Fortune Favors The Bold

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: LOYALTY IS RARE

Adonis frowned at his mobile phone ringing incessantly as soon as he was back home from the precinct. He was still recovering from the surprising fact that Alaya Petrov hadn’t exposed their weakness to the world. He’d gone there to expect the worst – waiting for his mother to crumble in his arms as her darkest and most shameful secret would be exposed to the world.

Instead, he’d come across dignified silence as the detective had secured his mother’s alibi, therefore exonerating her. Instead of relieved, Nora was discomfited and had practically avoided looking him in the eye for the first time. Their ia followed by a stony and awkward silence between mother and son.

Another first as Nora Fortune had never considered her affair as something immoral – her excuse had been that she was forced to live with a cheater husband and had every right to fall in love. She’d never considered the havoc she’d wreaked with her family, that her innocent son might become jaded with her selfishness.

But justified or not, it would have been terrible to live with that truth if the whole world found out about it. Adonis was very grateful that Alaya hadn’t exposed his shame to the world. He’d wanted to thank her personally but meeting her at the headquarters would have been suspicious. So, he’d steeled his heart and accompanied his mother back home, ignoring the conjectures and questions from the phalanx of reporters surrounding them.

Now that he was safe in his mansion, he should have been deeply relieved. Instead, he felt like his entire being was being questioned. Like his entire root was shaken. Loyalty was a novelty for him. He’d never known anyone to be faithful to him, without conditions. And that changed the dynamics of their equation.

So far, he’d been playing with her, like a cat would toy with a mouse, using that insane attraction between them as a weapon to railroad her. He also had the skills required to manipulate people into getting his way. However, he could not get past the fact that the detective had protected him without any coercion or misuse of his power.

Why had that damned woman retain the information? They both knew it would put her job in peril if she kept such a crucial development from the case. Would she be that stupid to jeopardize her career for him?

“What?” he barked to the unsuspecting Benjamin as he connected the call, his mind still pre-occupied with that unpredictable woman. “What’s so urgent? Is there any news after we left the precinct?”

He hadn’t meant to snap, but he despised not being able to forecast reactions from others. Alaya Petrov was a total enigma, and he wasn’t sure how he felt about her yet. It was obvious that the attraction between them was sizzling to a point where it would inexorably explode. But he hadn’t expected to admire her tenacity and determination.

“Our little lady is in trouble,” Benjamin replied back in his usual succinct emergency voice, and Adonis snapped to attention. It was only under extreme strenuous circumstances that his secretary used that brittle tone.

His heart lurched at the prospect of her being grilled for not having done her job properly. Only to save his family. And now was all her sacrifice futile? Had the captain suspected the affair all along and had managed to get the information from her? Fear gripped him as his worst nightmare materialized in his head for a nanosecond.

“What’s happening?” he asked crisply. “Has the news of the affair broken out?” Ben was of course one of the many few who knew about the relationship between his mother and uncle. Having been raised in the same household, it would have been nearly impossible to hide the truth from his best friend.

“What? No! Our secret’s safe for now, thanks to your lady friend. But someone told me that the FBI is pressurizing the Captain Gibbs to hand them the case since she’s making no progress with the case.”

“How bad is it?” he asked without preamble, mind already racing with the multiple ways to deal with the new situation.

“Real bad. They’re all in Gibbs’ office right now and the discussion seems pretty heavy. Think we’re going to have the FBI sniffing around, Ad.”

“Like hell!” he shouted angrily.

With one snap, Adonis disconnected the phone to grab his car keys once again. That he could fix. Being someone very influential would help make her stay on the case not to mention the fact that he was also the bereaved son.

For the second time within the hour, he drove back to the precinct and forced his way inside only to find the detective surrounded by a group of men in the Captain’s office. Without bothering to knock, Adonis surged inside like a force, and everyone in the room stopped to stare at him.

“Mr. Fortune?” Captain Gibbs asked with a frown. “Is something wrong? What can we do for you?”

“What’s going on here?” he asked arrogantly, sending a furtive glance in the detective’s direction who looked like she was really pissed. He had no idea whether it was with him or her own peers, but it hardly mattered.

“What do you mean?” one government agent queried, his black suit gleaming under the office light. “You’re not even supposed to be here.”

He casted a no-nonsense look in the man’s direction. “This is my father’s murder case we’re talking about. I reckon I have every damned right to know what’s going on right now. Did I mention that my father was a personal friend to the commissioner?”

It wasn’t a habit to use his connections to intimidate or overpower others, but desperate situations required desperate measures.

“Alright, Mr. Fortune,” Captain Gibbs capitulated easily.

“Please call me Adonis,’ he corrected easily, still keeping his hubristic approach as he closed the door behind him. He knew how to deal with that kind of men, uncertainty and doubts were never going to get through them. All he had to do was keep his blustering attitude to have a high bargaining power.

