JOHN PAUL

I walk out of the bathroom near the conference room with images of Stella's beautiful body draped over the top of my desk still fresh on my mind. I didn't think I would see her until later tonight when we'd take the kids out, so I was pleasantly surprised to see her sitting in the office when we arrived.

Of course, it would have been nice if we hadn't been interrupted. I should have locked the damn door, but the excitement of seeing her clouded everything else. 

"Please tell me you washed your hands at least," Enzo comments when he sees me walking into the large room. I have a moment of deja vu when Joey had said something similar to me when he walked in on us in my room all those years ago.

I narrow my eyes at him ready to give him a smartass reply but then Adonis grabs my attention. 

"Johnny, this is Special Agent Vaughn. Nicky escorted his partner to use the facilities," Adonis says, I can see from his eyes--whatever they're here for is not good. The memory of when Timo was visited by the feds replays in my mind now, too.

"I'm sorry if I kept you waiting," I extend my hand out to shake the agent's hand.

"It is good to meet you Johnny Santiago; I hope we are not taking too much time away from your busy schedule." 

"Not at all Agent Vaughn, we just arrived from a business trip not too long ago."

"Yes, about forty-five minutes ago, but there are twenty five minutes that are unaccounted for according to my calculations," Enzo looks at the watch on his wrist. "Would you care to share what or who you were doing during that time?" Enzo infuriatingly questions with a grin while I glare at him, but then Stella walks in and all eyes turn to her.

"Ah, yes, well that answer that question," Enzo smiles charmingly at her. Her beautiful smile lights up the room instantly.

I focus on her captivating eyes, even though it doesn't escape my mind that she's completely naked under the dress. The small smirk she gives me before she comes to me sends a wave of heat through me again. I bring her close to me, holding her by the waist as her arm comes around mine.

"Agent Vaughn, this is Stella Bracco." 

Agent Vaughn extends his hand out and she shakes his, firmly. He smiles politely but the questioning look he gives her is obvious his mind is putting information together. "Bracco? Any relation to the late, Timoteo Bracco?"

"He was my father," Stella doesn't miss a beat in answering him. 

"Oh? I was unaware he had any children," Agent Vaughn responds, genuinely surprised. 

"That makes two of us," Stella smiles softly. "It was quite a shock, I assure you. I had grown up knowing him only as my Uncle." 

"Well, I am sorry for your loss Ms. Bracco," He offers emphatically.

"Thank you," She nods slightly at him. "I didn't mean to interrupt your meeting, I just wanted to remind you about dinner with the kids," Stella looks back at me, playing her part perfectly.  

"We shouldn't be too long," I can't help myself when my hand slides down slightly enough for me to give her ass a squeeze. But I focus my attention on agent Vaughn again. "What can I do for you Agent Vaughn?" 

He eyes move from me then at Stella before looking back at me. "Um, perhaps we could speak privately?"

I shake my head. "I'm sure whatever you are here for can be discussed here."

Agent Vaughn nods then clears his throat. "Okay, I should probably wait for my partner, but we've already taken enough of your time--ah, there he is."  His gaze moves behind us and I glance over my shoulder and the man walking in with Nicky seems vaguely familiar. 

"Johnny Santiago, this is my partner Agent Delgado."

"Ray?" Stella turns towards the other agent.

"Stella? What are you doing here?" He questions but I focus more on the wide smile he gives her. I ground my teeth as I watch his eyes travel down and up, taking her in as she walks towards him. 

"I should ask you the same thing?" She chuckles and I try to keep my jealously under control, but struggle as they embrace each other as if they are old friends.

Considering how long it's been and the undeniable fact that I didn't know about Sean until recently, I can't help but wonder if this is another old lover. But then I remember she told me she hasn't been with anyone else other than Sean.

"Wait, this is the Stella, you told me about?" Agent Vaughn asks Agent Delgado and I narrow my eyes watching him with his arms around my Stella; my pulse starts to accelerate quickly. 

