Chapter Fourteen
BEC
“Take a breath,” Andi murmured under her breath as we approached the conference room.
Today was the first meeting with the board since my fake relationship with Rome had begun. While Melissa claimed the plan had been proving successful, I wouldn’t believe it until I saw it for myself.
I had been told many times that I wasn’t a trusting individual… but I couldn’t be, not in this industry. Corporations didn’t care about people. They only cared about being on top and were willing to sacrifice people to get there. I had worked hard not to be one of the sacrifices.
I took a steadying breath just as Andi suggested, and nodded for her to open the door.
I waltzed in, holding my head high. While I was an elastic band ready to snap internally due to my nerves, I wouldn’t show my weakness to the group.
Showing them my Achilles’ heel would be akin to a death sentence.
They needed to believe I was perfect, at least until my probationary period was over… only five more months to go.
The board members sat around the long conference table, and as usual, quieted down as I walked to my chair at the head of the table. I glanced at the seat that was usually empty on my right side, and was taken aback to see it filled.
Will’s dark hair and steely blue eyes that matched my own were impossible to miss. He was dressed in a button-up with the sleeves rolled up, exposing his tattooed arms. If I was right, he had added more pieces to his hands since I had seen him last.
I smirked at my brother, who returned the gesture and stood as I passed him.
“Rebecca,” he greeted with a quiet but commanding voice.
“William, it’s about time you showed up for one of these,” I joked… earning me a rare laugh.
He hadn’t joined a board meeting… ever. While my dad had tried desperately over the years to get him here, Will never came. Something brought him here today, but for the life of me, I couldn’t guess what it could be.
Will’s seat on the board was known to be purely for appearances’ sake, though we both knew it was merely maintained because our father refused to give up the notion that Will wouldn’t be taking over the company.
My dad seemed just as surprised as I was that Will was present.
The two hadn’t been in the same building, let alone the same room, since the day Will left after he’d turned eighteen.
My dad was staring at him with shock and surprise.
I also couldn’t help but notice the confusion in his face, when he glanced over Will’s tattoos…
which I had a feeling gave Will a sense of pride.
Those tattoos started as a way to cover up the abuse of my father and grew into something beautiful.
It was his expression of freedom. We both had our minor ‘fuck you’ notions to my dad.
Where Will had his tattoos, I had the drive to run this company and wipe our dad from its memory in the process.
Having Will here brought me a strength I hadn’t expected. I wasn’t sure where the rest of the board stood regarding their feelings on me, but I knew Will had my back. Through thick or thin, my brother would move mountains for me.
I took my seat and looked down the table to see each member of the board's gaze trained on me.
“Let’s begin.”
“That was quite literally the most boring six hours of my entire life,” Will complained as he lounged in one of my office chairs.
I chuckled, “Well, I do it every month. Imagine how I feel.”
The meeting had gone unexpectedly well. There was always an aura of distrust that hung heavy in the air during those meetings. Today, it was nowhere to be found.
While it wasn’t all sunshine and roses, the men on the board seemed to truly listen to both my reports, and those of my executives.
There were still a few board members who made comments, believing our success was pure luck, though.
But it used to be far more. Some, however, began to see my initiatives as the cause.
It was working. I was swaying the board, slowly but surely.
“Why did you come today?” I asked Will, now that we finally had a moment alone. While we spoke every week, it had been over a year since I had seen him in person… and over four years since he had been in New York City.
He eyes me curiously, “You don’t know?”
I shook my head, confused.
“Rome called me,” he explained. “Thought you could use some support. My wife also had some meetings out here, so we decided to make it a trip.”
“Rome called you? For me?” I asked, bewildered.
Will’s presence was greatly appreciated.
His presence not only showed the board that I had his support, but also highlighted his complete disinterest in taking over.
I had thought about asking him to come in the past, but he hadn’t seen our father in years for a reason, and I had no plans of forcing a reunion.
