I finally got my eyes open and immediately regretted it. The lights burned as I tried to adjust to my surroundings. I tried sitting up, my shoulder aching from the pain. I looked down to see a hole blown through my dress shirt. The black material concealed the blood stain, but the stiff fabric gave it away nonetheless.
I gingerly unbuttoned my shirt and pulled it off to get a better look at the wound. The bullet went through cleanly, but still hurt like a bitch.
Most fascinatingly, it was stitched up. Slick, black thread was woven through my skin, closing the holes and stopping the blood. I pressed against the wound gingerly, confused.Why would he shoot me, and then fix me up?
I looked around me, and my reality hit me like a truck. I was on a mattress that had been placed on the floor of some sort of confinement. Three of the walls were glass, the back wall concrete. The only light was inside of the confinement, restricting my view of what surrounded me. Not that it mattered. I was locked in.
“You’re awake,” a voice spoke from the darkness.
I squinted, trying to make the person out. “What’s going on? Who are you?”
“I cleaned up your wound, but we’ll need to make sure you stay on top of your antibiotics for the next few weeks.” The voice continued, “I did give you a dose while you were unconscious.”
I stood slowly, my legs shaky from the trauma my body had been through, “What’s going on?”
The person stepped forward, finally showing their face. I inhaled a sharp breath, unable to believe the sight in front of me.
“Andi?” I asked tentatively.
She smiled wide, but it didn’t reach her eyes. In fact, she didn’t seem to be fully here. “Hi, Rome. How are you feeling?”
“What’s going on?”
She sighed softly, “I know it was abrupt. I’m sorry. With things… escalating between you and Bec, I needed to act. Fast. Before it was too late.”
“What are you talking about?” I urged.
“You see this place,” she looked around and pushed her glasses up her nose. “Itwasmy family’s business… until it wasn’t. Want to know why?”
“Andi…” I began, but she wasn’t listening to me. Lost in her own world.
“Bly Enterprises. They bought it years ago, and my family thought they were going to help us grow. But no!” Her voice began rising, “They closed it! Turns out, they only bought it for the real estate. But did they do anything with the building?” She motioned around us, “Nope! It has sat here for years… years, Rome!”
“Okay,” I began to placate softly. “I understand that’s hard. But what does that have to do with me? Why am I here?”
She sighed, sitting on a stool I hadn’t noticed before that was just outside my enclosure. “Well, I thought I had won. William Sr. was out of the business, and Bec was wiping the floor with him. She even sold the building back to me, not that she knew that. Everything was working how I had wanted it to… how I had planned.”
“Planned?” I asked.
She nodded, “I started working for Bec in the hopes of taking down William Sr.—the man who ruined my family’s legacy. I was patient, and I was careful… I was brilliant. And it worked. Hell, I made sure his future business would fail too, by feeding him false data. He thought it was coming from our analysts—but nope—it all came from me. He lost everything.” She smiled happily, “It was perfect.”
“Where do I come into all of this?” I asked again, even more confused.
“Well, I met you,” she explained as if it was obvious. “I met you and I knew I needed you. I had accomplished taking down William Sr.—you were next.”
“You wanted to take me down?”
She laughed, “No, silly, Iwantedyou. I had seen the way you flirted with me, opened all my doors like a gentleman, and asked me about my life. I knew you wanted me, too. But you were distracted, so I took care of that.”
“What the fuck are you talking about, Andi?”
She sighed in exasperation, “Bec was distracting you. So I worked to take her down. If she crashed and burned, you wouldn’t want her anymore. It’s simple, really.”
“Oh my God…” I mumbled. Andi was actually insane. I thought over the last few months and the challenges Bec had faced. The rumors, the kidnapping attempt, and even the board's disapproval all ramped up after I was hired. “You had her kidnapped?”
Andi nodded, “You’re smart, Rome. So I had to make sure you didn’t suspect me. I used Melissa’s cousin and some goon I hired off of the street… though I wasn’t expecting a car chase.”
“Why did you do that?” I asked, bewildered.
