After I get all the details, I call up one of our freelancers who is skilled in the various tasks that need to be done; getting rid of police reports, creating fake statements from the prostitutes saying they were lying about being with this man, making fake recordings of these girls trying to blackmail the man for money. It’s so easy to manipulate the truth. That’s why I never believe anything I see on the news or read in the papers. If the organization is able to distort the truth this way, then I know for sure that others are doing it as well.
By five o’clock, my work is done and I call and check in with Rachel. She’s working on a paper for class. I tell her I’ll take her out for dinner when I get home. But before I do that, I have to meet with Royce. I’m supposed to meet him at seven, but I don’t want to wait around for two hours so I’m going to stop by his place now.
He lives in a luxury townhouse in Westport. I check in at the gate. The guard calls Royce and he gives him the okay to let me in. I assumed he would, despite my early arrival. Royce is very proper when it comes to following etiquette rules, but only with other people. He’s not that way with me. If it’s just the two of us, we set the formalities aside. We spent four years at college together and have seen each other at our worst. There were lots of drunken nights. Lots of girls. Lots of things we shouldn’t have done, but did anyway. We know each other’s secrets and I guess that makes us friends, although I’d rather not have friends like him. He’s only a friend when he wants something. And he always wants something, which is why I try to avoid him.
“You’re early,” he says when he opens the door.
“I didn’t want to wait until seven.” I walk into his townhouse. It’s 4000 square feet so more like a house. It’s too formal for my taste, with marble everywhere and white pillars separating the entryway from the living room. Tapestry rugs line the floors, expensive paintings hang on the walls, and long flowing drapes hide the windows. The decor fits Royce’s personality. Formal. Over-the-top. Filled with objects that show off his wealth and status.
My loft is much more casual and has a more masculine feel. Dark wood panels cover the floors and simple shades hang from my windows. I have just a few framed black and white photos on the walls whereas Royce’s walls are filled with oil paintings in ornate, antique frames.
“So tell me about this new girl of yours.” He sits down on his all-white couch, resting his feet on the glass coffee table. He’s wearing a robe so I’m trying not to look at him.
“Could you put something on before we talk? Why are you wearing a robe at this hour, anyway?”
He smiles. “I had company earlier.”
“Who? Victoria?”
He rolls his eyes. “God, no. That woman’s horrible in bed. She has a decent body but she doesn’t know what to do with it.”
“But you’re still going to marry her?”
“Of course I’m going to marry her.” He tightens the tie around his robe. “She was picked for me. I don’t have a choice.”
“Did your father pick her out?”
“No. He hates Victoria. So does Mother. But given that I’m going to have a political future, Victoria was the right fit. The higher-up members chose her. My parents weren’t allowed to have input.”
The higher-up members are never seen. They meet separately from the rest of us and make the final decisions on things. Since they have a political future planned for Royce, they have to choose just the right wife for him. One who will work well in a political environment. They wouldn’t trust the judgment of the other members for something like that, which is why they handpicked Royce’s wife.
“So back to business,” he says, his robe slipping a little, exposing part of his leg.
“Royce, please put some clothes on. I can’t talk to you like that.”
“Fine.” He gets up. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
While he’s gone, I go down the hall to use the bathroom. When I come out, I walk by one of the guest rooms and notice something on the floor. The door is half closed, but I open it and see ropes scattered across the thick beige carpet. In the middle of the room is a four poster bed.
I go in the room and pick up the rope. It’s the same width as the red marks on Shelby’s wrists. I knew it was him. I fucking knew it.
I take the rope and storm into the living room. Royce is waiting at the bar, now in suit pants and a white button-up shirt. He doesn’t dress casual. He only wears suits.
“Where’d you go?” he asks, pouring himself a drink.
“What is this?” I toss the rope at him.
He grins. “What? Are you thinking of tying up your girl? I’d highly recommend it. I have some extra rope if you need it.”
I get up in his face. “I’m not tying up anyone, at least not against her will.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You tied up one of our associates and wouldn’t let her leave.”
“And your point is?” He takes his drink and goes back in the living room and sits on the couch.
I walk over to where he’s sitting but remain standing. “It’s against the rules and you know it. They do their job and they leave. They’re not even allowed to spend the night, let alone all day.”
“Who the fuck cares? They’re hookers. We can do what we want with them. I don’t know why they even have that rule.”
“You hurt the girl. She had marks all over her arms. You abused her.”
He shrugs. “So I was a little rough. Big deal. I’m sure she’s had worse done to her.”
I take the drink from his hand and slam it down on the table. “You don’t treat them like that, you understand?”
“Wait a minute. How do you know all this? Did she tell on me?”
“No. I saw her after she’d been with you. I saw her arms and the bruises. She tried to cover them up but I saw them. She wouldn’t say who did it, but I had a feeling it might be you. And now that I know it is, you’re never fucking doing it again. To her or anyone.”
