Chapter Twenty-Two
BEC
“Clean bill of health, bitches!” I exclaimed to a laughing living room.
I had been getting frequent checkups with an in-house doctor since the incident a couple of weeks ago.
It had been weeks of being bored, driving Rome wild, and calling my brother multiple times a day when I needed attention.
I hadn’t been so needy in the past, but not having work to keep me preoccupied was forcing me to reveal parts of myself that I hadn’t seen before.
Namely, I needed stimulation in my life to keep from going crazy.
The headaches had ceased, and the nasty cut was mostly healed. Rome had taken out the stitches for me about a week ago. There were moments when I forgot about his history in the Army until he’d whip out skills like that. It shouldn’t have been as attractive as it was.
Although the recovery was slow, I was officially cleared to resume any and all activities. It would still take time for the concussion to entirely heal, and the bruise to disappear, but I could finally go back to my life.
Not only was I overjoyed, but Rome’s entire family was just as thrilled.
Bella the most because now she didn’t have to reclean all the dishes I had pathetically tried to clean over the last two weeks.
They thought I wasn’t aware of how bad I was at it, but I wasn’t an idiot.
I was merely grateful they gave me something, anything to do.
The last few weeks had given me a glimpse of the many ‘what ifs’ I’d had throughout my life.
What if I hadn’t had the money I did growing up? What if I didn’t live in the public eye? What if I were raised in a functioning, happy family?
They were thoughts I’d always had, but had never entertained deeply.
But now I knew the answers to all of them.
I was grateful for everything I had, but I was also thankful to learn how to make pasta from scratch with Lucia, and help Mateo and Rome work on the engine of some beat-up Beetle that was leaking oil on the street.
Because of Rome’s family, I had finally gotten a taste of normalcy. I was excited to return to my life, but it would forever be changed due to my experiences here. I wasn’t positive on the how just yet, but I was looking forward to figuring it out, and not just slapping some money on the problem.
Rome’s entire family was home tonight, as they were most nights.
I had heard stories from Rome about how close his family was, but experiencing it firsthand was a different reality.
They truly preferred one another’s company to anyone else’s.
When the restaurant closed, the entire family came home to have a very late dinner.
It was their tradition… a tradition I had the privilege of being included in.
I waved the doctor's note in the air as I cheered. Rome laughed at my declaration and lifted me in his arms, spinning us in a circle.
I hadn’t expected our relationship to evolve so seamlessly.
Everything between us was so easy. I had been in a handful of relationships in the past, but since being with Rome, I had learned they were all hard.
My previous boyfriends couldn’t fathom my dedication to my work and were unwilling to be supportive.
Communication, a skill I had struggled with when it came to personal relationships, had always been a challenge.
I had never had a proper example of communication in my life, and thus modeled the behavior I witnessed—which was horrendous, and essentially no communication at all.
These simple aspects of any relationship had always been difficult for me.
It was one of the reasons I was initially scared to enter into anything meaningful with Rome.
I wasn’t willing to risk our friendship for what I was sure would be a failed relationship.
But everything with Rome was simple. He supported me in my career goals and seemed to care for me even more because of my ambition.
He not only understood that I was a shit communicator, but went the extra mile to ensure we did communicate.
It wasn’t always easy, as I would fall into old patterns, and he still managed to get on my last nerve at times, but it was never hard.
“Can you go back to the office?” Bella asked.
Rome set me down softly, and I really contemplated the question. Over the last three weeks, I’d had one goal, which was getting a clean bill of health from the doctor so that I could return to work. It had never crossed my mind on whether I should go back.
I turned to Rome, “Can I go back?”
The people who had attempted the kidnapping were involved with the company to some capacity, that much we knew. Well, that was all I knew. Rome had been careful to keep me disconnected from it all as I healed, not wanting to add any further stress to my life.
He sighed, “I don’t think you should, but it’s up to you.”
