Young Revelations (Young Series)

by Kimble, W. R.

  Throughout the day, my cell phone repeatedly rang with phone calls and text messages from Matthew. Eventually I silenced the ringer so I could go about my work in peace. The one time he actually called the store, Bonnie answered and told him in no uncertain terms that I was busy and he could talk to me later. I didn’t tell her about our issues last night. I didn’t need to; she’d taken one look at my face when she walked through the door and realized something wasn’t right. To my relief, she didn’t push me into giving her a detailed account; instead she gave me a quick hug, told me I could talk to her if I wanted, and we started unpacking the delivery we received that morning.

  After lunch, I check my messages again, finding only one text from Matthew. My heart soars at the words I see and I hope desperately he means them and that he’s not once again trying to tell me what I want to hear to end our argument. Not that it can really be called an argument, since there was no real arguing going on. Either way, my mood improves almost immediately and I’m eager to see him so we can sort this out once and for all.

  When the time comes to pick Tyler up from school, I wave goodbye to Bonnie and head out, my heart lighter than it has been since last night. I climb into my car and for some reason, my eyes drift towards what used to be East Coast Travel. It’s my understanding that everything in the building has been cleared out and taken into police evidence while they investigate whatever Frank Marone might be into. There’s visible movement through the glass windows and I wonder if someone is looking to lease the place and open another business.

  Halfway to Tyler’s school, both the building and Frank are pushed right out of my mind. I’m concentrating on the plans Matthew and I made for the weekend. Nothing extravagant. Furniture shopping for the baby. Wedding planning. Just being together. And I can’t wait.

  I pull into a spot at the school just as the children are exiting the building and get out so Tyler can see me when he comes out. While I wait, I look back through the text messages Matthew has sent me today, all ranging from his begging me to talk to him to reminding me that he loves me. The only one that holds any merit is the last one he sent. I can’t explain why I know he’s being truthful with his message, but I know he is.

  It’s a few minutes before I look back up and see the stream of children leaving the school has thinned considerably. Tyler’s class should have been among the first out; the younger classes are always escorted out by their teachers. I look around, locating Tyler’s teacher almost immediately and head towards her. When she sees me and recognizes me, she looks at me in utter surprise and confusion and I know immediately something is terribly wrong.

  ––––-o––––-

  The morning is an absolute blur. By lunchtime, I can’t even remember half the people I’ve spoken to. It’s more than clear this is the last place I want to be, but if I don’t come to work once in a while, I have no control over my business. And this is probably the only place in my life where I still have some semblance of control, so I need to hang onto this however long I can. But of course my mind is an hour or so away with Samantha, wondering what she’s doing, what she’s thinking, whether she’ll be home when I get there. I’ve sent her text messages, left her voicemails, even called the bookshop. Bonnie had answered and said Samantha was busy. I have no idea whether Sam told Bonnie what happened last night, but Bonnie knew enough to know Samantha is upset and it’s my fault.

  While I stare at the sandwich on my desk despite having no appetite, I try to figure out what is happening to my life. For so long I thought I had everything exactly where I wanted it, even when things weren’t perfect, and I thought I’d surrounded myself with people I could trust. In the last several months, I’ve slowly been realizing this may not actually be the case. Somebody betrayed the whereabouts of Samantha and Tyler twice, if not more—in Omaha, then later when I sent them to Claire’s. Somebody tried to kill me. Somebody kidnapped my family. Somebody edited a video of Natalie and me to make it look as though we were having an affair, then sent it to Samantha, knowing how she’d react. Whether that person knew her reaction might harm our baby, I don’t know, but it doesn’t matter at the moment. Whoever this somebody is, I know them personally. I confide in them. Or at least the person I’m confiding in has been confiding in someone else.

  For the first time, probably ever, I sit back in my desk chair and run through a list of people in my life. I want to believe the best in every one of them. If not for them, I wouldn’t be what or where I am right now. But I need to be smart about this. My life, my relationship, and my family are all in jeopardy right now and I need to come to some conclusion.

  As much as I hate to admit it, especially when I’ve been so freely generous with everything I have in an attempt to pay back those who’ve done so much for me, there are a lot of people in my life who may have taken advantage of that and me. For most of our friendship, I’ve carried Leo everywhere we’ve gone together. This has never bothered me. When he came home from the Marines, he was a mess. He was twitchy and saw enemies everywhere he looked, and his nightmares… I managed to convince him to get into therapy to work through his issues. He was almost immediately diagnosed with PTSD and put on antidepressants. He couldn’t be alone for months, so he moved in with me. Slowly he went back to being himself and I was comfortable with giving him a job as my head of security. Over the months, he was better than ever. When I had my house built, I had the guest house built as well and completely ignored Leo’s insistences that I didn’t need to keep carrying him. I told him simply to shut the fuck up and take the keys. He hasn’t asked me for anything. He’s always had my back.

