Twelve Days Of Pleasure. Deborah Fletcher Mello

sound of gunshots sent Vanessa Harrison into hyperdrive; her heart raced a mile a minute. Sprinting into the family room she found her goddaughter, Gabrielle Medina, flipping channels on the home’s oversize, flat-panel television. The channel was paused on an episode of Law & Order. Vanessa blew out the breath she’d been holding, shoulders slumping in relief.

      “Gabi, why are you playing with that remote, little girl?” she said as she pulled the device from the toddler’s hand.

      As Gabrielle’s bottom lip pushed into a deep pout, Vanessa flipped the channel back to the cartoon station. Before the child could skew her face to cry her attention was diverted to a show Vanessa didn’t recognize—some strange animation of a cow and a chicken playing on the big screen.

      Vanessa moved from the family room back into the kitchen, needing to fill the baby’s sippy cup with fruit juice. A federal agent followed on her heels, standing with his arms crossed in front of himself as she peered into the refrigerator. An agent had been following her from room to room for days now.

      Federal agents had taken over the Medina home after Gabrielle’s parents, Alexandra and Paolo, had both been gunned down. The couple had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Hours after the last gunshot had echoed through the air, federal agents were holding Vanessa hostage in protective custody, because of who her father was. All she wanted to do was return home. She hadn’t bargained for this drama when she’d come to visit her best friend and her family. Drama was what she’d been running from.

      Weeks ago, Vanessa had been sitting in class at Columbia University’s School of the Arts. With her relationship mess beginning to take its toll, the graduate film program had been the only bright spot in her day-to-day activities. A year earlier she had moved from her parents’ home to New York City to be with her boyfriend, Jarrod, a law student at New York University. Things had been all good in the beginning. Then their conflicting schedules, disagreements about money and Jarrod’s obsession with other women had come between them. Finding Jarrod in their bed with their red-haired neighbor had been the final straw.

      It had been her best friend, Alexandra, who’d insisted Vanessa come to Miami to spend the holidays and clear her mind. Leaving the New York cold for the Miami sun was supposed to take her mind off her problems and help her find some clarity in the chaos that had become her life. Both had figured the time away would help her heal her broken heart. After some intervention from her father the school had granted her a leave of absence, and the day before Halloween she’d landed at Miami International Airport hoping to escape everything that had been wrong. Vanessa was now wishing she’d joined her mother in Italy instead.

      She sighed as she undid the cap on the bottle of Welch’s white grape juice. “I really need to call my mother,” she suddenly said, turning to stare at the man who was watching her too closely.

      “Yes, ma’am,” he said. Those were the only words he ever seemed to utter when she asked a question or made a statement.

      “I need to call her now,” she persisted.

      A voice rang from the kitchen’s entryway. “Your parents know that you’re safe,” a woman answered. She was tall and slim and almost matronly in the uniformed black suit she wore. “I’ve talked to them both personally.”

      Vanessa met the woman’s dark gaze. “Who are you?” she asked.

      “Supervisory Special Agent Kelly Layton.”

      Vanessa eyed the woman warily.

      She dropped her gaze back to the cup in her hand as she secured the cap. “So can you please tell me what’s going on?” she asked.

      The other woman nodded, gesturing toward the other room. “Why don’t we get the little girl settled down first,” she said.

      SSA Layton followed Vanessa back into the family room, where Gabrielle sat in the corner of the oversize sofa still staring at the cartoon playing on the big-screen television. Not quite two years old, little Gabi was a bundle of pure energy, and her sitting still for longer than ten minutes was a blessing. Barely turning her eyes from the animation playing out across the screen, Gabi took the cup from Vanessa’s hands and lifted it to her lips. Vanessa smiled as she sat down beside the child. She then turned to stare at Agent Layton.

      The woman gave her half a smile as she sat down on the opposite end of the leather sectional. “Vanessa, the man who...” She shifted her eyes toward Gabi as she paused, suddenly mindful of her words as she continued. “Marcus Bennett has been a difficult man for us to find. He’s wealthy and well-connected and right now we don’t have eyes on him.”

      Thoughts of Marcus Bennett caused her skin to go cold. She wrapped her arms around her torso to ward off the sudden chill. Just weeks earlier she and her friends had been guests on Marcus Bennett’s luxury yacht. Paolo had introduced them, the two men good friends for even longer than she and Alexandra had been. Paolo and Alexandra had deemed him the perfect rebound relationship for Vanessa since she wasn’t looking for forever with any man at the moment. Her friends had figured Marcus could be someone to take her mind off everything else. And he had.

      Marcus had been intriguing, with a hint of street appeal and a whole lot of swag. He reminded her of the singer Akon, dark and brooding. He had an engaging smile, and physically he was built like a brick house, a hard body of solid, well-developed muscle. The man was all kinds of sexy, his appeal overshadowing his obvious illegal business dealings. He had been the perfect bad boy, the too-smooth, silver-tongued devil that mothers warned about and fathers met at the door with a shotgun. Marcus had been perfect, right up until he’d gunned down one of his adversaries and her best friends had been caught in the cross fire.

      Tears misted her eyes and she swiped them away with the back of her hand. She turned to look at Gabi, who was watching her curiously. She forced a smile and winked an eye at the little girl. “Do you like that show, Gabi?” she asked, brightening her tone.

      Gabrielle giggled and pulled her cup back to her mouth. The little girl was sleepy and her eyes were heavy as they shifted back toward the television.

      Vanessa took a deep breath and turned her attention back to the agent. “So what happens now?”

      The agent was nodding her head. “Until we have him in custody, and you can testify against him, we’re going to have to keep you in protective custody.”

      “Testify? Why do I have to testify? I didn’t actually see him do anything!” Vanessa was suddenly flustered, her eyes skating from side to side. “I can’t testify! I’m not going to do that!”

      “It will be okay,” Agent Layton said. “You’ll just need to testify about your relationship with Mr. Bennett. About what you did see when the two of you were together. Vanessa, your testimony is going to be crucial to our getting a federal indictment against this man.”

      “You don’t understand,” Vanessa started, “my diplomatic immunity...”

      “Your diplomatic immunity has been waived by your father. He has given us his full support and cooperation in this matter.”

      “My father wouldn’t do that,” Vanessa said, her eyes wide.

      “Your father understands the importance of getting a man like Marcus Bennett off the streets.”

      “Well, I want to speak with him.”

      “That’s not possible. Once we get you out of Miami and we know you’re safe then we’ll make arrangements for you to speak with your family.”

      Vanessa shook her head. “What about Gabi?” she asked. “What’s going to happen to her?”

      “Arrangements are being made for her. Mr. Medina’s attorney says that the father’s parents are listed as her next of kin. Apparently they live somewhere in Mexico. Your father is helping us with the search to find them. Until then, we’ll place her with a nice foster family who’ll look out for her.”

      “But it’s almost Christmas! Her presents are already wrapped. Alexandra’s