One Last Chance (Complete Series Box Set) Read online

  “Are you going to get it?”

  Mariss was looking at me with the insanity look again and I smiled, telling her that I was just fine. I didn’t want to tell her that obviously I was losing my mind. I think she would have accepted that more than the truth.

  “No, I think I’m going to keep going through my bills. Do you want to get it? It’s probably for you anyways.”

  I felt bad leaving her to answer it, but I was frozen in place and would have just waited for whoever it was to leave instead of finding out. I was that freaked out, even though if they were here to ‘get’ me, I’m sure they wouldn’t have knocked. But that was rational thought and I didn’t have much of that going on at the moment.

  “I’m not here by the way.”

  I hoped that was enough to say and I waited, straining my ears to hear who it was. I couldn’t discern the muffled conversation, but it seemed as if everything was okay. No one was looking for me.

  Then Mariss came in. “Um Danny, I think you might want to come out here and see who it is.”

  My heart was beating hard in my chest as I got up and made my way to the door. I was sure that this was going to be those guys, here to take me away, but to where and for what was still a mystery.

  “Mack, what are you doing here?”

  “I missed a few calls and I wanted to come see how you were. I missed you.”

  I hadn’t heard from him in several days and now he was here in front of me all of a sudden. I wasn’t dressed for it and I looked down at myself. I looked at mess and I tried to hide myself a little bit behind the door.

  “I didn’t know you were coming Mack. I would have done something with myself.”

  He told me that it wasn’t necessary.

  “Do you want to come in?”

  “No, I was hoping that we could go out.”

  “I have work tomorrow and I can’t stay gone all night again.”

  He chuckled and told me that he would have me home at a decent time. Mack had something on his mind, but he wasn’t spilling it and I was going to have to work for the answers apparently.

  After all this time with him not answering his phone, I had told myself that when I saw him again I was going to give him a talking to. I didn’t appreciate how he had left me hanging like he did, but now I was just feeling all fluttery, hoping that he was going to put his hands on me again. I was so embarrassed of that feeling and hope. How weak was I really? When it came to Mack, I didn’t like the answer all that much.

  “Of course, come in. I just don’t know what to say. I thought you had taken off and I wouldn’t see you again.”

  “It wasn’t that way at all. I just had some business to attend to.”

  “Well let me get my coat and something else on. I will be back out in a few minutes.”

  “Will do”, he hollered behind me and I tried to slow my heart. Why did I get so worked up every time I was around him? It didn’t make sense, but nothing with Mack ever did.

  For a time, anticipating us seeing each other, I forgot all about the dark cars and the men in suits calling out my name. I was only focused on Mack and the attraction that was palpable between us.

  Mack

  I came to see Danny because I missed her, but also to see if she had been contacted at all. I’d already got a phone call from a family member. I wanted to see if Danny had been dragged into it or not, but by the way she was acting, I didn’t think she had.

  “So has anything interesting or strange happened in the last couple of days?”

  She looked at me with a bit of confusion and that was as good of an answer as I was getting. She would have instantly known what I was talking about, but she seemed to be pretty zoned out. We’d just made love again, this time in the back of the car and she was still in her happy place. This was the time to ask her anything and I really thought that I was going to find out one way or another. She didn’t seem to know anything though and let me play with her hair.

  I’d been satisfied several times, but still I didn’t want to leave her. I wasn’t the type to stay the night with a woman, it was against one of many rules that dictated my love life after she left, but now I knew that I wanted that to change.

  “Why don’t I stay the night with you Danny?”

  She smiled at me and then disagreed. “No way Mack. I’m sorry, but if you stay the night, we both know that I’m not going to get any sleep and I can’t go into work dragging ass like I did last time. Not twice in a week anyways. I will get in trouble.”

  I wanted to tell her that her job brought home peanuts from what she told me and she didn’t need to work anymore. I wanted to take care of her and even with everything up in the air, I knew that I still wanted to be with her.

  “Are you turning me down Danny?”

  I was a bit incredulous because I couldn’t remember a time when she had told me no. Just the one time when she had taken off and to be fair, I didn’t technically ask her to stay. I wanted her to, truly, but I had too much pride back then. It appeared that it wasn’t too big of a problem anymore.

  “No, I said yes to you many times tonight, but it’s late and you promised that I would be home at a decent time.”

  I looked out the car window and gestured to her house. “This is a decent time and you are home. I have done what I said I was going to do. But I don’t want this to end, so I was hoping that maybe you would want to keep the party going a little bit longer.”

  My voice was sounding a little desperate and I didn’t like the sound of it one bit. I wanted to just grab her up, haul her in the house caveman style and remind her who was in charge. I liked to think it was me, but Danny was making it clear that everything was the same as before.

  She leaned in for a kiss on the cheek and I pulled her in for a proper one.

  “I don’t know when I will be able to see you again Danny. I have a lot going on right now, but don’t think for a second it is because I don’t want to be with you. I do. Just know that I will call you and see you as soon as I can.”

