A Storm Is Coming (12 page)

Alex sat towards the back of the room watching everything and everyone. Braylee had total command. She was more and more impressive every time he’d seen her in action. And, apparently, she wasn’t planning to abandoned ship.

There were just a few lawyers still lingering around, Giovanni and Marcus being some of them.

Giovanni spoke first, “Alexandro, I’m glad you were able to make it today. I have some concerns about Ms. Hinsdale’s approach. You, me and Marcus should get together to discuss it at our offices.”

“Gio…I can’t imagine what those concerns would be? But, we can certainly discuss them. Although I have to tell you…I have complete faith in Ms. Hinsdale.”

Giovanni didn’t like that response. He didn’t like it one bit. “I’ll see you at the office then?”

“Yes. I’ll be returning when I leave here.”

That seemed to be enough to appease them for now. They nodded and left.

The room was almost completely empty. Alex was waiting for the one remaining lawyer to finish his conversation with Braylee.

Braylee felt him watching her. It was driving her crazy. He was driving her crazy. She was only half listening to Roger.

“Yes, right. That would be fine.” She would have to call Roger later because she had absolutely no idea what she’d just agreed to.

Finally, he’d gone, and Braylee was left alone with Alexandro.

“May I have a word with you Braylee?”

“She looked at her watch…of course. I have a few minutes.”

“I just wanted to clear the air about the other night. I’m hoping what happened between us doesn’t interfere with our working relationship.”

Braylee tilted her head to the side and blinked a couple of times. Was he serious? Anger was starting to bubble up inside of her.

Alex couldn’t tell what she was thinking. Her face was a blank. “Braylee, you’re doing a fantastic job so far. I couldn’t be more pleased.”

“Isn’t that what you’re paying me for Mr. Manchetti?”

He rubbed his eyebrow, “So, we’re back to our formal names? Okay…I’ll play along Ms. Hinsdale. Like I said, I’m just hoping we can still work together.”

Braylee dropped the documents she held in her hands on the conference table and looked him directly in his eyes, “Why wouldn’t we?”

Alex stood erect with one hand in his suit pant pocket. He wanted to appear firm to ensure Braylee understood he needed her as his lawyer and nothing else…for now. “It was my mistake mixing business with pleasure and that has never been a good idea. I just wanted to make sure you’re okay to continue working with me.”

What he hoped looked firm came across as arrogant to Braylee. She let out a frustrated laugh, “Unbelievable.”

“Excuse me?”

She narrowed her eyes, “Un-Freakin’-Believable is what I said. Why is it that men can screw the help all they want and their professionalism is never questioned? Unlike you…I’ve shown up to work these last couple of days and have busted my ass. I would never allow my personal life to interfere with my professional one. If that’s been your experience with other mealy minded women then let me make it clear…I’m not one of them. So, if you were expecting some sort of an emotional breakdown…” Braylee rolled her eyes, “or for me to wallow in what could have been…get over yourself. It ain’t happening.”

Alex didn’t know what he expected, but that certainly wasn’t it. However, he’d be damned if he’d let her know that she had gotten under his skin. “Good, then…I’m glad we understand each other.”

Braylee raised an eyebrow, “Yes, we understand each other perfectly, Mr. Manchetti. You hired me to do a job, and I accepted. So, regardless of our reckless behavior I’ve already moved on and so should you.”

She handed him a portfolio of information. “Now that that nasty business is out of the way…I’ll need you to review the information in this packet and we’ll need to schedule a meeting with Gail Hindz.”

He wondered if she had time to rehearse those lines. No matter, he needed to focus. “Gail Hindz?”

“She’s the best media crisis manager in the business.”

“And…why would I need her? I have a public relations person.”

“Mr. Manchetti…your company is worth billions and there appears to be a massive cover-up of a murder that runs at least through the Mayor’s office. You’re going to need a crisis manager and an entire media team working twenty-four hours a day. We’ll make sure you’re prepared but I need to know you understand…this is not going to be easy. It’s going to be long and get very ugly. You’ll need a crisis manager who has deep ties to not only local media but has political officials on speed dial. Believe me your PR person is going to hate you for the next year or so with the hours she’s going to log. If we can get Gail…Everything will need to run through her.”

