Chapter Two
BEC
Want to know what I didn’t want to deal with?
Rome Cipriani.
The bodyguard that my brother insisted on was becoming the bane of my existence. I wasn’t even sure why I was putting up with him being my bodyguard.
Okay, fine…I did know why. It was because I loved my brother, and he simply wanted to ensure I was protected, so he was being extra diligent.
Rome was always with me. When I was at work, at the dentist, even getting my hair done, he was there. The only time I got a reprieve was when I was home. I honestly didn’t need a round-the-clock bodyguard. In fact, my life was rather boring and monotonous.
Well… as boring and monotonous as life could be for the CEO of the biggest corporation on the planet.
My father originally started Bly Enterprises when he was 20 years old.
He took advantage of the less-than-stellar economy at the time and started a real estate investment company.
From there, he transitioned into stock trading, then hospitality management, and here we were forty years later, with established companies in nearly every industry.
For all intents and purposes, Bly Enterprises ran the world.
And I ran Bly Enterprises.
With this job came publicity and fame. I wasn’t the biggest fan of either, but had adapted to it at a young age.
For as long as I could remember, the paparazzi were always around, trying to snap photos of me and my family…
and there was enough ‘fan mail’ to fill a storage unit in Queens.
I had become desensitized to it all by the time I was in middle school.
My older brother, Will, was the opposite.
The moment he’d turned eighteen, he had moved across the country to hide in the woods and separate himself from our company…
from our father. Will had his trust fund, which set him up with his monstrosity of a mansion and hundreds of acres surrounding it.
His days were spent in the lecture hall as a professor, and his evenings with his new family—the one he had made away from the chaos of our blood family… away from the abuse of our father.
I was initially skeptical as to why he would ever leave this behind, but seeing him now? It made sense. He had finally convinced his long-term girlfriend, Jackie, to marry him, and the two of them were happily living in Oregon.
He was supposed to be the successor to my father’s throne as Chief Executive Officer of Bly Enterprises, but with him gone, the role fell to me.
My father wasn’t pleased by this outcome, but his hands were tied. No matter what he did, he would never get Will to follow in his footsteps. He couldn’t even get him on the phone. It would take an army to bring Will back to New York City and take over the family business.
While my dad hated the idea of me running the company, he hated the idea of the company being outside the family even more.
My dad was having a hard time letting go.
I had been promoted to acting CEO six months ago when he was supposed to retire, yet I was still answering to him.
It was infuriating. I knew what I was doing.
I was trained for this. I had a Juris Doctor from fucking Yale University.
I had worked as CFO for years. Yet, my father didn’t trust me with his precious little baby, his favorite child… Bly Enterprises.
“Ms. Bly, we’re five minutes away,” my driver remarked.
He was new, I still hadn’t learned his name, but he hadn’t crashed the car yet, so I wasn’t complaining.
“Thank you.”
I tucked my book away in my purse and pulled out my makeup mirror to ensure everything was in place. I had an image to uphold and smudged lipstick wouldn’t do.
“Red’s your color,” he remarked from the other side of the town car.
I rolled my eyes. It was the only way to respond to Rome.
Even his name was obnoxious. I was initially neutral about his presence…until he opened his mouth.
“Flirting with me goes against your contract.” I kept my focus on my mirror as I touched up my lipstick, but still caught the smirk out of the corner of my eye.
“Oh, Rebecca Bly, that wasn’t flirting.”
God, he was infuriating.
Truthfully, Rome was excellent at his job. I couldn’t fault him on that; it was everything else about him that I despised.
“Any word on what I should be expecting when I get home?” I asked, ignoring his comment. I found it easier to simply not entertain his flirtatious remarks.
“There are some paparazzi outside the building, but not too many at this time of day. It should be a fast and smooth entrance.”
I put my compact away and looked out the window as the towering skyscrapers of New York City passed by.
I had lived here my whole life, but was still awestruck by the beauty.
The buildings towered high above me as they moved slowly across the window's view.
