Think like Rome Cattaneo, a member of a ruthless crime family.
Sometimes it was easy to forget who and what he truly was. If I were Rome, I'd investigate my target. I'd search for similarities between the woman standing in front of me and the hacker hiding behind the voice modulator.
I'd compare their lives until I found something that connected them. Since I didn’t know much about the hacker, I’d focused on the florist. Since that was what I'd do, it was probably exactly what Rome was doing.
I couldn’t stop him from investigating me. Plus, I wasn’t really worried about what he’d find if he did look into me. There was nothing in my normal life that could tie me to Juliet the hacker.
I'd spent years making sure there was no connection between Blossom Brooks and The Circuit. Between the sweet florist and the woman who ran an intelligence network. As far as the public was concerned, I sold flowers.
I arranged weddings. I donated to charities. I smiled at customers and cried with them when they grieved. None of that pointed to a hacker chick. None of it pointed to The Circuit. I'd kept those two parts of my life separated as much as possible.
Folding my arms across my chest, I continued mentally combing through my life, searching for even the smallest connection to Juliet that Rome could pick up on. I frowned, pausing in front of my bed.
"My degree," I whispered.
Blossom Brooks, the Computer Science major.
Other than my degree, there was nothing that should make Rome take me for anything other than a florist. Plenty of people got degrees in Computer Science. That wasn’t highly suspicious.Suddenly, something he’d asked while in the shop yesterday replayed in my mind.
Was being a florist always your dream?
My stomach dropped. My eyes widened.
"Shit."
He already knew about the degree. He’d already investigated me. And to him, my degree was just another clue in the case he was building against me. Yesterday, he'd been testing me.
He’d been trying to see if I'd tell the truth. Trying to see if I'd say something that matched whatever information he'd already uncovered. I should’ve told him I wanted to work in tech or something.
Revealing that isn’t something Juliet would do. However, hiding it was. So, in hiding it, I’d made myself look more suspicious in his eyes. I pressed a hand against my forehead as a fresh wave of panic swept through me.
He’d asked me out on a date. That meant learning about my degree was all the proof he’d needed to make me Juliet With Curves to him. That's why he'd been acting differently yesterday. That's why he'd kept looking at me the way he had.
With the look he’d given me before leaving, I knew my bullshit answer of,‘I have a boyfriend,’was not going to deter Rome Cattaneo. He was now convinced I was Juliet. He would act on that soon.
"I have to do something," I whispered.
I couldn't sit around waiting for Rome Cattaneo to make his next move. I had to act before he did. I had to act now, while he onlyknew that I was Juliet. I couldn’t afford for him to find out I was tied to the Marcel incident.
It was time to call a meeting with some members of my inner circle and prepare for the worst. Though running away had never been my first choice in any situation, leaving Biloxi for a little while may be the smartest thing I could do for my staff.
I could transfer to the Alabama branch of Blossoms and Vines for a few months. Maybe with me gone, Rome would stop coming around the Biloxi shop looking for me. Maybe he'd eventually convince himself that Juliet had never worked there in the first place.
Plus, if he eventually uncovered the truth about Marcel, I didn't want him showing up at the flower shop demanding answers. I wanted him coming after me. At least then my mother, Kelly, and everyone else at the shop would be out of his line of fire.
If leaving the state kept everyone else safe, especially Mom, then leaving was exactly what I needed to do. Decision made, I walked over to my nightstand and picked up my phone. Sitting on the edge of the bed, I started a group chat with Kelly, Dayana, and Tracy.
Those were the three people who needed to know what I was planning. Dayana, because I would need her to oversee the Biloxi shop while I was gone. Kelly, because I’d need her to help Dayana out in the store and with the upcoming events.
And Tracy, because she was my mother’s caregiver and managed the other Petals who help take care of my mom. My thumbs hovered over the keyboard for a second as I decided which code to use.
Code Petunia.
Petunias were beautiful flowers. Unfortunately, they also symbolized conflict and emotional strain. The moment my team saw those words, they'd understand that nothing had happened yet, but something serious was unfolding. I quickly typed my message.
BLOSSOM:CODE PETUNIA. Meet me at my cottage. You three know the passcode to the gate. Come on in. We need to meet and discuss our current predicament.
I hit send and waited. Kelly’s reply came first.