Alex listened intently. However, there were moments where her lips were moving and all he could think about was how they’d felt when she’d kissed, nipped, and licked him all over his body. He cleared his throat as he zoned back into what she was saying.

“I’m going to have to call in favors that I’ve kept in my back-pocket for years. Understand this…they’re going to try to destroy you and your reputation. Every salacious detail about Luciano and your lives since you were both in diapers will be aired-out. So, before we move forward…maybe you should take a day or two to decide if this is really the direction you want to go.”

“There’s only one direction for me. My brother was killed, and I need the bastards who did it to pay.”

Braylee nodded, “But what about Cecily? She’s only fourteen. Will she feel the same way? There will be enormous pressure on her.”

She noticed that his eyes softened for the first time when she brought her up, “I’ll have to talk to her but she’s a strong girl; she’s a Manchetti. Cecily would be angrier if I did nothing.”

“Well, listen to not just what she says but her body language. Make sure she can handle the strain of this case. You lost a brother, but she lost her only parent. Please understand right now is the calm before the storm but know this…one hell of a storm is coming.”

Alex nodded, “Duly noted. My niece is my responsibility…you just handle my case.”

“Fine by me.” She quickly finished briefing him on a few other matters. Shortly thereafter, Braylee and Alex emerged from her office.

As they stood outside of her door, Alex rubbed the back of his neck, “You’ve covered a lot of ground over the last couple of days. Thank you.”

Braylee extended her hand, “Just doing my job Mr. Manchetti. If you have any further questions regarding the information I gave you, please feel free to contact me. In the meantime, I’ll call you when we’ve set the meeting up with Gail.”

Alex stared at her hand. She was laying it on thick. Hadn’t she made her point with that feminist soliloquy? It seemed a handshake after he’d had his hands all over and inside her body was ridiculous.

He took her hand in his anyway. His eyes locked with hers for just a moment. As much as Braylee tried to deny it, Alex could still feel the electrical current running between them.

Braylee felt it too. But, refused to acknowledge it. She released his hand, “Well, I’m off to my next appointment. Again, we’ll call you once the meeting has been set up.”

Just like that Alex had been dismissed…possibly for the first time in his life.

Chapter 17

Six months later….

The red light was taking forever to change. Braylee let her windows down hoping the unusually warm weather and the afternoon sun caressing her skin would make her feel better.

Her sub-conscience was
tsk tsk tsking
away…Why did you take this route? The aviator glasses she wore went a long way to hide her feelings of angst. Of course, you’d never really know when Braylee was feeling angsty because she’d always kept The Mask close. And, The Mask was always cool, calm, and collected.

“Damn.” She was going to be late. It was the third Sunday of the month and dinner was at her parent’s house in half an hour. Braylee checked her watch…she was still ten minutes away. Braylee was in no mood to deal with her mother today.

Maybe her mood was due to being up half the night going over everything for the press conference tomorrow. She’d feel better though if the IT forensic investigator’s report was finished. He’d verified that the e-mails received from Detective Jones were authentic, but he’d also traced one of the messages to another private server.

While the other information Braylee received from the detective wouldn’t be admissible in court, Gail would make sure they were leaked to the right people. But, this information on this server was a different beast. Braylee might be able to get a subpoena for its hard drive.

The light turned green. She was moving again and sighed as she ran her slim fingers through her hair. Tomorrow was going to be another long day. They’d been working for months on this case, now it was time to go public. There were going to be a lot of shocked people in their inner circle, and Alex wasn’t going to be able to conference in on this one. He was going to have to be physically at the meeting in the morning for a brief media run-through before show time. He’d been well prepped.

Maybe that was the real root of her anxiety.

