Briella
Exiting my car, I pull my bag up on my shoulder and make my way to the front door. I take a deep breath knowing today is going to be a hell of a long day. I slept for shit last night because I couldn’t stop thinking about my run-in with Colby. The fact that he’s been consuming my thoughts pisses me off and makes me feel like he’s making me weak. The last thing I want is to be a pushover like my mom was.
Every time I see the words F.T. Private Investigations on our fancy schmancy door, pride swells in my chest. We picked that freaking door, we designed this fucking office. We busted our asses to get where we are today. Just a couple of girls from a small town in Massachusetts trying to make a name for ourselves in the city.
Walking past the front desk I grab my messages as well as my waiting cup of coffee from Celia, our secretary, and head towards my office. When I sit at my desk and glance at the top message I freeze.
Call me. - Colby
I throw that note in the trash immediately and finish going through the others. Mostly just appointment reminders and things I need to get done today. I can push most of this off on Chantel, her schedule hasn’t been crazy busy lately. With her mom being sick she’s been cutting her load in half.
I grab the file on my desk and get down to business. This baby can put us on the map. Establish us as heavy hitters in the PI field. We’re doing well for ourselves, but there’s always a naysayer when it comes to females working in the field. It brings me back to the meeting I had last week from a very unlikely client. The fucking Mayor.
“I don’t care how you have to do it, get it done. Money isn’t an issue.”
“Okay. You want us to get surveillance on your wife to prove she’s been seeing Frankie McGregor behind your back. The same guy that’s the head of the Irish mob?”
“Precisely.” The Mayor steeples his fingers staring at me over my desk.
“And what makes you think he’s the guy she’s cheating with?” I need to be sure in this situation. You don’t take staking out the Irish mob lightly. The danger involved is enough to make anyone turn this case down.
“This.” He pulls a folded paper out of his pocket, straightens it out and hands it to me.
My love,
I cannot wait to get my hands on that sexy as fuck body for a whole month.
FM
It was probably horrible for him to find, but it still doesn’t prove his wife’s screwing around with a mob boss. He must see the hesitation in my eyes.
“It’s him, I know it. And even if it isn’t, it doesn’t change the job. I need evidence she’s cheating so she doesn’t see a dime in the divorce. No way will that cheating bitch be able to rub two pennies together when I’m through with her.”
“Alright. You said she was going on a yoga retreat in the Caribbean for the month?” I think on it. Who the hell goes on a vacation to do yoga for a whole month? It’s highly suspicious. But these Stepford wives are always trying to get into the latest trends so it’s a possibility. I really should consult the rest of the team, but this could be huge for us.
“You have a deal.” I stick my hand out and he accepts it in a firm shake.
“I can help with-” I cut him off.
“Don’t worry about it, this is my area of expertise. I’ll personally handle this case myself.”
“I insist you take my private jet. You’ll get there faster rather than having five layovers on the way.”
I agree and after some more small talk, I say my farewells to the Mayor before he exits my office.
When I called an emergency meeting I knew the girls wouldn’t be thrilled. This is a dangerous case if Frankie McGregor is involved. I’m still hoping the Mayor’s wrong about him being linked to this. They hemmed and hawed about this case, but they saw my point about how lucrative it could be to our company. Once we were all on the same page, I told them I was taking point. This would be my case and their involvement would be kept to a minimum. They may be on board, but with how busy we’ve been lately we can’t afford two of us to be gone for a whole month. They’re helping me with the grunt work before I head out and they’ll help from here when and if they can the month I’ll be on site. If the need arises, someone can fly out for a few days. But that’s in the event of an emergency.
I’ll be hopping on a chartered jet to the Caribbean tomorrow. The Mayor insisted I at least use his private jet because of all the equipment I need to bring with me. It’s fine by me, I do have a shit ton to bring. Paying for it all to be stowed away on a commercial flight would cost a small fortune and with my luck they’d lose it.
I did some digging and found the resort the Mayor’s wife is staying at. I found a hut on the beach that’s close enough to keep an eye on things and the big plus is it’s within walking distance. It’s small but plenty big for what I need. I only need a bed, kitchen and workspace. It’s just me going after all.