It was a wonder that our dad didn’t try to coerce some form of conversation during or after the meeting with Will. But, luckily for everyone, a board member had pulled him aside, and Will and I had escaped to my office on the other side of the executive floor.
Will then gave me a knowing smile, “What’s going on between you and Rome?”
“Absolutely nothing,” I blurted, far too quickly for it to be inconspicuous.
Will did his best to hold back a laugh, but it wasn’t going well. “You’re just so cute,” he said in the most annoyingly condescending voice ever.
I rolled my eyes and threw a pencil at him. As the pencil made contact and fell into his lap, my office door opened to Rome and Melissa making their way in.
“Can we please discuss how truly brilliant I am?” Melissa declared, dropping another stack of magazines on my desk, highlighting pictures of Rome and me. “You also now have three board members inviting you and Rome to dinner at their homes with their families.”
Rome smiled widely at the sight of Will. “Oh, William, how I have missed you,” he declared, his arms stretched out as if he were waiting for a hug.
Will rolled his eyes and threw my pencil at Rome, who simply caught it. Which shouldn’t have been as attractive as it was.
Rome plopped down in the chair next to Will, twirling the pencil between his fingers. “Someday you’re gonna love me. Hell, I convinced Bec here to tolerate me. She even called us friends.” Rome’s eyes were wide as if he were telling a shocking secret.
Both Will and I rolled our eyes at the comment.
Melissa laughed. “Like brother, like sister,” she mumbled. “Anyway… I have another list of events for you two to attend, and I was hoping I could convince your brother here to pose for some photos with the two of you.”
“No,” Will answered immediately.
“Call his wife with the details,” I answered, ignoring Will’s glare. “She’d love to work with you.”
“Will do,” Melissa answered and made her way out to call Jackie.
“It’s rude of you to expose my weaknesses,” Will complained.
Rome laughed, “No one is exposing anything. You like exactly one person on this planet, and it’s Jackie; everyone knows this. I think you’re even quoted saying that.”
Will shrugged in a noncommittal acceptance.
I chuckled and turned to Rome. “I hear you have something to do with Will being here.”
“You needed backup. So, I got you backup,” Rome answered, as if it were an obvious choice.
Will clapped Rome on the shoulder, “He’s right, and we need to discuss these notes you’ve been receiving.”
I shot a glare at Rome, “You promised not to tell anyone.”
“I lied. And you were being stupid not telling anyone,” Rome argued.
Will snickered, and both Rome and I directed our glares to him. Will promptly held his hands up in surrender. “Hey, I’m just here to support Bec. Not insert myself in whatever…” He looked between the two of us with a knowing gleam in his eyes, “...this is.”
Rome sighed and stood, “I need to get back to work. I have some… people decoding the letters.” He then directed his attention to me, “Let me know when you want to head back so I can call the driver.”
I nodded, and Rome left Will and me alone again.
“So this new dynamic is lovely to witness,” Will remarked as he leaned back and rested his ankle on his knee. “Why didn’t you tell me about you two?”
I rolled my eyes, “There isn’t anything between us. I’m still trying to work through what it is I am feeling when it comes to Rome.”
“You two seem pretty friendly.”
I scoffed, “You should have seen us last week. He about tore my head off—though I deserved it for poking the bear.”
“Rome was angry? Actually angry?” Will asked, shocked. “Not his weird mock-anger he gets whenever I shut down his advances towards Jackie?”
I nodded, “I tried prying into his last assignment, and he obviously didn’t want to talk about it. Hell, I didn’t really pry, just asked, but that was too much.”
Will sighed and scrubbed a hand down his face, “Well, I guess that explains why he hasn’t been returning Malachi’s calls.”
“Your brother-in-law?” I clarified.
Will nodded, “And his best friend… at least until he came here and all but dropped off the face of the planet. I was nervous this was going to happen… after everything.”
“Tell me. Please, Will. Why won’t he talk about it? What happened out there?”
Will eyed me, his matching blue eyes assessing mine. “What do you know?”