The traffic was never-ending in the city that never slept.
While my brother found solace and family in the woods on the other side of the country, New York City was my home.
Before I knew it, we were in front of one of my buildings. Rome, as usual, was right about the paparazzi out front. I counted only six.
While Rome was downright infuriating, he and I fell into an easy rhythm when it came to his job.
Like clockwork, he was up and out of the town car, holding the door open for me.
I took his hand, double-checking that my skirt didn’t ride up, as I stood and quickly began walking towards the front door.
The press asked their usual questions. Anything ranging from my relationship status to recent market trades, and even questions about my brother and his wife.
I ignored the questions, as usual, and made my way through the front doors with Rome close behind me. The paparazzi hadn’t followed my father this much when he was in charge. The fact that I was a young, attractive woman made me more palatable and desirable to others.
It was a fact that I had initially despised.
I didn’t want to be thought of any differently than my peers, but I quickly learned that was impossible.
My peers consisted of fifty-year-old white men who spent their days bossing around their staff.
The same staff who were the ones truly responsible for the success of the various businesses.
My peers didn’t look to me as an equal, but instead as an object, which was absolutely ridiculous, as I was more educated than every single one of them.
Instead of bitching and moaning about the treatment and the attention of the paparazzi, I used it to my advantage. While those men had to fight to be noticed by Business Weekly, I simply had to walk out the door dressed nicely, and I’d make it into the headlines.
Rome and I silently made our way through the lobby and to the executive elevator, where he scanned us in. Besides myself, only Rome and my assistant, Andi, had access to the executive suite. I had called it home since my promotion—though it didn’t feel like it.
I had initially lived closer to my mother on the Upper East Side, but living in Manhattan was preferable to my business dealings, so I relocated.
“Any other plans you need me for tonight?” Rome asked, his deep voice filling the small elevator.
Tonight?
I checked my watch. Shit, it was nearly eight pm.
“Nope,” I clipped.
He let out a soft chuckle, “You’re not even going to ask me why I’m wondering?”
“I’m not all that interested in your personal life, Rome.”
“Working for you means I have no personal life.”
I looked up to him for the first time in hours, his frame always towering over me.
He had cut his black hair recently, and it resembled the military cut I assumed he had grown accustomed to during his years of service.
Not that I asked. Professional boundaries were a must when it came to our working relationship. “No one asked you to be here.”
“Your brother did, and I get paid, so I’m here.”
I rolled my eyes just as the door opened to my floor.
I waltzed into the living room, dropping my purse in the entryway and kicking my heels off as I stepped. “You’re free to head out, Rome. Take a night on the town, explore the city, hit up a bar, I really don’t care.”
I turned to see him standing in the threshold of the elevator.
He insisted on wearing an all-black suit with a black shirt every day.
He left the top few buttons undone, giving a peek at the chain he always wore around his neck.
I assumed it was his military tags. He said the suit made him more professional. I think he just felt cool in the getup.
“Promise you’re not heading out tonight?” He asked with a dark brow raised.
“My God, Rome, I’m not a child. I promise I won’t leave my apartment.”
Ileft my apartment.
In my defense, it wasn’t that I had planned on defying Rome and the ridiculous rules he had set for me.
He had left for the night, and I had planned on having a relaxing evening at home…
and then Alexandra, my best friend, called.
She was contracted to attend a club's soft-opening tonight and had insisted that I needed to come as well. It’s not like I could’ve said no…
well, maybe I could have, but I didn’t want to.
It was hard to keep up with her, and our two busy schedules meant we didn’t spend nearly enough time together. So when the stars aligned, I couldn’t turn down her offer to visit a new club opening.
I also needed a break. Between the mounting pressure of the board, spending my days being shadowed by the tallest, most obnoxious bodyguard, and the notes I had been receiving… I shook the thought away. I was choosing not to think about that, and instead, focusing on finally having a small break.
So here I was, dressed in a too-short black dress, watching Alexandra’s blonde hair flow back and forth as we danced in the middle of the club.