Chapter Twelve
ROME
Ishouldn’t have snapped at her. I hated that I did.
I wasn’t ready to talk about my last assignment; I could barely think about it myself.
I shouldn’t have gotten so defensive, but there was this switch in my brain that flipped every time someone brought it up–or brought up any of my time with my Ranger team.
Some memories were too heavy to dig up alone, but I wasn’t ready to ask for help.
People looked at me, and they saw the upbeat, happy facade I wore for the public. They assumed that since I was cracking jokes, always cheerful, and 'aggressively optimistic', that I must be okay. That I didn't have demons within me. Little did they know, I was simply very good at hiding them.
I needed to apologize for my outburst. The comments she made about me, while not the kindest, usually didn’t bother me.
At that moment, though, I couldn’t take one more criticism.
My mind couldn’t carry it all. I would apologize to her, but I also needed to maintain a more professional relationship with her.
We were bordering on lines that shouldn’t be crossed. I needed this job, and based on these goddamned notes she was receiving and failed to tell me about, Bec needed me.
I couldn’t fathom how nonchalant she was about the entire situation.
Yes, people of her status received threats, but those threats were thoroughly investigated to ensure none were credible…
and often handed over to the police. These threats to Bec had simply been piled up in a drawer of her desk, and most were left unopened.
These were coming directly to her office, superseding the security controls that we had in place. I had overseen those security controls, so I knew the only way these notes could have reached her was if they had come from someone within the company.
My theory that it was an inside job meant I needed to rely on outside resources. Particularly, resources that had a vested interest in Bec’s safety… but unfortunately, these same resources were not my biggest fan.
The phone continued to ring on my desk, the sound trilling through my small office.
I had been sure to lock the door as I had a feeling Bec would be less than pleased with my current actions.
Though I don’t think she had ever entered my office…
I was typically called to hers. We were also now engaged in a cold war after our argument yesterday, so I guess I didn’t need to worry.
“What?” Will’s annoyed voice sounded through the phone.
I couldn’t help but chuckle, “Pleasure to talk to you as well. It’s been far too long. How’s the wife?” I asked as I kicked my feet up on my desk.
I could practically hear the eyeroll happening on the other side of the country.
I couldn’t help but rile up Will… and Bec…
and my best friend Malachi. I was beginning to notice a pattern in the people I surrounded myself with.
They were all closed off, grumpy control freaks.
I probably needed to look into that, and why I loved to rile them up so much.
Was it some sort of fetish? I didn’t get off on it or anything.
“Rome, what do you need?” Will asked, ignoring my antics, as usual, and snapping me back to reality. I was convinced he secretly loved me, just couldn’t show it, and potentially ruin his bad boy attitude.
“Come on, at least give me some details on Jackie. Tell me how the smartest woman I have ever met is?” I continued.
Jackie was brilliant and quick-witted, and shockingly similar to me.
In truth, I was in no way attracted to Jackie.
She knew that, I knew that, and somewhere deep down even, Will knew that.
If my comments had bothered Jackie, I would have shut it down years ago, but she found it as amusing as I did.
I had a feeling the two of us were going to send him to an early grave.
Will groaned over the phone. “Fucking hell,” he muttered. “If you don’t cut to the chase, I’m hanging up this phone.”
“Fine, fine, don’t get your panties in a twist. You’re kind of a buzzkill,” I began, straightening back in my chair and staring at the letters to Bec.
I had spent half the day poring over them.
“It’s about your sister. I need to know exactly why you wanted me out here, and why you thought she needed additional security. ”
There was a pause before Will finally spoke, “What happened?”
“Nothing,” I answered immediately, not wanting him to jump to conclusions. “There are some strange letters that she has been receiving, and from what I can see, they are coming from someone within the corporation. I’m trying to discern how credible the threat is. Why?”
I heard a whispered shit over the phone before Will sighed, “As you know, up until I sent you out there, our dad ran her security. He’s been running it our entire lives…
insistent on it. He would have run my security, too, if I hadn’t cut off all contact and moved across the country.
It’s one of the ways he tried to exert control over us.