I watch as Stella says something quietly to Ray, and he gives a small nod. They finally pull away from each other and turn to face us. Stella eyes meet mine and the subtle shake of her head does little to ease my rising aggravation.

"Yeah, the very same," Agent Delgado states, and I notice the reddening of his face when Stella looks over at him.

"Agent Delgado tells me you helped him out in Miami," Agent Vaughn states.

Stella shrugs, with a smile. "I don't know if that's what you would call it," She replies vaguely which only makes me come closer to the edge of losing it, not knowing what the hell they are going on about.

"I'm sorry, but how do you know each other?" Adonis walks up next to me, stepping into his role easily to find out if there's an issue here or not.

The small eye roll from Stella tells me she knows he thinks something was or is going on between herself and Ray, but I'm dying to know how they know each other, too.

"Stella is or maybe now was dating my friends' cousin, Rio," Ray tell us and I feel the air leave my lungs.

Stella shoves Ray. "Shut up, you know there was nothing going on between us." 

Ray laughs and holds his hand up. "Okay, fine. I was joking."

Stella looks back at me. "He was trying to track down Giovanni Dante when I was working for Rio at After Dark."

"Oh, come on, we go further back than that," Ray winks at Stella. "We met a few years back, here in New York. I met with a relative of hers, Timoteo Bracco and several of his associates. Stella and I didn't hit if off right away," He chuckles and then it hits me. 

He was the same agent who came with another agent when they brought a video of the gala shooting. I look back at Stella and she's watching me; she knows I remember who he is, but does he know who I really am? This could be bad depending on what they are here for.

"Ms. Bracco just informed me, Timoteo was actually her father," Agent Vaughn comments. 

I watch as Ray reaches for Stella's hand. "I'm sorry, I know you lost a lot of people you loved along with Timoteo." 

Stella smiles softly. "Well, it turns out a lot of them survived that night that Timo was killed." She walks back to me and smiles as she cups my face with her hand and kisses me. 

"Ray, you remember JP?" She looks back at Ray, who gauges me with a bewildered expression on his face. 

"JP?" Vaughn questions now.

"Toretto?" Ray asks at the same time.

"John Paul Toretto. I also go by JP, or Johnny and I took on my mother's maiden name for several of my businesses," I explain.

Ray states as he extends his hand out to me and we shake briefly. "I didn't recognize you," he tells me.

"You know what they say, a beard is like a push up bra for men these days," Enzo comments from his seat at the table, his hands interlaced behind his head watching the interaction. "And of course he got all jacked up, too." 

"Anyway," Adonis interjects. "Can we get to the reason you are here, gentlemen? Johnny and Stella have plans and we don't need to keep delaying them."

"Yes, well as Ms. Bracco mentioned, we've been trying to track down Giovanni Dante a known  business rival of Timoteo, though he seems to have gone off the grid. Currently, we are more interested in an old associate of Gio's, by the name of Cassian James Carminati, Mr. Santiago---er Toretto?" Agent Vaughn pauses. "I'm sorry do you have a preference on which name to be addressed by?" 

"I answer to both," I shrug. 

Agent Vaughn nods. "There have been a string of murders up down the East coast and our analysts have found footage placing Carminati at several of the crime scenes or within the general vicinity of where the murders took place," Vaughn states and I can see him carefully observing me to see if there is any indication or tells that would signal him to my knowledge of what he's said. 

"We know he's not working alone, he's been linked to several known family members of an Albanian crime family. We have some one on the inside now; it's been almost a year, however, we feel like we are getting close to building enough evidence against them."

I remain stoic, even the blood pump through my veins at hearing they have someone on the inside. I think of Katalina De Luca and how this puts her in even more danger than we initially assumed. 

"I fail to see what this has to do with me, Agent Vaughn," I state indifferently.

"It seems you have made yourself a target with the Albanians, Mr. Toretto," Agent Vaughn states and then nods over at Agent Delgado. "Well, you and several of your associate's. Our inside man was able to provide us with these."

