and insanely high shoes. Besides she had to meet her contacts. The task force on the Corisi family was wide. She wanted her boyfriend to join: that way he could keep an eye on her and she could have him close. But the captain disagreed, saying it would affect her judgments and work. This was her big break and she hoped the love of her life would understand.
But Charlie was relieved about one thing, her DCPD contact was married to one of the people her boyfriend, or ex-boyfriend, worked closely with. She would get the briefing about how he was doing from him. Once the meeting ended, she asked David to hang back for a while.
“Go ahead and ask,” David said as he took a swig of his beer.
“How is Jenny doing?” She was going to ease into it.
“Jenny is awesome. Morgan, however, isn’t doing that well.” David gave her a punishing look.
“I had to take this chance. If I had let it go, I wouldn’t have forgiven myself. Then what good would that be, for both of us?” she tried to convince him. She had used the same speech on herself countless times. It only managed to make her feel better for a couple of seconds.
“Keep telling yourself that.” He groaned when she winced in pain. It would have hurt less if David had just landed a punch squarely on her jaw. “It’s been a month. Give him another and he’ll be over you. He’s a good looking guy, he’ll rebound.”
“Don’t I know it?” Charlie took a sip of her beer then a gulp before she emptied the contents of the bottle. She wished she could get totally plastered, but she would end up calling Morgan and spilling her guts. Alexandra had moles in the Bureau, and although she knew Morgan wasn’t one of them, there was no telling who he would confide in. The next couple of days, weeks, months or years were now leased to Homeland Security. Until the day they put the whole Corisi clan in jail, she could do nothing.
“Morgan just doesn’t understand. When this is over he will, and he’ll probably forgive you.”
“Probably?” she asked with a bitter chuckle.
“Probably he will kick your ass first, I can guarantee that, but he’ll forgive you,” David said as he squeezed her hand reassuringly.
“Did you tell Jenny yet?”
“Nope, I can’t. The Captain threatened to take away my gun and badge and throw me in jail for treason,” he moaned.
“It’s going to be a lot worse when your wife finds out, especially since she has a license to carry a loaded weapon.” Charlie laughed. “She’ll just shoot you one night and profile you to be a mad man whose violence stemmed from the fact he wasn’t held enough as a child.”
“And that I snapped when she announced she was pregnant.”
“What?” Charlie asked in disbelief. She jumped off her chair and gave her companion a bear hug. “You finally did it. You finally knocked her up.”
“Did you doubt me?” he asked.
“For a minute there I did.”
“Don’t worry; my gun is loaded and ready to fire at will.” David laughed and Charlie found herself envying his happiness.
#
Charlie cursed herself when she heard that Corisi was shopping for a new accountant. There was nothing she could do as his mistress and plenty as his accountant. She was getting all his bank records and one day she knew he would trust her enough to give her the accounts to the terrorist cell. Then she would nail him, and go back to what she hoped were Morgan’s open arms. She sat behind her desk this time in a red suit. She wanted to look seductive, but businesslike; somehow she was going to keep Corisi’s business.
“Amore,” he called to her, his arms opened wide. But Charlie didn’t stand up. Instead, she felt a repulsive need to hurl boiling up from the pits of her stomach.
“What’s that in your hand?” she asked as she nodded at the foil wrap in his hand.
“It’s my balogna sandwich. A guy has to eat sometime.” He smiled.
“Throw it out the door, the smell is making me nauseous,” she barked out as she pulled out his ledger book.
“You seem in a foul mood today.” She almost laughed at the concerned look on his face. “What is it, my love?”
“You are ruining my business, Corisi,” she snipped. “Word on the street is that you’re looking for a new man for your books. My other clients are getting skittish and threatening to leave me. I won’t let you ruin my business, Corisi. I have worked long and hard to get to where I am.”
“I want you in my bed more than I want you handling my business.” He took a seat and leaned back in the chair. “So what if you lose a few clients.”
Charlie pulled out her gun and walked over to where Corisi sat. She saw his men move forward but she knew they wouldn’t hurt her, not without his say so. Alexandra’s look of intrigue and amusement told her he had other things in mind. Charlie stood before him, leaned to grab the chair right in between his legs, and pulled it towards her. She craned her neck and saw his bodyguards take a step towards them. Alex raised his finger, stopping them from approaching any further.
The barrel of her gun pushed against the pulse point in his neck. “Listen to me, you bastard, I will kill you first. Believe me when I say spilling a little blood for all the money I get doesn’t keep me awake at night. I’ll kill you then get your brother to do business with me. Neither of us will miss you or your pretty face.”
“My brother would never betray me.” Alexandra leaned into the gun, making it push against his skin deeper. Charlie could see the desire burn deep in his eyes. The disgusting bastard was getting off on her threat.
Charlie raised her foot and settled it where her hand was, exposing the luxurious flesh of her thigh. She leaned closer to him and put a kiss on his lips as she watched how his eyes looked hungrily at her. “You want to bet?” She straightened and pushed his chair back with her foot.
“You are not going to resist me forever, bon bon,” he said in a hiss.
“That’s what they all say,” she said as she took a seat. “Money on the table, boys.”
#
Charlie could feel her head start to spin. The morning sickness was beginning to wear her down. She paced back and forth as the alarm notified her that her three minutes were up. She was nervous, she didn’t want to know and yet this eddy excitement danced in her womb.
“Shit!” she cursed. Taking out her secure line she called the only person she knew would help. “Daddy, I’m in trouble.”