“So?” he probed nonchalantly. “What’s going on?”

“Well,” the FBI agent who seemed to be some high-profile officer responded with a touch of malevolence and sarcasm. “If you have to know, we’re thinking of replacing Miss Petrov here with one whole FBI department. The faster we resolve this mystery, the better.”

Adonis c****d his eyebrows haughtily at him, crossing his arms over his chest. A surreptitious glance towards the detective showed a discrete nod his way from her, an attempt to stop him from intervening in her defense. He clenched his jaw, but he wasn’t about to let those a-holes walk over her.

Mr. Big shot was apparently clueless of Adonis’s mood and kept piling on. “Normally, complicated cases like this should have been cracked within the first forty-eight hours. The more time we lose, the less likely we are to resolve this enigma and before you know it’s a cold case.”

“Alright,” Adonis agreed with a nod. “What you got?”

The man looked at him with a quizzical expression. “I’m sorry?”

Adonis shrugged. “The case has been going on for weeks. There’s everything you need to know in that file,” he gestured to the yellow folder marked in bold letters as FORTUNE MURDER CASE on the Captain’s desk. “So, do you have a lead. Mr.?”

“Hades. You can call me Hades,” the FBI agent responded with self-importance, extending a hand for a formal greeting. “Nice to meet you Mr. Fortune…I mean Adonis, under the circumstances.”

Adonis looked down at his hand in disgust but extended his own for a brief handshake to avoid any obvious animosity. Maintaining a façade of politeness was important before he drove the nail in the coffin. “So, Mr. Hades? Have you any lead on the case?”

“That’s exactly my point!” Hades beamed in agreement with Adonis like they were accomplices. “Three weeks on the case and still no lead. I have my most reliable intelligent officer here. Freddy J Kimble,” he indicated another tuxedo suited man at his side. “He will be the lead investigator along with his very efficient team,” Mr. Hades was announcing in an assertive voice which made it sound like a done deal.

What infuriated Adonis was that they were not even giving his detective the benefit of the doubt. His detective, duh! Right on cue, she seemed to draw herself out of her shell to speak.

“I can assure sir that I have been doing my best. I’ve pursued three leads but unfortunately, nothing had panned out yet. I have interrogated every member of the family, and I am working hard to make sure that the murderer is discovered soon enough. I know every detail of the case and taking it away from me now would only mean delay the investigations further.”

“I agree with her,” Adonis immediately prompted. “Delaying the investigation is out of question. Installing a new team will take time, and personally I think Miss Petrov has been doing a great job.” A great job at playing his own game and concealing the dark secrets of his scandalous family.

There was a jaw-dropping reaction from Hades which suggested incredulity. His next words confirmed his stance on the subject. “Surely you aren’t going to keep her on the case? I’ve never heard of anyone preferring a detective to the FBI!” Mr. Hades was duly outraged.

Adonis didn’t like the man at all, in fact with his red nose and pompous attitude, the FBI represented everything he most despised. Arrogance coupled with complete disregards to other’s feelings. That was definitely not someone he wanted to team up with to save his family.  man

“I’m not doubting your competence, Mr. Hades,” he delivered in a harsh but firm tone. He took a deep breath for more emphasis. “However, I most certainly believe that Miss Petrov is doing a great job. If you can give me at least one lead with all of her notes and ongoing investigation that she’d missed?”

The burly man flustered at his intended dig. “I am not saying that Miss Petrov is incompetent. I’m just saying that my men are better. I am sure they can come up with a new perspective with the case sooner than the local police.”

Adonis jerked his head to acknowledge his comment. “Well, the matter is resolved then,” he drawled silkily like Mr. Hades had jus agreed with him. The latter looked stunned and completely lost, but it was Captain Gibbs who spoke.

“It is?” the detective’s boss asked with a frown of confusion. “How?”

“Well, Mr. Hades had jus agreed that Miss Petrov is doing a good job,” he inferred cunningly, using Hade’s own words to trap him. “And the FBI has only the best of intentions. So, the most obvious conclusion would be to have Miss Petrov lead the investigation with the resources that the FBI is offering.”

There was a gasp from behind him, and he never knew whether it came from Petrov or Kimble. All he knew was that the two chief officers were gawking at him in blatant surprise, and he gave his nod of approval before shaking on the agreement he’d just made.

They were either too shaken to react or were too keen on pleasing a Fortune to contradict him. Whatever it was, he got his way. Right before leaving the office, he caught a pair of pale brown eyes filled with reproach and anger. One would think that gratitude was going to be on the agenda, but not with detective Petrov apparently.

With a brazen and unapologetic smile, he winked at her cheekily before turning the knob of the door, too glad to have won that battle for her.