I nodded, digesting his words. I appreciated his opinion, but appreciated him leaving the decision up to me more. I wanted to go back, but I wanted to be smart. I had so much more to my life than work. Was I willing to put it all at risk for my job?
“Can you catch me up on what you do know?” I finally asked. I needed to make a sound and logical decision. The only way to do so was to have all of the information and facts that I could have weighed into the decision.
Rome nodded and pulled me into the dining room.
I took a seat, which had become my seat with my time here.
I had learned quickly that everyone was oddly particular about their assigned seats, and my heart fluttered knowing I was a part of the equation now.
Livia had sat in my chair once and was promptly told to move by her twin, as that was now my spot.
I had a spot.
Rome wandered upstairs as his sisters piled into their spots around the table. It seemed this would be a family affair.
Rome quickly returned with a stack of files and a pile of written notes. “Let’s start with the employees,” he began, handing me various personnel files. “I went through each of them and pulled out the specific employees who had a connection to the driver.”
I nodded and glanced over the names. “What was his name? The driver?”
“Marcus,” Rome growled.
I nodded, feeling guilty it had taken me so long to finally ask.
Most of the names on the list of employees who had an association with Marcus, I barely recognized.
They were interns, other drivers, or employees who had started at the same time as Marcus.
The connections weren’t strong, but important enough to highlight. “This all seems rather surface-level.”
Rome nodded, “There is only one employee who has a more distinct connection to Marcus. Namely, his cousin.” Rome set another file in front of me. It was Melissa’s.
“There’s no way she had anything to do with this,” I protested. Melissa had worked for the company for five years and had worked her way up the ranks. Not only was she an outstanding employee, but I also considered her a friend. “She wouldn’t do this to me.”
“We can’t discount anyone… not yet,” Rome placated. “I’m not inclined to believe she was involved, but we have to point out the connection. Marcus only started working at Bly Enterprises because Melissa referred him.”
I sighed, but didn’t argue, knowing he was right. “Fine, is there anyone else?”
Rome shook his head, “Those are the only connections I could find. We also have the passenger, David. He was the man who physically grabbed you. I’m looking into his family now. He has a sister who lives in the city I’m trying to track down.”
“Have either of them admitted to anything?” I asked. From the little I knew, they were in custody, but weren’t speaking. Rome had been communicating with the police on my behalf.
“Initially, no. Then the prosecutors offered them both a plea bargain for lesser charges if they spoke,” Rome explained, sitting next to me and scrubbing a hand across his jaw.
“David declined, Marcus accepted. The problem is… Marcus knows nothing. According to Marcus, he and David were friendly, and David had reached out to him with a proposition. Help him kidnap you and drive you out of the city, for a hefty sum.”
“Shit,” I mumbled, “how much?”
Rome raised a brow in amusement, “How much?”
I nodded, “How much was my kidnapping worth? Wouldn’t you be curious?”
He huffed a laugh, "According to Marcus, 2.5 million dollars.”
“Only two and a half million?!” I complained. “I’m worth so much more than that!”
Rome laughed, “Out of everything I just told you, that’s what bothers you? Your kidnappers weren’t paid enough?”
I shrugged, “It’s a fact. I’m worth billions. If anyone were to kidnap me, they should have negotiated for a higher amount. It’s stupid not to, really.”
Lucia laughed, “We love a woman who knows her worth.”
All of Rome’s sisters nodded in agreement, causing both Mateo and Rome to chuckle softly.
“Well, Marcus isn’t the brightest,” Rome explained.
“He has some debts he needs to pay off, and I think that was his entire motivation. From what the officers have said, he has real remorse for what happened. He was just supposed to be a getaway driver. When it was all going down, he panicked. He had never fired a gun before, let alone held one until that day. Everything he did after the initial abduction was due to pure adrenaline.”
“Any idea who hired them?”
He shook his head. “I have ideas, but no concrete proof.”