Over the past several months, they’d kept their physical contact to a minimum. But, now that they were gearing up for the media battle, it was going to require spending more and more time together. Braylee had never been this challenged to keep her personal feelings from flowing over into her professional life. He was still getting under her skin all these months later.

Braylee pulled her car up into the driveway of her parent’s home with a few minutes to spare. As she parked and grabbed her purse to get out of the car, a random thought occurred, maybe Nate was right. If she wanted something different, she should try something different. Calling Dr. Jorgenson wasn’t all that appealing but perhaps she should. He was a good guy, and she hadn’t given him a chance. The thought sent a not so positive chill through her body.

She hadn’t had a session with the good doctor since he’d sent all those ridiculous flowers. Braylee hadn’t called to thank him for them either because technically, she still wasn’t supposed to know they were from him. That was so lame. Did she really want to go on a date with someone who couldn’t even tell her he was interested? Did she want to go on a date with anyone? Anyone other than Alex?

Whoa…not Alexandro Manchetti. Braylee was determined to exorcise him from her thoughts and her dreams. He’d been making way too many appearances in both.

Before she could even ring, the doorbell Katherine Hinsdale opened the door, “It’s about time you got here,” still wearing that seemingly permanent scowl on her face.

The Mask was officially in place. Braylee had made up her alter from all of those high priced functions. Well, The Mask appeared as she hugged her mother and walked through the door, “Hey mama.”

*****

The aroma of southern soul food permeating the air wasn’t enough to overcome the anxiety Braylee was feeling. Being back in her childhood home never left her with warm and fuzzy feelings. Her once a month visits were more than enough. Growing up here wasn’t like some wholesome eighty’s family sitcom but more like a horror show.

All the cliché’s had been present, a daddy who’d given up on life and drank way too much and a mother who would sometimes lose herself in her mind. Leaving Braylee to pick up the pieces and take care of them and Stephanie.

Thank god walls couldn’t talk because this tiny three bedroom ranch held many
many
secrets. And, considering how hellish her childhood had been, visiting once a month was pretty good.

Mrs. Hinsdale walked back toward the kitchen grumbling under her breath, “Dinner is almost ready. Go on in there with your sister and your daddy.”

Stephanie yelled out, “We’re in here, Braylee.” As maddening as she could be it was a relief to hear her sister’s voice.

Braylee walked into the family room. As usual…it was doom and gloom. How could it be so bright and beautiful on the outside and be this gloomy on the inside? Why hadn’t anyone opened the windows or the curtains?

Her father was sitting in his usual spot. In the center of the room, in his favorite chair, right in front of the television. No surprise that there was a drink on the scratched up oak wood table next to him. If she could, Braylee would douse the chair with the drink and set fire to the whole damn thing.

That brown recliner was so worn and falling apart that it wouldn’t even recline on its own. Someone would have to pull the lever and pull the feet out just to get it to recline. Why on earth wouldn’t he let her buy him a new one was the million dollar question?

The entire family room was one big time warp to the eighties. Her parent’s hadn’t changed anything in over twenty plus years. The brown carpet was so crushed that it literally could have been tile. It served no purpose and was just hideous to look at.

Her mother loved florals so much that the curtains were a crushed brown, orange, and beige velvet floral pattern from hell. And yes, to complete the look, they had the orange sofa and loveseat with the plastic covers over them too. Braylee remembered when they delivered that furniture. She had been about twelve.

She scrunched her eyes looking at something across the room, as she wondered, was that new? Another potted plant mixed in with all the other potted plants and flowers. The limbs and leaves for some of them were so long that her mother had to pin them up over the wall, on the wall, and any place else she could hang them. Her mother and her love of all things planted, and floral were the reasons why Braylee hated them to this day.

Stephanie watched Braylee as she entered the room. She laughed, “Yep, that’s new. You know mama and her plants. She always says, flowers give life.”

Mr. Hinsdale spoke, “Because your mama is a damn fool that’s why. Speaking of damn fools…Maurice, did you pull that patio furniture inside? The news is saying the weather’s going to be crazy tomorrow.”