  “Is something going on?”

  Now I had her attention and she looked concerned.

  “No, nothing to worry about. I just don’t want you thinking that I don’t want you. Don’t ever think that because I’ve never stopped wanting you.”

  “Now you make it so I don’t want to leave.”

  I gave her another kiss and asked her to stay. She looked like she was going to go along with it, but then she stopped and shook her head like she was trying to shake me out of it. I thought to give her good luck, because I had been trying to do the same with her and I hadn’t gotten very far at all with it.

  I watched her walk up to her door and then go in. The light went on in the foyer as she moved into her house. I wanted to go in behind her, take what I wanted and in truth needed from her, but I was not in the right position to do so.

  I knew that it was not the time to bring Danny back into my life. But it also wasn’t the time to press pause either. I don’t know if I could. I was going to have to figure something out soon, but for now I was going to take every chance I could to see Danny, no matter the risk. It was selfish, maybe, but I didn’t care. I didn’t want to walk away again. I’d done it once before and I didn’t want to do it again.

  “Take me to the meeting place. Tony is going to be happy with the price I was able to get for him. I will get my cut and then we will be on our way. I think I will be staying in the city tonight. It’s going to be too late to drive back and I don’t think she will entertain me again tonight.”

  I was talking more to myself, but I had that smile on my face. Danny was just as amazing as she had been before. She was the kind of girl that I was always asking myself how I deserved her. I’d been with all types, but Danny was the only real one that I’d ever known. I knew at some point, I was going to have to be just as real with her, no matter how hard it was going to be and how much she wasn’t going to want to hear it.

  We rode in silence as we pulled up twenty mi
les away on the river bank. This time it was open water he wanted to meet at, his paranoia up since I saw him last. I wanted to tell him that everything was okay, but like him, I could feel a change in the air. Maybe he was right. I did need to take some time off and enjoy the proceeds of all of my hard work. It’d been a long time since I was interested in anything beyond making money and making deals. I wanted to run away with Danny and the sooner I got everything wrapped up, the sooner I could do just that.

  All I had to do was get through this meeting and then I could move on to greener pastures and a little time off. I certainly had the money to take a break and with the cops onto me, it was best that I moved on from my current occupation for a while. It wasn’t the first time that I had to disappear for a while until it calmed down.

  Danny

  When I got in, everything seemed to be okay. I already missed Mack and I was tempted to call him back out and see if he wanted to stay the night. I knew that I would stay up all night and drag ass all day, but maybe it was worth it. My hand was on the knob of the door, about to go out before he left and I heard my name being said behind me in the dark living room.

  I jumped literally and screamed a little bit. It was all that I could do because I was frozen in place in fear. I had enough wherewithal to turn the light on and the foyer flooded with light as a result. Where was Mariss? Who were these guys?

  “Don’t think about going back outside Danielle. It wouldn’t be good for you because the deal we are going to offer you only stands for this moment. If you walk away, it’s off the table.”

  I had no idea what the hell this guy was talking about, but he kept saying we and I finally caught sight of the man that was coming up from the side of me that I hadn’t seen before. Now I was even more nervous, but I wanted to know what was going on. My curiosity was stronger than fear and I asked them that very thing.

  “Who are you?”

  “We are with the FBI Ma’am.”

  “I need to see some kind of ID or something. Even if you are who you say you are, you can’t just come in here like this while I’m away. It’s illegal. You’re not supposed to be here.”

  The man that was standing beside me agreed. “You’re right. I’m not supposed to be here because my bosses are convinced that you’re in on it with your old boyfriend. I like to think that you were put into a bad position and you don’t know anything about it. I assured them that I would get you on board and give you immunity so a pretty little girl like you doesn’t have to find out how rough prison is for princesses like you.”

  I was shocked and still a bit confused. It was obvious that I was being threatened, but I wasn’t sure what exactly he was threatening. It seemed like there was more to the story.

  “I don’t know what you think I’ve done, but I have done nothing wrong. Me and Mack just started talking again and I don’t see how this has anything to do with him. What has he done?”

  It wasn’t a question of them having the wrong guy. If they said that Mack was doing something illegal, I had to believe it because I knew him well and he really never was to worry about the legalities of everything. He was far more worried about getting what he wanted out of life and from the looks of things; he had done very well in that department. I still wondered how and it felt like I was finally going to get a straight answer about it.

  “Mack is in the business of receiving and selling stolen goods.”

  My mind went to stereos and televisions, but the detective informed me that it was rare photography and paintings, antiques, anything worth a lot, he sold. It made sense what he had said earlier about what he did for a living. I had known that he was doing something illegal and I had to know by his possessions and money that he had done well. I just couldn’t believe that the FBI was in my house asking about him. I hadn’t seen this coming and I was afraid for myself, but also for Mack. I didn’t want anything to happen to him.

  “Are you sure that you have the right person? That doesn’t sound like something Mack would do.”