I knew what he had told me. His wife, Jackie, had shared some details as well, and I knew the nightmares still swallowed them both whole at times. But I wanted to know more, I wanted to know how it affected Rome.
Why did I want to know? It wasn’t because he was my friend, my fake boyfriend, my enemy, or my bodyguard.
I needed to understand why those dark eyes swam with the demons of his past. Why he used humor to drown the guilt deep in his soul.
I needed to know what had hurt Rome so thoroughly, and I needed to know if I could fix it.
“I know a lot went down with Jackie’s family. I know Rome was assigned to help protect them. I know that his best friend, Malachi, was hurt… or his wife was hurt… and it somehow catapulted into so much more.”
Will nodded as he sank into his chair, worry and despair painting his features.
“Rome was supposed to be keeping a distant eye on Malachi. He was hiding out with his now wife, Rose, trying to keep them safe. They were being targeted, and in an attempt to help, Malachi went off-grid. However, none of us wanted him to be alone, so Rose stayed with him, and Rome was always close by too.” He sighed and enveloped my hands in his own, always the older brother trying to protect me.
“How much do you know about his team before they all retired?”
“There were four of them, all Army Rangers. Malachi James, Rome, Fynn Winslow, and Damien Biles. They had worked with each other for like a decade before they retired and came to work for us.” I had read Rome’s file on countless occasions. I had always been intrigued by his story and his life.
“That night, Rome was on duty to protect Malachi and Rose. He was attacked.” I felt my stomach drop at Will’s words, terrified of what Rome had endured.
“He was knocked unconscious, and Malachi and Rose were attacked. Eventually, the man who attacked them was killed in a scuffle with Malachi. Rome was fine… He had a few broken ribs and a nasty cut on his head, but he was fine.”
“I-I don’t understand. If everyone is okay, why does it bother him so much?”
“The man who attacked them was Damien. He had double-crossed the team and, in doing so, shattered any trust Rome had.”
“But they’re all okay,” I insisted.
Will shook his head, his eyes filled with compassion.
“In Rome’s mind, he was supposed to protect his best friend.
He was in charge of his safety—his life—and he failed in that.
At least, Rome is convinced he failed. Rome trusted Damien and was double-crossed; Malachi trusted Rome and was let down.
At least that’s how Rome sees it. Rome now believes he can neither be trusted, nor trust anyone. ”
“Does he trust you?” Will had been his technical boss for years now. Surely some form of trust was created between the two.
Will shrugged, “I can’t know. I would hope so, and I think I have proven to him that he can. It’s just a matter of his accepting that. It’s that lack of trust Rome has, that led me to assign him to you. If he doesn’t trust anyone, and I mean anyone, he won’t let someone close who can hurt you.”
“Will…” I tried to say, but was interrupted.
“Wait… I need to say something. Something I should have said years ago, Bec. I’m sorry.
I am so sorry that I left you and Mom home in that house with your abuser.
I am so sorry I wasn’t there to get in the way of the punches, the slaps, or the words.
I am so fucking sorry, Bec.” Will’s eyes glittered with unshed tears, and I could feel my own falling down my cheeks. “I was a coward and terrified…”
“It stopped, Will,” I interrupted… unable to take his guilt a minute longer.
“What?”
I took a deep breath, terrified of what his reaction would be, and heartbroken that he didn’t know.
“When you left, Dad stopped. He didn’t hit me or Mom.
He barely spoke to us. Don’t get me wrong, he still would throw awful comments my way, but it was far less frequent.
We were insignificant to him if we could no longer be pawns to hurt you. ”
“He didn’t hurt you again?”
I shook my head, “Not physically. Your leaving kept us safe. You did the best thing you could have. Do not apologize. I’m sorry for never telling you.”
He stood and pulled me into a hug. “I love you, Bec. I hope you know that… that you’ve always known that.”
I hugged him back as I let the tears I so often held back, flow freely.