“And you really think you can tell me what to do?” He picks up his glass from the table. “I do what I want to do. I don’t take orders.”
“You will when the members find out about this. Do you really want their punishment?”
“I’m not being punished, because they’ll never find out. I have ways to keep you quiet, Pearce. I did some research on that girl you were with and she’s even worse than I thought. Some hick from the Midwest? A farm girl? Seriously?” He laughs. “I admit she’s fucking gorgeous, but if the members found out you were dating her, your punishment would be a thousand times worse than mine for tying up an associate. Your father would probably kill you before they even had a chance to punish you.”
“There’s no rule that says I can’t date her.”
“There doesn’t need to be because we’re all smart enough to know better. Except for you. You’re not actually serious about this girl, are you?”
I don’t answer.
He sits up. “You’re kidding me, right?”
I sit across from him, not looking at him.
“Do you have some kind of death wish, Pearce?”
“They’re not going to kill me for marrying an outsider.”
“Marry?” He bolts up from the couch, spilling his drink. “Have you lost your fucking mind? You can’t marry that girl.”
“I can if no one finds out.”
“What are you saying? You’re eloping? So you already proposed to her?”
“No. But I’m going to.”
I didn’t plan to tell him this and now I regret it. Why did I tell him this? What was I thinking?
“How long have you known this girl?”
“Since early September. But I love her and I don’t want to wait to marry her. I can’t wait. If I do, I risk having them find out and trying to stop me.”
He paces the floor, rubbing his hand over his face. “I always thought out of the two of us, I was the risk taker, but you’re clearly taking over that role. Even I’m not
stupid enough to do something like that.”
“I already married the woman they chose. I’m not doing it again. I never thought I’d find a woman like Rachel, and now that I have, I’m not letting her go.”
He stops pacing and stares at my face. “Shit. You’re really in love with this woman.”
“Is it that obvious?”
“Yes. Which means it’s going to be difficult to hide.”
“What are you saying? That you’ll keep my secret?”
“I don’t know.” He returns to his spot on the couch, putting his feet up on the table. “I must say, I am intrigued by the danger of it. I get an adrenaline rush just thinking about what they might do to you. So in that respect, I might keep your secret just to find out what they’ll do to you after you marry her.”
I shake my head. “Thanks a lot, Royce. You’re a real friend.”
“I already told you not to do it. That was me being your friend. But you didn’t listen to me so now I’m interested in seeing how this plays out. Nobody’s ever done this before. So what’s your plan?”
I don’t want to tell him about Jack’s involvement, because doing so would be putting Jack at risk. There’s a good chance Royce would spill that secret to the others and then Jack would get in trouble and could no longer be my mentor.
“I’m still working on the plan,” I tell him.
He swigs his drink, then sets his glass down. “I know what to do.”
“What?”
“You take this girl to Vegas and get married, and while you’re there, you send out an announcement about your engagement. Send it to all the major newspapers, the news channels. Let everyone know. Then start planning the wedding. A big elaborate spring wedding. And invite the media and maybe a few celebrities.”
“Why would I do all that?”
“Because the public will eat it up. The billionaire marrying a regular girl? It’s a fairytale story. Plus, you’re both annoyingly attractive, which will make for good photos for all the media outlets. The bottom line is that if you’re popular with the public, the members can’t harm you. Or the girl. They won’t risk it, at least not right away. Not while the spotlight is on you. And by the time the press dies down, maybe they’ll accept this woman. It’s highly unlikely, but I’m trying to be positive here.”
“But the members could easily find out that I got married in Vegas. That’s public record.”
“You’re not thinking, Pearce.” He holds two fingers in the air. “Two things. First is that you can easily conceal public records so that they can’t be found. We do that all the time. And second, it doesn’t matter if the members know the truth. Because by the time they find out, you’ll have already alerted the media about your engagement and it will be too late for them to stop it. Given that you’ve already been married and divorced, it would look bad if you broke off your engagement. You’d look irresponsible, incapable of making a decision and sticking to it. Your father can’t have a person like that taking over his company. He needs you to appear stable and reliable. So he’ll be forced to go along with your engagement and pretend to be happy at the wedding.” He smiles. “The more I think about this, the more I love it. Now I kind of wish it were me instead of you, except my father isn’t the tyrant that yours is, so it wouldn’t be nearly as fun.” He gets up and goes back to the bar. “You haven’t said anything, Pearce. What do you think?”
I’m quiet as I think about his plan. Royce never did well in school, but when it comes to scheming, he’s a master. His plan is perfect. Brilliant, really. It would force the members to allow my marriage to Rachel. And they wouldn’t dare try to harm her, not with all the media attention she’ll be getting. Even after the press dies down, it would be reckless of them to even attempt to harm her. If anything ever happened to her, reporters would become suspicious, asking questions and doing investigations, which could lead to them finding out about us. The members wouldn’t want to risk exposing themselves like that.
“I think it might actually work,” I say, meeting him at the bar.