  My father is a difficult one. From the time I was a small boy to now, I’ve been trying to find a way to impress him. Someway to make him as proud of me and my accomplishments as he is of his own. Our relationship was strained when I was younger and we both knew it. Neither of us really bothered to go to any lengths to fix that. The fight we had after my high school graduation about my acceptance to Stanford and how I wasn’t going into the Navy like he wanted was epic. I honestly thought that would be the end of our relationship and he would disown me as threatened. I’ve never regretted my decision to take my own path and now knowing where it’s taken me, I can’t imagine doing things any differently. Once I’d graduated college and set my sights on my chosen field, my father started taking a bit of an interest. When I started gaining contracts from agencies others in my field would give their left arms for, he finally admitted I might have made the right choice. And when I made my first million, he was the one pouring the champagne.

  His own firm that works directly with the military specifically is successful in its own right. Their projects are always classified whereas mine are a little bit of everything. A few years ago, my father was in danger of losing his contracts due to some questionable business decisions by one of his partners. I’d never seen him so stressed out and broken up about anything. One day he came to me for referrals to contracts we might have that could help save his firm. I’d barely hesitated to make the phone calls for the arrangements to be taken care of. Within six months, his firm was back on level ground. I think that’s what managed to finally bring us together as father and son. We got to know each other for the first time ever. I had his support and his approval and his respect.

  I can’t say I was pleased at his reception to Samantha when I first introduced them. There was never any doubt in my mind that he very much liked Lucy and would have loved to see me end up with her. I’d just put that on the list of yet another thing he wanted to control in my life. As much as I tried to get my entire family to love Samantha as I did, not all of them were willing to try. Whenever I heard my father or sisters talking down to her or talking about her behind her back, or even when she was within hearing distance, I made sure they knew how I felt about that. They didn’t understand why I was jumping to her defense rather than taking their advice and sending her back to Iowa. I stopped caring what they thought. What I didn’t think I’d e
ver have to deal with is my father bribing my wife to leave me while I was essentially on my death bed. That was a level of betrayal I’d never experienced. There was never a question of whether Samantha would have accepted any bribe from anybody to leave me. I don’t even have to question why she didn’t mention any of this to me: She didn’t want to strain the relationship between my father and me any further than it already was. It never mattered to her how my family treated her; at the end of the day, she was the one who kept me from writing them off and cutting ties.

  My older sisters… Once I showed some amount of promise that I would be successful in my life as opposed to the layabout slacker they thought I’d become, they were much nicer to me than they’d ever been when we were growing up together. That was my first taste of money being an attraction for friends. Claire was never like that. She was so indifferent about my newfound wealth that for her high school graduation, I bought her a car. She still has it, though she doesn’t drive it often since she’s usually carting around three kids.

  Before I met Samantha, the women started sniffing around. I’m not dumb; I knew full well they were attracted to my looks and money and had no interest in anything else, like my personality or interests. And that was fine with me. I was an outsider growing up, an antisocial computer geek who never went on a real date until college when I started growing into my body and my acne started clearing up. Lucy built up my self-confidence pretty thoroughly while we were together and for the first time in my life, I had friends, I was invited to parties, I was getting laid regularly… Of course she destroyed a pretty huge chunk of that self-confidence when I saw her in bed with my friend, but eventually I got over that. Probably around the time I started going places and women were hanging off me, flaunting all their assets in my face. There was always an understanding between me and those women that while I might spend more time with some than others, there were no commitment offers on the table. It was all casual. I’d buy them nice things, take them on dates to different business functions I attended, we’d have sex, and that was it.

  After Samantha left me, it took me months to get back on track and I had no desire to be with another woman. What could they possibly give me that would measure up to Samantha? Eventually I did get back into the dating circuit, or at least back to my pre-Samantha dating habits. There was a string of women for a while, then I met Natalie. The draw to her was almost instantaneous from the moment we shook hands. She was smart and funny and gorgeous, and I wanted her. For a while, things between us were great and she was slowly helping me get past losing Samantha. I always knew in the back of my mind I’d never completely get over that, but I was making a start. Natalie knew about Samantha and Tyler and she put up with me talking about them almost every day. Then the day came that I realized I wasn’t talking about them anymore and while I thought about them often, it was nowhere near what it had been when they’d left.

  Aside from my realization that Natalie was quickly becoming my replacement for Samantha, Natalie wanted more from me than I was ready to give. She started talking about moving in with me, getting engaged, having children. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t consider all of that very carefully and that it was an appealing prospect theoretically. I even started ring shopping. For six months, Natalie was the best thing for me and I fell for her quickly. I wanted her in every aspect of my life. I thought nothing of it when she started hinting around that she wanted to work with me at Young Technologies. Right around the time of our breakup, I was just finding a perfect position for her in my company. Needless to say, since she doesn’t work for me, we decided it would be best if she stayed on with her current job. I think she would have happily come to work for me regardless, but I smartened up enough to realize having an ex-girlfriend working for you probably isn’t the best move in the world.

