Mandy

I awaken to the sound of a spirited conversation in the next room. Glancing at the empty space on the bed next to me, I realize that Trey has snuck off. At least he left my luggage sitting at the foot of the bed. Damn, I don’t want to miss anything. I do a quick stretch, accompanied by a big yawn and roll out of bed. I pull a pair of yoga pants and a matching top out my bag, wanting to get dressed quickly and get in on the conversation. I glance in the mirror and after debating with myself for a couple seconds I grab a tie and throw my hair into a ponytail. This will have to do for now.

“It all started about eight months ago,” Nolan is telling the guys as I enter the room. “That’s when Bill first mentioned that he was thinking about putting together an investor group to buy Firefly Media and take it private.” He closes his eyes and shakes his head obviously feeling a wave of emotions. “Of course I was totally onboard, all I wanted was to take over the role of host on the TV show. Everyone knows Tommy as a result of the exposure he has gotten. I thought it would be a win / win for all of us.”

“So what went wrong?” Anthony asks, scrawling things down on a notepad.

“Everything, basically.” He takes a deep breath and I notice tears forming in the corners of his eyes. “It was too big of a deal for the number of investors we had involved. It stretched everyone to the brink, so there was no margin for error.”

“That’s not the way to set things up,” Trey immediately responds. “I learned that lesson with a couple Biotech companies. If you are undercapitalized, more things will go wrong than you can possibly imagine.”

“And that’s exactly what happened,” Nolan begins to tell a story of failure. “The deal took longer than expected to close, two key investors backed out and that lead to even more stress on the rest of us,” he continues to explain. “Bill ended up leveraging everything he had.”

“Why was Tyler claiming that Tommy was a fraud?” Trey asks him, obviously wanting to find a connection to what has been going on.

“Once our accountants started looking into the books at the portfolio companies, the numbers didn’t add up,” Nolan replies, shaking his head. “Tommy told Bill not to worry, that he was going to make everything right. At that point we simply wanted out of the deal, but that was no longer an option. Tommy owed a ton of money to lots of different people, so he basically told us it was gone.”

“How was Carly Snow involved?” Anthony asks, flipping to a new page in his notebook.

“She’s the one who got us into the deal in the first place,” he replies with a pained look in his eyes. “She introduced us to Tommy and when things started to unravel she was the one who talked Bill into bringing Tommy onboard as the CEO of Addison Media.”

“Why would Carly push for that?” Anthony continues his line of questioning.

“And why would Bill go along with it?” Trey adds, before Nolan has a chance to respond. Trey rises from his chair and begins to pace the length of the room. It’s becoming obvious that there is a tangled web of deception and the fact that Addison Media is in the middle of it has struck a nerve with Trey.

“I think Carly felt responsible for the financial stress she had caused and even though no one mentioned it directly, it was understood that if Tommy was CEO he could bail us out,” Nolan admits with a sheepish look on his face.

“I need some air,” Trey declares, before opening the patio door and stepping out onto the balcony.

Trey

Everything is finally starting to make sense as a result of Nolan’s admission. Since Tommy has voting control over our stock, he and Bill could basically approve the purchase of Firefly Media without any additional shareholder support. The only way they could have done this was by first taking Dad out of the picture. Once Dad was gone, Bill could usher Tommy into the CEO spot. Could Bill really have done that to Dad after all the years they spent together?

“Are you okay?” Mandy asks, coming out to check on me.

“How could those fuckers do it?” I look out over the city skyline trying to deal with all of the emotions that are surging from within me. “I thought maybe Tommy had Dad killed because he found out he was a fraud, but this is even worse. I can’t believe Bill was involved.”

“Desperate people do desperate things,” she replies, putting her arm around me and giving me a squeeze. “Do you really think Bill would have knowingly killed Victor?”

“I never would have dreamt it until now,” I tell her looking up at the sky, still struggling to reign in my emotions. “At this point, it doesn’t seem like I can trust anyone.”

“Maybe Bill was arguing with Tommy because of what happened to Victor and Tyler,” she replies, looking at it from a different angle. “Maybe he just figured out that Tommy was the one behind those things.”

“Honestly, that would make more sense.” I shake my head and come back to reality just a bit. “I see our new ride just arrived.” I point down at the shiny black SUV pulling up to the curb in front of the hotel.

“Who’s is that?” she asks looking a bit confused.

“Mine. I never even thought about a bulletproof vehicle until last night. Dad should’ve had one,” I tell her turning to look into her beautiful blue eyes. “I asked Anthony last night which one he would buy if money wasn’t an issue. He said a Range Rover Sentinel, hands down. So this morning I went online and found two of them in the city. That’s what I love about New York, you can usually find anything you want.”

“How much is something like that?” she asks, still looking down upon it as the driver gets out and turns the keys over to the valet.

“Four fifty.”

She pauses momentarily before turning toward me with widening eyes. “Four hundred and fifty thousand?” she gasps.

“Yeah, but it’s awesome. It’s more heavy duty than Anthony’s Suburban, but it looks like a high end SUV. Plus it’s got over five hundred horsepower,” I explain, clearly demonstrating why it was a no-brainer.

“You just couldn’t stand to be seen getting out of a brown Suburban.” She shakes her head and moves back toward the patio door.

“Yeah, I’m not going to ride around in that thing,” I admit. “I’m going to have it shipped out to California when we’re done here. It’s one of the coolest vehicles I’ve ever seen. The floor is strong enough to handle the blast from two simultaneous grenades going off beneath it.”

