Chasing Stars - A Midnight Mafia Novel

Chapter Eight

Day Seven

Arriving at the restaurant I hesitated once again. I knew driving the Lexus Alessio could very well know exactly where I was. Even though I had given Nash my answer, he still insisted we meet to go over things one last time.

I got out of the car and walked into the Chinese place once again. Last time I had been here Nash had showed up, cuffed me, and dragged me away. And today? Today I was walking in. I was hanging my own noose today. Should I get caught, it was all over.

Nash was in the same seat as he had been the last time we were here. I was grateful to see the table was looking rather squid free today.

He smiled when he saw me and waved slightly. "I'm glad you came."

"I told you I would." I sat down and we fell into silence as a waitress set two cups of soda in front of us.

"I hope you don't mind, I ordered our drinks already."

"As long as you didn't order me a squid again."

He chuckled. "So, you're sure about this?"

My, the mood at the table shifted quickly. "I'm sure." I nodded slowly.

Nash nodded knowingly. "You know Kate, I won't ask you again."

"I know."

He leaned back in his seat. He looked disappointed and I felt a little bad. But only a little.

"I'm sorry Nash. I knew who he was when I met him, I chose to accept him. It would be cruel of me to decide later that he wasn't what I wanted. After all this time? Three years and all of the sudden I don't love him because he is who he has always been? I can't do it Nash, I love him. I tried, I tried so hard to look at him as some sort of villain but I couldn't."

Nash was quiet for a few moments as he watched me. Finally he looked away and down. He pulled several manila folders out of a leather bag beside him.

I frowned. "You know, every time Alessio hands me a folder like that it's filled with bad news or incriminating pictures."

He smiled apologetically.

"Oh great, you too?" I groaned and slumped back in my seat.

He spread the folders out on the table. "This one here, this is full of files of mobsters who have been killed. Some who worked for Alessio, some who worked against." He slid the first folder over to me. "This one here, these are files upon files of men and women who have overdosed and lived to tell the tale on who their supplier is, I'll give you a guess." He slid the next folder to me. "These, these are the records of those who over dosed and didn't live to tell the tale."

"So you can't link them to Alessio." I said sharply as the folder was pushed towards me.

"No, I cannot. But it's a good indicator of drug use and the relations to all the mafia families." He hesitated at the next folder and then pushed it over slowly. "These are missing person's report with your Alessio's men as the leading suspect." He hesitated even longer at the next folder. "These here are assault victims. Both physical, and sexual." He pushed the folder over to me, and then tapped a few times on the last remaining folder. "And this? This is a folder of men and woman, all ages, who have been murdered by your Alessio's men. These men and women have no known ties to the mafia, meaning of course that they were simply innocents." He pushed the last folder to me.