Page 88 of Perfect Vengeance

When the call ended, she stared at the phone. She couldn’t fix her own life, but she’d do everything in her power to fix Maria’s. Or at least hook her up with people who could.

She untied her robe and quickly dressed in slacks and a blouse. The more she thought about it, the more Maria’s call surprised her. From their brief encounter, she’d have pegged the woman as needing significant coaxing before leaving her husband. Kudos to you, Maria Falzone.

After tugging on a pair of low-heeled boots, she called Margo. There was no way she’d reach out to Jack for help, nor would she ever risk putting her friends in danger again. Still, wisdom dictated she inform someone what she was doing and where she was going.

“Morning,” Margo answered.

“You won’t believe who I’m on my way to pick up,” she replied without preamble. “Maria Falzone.”

“What?” Margo’s shock echoed in Gina’s ear.

“You heard me.” She grabbed her coat from the closet. “I’m just as surprised as you are. She wants help leaving Tino.”

“Is Jack with you?”

She flinched, mentally and physically. Hearing his name had the same effect as ripping a Band-Aid off a raw, bleeding wound. Her resolve nearly crumbled on the spot. “No. He’s out of the picture and I’m going alone.”

“What do you mean, he’s out of the picture?”

“We…” What, broke up? They’d never even dated, so how in the world had he made her fall in love with him? Who was she kidding? He hadn’t made her fall in love. She’d taken that leap all by herself. Naive fool that she was. “Whatever we had, it’s over. I’ll fill you in later.”

“Okay, but you still can’t meet her alone,” Margo insisted. “It’s too dangerous. Annabelle and I will go with you.”

She opened her mouth to give Margo the location at the park where she was meeting Maria but stopped.

These women really were her family. They hadn’t abandoned her after she’d told them everything, and they weren’t abandoning her now. All the more reason why she couldn’t accept their help. There was no way she’d put any of them in front of a speeding bullet again. This was a dangerous situation she’d created, and she alone would clean it up.

Gina shook her head. “No. This is something I have to do on my own.”

“No. It’s not!” A car door slammed. “I’m going to get Anna. Tell me where to meet you.”

She swallowed the lump in her throat.

“I’ll be fine.” At least she hoped she would be. “I’ll call you after I get Maria settled at the Center.”

“Gina wait⁠—”

She ended the call and took a deep breath. There was no point in dragging out the conversation. She was going alone, and that was that. Besides, there wasn’t much time, and she still had to contact Linda. With finality, she slammed her apartment door behind her and hastily made her way to the elevator bank.

There’d been no opportunity to save her father or her mother, but she’d give everything she had to make sure Maria Falzone at least stood a fighting chance.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Jack parked at the end of the curb at JFK’s Terminal 8. He tossed a placard on the dashboard, turning to see the other team of agents pulling up behind him and doing the same.

“You’ve been waiting a long time for this,” Smitty said, undoing his seat belt.

Jack fisted his fingers around the plastic cast, expecting to feel pain but didn’t. “Too long.”

He and Smitty met the other agents—Turner and Pandya—on the sidewalk. Dozens of cabs and private livery cars discharged passengers and their luggage. The sliding doors to the terminal opened and closed nonstop.

Jack had already texted Smitty and the other agents Danny Viggiani’s old arrest photo, taken when he’d been hauled in several years ago by the NYPD for selling cocaine—the charge Viggiani wanted to work off by cooperating. “The plan is simple. He’s waiting for us at Jo-Jo’s Café just outside the checkpoint. We go there, get him out to my vehicle ASAP, then take him straight to the US Attorney’s Office to make a statement. Any questions?” Smitty and the others shook their heads. “Let’s go.”

He led the way inside the terminal, heading to the checkpoint. Adrenaline surged through his system but not with the excitement or gratification he expected, because the moment was bittersweet. He’d lost Gina. There’d be time for whining later. Focusing on getting his witness to the federal prosecutor’s office—alive—was the priority.

With Smitty and the other agents directly behind him, he wove through the milling passengers, heading for the café dead ahead. Even as he tried pushing his last conversation with Gina from his head, he couldn’t. The more he thought about what he’d lost, the heavier the unsettled feeling surrounding his heart became. Although in truth, he’d never really had Gina. Their relationship was a supernova that had shined brightly for one fleeting, glorious moment, only to go completely dark the next and disappear without a trace. As if it had never been there in the first place. He still couldn’t believe how their lives had been intertwined all these years, and neither of them had a clue. Until today.

As they neared Jo-Jo’s Café, he spotted Viggiani at the bar. The similarities between what he was about to set in motion with Viggiani and what he’d done to Gina’s father bit deep into his conscience.