  With that breakup, I realized I was in a better place than I had been in years. I was more focused, more determined to be successful, personally and professionally, and I was making attempts to get Samantha and Tyler back into my life somehow. The only reason I never tried before the threats started recently was because I didn’t think I could handle being rejected by her again. That didn’t stop me from reverting to my old ways in terms of women. Some lasted longer than others, but eventually they all faded away from my life.

  Every woman I’ve been with over the years has wanted something from me. Money. Notoriety. To be the center of attention. To see their faces plastered all over gossip rags when they were out with me. For the most part, they were shallow and thoughtless and complete bitches.

  Only one woman has been attracted to me for me. Only one has never been interested in what I could give her. Only one has proved this time and time again. My wealth has never been a contributing factor for Samantha. If anything, it was a strike against me. That only made me want to spoil her more. When we divorced, she could have taken everything from me, considering there was no prenuptial agreement between us, but she didn’t take a dime. From what I could tell, she barely touched the money I put into bank accounts for her and Tyler’s use. When she left, the only things she took were a couple changes of clothing for her, a diaper bag for Tyler, and Tyler himself. I considered having her things sent to her, but I couldn’t bear to be parted from anything that reminded me of her. Even now that we’re back together, she isn’t interested in my money. The fact that she prefers to work rather than spend her time out shopping and running up my credit cards prove that.

  The only things Samantha has ever asked me for pertain to me. My love. My honesty. My respect. My devotion. She doesn’t want cars or jewelry or clothes. She wants to know I’m hers. She wants us to have a happily ever after. Nothing more, nothing less.

  So for what reason would Samantha lie to me about Natalie’s involvement in the kidnapping? Bitterness. Jealousy. Rivalry. Resentment. It could be any of those. The truth of the matter is she has no reason to lie. What has she got to gain from it? Aside from getting Natalie out of our lives for good, which she knows I’m already working on. Samantha is the only person in my life who has ever been completely loyal to me, almost to a fault, and the look on her face last night when I doubted her words was utter devastation.

  I don’t want to doubt the people I most trust in my life, but I’m at the point that I need to start deciding who is truly looking out for me and the best interests of my family. And there are only two people in the world who can claim to do that: Samantha and myself. She wouldn’t have come to me if she wasn’t sure about Natalie; she hates gossip and prefers to play peacemaker, as she proved with my father and older sisters. I betrayed her last night. Maybe not in the same way that someone is trying to kill me, but I’ve taken something I’ve always held dear about Samantha—her honesty—and threw it out the window and essentially called her a liar.

  “Fuck,” I murmur, burying my hands in my hair.

  And now I’ve come to that realization, several other things are falling into place. Natalie’s behavior at the party. Sure she’s usually physically affectionate to everyone, but even I noticed it was a little exaggerated that day. The video. I’ve still got a few theories to check out, but I think I know who’s behind it. Natalie’s visit to Samantha in the hospital, which in my opinion was for no other reason than to upset Samantha. If Natalie would go to such extremes to make my fiancée believe I’ve cheated on her, who’s to say she wouldn’t have had a hand in something more devastating—like a kidnapping?

  “Fuck!” I say loudly, immediately reaching for my phone. My fingers freeze over the buttons as I begin dialing Samantha’s cell number. She doesn’t want to speak to me right now and I’ll be damned if my phone call makes her feel even worse. Sighing, I open the text message application and begin typing.

  I believe you about Natalie. I am beyond sorry. Please do not give up on me, Samantha. I love you.

  I’m not expecting her to reply so I shove my phone in my pocket, throw my abandoned lunch away, and head down to the IT department. My need for closure
on this has just become paramount.

  18

  One of the best things about running my own company is that I have the power to choose the best people for the jobs I need them to do. All of my people are among the top of their fields and I trust them to be at the top of their game at all times. The head of my IT department, Pete Chambers, exudes the stereotypical computer geek. I think if I came to him and told him I would be paying him with only Mountain Dew and Cheetos, he’d be perfectly happy with those terms. Pete has never let me down and on a daily basis goes the extra mile to ensure his work is as perfect as it can be.

  Right now I’m sitting in the tiny closet he calls an office while he walks me through several different things. Upon hiring him, I offered him a large corner office, but he turned it down, preferring to keep his focus on his job rather than all the empty space a large office would give him. He’s got a desk with a top of the line computer. On the walls are several high definition monitors. In the corner is a small fridge with a microwave sitting on top of it. I sometimes wonder whether he ever goes home.

  I came to him with a question regarding the video of Natalie and me. It occurred to me that if one video managed to find the light of day, how many others might there be? We’ve gone through years’ worth of saved surveillance footage and it took me a few minutes to catch on to that there seemed to be periods of time that appeared to be missing.

  “I imagine that’s because you hit the blackout button,” Pete tells me as though this should have been clear to me. When I only look at him uncertainly, he sighs, turning to face me. “One of the first things I did when you hired me was to install a button at your desk where you can stop the cameras from recording if you wanted. Those times are documented on the footage, but there’s no video or audio to tell anyone exactly what might be going on in your office.”