It’s times like these I wish I never crossed the line with Colby because he’d be perfect to jump in on this case with me. It wouldn’t be the first case we’ve worked on together. There’ve been many and we seem to complement each other well. There’s a fluidity to our partnership when we work on a case together, almost like we share one mind.
Needing to go over the final details, I stand up and make my way to Skylar’s office. As I approach the door, I can hear her talking on the phone.
“Just keep this to yourself. No, I haven’t told her yet. Will you just let me handle her please? Great, I’ll see you later to brief you before tomorrow.”
Who is she talking to so secretly? I lightly knock on her door and her eyes bulge out of her head when she sees me standing there.
“I have to go.” She hangs up without appearing to hear the other person’s response.
“Hey Bri, whatcha doing there?” She looks guilty.
“You wanna tell me what that was about?” I walk into the room and cross my arms over my chest.
“Nothing.” She’s looking anywhere but at me.
“Skylar.” I feel like I’m scolding a child and I have no idea what this is even about.
“Bri, don’t worry about it. It was nobody.”
I narrow my gaze on Sky but decide to give her the benefit of the doubt. She’s never steered me wrong before. “Can we go over the rest of the Stephenson case before I leave tomorrow?”
“Absolutely. Do you need help packing later? I can swing by when I’m done typing my reports and checking in on a few things.”
“Nah, not much to pack. I’ll have laundry and it’s not like I’ll be going out. I’m going to be working around the clock, it’s not exactly glamorous.” I shrug my shoulder. “The money this case is bringing in definitely makes it worth being gone for so long.”
“Amen sister. We can afford to take some time off after this case, maybe take that girls trip to Spain we’ve all been talking about.”
“I’d love that, but I don’t see it happening any time soon, we’ve been slammed lately. It’s nice to see all our hard work is finally paying off. People are taking us seriously. That’s all we’ve ever wanted.” I smile at her.
Knock, knock
Sydney’s standing at the door looking disheveled and tired. Wait…
“Are you wearing the same clothes you were wearing yesterday? Actually, come to think of it, I didn’t hear you come home last night.” I question.
“Maybe.” The smile on her face says it all.
“Who was the lucky man?” Skylar asks.
“David. He’s a lawyer and also one hell of a lay. Muscles I didn’t know existed ache. But in a good, I just got fucked within an inch of my life ache.” She shoots us a wink causing us to laugh.
Sydney’s a free spirit. She doesn’t do relationships or repeat offenders. She’s one of my best friends and also my roommate. She’s easy to get along with and drama free. She’s practically a dude. Maybe that’s why we get along so well.
She plops a file down on Sky’s desk and takes a seat next to me. “That’s some leg work I’ve put together. The missus routine, photos, contact information, bank numbers. It was pretty easy.”
Easy for her, Syd’s our resident hacker. She’s a whiz on the computer and gets us any information we could possibly need. You ask for someone’s Facebook account and she’ll give you every personal detail down to where they ate lunch five years ago. Oh yeah, she’s that good. We can all get by on our own skills, but she makes hacking look like an art form.
“Thanks. I’ll go over this in a bit. Every piece of information counts for this case.”
After I’m done discussing all the details, I stand and head back for my office. Wiping my hand down my face, I decide I’ll cut out a few hours early today to get home and hopefully get everything done so I can hit the hay early tonight. I’ll be gone for a whole month so I need to check in with my mom and make sure everything’s in order. I need to be on my A-game for the next month and not worrying if I paid my credit card bill among other things. The smallest slipup could potentially put me in danger.
“Excuse me, you have a new message.” Celia, our secretary walks in my office and places a few new notes on my desk.
“Thanks.”
“Don’t thank me just yet.” She laughs.
I groan when I read the top message. Why won’t he just leave me alone?
You can’t avoid me forever.
- Colby
I can, and I will if I have any say in the matter. Luckily, I’ll have solitude away from him for the next month. No messages, phone calls or texts. Well, he’ll probably still blow up my phone, but I don’t have to worry about him showing up here when I ignore him. Yup, this month away is going to be great for me and my heart. I’ll have plenty of time to get over Colby Maitland and forget how he shattered my heart in one night. For the first time in the last few months I’m feeling hopeful.