We watch as Agent Delgado pulls out his phone and then hands it to me once he opens it. I see several pictures of myself, Adonis, Cristian, Enzo and even Dean. 

"Can you tell us why they would have set their eyes on you?" Agent Vaughn questions. 

"Aside from Jimmy or Cassian we do not have any type of connection to the Albanians." Adonis states. "Johnny is a well known public figure here in New York, with several business ventures that affiliate him with many businessmen and women." 

"What is the nature of your business enterprises, Toretto?" Agent Delgado. "I mean, it's no secret Timoteo Bracco had some shady side businesses, we just couldn't tie him to anything, but did you take over for him, so to speak..." He trails off. 

I look back at him, steadily. "Mainly business acquisitions, but I also have some real estate dealings and construction management firms," I inform them. "All legitimate if that's what you're wondering and you're welcome to look into each of them, with legal authorization of course." 

"Would it be fair to say, the Albanians are fixated on you due to a business transaction gone bad?" Agent Delgado prods again, but I catch on to his underlying question behind his words.

"I assure you we have no type of business dealings, partnerships or correlations of any type, with the Albanians," I inform them I hold his doubting look for a moment. "If that is all, I must attend to my family who are waiting for me." 

"Of course, we apologize for keeping you," Agent Vaughn states and holds out his hand for me to shake and then shakes Adonis' hand and nods at Stella. I catch as Agent Delgado pulls out something from his pocket and writes something quickly before tucking his pen away. Adonis informs them, Nicky will show them out.

Agent Delgado walks up to us and also shakes our hands as well but he shakes Stella's first and I catch the note he slips in her hand before he shakes mine then Adonis. He looks back at her before he walks out the door.

"Well, that was informative," Enzo states as he stretches when he stands. 

"Yes," I state as I replay some of the conversations back, I turn to Adonis. "We need to send a message to Katalina, she needs to get out, whether she wants to or not. Let her know it's a direct order from me." Adonis nods and leaves the room.

"Enzo would you please go to the house, with Paulie to pick up Carmen, Lola and Toby and bring them here so we can head out to dinner?" 

"Sure thing, but this better not be because you guys plan on christening the conference room now, too." Enzo states seriously and Stella chuckles; he smiles at her before he turns to leave. 

I watch as he walks out and then I focus my attention on Stella. 

She gives me a look and then sighs dramatically. "I know that look JP, nothing happened between me and Rio. I mean he did try to kiss me once, but I shut him down. And you know he's with Letty now." 

An irrational part of me still wants to fly down to Miami just to beat the shit out of Rio but I know that's crazy. But still. 

"And you're probably thinking something happened between me and Ray, too, but nothing has or will happen." 

"What did he give you when he shook your hand?" 

She holds out a small business card, with the note. "We need to meet."

"Don't worry, I'll take Enzo or Nicky with me. I won't go by myself." 

"Why not take me?" 

Stella walks slowly to me and slides her hands up around my shoulders. "Because, my jealous, possessive, sometimes insecure, handsome, strong, kind, adorable, loving, incredibly sexy King." She says each word in between kisses as she wraps her arms around my neck. "It's obviously going to be about you that he wants to talk about," She smiles mischievously at me. 

I narrow my eyes at her and she chuckles as she hugs me tightly. "Oh, JP, you know I will tell you everything." 

I hug her back tightly, and nuzzle into her neck, feeling myself calm down as I inhale her deeply. "I wanted to tell you after dinner, but I have to travel for business in a couple of days and I want you to come with me."

"What about the kids?"

"You know we can make sure they're safe. It will only be for a few days tops and school doesn't start for another few weeks so we won't be missing anything major," I tell her. "This will be our first trip together since San Diego." 

She grins up at me. "Okay, where are we going?"

"It's a surprise." 

~~~~

Look how far these two have come! Hahaha =) 

I mean, there's still the same insecurities but they're working through them for the most part haha.

*Don't forget to comment, vote and share! ♡