back to our normal routine,” I explained, softening my voice and trying not to get frustrated with his constant resentment towards Brady.
I really had no idea where it was coming from. Eve had hired plenty of outside consultants over the years to check that our security was top-notch and to make sure things ran as smoothly as possible. Finn had never been this irritated and outright rude with anyone before.
“You and I both know you are amazing at your job and know what you’re doing. Please, don’t make this harder than it needs to be.”
The pleading in my voice must have gotten to Finn. His features softened; the furrowing of his brow smoothed out and a small smile curled up the corners of his mouth.
“You’re right. I’m sorry. I don’t mean to make things harder on anyone, especially you. I’m just frustrated.”
I walked over to him and slid my arms around his waist and press my cheek to his chest. He wrapped his arms around me and rested his chin on the top of my head.
“Thank you, Finn. He’ll be gone before you know it, you’ll see.”
Thankfully, Finn’s kept his attitude in check since that conversation. Brady still isn’t gone, though, and it looks like he has no intention of leaving until he finds something to validate Eve’s claims.
“I don’t open any of my mail,” I answer, getting back to his question and scooting as far away from him on my chair as I can without falling off the other side. “We have assistants here who open all incoming mail, and they enter all of the sender’s information into a database and scan a copy of the original letter. They hand-pick a few a week for me to personally respond to.”
Brady nods in response as he picks up a few letters and looks at the return address before placing them in a pile to his left.
“So, did they bring the letters from this Ray guy to your attention when they came in?”
I shake my head, leaning forward and placing my elbows on the table. “No. I get threats and weird letters all the time from people, so when the first few came in, they just filed them away like usual. But after the fifth one, the program we use to keep track of the letters flagged them, letting us there was a pattern with the same sender. That’s when they took the letters to Eve. And that’s when she called you. I’ve only seen two of the letters in person.”
Brady starts gathering the hundred or so letters from this week into a pile before shoving them into a canvas bag he brought with him. When they are all put away, he stands up and slings the bag over his shoulder.
“I told the admins that from now on I want all mail to come straight to me before they open it. If this guy sends something else, I want to be able to dust it for fingerprints. The old letters have been handled by too many damn people for me to get anything off of them.”
He turns his back and starts walking towards the door.
Jesus, he couldn’t even crack a smile or say one word to me that isn’t about business. What the hell is his problem?
“How’s your niece? Did she like the signed poster I gave you for her?” I ask, forcing him to stop before he can escape.
Maybe reminding him of that small piece of his life he shared with me will lighten him up a bit so I can see if that man was real.
“Yeah. She said thanks,” he replies gruffly, his hand hovering over the door handle.
“I was thinking of going for a run later today before I have that appearance at the new club opening,” I throw out there.
Desperate much, Layla?
I’m practically begging him to be alone with me. I just want to see if what happened in the woods was real or just my imagination. He was a real person then, not this robotic business man. He smiled and he laughed and he made jokes. He wanted me to be honest with him and trust him to do this job, but I can’t do that if he's going to shut down like this and pretend like he hadn’t sung one of my songs to his niece while I stood right there listening or thrown me over his shoulder like a caveman, smacking my ass and making me laugh with stories about his niece the whole