“My dad?” I asked, and Rome nodded. “It’s what I think too. It’s all too coincidental. I receive threatening notes, then my dad spreads rumors that I am being threatened and how it is affecting my performance. Then I just so happen to be kidnapped the same day?”
“I called Melissa to chat with her…” Rome began.
“To chat, or to suss out if she was involved with her cousin’s scheme?” I interrupted.
Rome huffed a laugh, “A bit of both. Just doing my job, sweetheart. As I was saying, I gave her a call. Your dad is really highlighting the threat to you as a black mark on your performance and the security of the company. What I can’t figure out is why?
Why would he go to these lengths to remove you from the position after giving you the job in the first place? ”
I shrugged, “Does it need to make sense?”
“Not necessarily, but it bothers me nonetheless.”
We both sat for a moment, thinking about the why of it all.
It was a valid question. I still believed my dad wanted to remove me from the position because he didn’t believe I would do well and still wanted Will to take over.
But it did beg the question, why put me in the position in the first place?
What was his end goal with these schemes? We were missing a piece of the puzzle.
“That team you have looking into the letters, would they be able to look into my dad’s finances?” I asked.
Rome’s cheeks pinked, and his sisters started giggling.
“You told her you had a team?” Bella asked her brother.
Rome shrugged, “In my defense, I did. You five were my team.”
Bella laughed harder and turned to me. “His team consisted of us,” she motioned to her and her sisters. “We’re good with the letters, but not diving into bank accounts. You may want to hire someone with more expertise for that one.”
I laughed lightly, “I’ll give my assistant a call. She has the credentials to look into it anyway.”
“Are you sure that’s the best idea? Andi is a part of the company, and we’re trying to avoid them,” Rome interjected.
I gave him an incredulous look, “It’s Andi. It will be fine.”
He huffed and crossed his arms over his chest, “Well, I’m calling someone too. I have connections in Oregon. I know just the person to look into it all.”
I raised my hands in surrender, “You do what you have to, but I promise Andi will get results faster than this mysterious connection of yours.”
He eyed me with a challenging look, “Want to make a bet?”
I laughed and stuck my hand out, “Deal.”
He shook my hand, solidifying the bet. “Deal.”
“Well, this is adorable and all,” Bella interrupted, “but we do have an update on those letters.”
Both Rome and I turned our attention to her.
“You made sense of that gibberish?” I asked in excitement. When I first started receiving them, I had hoped I could decipher them. After about eight letters, I gave up when I had made no progress.
She nodded, “We’re starting to. Each one has a few letters of a bigger statement.
There aren’t any characters that fit in the same spot on the page.
I think all the letters together will complete a statement.
We don’t have enough yet to find a clear message, but we have some words completed.
” She rifled through one of the stacks Rome had brought down, pulling out a piece of paper. “Here’s what we have so far.”
I looked over the handwritten letter. She was right, there was no real clear message thus far, but some filler words were completed, including my name at one point. Specifically, my nickname… Bec.
“It has to be my dad,” I mumbled. “Only friends and family call me Bec, and he’s the only one in that group that would do something like this.”
“But he called you Rebecca, not Bec, which is why I’m reluctant to place all of the blame on him. What if there are more people involved than we know?” Rome sighed, “You never know. Sometimes the people you trust the most can turn on you.”
I smiled softly in understanding. “What happened with your team was a fluke, Rome. I know you have a hard time trusting, but I promise my friends and family are not involved.”
“Your dad is family,” Rome argued, growing defensive. I held back a retort just as defensive, trying to have more empathy for his experiences and not wanting this to devolve into an argument.
I took Rome’s hand in my own, “He is technically, but I don’t consider him family. Look… if you can’t trust them, can you trust me?”
He took a steadying breath, and I could see the struggle in his eyes. Rome has an issue with trust. He wants to place his trust in me, but he is terrified. He had been burned in the past and was simply trying to protect himself.
Finally, he nodded. “I trust you, Bec. More than myself. For some reason, I always have.”