“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.”
