Please review!
"Thank you for taking him to school for me today. I guess the morning just got ahead of me." Olivia said before waving off Noah and his nanny. She closed the front door to her apartment before turning back to Gemma who had been barely holding it together for Noah's sake. "Honey, it's going to be okay."
"He knows where I am. Every other girl that has betrayed him has been killed, the majority of them never found." Gemma stated, her voice a few octaves higher with her panic. "He's called me nearly forty times. My voicemail is full. My phone probably lit up like the Fourth of July last night. He's not happy, and, when he's not happy, people get hurt."
Elliot sat at the counter with his arms crossed over his chest. "This can't be the first time you've made him mad. What has he done in the past when he's angry with you?"
Gemma bit her lip, avoiding both her parents' gazes. "Sent me to the ER with fractions. There was one time I thought he was going to kill me. He killed the guard who was supposed to be watching me and then locked me up in his club for four days. I wish he had killed me after hour five. But, this is worse than anything I've ever done. No one has ever gone to the cops before. I don't know what he'll do, but I'd rather die than find out."
Olivia wrapped her arms around Gemma, cupping the back of her head. "No one is dying. Your father and I are never going to let that happen." She glanced over at Elliot. "Let's get down to the station. There's no way he can get near her there."
"I'll grab a few things. Should I grab some of Noah's stuff?" Elliot asked, calling over his shoulder as he darted towards her bedroom.
Olivia huffed out a breath as she kissed Gemma's head. "Better to be safe than sorry." She brushed back her daughter's hair, still holding her close. "Gem, baby, it's going to be okay. I would never let anyone or anything harm you. I've been putting men like him behind bars for twenty years. We'll catch him."
"How? He never leaves a private residence." Gemma questioned, holding onto Olivia tighter.
"If Fin and Amanda have found enough evidence, we can a search of all his properties. That allows us special circumstances to arrest him, even if he's inside." Olivia breathed. Her chest tightened when Gemma started shaking, her body betraying the strong exterior she was trying to rebuild. "I promise. I am going to put the cuffs on him myself if I have to. He's not going to get away with this, with any of it."
Gemma still clung to Olivia as if she were four and clinging to her mother after a fall in the park. "Just promise that once he's arrested, he won't be set back free."
"Please tell me you have found something." Olivia pleaded walking over to Fin and Amanda. After they had arrived, Elliot had taken Gemma to the conference room with their bags in the hopes of trying to settle her into a building they both felt safer in. Since they left the apartment, Gemma had remained silent, but she jumped at every little thing that didn't look like it should be there. The anxiety was exhausting her.
Carisi stood from his desk to join them. "This guy is one slick prick. A buddy of mine used to bartend at the club and only saw Jimmy leave his properties twice in six months. Both times, he left with a motorcade with routes preplanned and destinations called. He was always back within the hour whether it was lunch at a fancy restaurant or shopping for a new property."
Olivia ran a hand through her hair. "Gemma knows his routine. I need evidence that allows us a search warrant. My daughter is convinced he is going to kill her, and I can't tell her that she's wrong."
"Doesn't this guy believe she's his one and only?" Amanda asked with a furrowed brow. She browsed through her computer. "Even the bug she wore, he intentions were always about her. He doesn't follow through on good intentions, but he wants her with him enough to keep her around. He treats her better than most pimps treat their women."
Fin leaned back in his chair. "She's right. Why don't we play that angle on him? Yes, Gemma is here to help us with our case, but that isn't what kept her here. If I remember right, you guys had to track her down and she was still lying to you about her position in all this. She stayed because she found her parents. This Jimmy guy might just lay off her if we use that fact."
"I guess that could work." Olivia whispered before glancing back at Gemma. She looked dazed, as if something had snapped. "Look what he's doing to her."
Carisi walked around to Olivia. "Liv, we'll get him. He won't lay a hand on her."
"Do we have a bug for her phone to record her calls?" Olivia asked, her eyes closing knowing exactly what they had to do. What Gemma had to do.
Gemma watched as Carisi placed the bug inside her phone, testing it with a monitor on the table. "So, what exactly am I doing?"
"You're going to tell Jimmy that you've been staying with us because we're your parents." Olivia said as Elliot sat on the other side of Gemma and rubbed her back. "There's no case. Once we found out you were our daughter, you made it go away. Whatever you feel like telling him, go ahead. We just want you to feel safe again."
