Billie Bossa Nova

9.

"Fine. I'll do it," he said. When Billie sought to thank him, he interrupted. "Under one condition."

Her eyebrows crossed. She scanned him up and down, looking for any dodgy demeanor that he could possess. "What's that?"

"My business is falling apart. I need to keep paying Isabella's family to keep her talking to me."

Billie sighed in slight relief. He wasn't asking for too much. "Money is not a problem-"

The lift of his hard hands told her to stop talking, the swift action a good indication that she should do so immediately. Her eyes drifted to the hand, then back at him. His scowl made it clear that she had said the wrong thing. And she hadn't the clue what it was.

"Miss, I have been building my empire for twenty-two years and have given nothing but my sweat into everything it is today. And in all my years, even when I was starting out and at my lowest, I have never, never..." He lifted his index finger for emphasis. His tone was heated, like a dragon when enraged. "...ever asked for free money. Believe that everything I have, I worked for with my own bloody hands."

Billie nodded. She humbled, pressing her lips together. "I'm sorry, sir."

Gibson dropped his hand from in front of her face and places both on his hips, letting out a breath. Seemingly, he was calming down from her former words. Billie stood, unmoving and not talking as he did so, waiting for him to say the next words. When he seemed to be over it, he spoke again with his eyebrows still crossed with the irritance that seemed to be taking its time to die down.

"This is a business proposal. I'm asking you to convince Kai Rivera to work with me. See, I'm a small time business man and I'd be damned if he even accepts a meeting with me."

"Oh," Billie said while her eyes looked at nothing in particular on the floor, but rather seeing her thoughts as they swished around in her head.

"Is that something you can do for me, Miss?" He asked this hopefully, like he knew that there was a possibility of refusal.

"I can speak with Mr. Rivera. Send him an email no sooner than this coming Wednesday, I'll make sure it reaches him. Leave everything else to me. I promise I'll get this done."

"Then we have a deal."

***

"You did what?!"

"It was mandatory. If I didn't tell him, he wouldn't have told me about Isabella," she said defensively. Though she hardly ever showed it, she feared Finneas' judgement and disapproval. Finneas was a perfectionist, this showing in all the field missions he took part in and assisted with. He was stern when it came to missions and she knew that any blunder from her part would have him mad with frustration and stress. A side of Finneas she didn't really enjoy seeing.

"No, it wasn't. We had an absolutely fool-proof plan on infiltrating Rivera's trafficking ring. What you just did could expose you and risk the entire mission and your life. Come on, Bil, you fucking know better than this. What if he's working with Rivera and trying to find agents who are spying on Adan?"

Her lips tightened. "I didn't think of that."

"That was exactly your mistake. You're suppose to consider these things before you jump into big decisions like this. What you did was risky and extremely impulsive." He gave her that I cannot believe you look, and she cringed internally. He dropped his face to his hands and pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index finger. She reluctantly allowed the silence to continue, partially in fear of saying anything. When she eventually spoke, it was with great caution.