She was parked across the street with a newspaper in front of her; giving the appearance she was enjoying the breeze. Fortunately, the meeting place was outside of a restaurant and river walk; as a result, there were a lot of people around.
She held her breath when the clock turned to one. She looked around for any signs of John. A moment later, a man casually sat at a table outside of the restaurant with a hat and sunglasses on. Fuck, it looked like him, but she couldn’t be sure. She stared at the picture again, then at the man at the table. She focused on the nose and mouth. They looked the same. It had to be him. The next moment, another man joined him. The discussion seemed serious.
She dialed Mitchell’s number. “I see him.” Ria gave him the address.
“We’re sending someone now. He’ll be there in twenty minutes. Don’t let him out of your sight,” Mitchell commanded. “If he leaves, follow him. You’ll receive a phone call in twenty minutes to confirm location.” With that, Mitchell hung up without giving her a chance to respond.
Ria watched the two men. Their body language made it appear it was two friends catching up, but she knew there was more to their conversation. All she could do was hope John stayed there until the collector arrived
About ten minutes later, she watched John casually hand a small case to the other man. They shook hands and went in separate directions.
Ria watched John walk away, unsure if he’d walked or driven. She didn’t know if she should walk a distance behind him, or follow in her car in case he was on the way to his. She decided she felt safer in the car.
She started it and slowly pulled out, keeping up with John. As he kept walking past all the cars, she assumed he’d walked from wherever he may have come from. She was getting anxious because she knew she would have to speed up once cars started backing up behind her.
She looked at the time. They should be calling in the next few minutes. She decided to park and walk.
She jerked her car over into a space on the side of the road and quickly got out.
Her phone finally rang, and she quickly answered it with a shaky hello.
“Location,” was all she heard on the other end.
Ria looked up to see the name of the street. “Waterway and Wilson.”
Her phone went silent. She looked at it to see what had happened and realized the man had hung up on her.
Ria didn’t know what to do now. All she recalled was Mitchell telling her not to allow him out of her sight, so she continued to follow until a sedan with darkly tinted windows pulled up next to John. The next thing she knew, he was getting pulled into the vehicle and the car was speeding away.
She stared in shock. Not one person had seen what happened. She started having second thoughts. She didn’t want to be a part of this. She wanted to cry at what she had just done.
John made the decision to steal the money and knew the consequences. If she hadn’t found him, someone else would have, she kept telling herself over and over.
She walked to her car and headed back to the apartment. Mitchell said the next file would be delivered to her. All she could do was wait.
* * *
“You look like hell,” Emiliano snapped.
It took everything she had not to tell him what she thought of him. She had glanced at the mirror in her bathroom before she had been summoned from her apartment and had to agree. She was tired and stressed.
“I haven’t been feeling well,” Ria told him. She was telling the truth. She had been sick at herself for turning someone over to the cartel.
“I have an image to maintain. Go fix your face.” His unsympathetic look had her turning on her heel and leaving his office.
Mitchell had called over an hour ago to tell her to be here and to dress appropriately. She had chosen a purple dress that was deceptively demure, but the way it clung to her body wasn’t. She had hoped she wouldn’t have to attend anymore of Emiliano’s parties. She was doing everything he asked and so was Nicholas.
She went into the spare bedroom she had been shown the first time she had to attend one of his get-togethers. Thankfully, it was empty; the other women must already be at the party.
She quickly fixed her face, adding blush then concealer to hide the dark circles under her eyes. Taking a steadying breath, she went out, going down the long hallway to a room with double doors where she felt Mitchell’s eyes go over her body critically before opening the door.
The large room had been lavishly decorated, sparing no expense to show Emiliano’s wealth and power. It was filled with six men and eleven women. The men had paid to be here with Emiliano as their host. Sometimes, they stayed anywhere from a night to as long as a week. During that time, he kept them entertained with a private, safe place to use his drugs and the women. The guests were allowed to choose the woman they wanted, more if they were willing to pay extra. She was only forced to attend when one of the guests wanted to go to a fight. She was never expected to go upstairs .