Free The Finale by Treasure Hernandez Page B

them. It was the middle of the night, and they weren’t expecting anyone.
    Malek put his hand to his lips to signal for Halleigh to be quiet as he removed his pistol from his waistline. He approached the door and looked out of the peephole. He sighed when he saw it was the detective from the precinct. He handed his gun off to Halleigh, and she put it underneath the couch cushion.
    â€œWho is it?” she whispered.
    â€œIt’s just that lady cop that helped you out the other night,” Malek said.
    Halleigh started panicking, and her eyes got as big as saucers. “What! What is she doing here?”
    Malek frowned and held out his hand. “I don’t know, Hal. Just calm down. She probably forgot to tell you something at the precinct. Chill out.” He opened the door and greeted the detective.
    â€œI apologize for the late-night interruption,” Detective Rodriguez stated. Halleigh left her bag and identification at the station. I was just returning it.”
    Halleigh walked toward the door, and Malek stepped to the side. Their son began to cry, and Malek excused himself to take care of him.
    Once Rodriguez got Halleigh alone, she stepped in close. “Telling Malek would be a big mistake, Halleigh.”
    â€œI wasn’t. I told you I was in . . . that I would do it.”
    Rodriguez reached into Halleigh’s jacket pocket and removed the small listening transmitter that she had planted on her before she had left the station. She held it up for Halleigh to see. “This agreement is built on trust, Halleigh. I told you I would be watching you. Everything you do and say, we will know. If this happens again, all deals are off, and I’ll take both you and Malek away from your precious little boy. Keep your mouth shut. Stick to the plan. I’ll bring your car back to you in the morning.”
    By the time Malek walked back into the room, Rodriguez had departed, leaving Halleigh feeling even more stuck than before.
    Rodriguez pulled out her cell phone and called her partner to update him. “Fuller,” she said when he answered, “everything’s a go. It shouldn’t be long before this Malek kid is out of the picture. The girl’s on board.”
    Halleigh watched out of their window as Rodriguez left. She wished she had the balls to pull the trigger a third time while she was at it. That way she wouldn’t have been in the situation she was in now.
    She couldn’t believe that Rodriguez had planted a bug on her. If she had done that, there was no telling what other ways she was being monitored. For now, she couldn’t tell Malek, but she had to figure something out because their fates were intertwined. Setting up Malek would be like setting herself up because she couldn’t see herself without him.
    â€œHal?” Malek called out.
    Halleigh turned around, and just seeing his worried expression melted her heart. He was holding their baby, and it was up to her to make sure that her slipup didn’t destroy all three of their lives. If she had just played it smart and cut all of her ties to Flint, then none of this would have ever happened. Her mistake was trusting Tasha. Anyone born and raised in the murder capital of Flint, Michigan was larcenous, and she had risked everything just by inviting her to Baltimore. Their predicament was her fault, and she hated that Malek had to pay for her mistake.
    â€œYou good?” he asked.
    Despondently, she nodded her head. “Yeah, baby, I’m fine.”
    â€œWhat did you want to tell me?”
    â€œNothing,” she replied, “nothing at all. I’m just shook up, that’s all. Let’s go to bed.”

Chapter Ten
    Derek Fuller got an inside tip from one of his snitches on Malek’s new spot. That’s why he was sitting outside of Malek’s establishment and waiting to see if he would show up. Fuller had just left a rendezvous with Scar and found out that all of their