Carisi slid the phone across the table to Gemma, two more missed calls from Jimmy showing up on the screen. "It's all yours when you're ready."
Gemma's hand shook as she picked up the phone and called back Jimmy. She could hear the ringing of her phone on the monitor before Jimmy's voice erupted. "Where the fuck are you? You went to the fucking cops!"
"Jimmy, just listen-" Gemma started, but jumped when he nearly screamed.
"You fucking listen." Jimmy seethed. "If you so much as breath the wrong way towards them, I will come get you myself. If I find out that you've been feeding information to them, I will make sure you never leave my fucking sight again."
Gemma covered her eyes with her free hand, too afraid to look around when the tears were welling in her eyes. "Jimmy, it's not what you think. I'm not helping the cops. My ass is as much on the line as yours. The two cops in the pictures you sent me. . .they're my parents."
There was silence on the other end before Jimmy started chuckling. "You can't be serious. You can't honestly believe I would buy that."
"I'm not asking you to buy it. It's the truth." Gemma retorted. "When Dale and I got pulled in, they found my real I.D. The sergeant here realized she was my mother. I swear that's the truth. I wouldn't lie to you about this."
"Why wouldn't you tell me this before?" Jimmy asked, his voice still angry, but he wasn't yelling anymore.
"I figured if I told you about them you would kill them for being cops." Gemma breathed, rocking back and forth in the chair slowly. "I spent a lot of years looking for them, and I didn't want you to take them away from me. The whole Dale situation just got out of hand fast, and my apartment got ruined when they went to arrest Danny. I couldn't stay there for evidence reasons. So, I've been staying with them. I got them to forget about the case against you and Dale."
Gemma flinched when she heard a tapping, knowing it was Jimmy tapping his fingers against the fake gold finishings in his red velvet room. That noise had haunted her a lot over the years, and it only caused her flashbacks now. "How do I know that this is all true? How do I know that you didn't pick up where Dale left off and decided to get out of this business a different way?
"I wouldn't do that to you." Gemma felt the bile in the back of her throat, and she started sobbing for the words that were pouring out of her. "You know it's just you and me, right? I broke up with Danny. He's gone. I swear, Jimmy. I'm so happy that you pulled me out, and now I can be just yours. Our empire. That's the dream, remember? I promise you, Jimmy. They are my parents. I just wanted to get to know them."
"Hey, there's no need to cry, baby." Jimmy's tone went from dictator to loving in a second. He was cooing to her, trying to console her through the phone. "I believe you. I'll want proof, but I believe what you're saying is the truth. I know you wouldn't jeopardize our dream, and I know you've wanted to meet your parents. I remember the first month you and I were working together. We were having a really hard time, and you were told your parents were superheroes. I remember you told me you wished your birth parents would come to rescue you from our old life. I wish they had too. You had to endure a lot because of this job. Maybe our lives would've turned out differently if they would've found you sooner, but we're close to the dream. Our empire is just around the corner. I know you wouldn't throw that all away when we're this close."
Gemma felt like fifty pounds had just dropped onto her chest. She couldn't believe Jimmy remembered that, and she couldn't believe that he had just unknowingly told her parents that story. She swallowed hard, trying form some sort of response. "Thank you, Jimmy."
"No need to thank me. That's what you do for the ones you love." Jimmy taunted. "When you feel it's time, you could bring them to the restaurant, and we could all have dinner together. In a few weeks when you've spent some real time with them, I'll have some of the boys come over. We can get you moved into the hotel with me."
"That sounds like a plan." Gemma lied, raising her voice to sound happier. "I should probably go. I'm sure you have business to take care of."
Jimmy chuckled. "As always. Love you, baby."
Gemma waited until the her screen lit up with the end of the call before bolting for the garbage can in the corner, nearly hurling herself over it as she threw up. Even from across the city, she could feel his hands on her, and she couldn't keep her breakfast down any longer.
Elliot and Olivia both rushed to her. Elliot quickly held her hair back as Olivia gave her a glass of water from the table. "Just breathe, baby. You did a good job." Elliot breathed, trying to comfort her in any way he could. He was still reeling from Jimmy's superhero admission, and the look on Olivia's face told him she was too.
Please review!
