With her new identity as Arya Cane, and a drive to prove everyone at her precinct wrong, Zeanna Mitchell takes on the case of taking down Adriano DeLuca.
With all the mixed feelings and new revelations, how far will Zeanna go to get the truth?
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"Miguel what's the big emergency?"
"We were able to track Valentino's delivery. They've already been sold and were in transit to Syracuse. We intercepted and the girls are downstairs getting cleaned up by the maids. One of the girls said that Valentino is in way deeper into the trafficking that we thought."
"Take me to her,"
Those poor innocent women don't deserve all the shit that Valentino and his men brought upon them. There's millions of ways in this world to make money yet he chooses to traffic women.
Valentino hadn't made my welcome very warm since I decided to do business in the states. We had an intense disagreement a few years ago and he's had it out for me ever since.
"She's in here," Miguel stopped at a door and moved to the side.
I walked to the door and knocked lightly. I was curious what Valentino was up to. He's a man who's never played fair. He was always a sneaky bastard and if this lady has any information, I'd gladly take it.
"Come in,"
I pushed the door and went inside the room. The girl looked so young and lifeless. She sat on the bed nervously picking at her fingers. I thought about how scared she must be right now, a strange man coming in her room ready to interrogate her. I decided to leave her alone for now. Give her some time to get comfortable.
As I turned on my heel to walk out I hear her small voice call out to me.
"Mr. Adriano?"
"Yes?" I faced her.
"T-thank you,"
"Just doing what's right..." I trailed off not knowing her name.
"Selena," She stated, I nodded.
"Selena, how old are you?"
"19,"
Hearing how young she was made my anger 10 times worse toward Valentino. I clenched my fist and turned to exit the room once again.
"Wa-wait, l-I need to say something."
I turned to her direction once again and waited patiently while she gathered her thoughts.
"It's a lot worse than what's on the surface," She looked so lost as she spoke. I moved over to the corner where there was a one seat sofa and sat down.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"The trafficking I mean. His events, his meetings, everything he does it a cover up for it. Drugs and guns used to be the used to be main operation but ever since he figured out how much money people are willing to pay f-for us, he changed his entire operations to focus on that. Mr. Adriano there are so many women, even some much younger than me."
"How do you know so much?"
"He k-kept me close, I was his personal girl until he got tired of me and sold me off."
A silence fell over the room as I processed the information that was just given to me. I hadn't realized how deep into this shit Valentino was.
"We knew about you," The corners of her lips slightly lifted. "He often talked about you, the man who was rescuing us and putting a dent in his operation. You've cost him quite a lot of money, he would always throw temper tantrums whenever he heard you had stopped a transaction. This gave us hope, because we knew someone was out there who cared enough to help. But be warned, the last few days that I was with him, he was scheming to take you down. He wants to kill you, so you need to be careful."
"The bastard can try," I stood up and dusted the dust particles off my suit. "Thank you for the information Selena. You, along with those other women don't deserve any of this and I won't stop until Valentino and his operation is dead. In a few days you'll be to be with your family again, you'll have a guard by your side until you're comfortable being without one. Miguel will be giving you a prepaid card with some money, use that to pay for any expenses you may have, clothes, food, or therapy."
I was about to make my way out of the room when I saw her dash from the bed to hug me. My body stiffened at the foreign act. I stood there letting her get her comfort.
"Thank you, I owe you my life. Thank you for helping us." She teared up.
Once she pulled away I nodded and made my way to my office. All this new information about Valentino was enough to ruin my day. I need to have a meeting with my men, I need to figure how accurate this information was, and if it was, we need to move accordingly.
"What's got your panties in a twist?" My right hand and close friend Lucio asked as he stood at the doorway of my office.
"Valentino,"
"Say the word and I'll have him dead in less than a week."
"Lucio, you know how foolish that is? Kill him and all those women die. We need to get someone on the inside, we need names of the buyers, warehouse locations, events and any other shit that bastard is hiding." I ran my hands down my face. "Once we get that, we can move silently to infiltrate his operation, make sure the women are safe and kill Valentino and his goons."
"Sounds like a plan," Lucio played with the ratchet knife in his hand.
"Tell everyone there's a meeting tomorrow morning early, 6am. I need to go over a few things with you guys."
"Why can't you do it now, you don't look busy to me. Unless you count running your hand through your hair every 10 seconds."
"Because I need coffee," I stood up and walked past him without another word.
I really didn't need any coffee but I needed an excuse to see the beauty I met yesterday. Arya was mystery. A beautiful mystery. I'm never this intrigued by anyone I've ever met but it's something I'm willing to entertain.
I got in my Range Rover and headed towards the little coffee shop that I've been going to everyday since I've moved here.
Upon entering, my eyes immediately went to the cashier, but to my disappointment Arya wasn't there. My eyes swept the room but she wasn't here at all.
"Adriano, your usual?" Camilla asked once I got to the counter.
"Yes,"
"What's up with you?" She asked.
"Just work stuff,"
"And the fact that Arya isn't here today," I hear Karla's amused voice next to me.
"Good afternoon to you too Karla." I greeted her.
"You have the hots for Arya?" Camilla asked.
"I don't have the hots for anyone,"
"Could've fooled me. Your eyes didn't leave her once yesterday and you're in earlier than usual. I saw you walk in here and how you looked when you saw Camilla instead of Arya at the register."
"I think she's beautiful, doesn't mean I'm gonna ask her to marry me. You two need to behave."
"I'm not saying nothing," Karla raised her hands up in self defense.
"You said a lot," I joked with her.
"I don't blame you, she's hot." Camilla butted in.
"So, I am losing you," Lucas yelled from the kitchen.
"Oh hush, Camilla has never looked at anyone the way she looks at you."
"True," I agreed.
"Here's your coffee, and fyi she won't be in until Tuesday." I nodded before bidding everyone farewell and going about the rest of my day.
I was a little disappointed I didn't get to see her but I guess that was for the best. I needed to focus on running my own operations and helping those women. The fact that she had me this intrigued and we barely held a conversation shows that she would be a big distraction but it was one I'm willing to welcome.