  I was assured by detective Brock that it was Mack that they were looking for and he showed some pictures of me and Mack getting off the plane in New Orleans. There was another picture from just a little while ago, as well as a couple that showed more than I would have liked.

  “You’ve been following us? Isn’t that against the law?”

  Detective Brock just smiled and I had the feeling that even if it was illegal, it wouldn’t have stopped him from doing what he was doing. Now the dark vehicles with tinted windows lurking around made sense. I wondered then if Mack knew about this. He had seemed strange today in the beginning, but he had relaxed quickly so I hadn’t thought anymore about it. Now I wondered what all he knew about this. If he did know what was going on, why hadn’t he warned me?

  They told me some of his major dealings, trying to convince me that Mack was a bad guy. I didn’t say it out loud, but the fact of the matter was that I knew him better than these two did and I knew what kind of a man he was. Maybe he wasn’t making the best decisions, I couldn’t argue that, at the same time he wasn’t hurting anyone. It was rich things being taken from rich people. It wasn’t like…who was I kidding, Mack was a criminal.

  “Well as I said before detective. I don’t know what this has to do with me because I didn’t know anything about it and I’m not sure that I believe you. That doesn’t sound like the man I’ve known for all these years.”

  “I assure you that it is. People change and like you said, you haven’t seen him in ten years. You just recently got back together with him. Don’t you wonder where he gets his money from?”

  I had of course wondered that very thing, but it was another thing that wasn’t to be said out loud. I wasn’t here to add any more fuel to the fire. I wanted out of the situation.

  “So what do you want from me? Why are you here, lurking in my house in the middle of the night?”

  “We want you to wear a wire and catch Mack admitting what he does and any specifics you can about any paintings that he has sold recently.”

  I wasn’t sure that I heard them right, but I didn’t want them to repeat, just in case it was true.

  “I don’t see him that much and I don’t know when I’m going to see him again.”

  “Oh, he’ll come back for you Danny. All you have to do is record it when you see him next, get him to confess his crimes to you on record and then you’ll be off the hook and we won’t have to tell your employer that you’re being investigated. It wouldn’t look good for a school teacher, don’t you agree?

  I sighed and shook my head. “No, I guess that it wouldn’t.”

  Now I wasn’t confused, the two detective’s threats were quite clear. I was going to have to cooperate or they were going to make my life even more complicated than it already was.

  Mack

  It had been a crazy week and I’d found out the information that I was looking for, even if in the end I didn’t actually want to know about it. It wasn’t good news and I would have rather been out of the loop a little bit more.

  My worst fears were realized and instead of it being local or state cops that were looking for me, it was the feds. I moved around a lot and I made sure to never do too much work anywhere, especially at home. The deal with Tony was one that I had done because it was quick and too easy money to say no to. That was my problem half of the time, I couldn’t say no to a good opportunity. I could see them coming and I wanted to take advantage of them. This usually ended up meaning that I was going to have to go away for a bit.

  I should have been worried about my freedom. That was what was in jeopardy, as well as some of my money. I always had enough put up for a rainy day, so really my only true worry was what was going to happen with Danny. She hadn’t been brought into it yet, but that didn’t mean that if we kept seeing each other it wouldn’t happen that way. I knew that eventually they would come for her and try to use her against me. I had to be the one to tell her first, though I didn’t want to and I didn’t know
how. I’d never confessed my sins before.

  It was a hard pill to swallow, but one that I had to come to grips with. I was going to have to leave and the straight-laced woman was not going to go along with it. I had a feeling that if she knew what I did for a living and how I made my money, she wouldn’t talk to me. She was always on the right side of the law and even when I tried, I found myself falling back to the bad side. It just seemed to be where I was supposed to be, no matter how much I tried to do the right thing. The downward slide was inevitable for me. It wasn’t that way with Danny. She always did the right thing.

  So I decided that I had to see her. Danny and I had a lot to talk about and the longer I put it off, the more dangerous it was all going to become. I had to get out of here quickly and she was either going to have to come with me or not. Either way, whatever happened, it had to happen soon.

  I tried calling her on one of my burner phones and she didn’t answer. I reasoned that maybe she didn’t know who it was and that’s why she wasn’t answering. I didn’t like to use my regular phone all that much anymore because I was sure that it had a tap on it, but I risked it because I had to see her. I wanted her to meet me somewhere because I didn’t want to lead them back to her house. But none of this could happen if I didn’t get ahold of her and get a chance to talk to her in the first place.

  She didn’t answer the next five times I called her and I have to admit that I was getting a bit upset about it all. I don’t know if she was paying me back for not answering hers. But I’d told her what was going on with that. I thought she’d understood. Never did I think that the FBI had gotten to her. For one reason or another, it just wasn’t on my radar for some reason.

  Finally she picked up after I’d been calling for hours, but she sounded strange right off the bat. I don’t know what it was exactly, she didn’t really say anything, but Danny wasn’t acting like herself.