Eros: A Game Of Wits (A Mafia Novel)

20. The Truth In The Act

She couldn't believe her ears. She felt like walloping her stupid, worthless head against the wall then bashing it with a hammer for good measure. Is it possible that she was this foolish to lead a criminal to her house?

This could be the end of her. She was worthy of her own demise; she was moronic enough to guide herself into this mess. She came rushing into his life like a cat in front of a car's running tires; she was helpless, she won't be able to run now. She won't be able to unhinge herself from him if he has any say to it.

His demeanor confounded her though.... If he is really who they say he is, then why hasn't he harmed her yet?

She knew he was disreputable from the very start, but no assumption could outdo the reality. The police don't seem to know much about him. They didn't even have a resent photo of his face to match, which is kind of suspicious on their part. The fact that there could be corrupt cops involved disturbed her further. Jason himself said that the reporters were controlled by the police and the police was controlled by Angelo. Could there be some truth to his words?

She knew now more than ever that he had misinformed her about a couple of things and that did not make it alright. She was aware that after today it will be different. It does not matter whether he lies further or not. Even the most simple of truths expressed will always have the doubt in her mind after tonight, after all a single lie found, is enough to benefit the doubt in every truth expressed.

Then it was Jason's 'friends'. Now she understood the connection between the four, seemingly unrelated, men; they were his henchmen. The day they were out? They could be checking the place? He said he was at the café to make a deal for a sell. Now she finally realized what was that he was selling; firearms... and Angelo was the buyer. But why did the man attempted to kill Jason? Most importantly, why doesn't anyone point fingers at Angelo?

Jason hadn't completely deluded her about his identity, but why did he risk her finding out about him? Just the slightest insinuation of him being the one they accuse him to be is enough for her to refuse to put any trust in him again. She was petrified of the mere thought. All this time, she was nothing but a lamp thrown in a cage full of hungry alligators.

The girl turned to Molly who was still glued on the screen, blindly observing the pictures shown. "Molly..." The said woman turned to face the girl whose eyes had turned to circles. "Who is Jason Noveli?"

The woman looked at her confused by her question but then chuckled a bit. "Oh... he's actually the son of a famous Godfather who, back in his day, was notoriously famous for running his drug cartel all over North and South America and was also concerning himself with human trafficking, I believe." She informed matter-of-factly.

Florence could feel her heart sink, her throat drying and she soon began gulping all but forcing her saliva down her throat.

"What is human trafficking?" They had actually forgotten about the little ones that were actually listening in on their conversation.

Florence cleared her throat awkwardly at Braxton's question but it was his mother that spoke. "Now, now... why don't you take Allie and go play upstairs? I'll explain later." Molly said kissing her son on his temple. He nodded and took his little sister by the hand to go and play upstairs.

Florence flicked her tongue out wetting her lips, deciding to disregard the awkward exchange with the kids. "And... his son..." she flicked an eyebrow, "...does he still run his father's business?"

The lady scratched her chin. "Erm... Jason Noveli is known for being an arms dealer and is very well considered in Las Vegas for owning a Casino but no one knows which one is his. He was never seen to enter or leave any of them. I don't know how they know that. That's... all we know about him." she hesitated, "If he is really who they say he is then he's really good at hide and seek with the authorities."