Chapter Five

When Jess got back to her car she fished out her phone and sent the report to Ainsley. If she was right they'd have a bigger issue on their hands. Lets just say the S.I had their way of doing things & the F.B.I had ways of covering shit up. To top it off, the only man that could give her any insight into the mafia was last seen tripping over his pants as he was kicked out of her apartment this morning.

With a defeated sigh, Jess stuck her keys in the ignition & headed for the last place on earth she thought she'd end up.

Was coming here a good idea?

Logically? Yes, given the way things ended? Probably not.

She recalled Nic's attempts to get in contact with her & how she avoided the situation by burrying her nose in this case. Now the irony of having to confront one issue to address the other made her want to put a bullet in her head. She didnt do apologies, he was usually the one doing all the of the sucking up, both literally & figuritively.

She should probably go home, but once she got a whiff of something fishy it was hard to let it go.

She needed to know more about the Bellagio twins.

Classified & restricted were not her favorite words, Jess knew without Nick there was no way she'd get her hands on those files & threw in the towel.

Nic's playboy penthouse was a little too over the top for her taste, although it's what you'd expect from any wealthy bachelor. Glass curtain walls, luxurious sky high pools, the unrivaled view of the bay & downtown streetcape was definitely worth the money, thats for sure.

As an investigator, most of her time was either spent in the office going over cases or in bed. She didnt have girlfriends, never hung out or got wasted. Almost ten years and she had yet to prepare a homecooked meal.

Her loft felt more like a motel than a home. There were no family photos framed on the walls, no decorative vases or antiques, no mirrors. Truth be told, her apartment remained the same as the day she had moved in with the exception of her cat, Blink! She had no one & she was fine with that, because it meant she wouldnt have to experience hurt or loss anymore.

"Where the hell have you been?! I've been calling & texting you all day!"

Jess' heart pounded in her chest. She'd been so consumed by her own thoughts she didnt notice that Nik had come up to her car & he was not happy to see her.

Jess leaped out of the car & shut the door behind her. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me. I went over to the precint and you werent there, so where were you?" he glared at her suspiciously, both hands resting firmly on his hips. "I was worried about you."

Jess let her eyes to stray from his, they were too intense, too focused on her & the last thing she needed was to further complicate matters.

"Nic

, we need to talk." she said, gaining some much needed distance between them.

"What's this about?"

She could hear the trembling in his voice & turned around to see his face had fallen much like the expression Blink would make when she forgot to feed him.

"Let's take this inside. Do you have gin? I have a feeling we're gonna to need it."

The gravity of the situation was weighing down on her. Jess sat on the couch opposite Nic & explained to situation, omitting as much information from him as possible without arousing too much suspicion.

She made no mention of Kyoka or Sarah for that matter. Keeping him in the dark about her true objective proved tricky, Nic was F.B.I afterall.

When she was finished he narrowed his eyes. "So you're basically saying that you need some dirt on Santos that ties him to his cousins."

"Exactly," She grinned, "Does that mean you'll help?"

"I'll do what I can."