His goons would follow us, report back on everything we did and said, and keep people my dad deemed not worthy away from us.
It never had to do with our security, but it had everything to do with complete control over our lives.
I wouldn’t be shocked if he was somehow behind this. ”
“Do you really think they’re from your dad?” I knew their father was a piece of shit, but it was hard to imagine any parent not wanting to keep their own children safe.
“The threats Bec and I received as kids terrified our mom,” Will explained.
“My dad used these threats to scare her into submission.
I wouldn't be shocked if he were trying to do the same thing to Bec now.
To make her lose her footing and screw something up because she's scared. He's a controlling asshole."
“Yeah, I’m starting to understand that. Is that why you sent me out here? Were you worried about your dad and what he would do?” I asked.
He sighed deeply, “No… well, partially. Look, Bec taking over is my dad’s worst nightmare.
He wanted me in that position and had expected he could force me there when he was ready.
I’m worried about what ramifications may occur with her taking over.
I’m not positive he’s given up his dream of me running the company. ”
“Ramifications from your dad?” I clarified.
“Yeah. Look, Rome, I know I’m being paranoid.
I worry about Bec, and she doesn’t have anyone in her corner out there.
My mom tries, and Bec’s friends care for her, but she’s on her own–partially of her own volition.
I needed someone out there to keep her safe when I couldn’t.
Maybe my dad won’t do anything credible, all logic says he wouldn’t, but I would rather be safe than sorry,” he explained.
“I should have told you initially, but I had hopes that my fears would be unfounded.”
I took a moment to digest it all. Will was right that Bec had isolated herself from any meaningful relationships.
She had moved herself onto a deserted island of her own choosing and let very few people in.
The few she did were often as busy as she was.
If something were to happen to her and if she needed help, there weren’t many people here who would help her without question.
Especially people who weren't on her payroll, and I did wonder if those same individuals could be interested in a bigger payout. “I’ll do my best to keep her safe.”
“Thank you.” Will answered. “Look, I’ve got to go. My niece has a dance recital, and you already know Jackie is making it a whole production. There are banners... multiple of them. Call me if anything comes up?”
“Will do. I do have one more thing… are you busy next week?”
“What are you doing?”
I jumped and turned from my spot on my bedroom floor to see Bella standing in the doorway, moonlight highlighting her silhouette.
It was the middle of the night, and as usual, I couldn’t sleep. Instead of dwelling on what caused my nightmares and newfound insomnia, I decided to focus my energy elsewhere. At least… focus my mind elsewhere.
“I’m working,” I answered, turning my focus back to the letters in front of me. I was trying to translate the gibberish on each one, or find patterns, but I was starting to believe this was above my pay grade. “What are you doing?”
Bella sighed and wandered into the room, closing the door behind her, and plopping down on the floor next to me. She was in her pajamas with her hair piled on top of her head. “I’m trying to figure out why my brother is poring over random letters in the middle of the night.”
“It’s a long story,” I mumbled, trying to focus on my current stack. It was in these moments that I wished my reading literacy was better. My mom was convinced I had ADHD since I couldn’t focus for shit, and trying to rifle through these letters was proving her right.
“Hmph,” Bella exclaimed and started rifling through the letters herself, “If you told me this long story, I could maybe help.”
I sighed and leaned back, resting against the side of my bed, and rubbed my strained eyes, “I’m trying to organize these and see if there are any patterns or similarities.
I’m trying to make sense of the shit…” I trailed off, “Maybe I just need to sleep and restart tomorrow. I think this is the most I’ve read in one sitting… well, ever.”
Bella looked at me for a moment, nodded slightly, and began rifling through the letters with more purpose.
“You get too stuck in your head sometimes,” she mumbled, almost to herself.
I watched her methodically pull each letter out of the envelope, scan it quickly, before placing it back. She then began putting them in various stacks around her.
“What does that mean?” I asked as I watched her work.
She sighed softly, “You were probably going line by line, seeing if any letters were repeated across the documents. That’s too much work. First, we check by length and then contents.” She picked up two notes and handed them to me, “See these two?”
