Antonio looked up, as if he knew exactly which window he was looking through, and smiled.
Cross let the blind snap shut.
“Jesus Christ,” he muttered.
“He’s got balls coming here.” “He knows we can’t touch him without your testimony,” Miller said quietly to Livy.
“You need to reconsider this.” “What I need is to revise my statement.” Miller frowned.
“Ms.
Reed…” “In writing,” she continued firmly.
“I didn’t see the face of the man who shot the judge.” Miller studied her for a long moment.
He seemed to understand exactly what she was being forced to do, so he didn’t push her.
After a moment, he nodded toward the glass.
An officer standing outside entered with a blank statement form and placed it in front of Livy.
She picked up the pen.
A few minutes later, the revised statement was signed and placed on the desk.
She quietly slipped the pen back onto the table and picked up her small purse.
“Am I free to go?” she asked.
“I haven’t been charged with anything, have I?” Cross stared at her, his face tight with anger, but underneath it was something worse, guilt.
He was the one who had lost her in the first place.
And now he was watching her walk straight back into the hands of the man they had spent months trying to bring down.
Cross lowered his gaze.
Then, without saying a word, he pulled a sheet of paper toward him and wrote something quickly.
He turned it around and held it up for her to see.
IS HE LISTENING.
Livy’s eyes dropped to the paper.
Then she frowned, looked at his face and looked out the window.
“No, Special Agent Cross.
He’s not listening.” Cross studied her face.
She was afraid.
Miller understood it too.
He closed his eyes for a long moment, then slowly nodded toward the observation glass.
“Let her go.” The agent outside buzzed the door open.
Livy picked up her purse and headed for the exit.
Cross stepped in front of her, blocking the doorway.
“Livy.” She stopped.
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
“Don’t do this,” he said quietly.
“Agent Cross…” She swallowed.
“For what it’s worth, you did keep me safe for eight months.” Her voice trembled slightly.
“Thank you.” As she turned to leave, Cross pulled her and held her close in a tight hug.
Livy stiffened in his arms, caught completely off guard, but for a second, she let herself lean into the warmth of it.
“Livy,” he whispered into her ear, “he’s listening isn’t he?” She simply gave the smallest nod against his chest.
Cross’s arms tightened around her for a moment.
“If you walk out that door and leave with him, I can’t pull you back.
You understand me?
We can negotiate your mother’s release, but only if you let us.” “I’m sorry,” she said, gently stepping back.
”Goodbye, agent Cross,” she whispered.
She turned and walked out of the room, her footsteps echoing down the concrete hallway as she headed toward the exit.
Every agent in the field office seemed to stop what they were doing and stare.
The star witness that had been kidnapped and was now married to the Don.
Livy pushed open the glass doors and stepped outside with two other agents behind her.
Cross stood motionless for a minute, his hands still hovering in the air where she had just been.
”Cross,” Miller warned from behind him, his voice low.
“Let her go.
There’s nothing we can do, at least for now.” ”We should go after her,” Cross muttered.
“If we go after her without a cooperative witness or a case strong enough to withstand the Don’s lawyers, we’ll have Internal Affairs questioning our every move by morning.” Cross shook his head.
He didn’t care about his badge, and he didn’t care about the politics.
He pictured her small frame standing in front of Antonio, trapped in that gilded cage with her mother’s life dangling by a thread.
”We both know she’s doing it for her mother,” Cross said.
“Antonio’s got the old woman, so she has no choice.” “Then we find the mother,” Miller replied.
“Find out where they’re keeping her.
Until we have some leverage of our own, walking up to the Don with a badge and a prayer, is nothing more than signing Livy’s death warrant.” He paused, his expression tightening.
“Although I have to admit…
I’m surprised he hasn’t killed her.
Leaving a witness alive feels sloppy for a man like Antonio.” ”Yeah, I was thinking the same thing,” Cross muttered, staring out at the empty street where the black car had just pulled away.
“Maybe he’s just playing a game with all of us.” “Well whatever he’s doing, we just lost.” Cross turned from the window.
“Not by a long shot.” This time, he wasn’t going to play by the rules.
Meanwhile, Antonio’s car pulled into the driveway of the apartment building.
He got out, walked around to Livy’s side, and took her hand.
“Come.”