“They are trying to trap you,” he says. “Trust me, you don’t answer anything that David tells you not to.”
“Okay,” I say to him, and he kisses me. I turn to look at the agents. “I guess I’m not answering that question.”
“Did you know anyone with the name Sorrento?” the agent asks, and I just wait for the rest of the question, but instead, he opens a folder and takes out a picture and hands it to me. I grab it and look down at it.
“No.” I hand it back to him.
“Are you sure?” he asks, and I laugh.
“Do you think I want to protect Dominic?” I ask him, and then look at all of the agents. “Do you think after everything he’s done to me, I want to lie for him?” I laugh now bitterly. “This man did nothing for me, nothing. Instead, he threw me into a cage with wolves ready to pounce on me. So to answer any of your questions, and just so we’re clear. I don’t know who that man is.”
The agents share a look, and then one leans forward. “We are going to want you to wear a wire when you go see him.”
“Everything will be recorded anyway through the phone, but just in case, we want to make sure.”
“Fine,” I say to them, and then I ask them. “Will I be face-to-face with him?” My heart starts to speed up just a touch at the thought of seeing him after everything.
“No,” Casey says from beside me. “It’s through a bulletproof glass with guards on his side.” He looks at the agents. “That’s not even up for a debate, or there is no fucking way she goes in there.”
“We wouldn’t put her in danger,” Special Agent Duchene says. “We land in an hour and a half.”
“Thank you, gentlemen. I have sent over the document for you to sign on behalf of my client. She doesn’t walk in there unless the terms are agreed on,” David says and then hangs up.
I look over at Casey. “Can we go straight home after this?” I ask him, and I’m about to kick myself when I say home. “I mean, can we can go back to the farm after this?”
He looks at me. “We’ll go home after this.”
I look out the window, and for the rest of the flight, I try to calm myself down. But when I step foot in Los Angeles, my feet itch to run back on the plane and leave. I look down the whole time, hoping no one sees the tears in my eyes. It’s then I finally realize I can never come back here. I don’t have time to overthink it because when I finally sit in the car, Casey takes my hand in his and brings it to his lips. “The plane is on standby whenever we are ready.” I don’t answer him. I can’t, there is so much going through me right now I have no idea what I would say. So instead, I just nod.
When the car comes to a stop, my stomach lurches, and my hands get clammy. When I step foot out of the car, the sun’s heat doesn’t help the coldness that now runs through me. I walk with my hand in Casey’s as we walk toward a gate that opens when the six of us stand there. The clinking of chain links makes me look up to see the tower with guards in it, and then my eyes find the barbed wire on the top of it. We walk in, and each of us sign in. We walk through the metal detector. Everything around me happens with a blur. We walk into an office, and a female officer is there, and she hooks me up to a wire that is taped under my shirt.
“He’s ready for you,” the agent says, and I try not to vomit all over the place. The nerves are real. “We need him to say that he put that money there.” He goes on to say other things, but the beating of my heart blocks out his voice.
Casey looks like he’s going to jump out of his skin. “If at any time you want out, I want you to get up and walk out,” he says, his eyes clouded over. “Do you hear me, darlin’?”
I nod at him and turn to walk out of the room. I don’t say anything as we walk down the concrete hallway, and the door at the end opens, and I walk into the dimly lit room. Eight chairs in a row face the glass separator with a wall on each side to give you some semblance of privacy.
“Number two,” the guard says to me, and I walk down and sit on the metal chair and wait. The seconds feel like hours. The minutes like years and then I hear the click of the metal door on the other side, and it opens. I see Dominic before he sees me. His hands and feet are shackled together, the guard pointing down. He smirks at him and walks down, and the minute he sees me, his face goes white. “What’s the matter, Dominic? Wasn’t expecting me?” I ask him, hoping that he is just as nervous as I am to see me.