“Of course it will work. But you’ll need my help. Someone has to cover for you while you’re off getting married.” He takes a drink of his scotch.
“You’d do that for me?”
“I will if you keep your mouth shut about the associate.”
I take a moment to consider it. I’d really like to report him, but truthfully, they may not even punish him. They may decide it’s not worth it. And then Royce would become my enemy. He’d destroy my future with Rachel.
“You can’t do it again,” I tell him. “If you tie up a girl, she has to agree to it. You can’t hold her against her will.”
“I couldn’t even if I wanted to. I have Victoria bothering me now. She checks in on me constantly and has a key to my place. These days I’m lucky if I can get an hour with a girl.”
I try to hide my smile. William’s right. Victoria is a perfect match for Royce. She’ll keep him in line, or she’ll at least try. She knows about the associates, but she won’t want him using them. She likes controlling things as much as he does, and it sounds like she’s already trying to control Royce, which is good. He needs it.
“So you’re really going to help me with this?” I ask.
He slaps me on the back. “Sure. Why not? Like you said last night, you covered for me plenty of times. I owe you. And as long as you keep quiet about the associate, we shouldn’t have any problems.” He pours some bourbon into a glass. “So when is this secret marriage going to happen?”
“I’m not sure yet. I need to give Rachel more time. If I proposed to her today, I don’t think she’d say yes.”
“You can’t wait much longer.”
“Yes. I know. Maybe in a couple weeks.”
He hands me the glass of bourbon. “Drink up.”
“No, thank you. I have to go.”
He sets the glass down. “You owe me a bottle of scotch. We had a deal.”
“Yes. Sorry, I forgot.” I walk to the door. “I’ll have one sent over. Goodbye, Royce.”
I leave and go out to my car. This day has gone far better than I imagined it would. When I left Rachel this morning, I was preparing to get a kill assignment, but it turned out to be a simple cover-up. Then I was prepared to fight with Royce, but instead got a plan for marrying Rachel that might actually work, along with his offer to help. This is turning out to be a very good day.
It turns out to be a good week as well. Monday morning, my father is back at work but tells me he has to go out of town again. Some of the potential clients he met with have agreed to do business with us, so my father is going back to Europe to work out some deals. Normally I’d have to go as well, but he needs me to take care of things here, which means I have another few weeks of freedom. More time to spend with Rachel.
So that’s what I do. I see her every night and stay at her place on the weekends. We even go shopping again at the mall. I’m starting to like the jeans, so I got another pair and Rachel picked out some casual button-up shirts for me to wear because I only own dress shirts which don’t look right with jeans. If my parents saw me dressed in these clothes, they’d be horrified. But they’ll never see me wearing them. I usually only wear them when I’m at home or over at Rachel’s apartment.
I feel like I’m living a double life and I wonder how much longer I can keep this going. Royce and Jack are the only people who know about Rachel, and so far, they’ve both kept my secret. Jack has been traveling for business so I haven’t been able to meet with him. Royce has also been out of town so I haven’t talked to him either.
When my father finally returns, he’s so busy catching up on work that he has no time to question me about what I’ve been up to while he was away. And surprisingly, he doesn’t criticize the work I did while he was gone. He has no reason to. My performance actually improved without him here, even though I was working fewer hours. In fact, all of the employees were more productive without my father around. It just shows that his overbe
aring management style hinders performance and hurts the company. Of course I could never tell him that.
With my father back in the office, I’ve had to return to working long hours. Some nights I’m there so late I’m unable to see Rachel because she’s asleep by the time I leave to go home. I miss seeing her. I’ve grown accustomed to working normal hours and spending the rest of my time with Rachel, and I want that again. I just haven’t yet figured out how to make that happen.
It’s now the middle of November. Time is going way too fast. In just a few short weeks Rachel will graduate, and after that I don’t know what she plans to do. I know she’s looking for jobs, but as far as I know, she hasn’t applied for any yet.
We need to start discussing our future. I definitely want to marry her and I think she wants that too, but I’m worried she’ll want a long engagement, at least a year, maybe more. But we don’t have that kind of time. I need to marry her before Dunamis makes a rule forbidding it.
My other concern is that Rachel will insist on meeting my parents before agreeing to marry me. She keeps asking when I’m going to introduce her to them, but I’m not ready to. I know they’ll be furious so I keep avoiding it. If I could avoid it forever I would, but that’s not possible. I need to face reality and stop living this secret life with Rachel. Which means I need to make some very big decisions, very soon.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
27
RACHEL
It’s Thursday and I’m at Pearce’s loft. My afternoon class was canceled so I came here to work on a paper. I get so much more done here than at my own apartment. Pearce’s place is super quiet and toasty warm. My apartment is noisy and always freezing because the heat barely works.
It’s now six and I thought Pearce would be home by now, but he’s not. He just called and said he was running late and that he’d take me out for dinner after he finished up at the office.
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