“Yeah, like that’s a real worry.” She glances back, giving me that look, before heading back inside.

“Hey, you can never be too safe,” I retort, as we join the others to finish unraveling the mess that has become our lives. I have no doubt that I need a bulletproof vehicle, at least until there are a few butts sitting in prison.

“I’m sure Bill didn’t have anything to do with Victor or Tyler,” Nolan states emphatically as he rises from his chair and meets me half way. “He always had the utmost respect for your dad. I know he had suspicions after the fact and I’m almost positive that he wasn’t directly involved.”

“I sure as hell hope you are right,” I reply, giving him a solemn glare. “Why was Bill so pissed yesterday?”

“I don’t know,” Nolan replies, his gaze falling to the floor. “He left me a voicemail about two o’clock, but I didn’t call him back. I could tell he was upset and I just didn’t want to hear any more bad news.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean.” I think back on all the Sunday afternoons that I let Dad’s calls go to voicemail. I was usually hung-over and in no mood for a lecture. “Let’s go over to Trump Tower so you can see your wife and see if there is anything she can add to this conversation.”

“Yeah, Romeo made everyone leave their cell phones behind,” Anthony tells us. “Since he didn’t know which ones were clean.”

“I’m on a private cell plan, but unfortunately I didn’t take it with me when I went outside for a smoke last night,” Nolan replies. “Aileen has always been on her dad’s plan.”

“So, most likely it’s a corporate phone and Tommy has access to her account,” I confirm. “Let’s go down; I want to show you our new ride.”

“New ride?” Anthony asks, furrowing his brows.

“I found one of those Sentinels you were talking about last night,” I inform him with a smile. The look of disbelief on his face is priceless. “I know you wanted to try one out. Seriously, the thing has over five hundred horsepower.”

“So you bought one this morning,” he scoffs, cocking his head and giving me a smirk. “Was it really that torturous riding in the Suburban?”

“He doesn’t like brown,” Mandy pipes up. “It has to be black and shiny or Trey wants nothing to do with it.”

“That’s not true,” I counter. “I love red Ferrari’s or Lamborghini’s and Silver Corvettes as long as they have plenty of contrasting black and chrome wheels.”

“I love that old Suburban,” Anthony scoffs as we make our way to the elevator. “That beast has gotten me through some tough situations.”

“Well, I’m taking this one with me to California, so when we are done you can go back to driving it.” I laugh and give him a slap on the back. “Her dad is the same way,” I tell him, referring to Ray’s old Chevy truck that has a quarter-million miles on it.

“Your Suburban is in a lot better shape than Dad’s pickup truck,” Mandy assures him with a giggle. “That thing is at least fifteen years older than me.”

Anthony just shakes his head and when the elevator touches down, he is the first one out the door. Walking with conviction, he heads straight out the front door with the rest of us practically jogging to keep pace. “Is that it?” he asks, glancing back at me.

“See… isn’t it sweet?” I stop at the valet to grab the keys.

“Oh my God, this is a goddamn dream machine,” he proclaims as he opens up the door and shakes his head in amazement. “This thing is fucking beautiful!”

“So you aren’t going to miss driving the brown one for the next couple days?” I chuckle, jumping in on the passenger side.

“I’ll survive. I still love that old beast, regardless of your opinion,” he grunts and slaps on his seatbelt.

“I’m really sorry about everything,” Nolan says leaning forward from the back seat. “I never would’ve dreamt that things would get so messed up.”

“It’s certainly not your fault,” I tell him, turning in my seat to look him in the eye. “I just want you to help us figure it all out. So if there’s anything you haven’t told us.”

“I’ll help you all I can!” he exclaims, interrupting me. “I know Aileen and I are the next targets. I’m not sure why, because I don’t think either of us even know why Bill was killed.”

“They probably chased you last night just to scare the shit out of you,” Anthony tells him as he shifts the Sentinel into gear and looks to pull out into traffic. “Somebody rattled these two last night too.” He nods in my direction.

“Yeah, somebody was following our limo last night and rammed our bumper when we stopped at the corner in front of the hospital,” I further explain. “Did they mess with Romeo and the others last night?” I ask, turning back to Anthony.

“They were followed, but whoever it was kept their distance. Romeo was a little disappointed. He had two nines and four clips ready to go.” Anthony chuckles to himself as he punches the accelerator and blasts into a small gap in the traffic. “Well, she’s got some balls.” He nods in a show of approval. “God, I have good taste in vehicles.” He stares forward through the windshield with a smug look on his face.

“I will agree that your taste is improving,” I rib him. Anthony seems like a pretty good shit considering his background. I sure as hell would never want to tangle with him though. “I’m going to call the café and have them bring up some breakfast sandwiches, French toast and coffee for everyone. Is there anything else you want?” I ask, looking around the vehicle.

“Just get plenty, that’s all I ask,” Anthony says, rubbing his hand over his stomach. “Romeo and I will each need a couple sandwiches.”

“Can I get a vanilla latte with cinnamon on top?” Mandy asks sheepishly.

“Of course,” I laugh at her reserved demeanor. “How about you Nolan?”

“I don’t deserve anything,” he replies, still sulking. “I’ll eat whatever.”

Turning back toward the front of the vehicle, I punch the number for Trump Tower and place my order. It’s my belief that Bill, Nolan and Aileen are all victims in whatever scheme has been going down. Nolan definitely doesn’t seem like someone who could orchestrate anything this evil and deep down I know Bill would never betray Dad, even if he were desperate. He might twist his arm for a loan or something, but he would never intentionally hurt him.