“Yes…” I trailed off, scanning them quickly. “They have the same number of lines.”
She nodded, “Exactly. While it may be coincidental, it’s a starting point that’s easier to digest.”
I watched her for a moment as she continued to rifle through the letters. “What does that have to do with getting too stuck in my head?”
She smiled softly as she worked, casting a brief glance my way.
“Mom used to say it about you when we were growing up. ‘That brother of yours is too stuck in his head, can’t do anything not his way’”.
She had copied our mom’s Italian accent well, and she laughed at the memory.
“It’s one of the sayings she messed up when learning English. ”
I nodded, catching on, “So she was trying to say that I get stuck in my ways?”
Bella nodded, “You get in your head a certain way that you’re going to do something, and can’t deviate.”
“Am I really that bad?”
Bella shrugged, handing me more letters with the same number of lines.
“It’s not bad, it just sometimes makes things harder for you.
I missed it, though, seeing how stubborn you get.
How locked into tasks you are. It’s fun to watch, and I like seeing it again.
You’re the same way with Livia’s car or helping me prep for the restaurant. You hyperfixate on the tasks.”
I smiled, the dim light from the lamp on my nightstand bathing my room in a warm glow. “I missed you. All of you.”
I loved my time in the Army, and the years afterward working with my friends in Oregon. But when it crashed and burned, I just wanted to be home with my family. With the people who loved me the most.
The people I had yet to let down.
“Think you’re going to stay this time? Make the city your home again?” Bella asked, trying to keep the hope out of her voice, but it bled through nonetheless.
“You guys were here, so this was always home, but yeah. I’ll stick around now,” I explained.
She nodded with a soft smile. “Good. It’s about time I get some help reigning in these sisters of ours,” she expressed. “Why are we going through these anyway?”
I sighed, “I think they’re threats to Bec.”
Bella paused for a moment and turned towards me, her eyes wide with shock and disbelief. “There are hundreds!”
I nodded, “I know.”
“And not one person thought to do this before now?” she asked and pointed to one of her stacks. “Why has no one done this yet?”
I shrugged, “She’s kept them a secret this entire time. I found out about it by accident. This is the first chance I’ve had to really dive into it all.”
“Don’t you have an entire team you can rope in to help you?”
I nodded, “Technically, yes. But I think they’re coming from someone within the company. So I'm going to try and discern what they mean on my own first, and then I can hopefully move on to who is sending them.
“Why don’t you do both at the same time?” Bella asked.
I raised a brow, “You’re widely overestimating my ability to multitask at the moment.”
She huffed a laugh, “Aren’t you supposed to be a big, bad Army Ranger?”
“I was one–past tense. Now, I’m an old veteran whose knees pop every time I walk down the stairs. My big, bad, Army days are behind me.”
“You’re saying you’ll stop threatening every man I go on a date with?” She asked with mock excitement.
I rolled my eyes, “Hell no. That isn’t the Army, that’s just me being your big brother. I’ll keep threatening them after I die. I’ll haunt those boys from the grave.”
This time, she let out a loud laugh… loud enough that I had a feeling a few family members in the house had awoken.
“Well, Mr. Old-Veteran-Who-Will-Threaten-My-Future-Husband… let’s get back on task.
I can help with the letters, even enlist those sisters of ours, and you can focus on ensuring that any new threats coming in are actually handled right.
Plus, I can work twice as fast as you on these. ”
“You’re really willing to sort through hundreds of letters, maybe even more, for me?
” I asked, in shock. It wasn’t that I didn’t believe she would help…
it was just strange that she could. When I had enlisted in the Army, my sisters were still kids.
Bee didn't even remember me living at home.
It was an adjustment that they were now grown women.
“A little bit for you, but also for Bec. Girls supporting girls, you know?”
I just stared at her, confused, and was starting to maybe understand Bec’s confusion whenever I spoke.
Bella smiled, “It’s a thing, I promise. Just trust me.”
Tilting my head and saying in a soft, sincere voice, one of the only true things I know... "I always have, and always will."