The Call

Leonard

I awoke to the ringing of my cell phone by the bed. I sat up. The memory of last night brought a smile to my lips. I looked at the phone, not noticing the number, and declined the call lying back down on the bed. The smell of the sea was welcoming, the large picture windows on both sides of the wall decorated with white curtains that Annette had talked me into buying for the windows. I had known Annette for eight years. We had only been dating for two years out of the eight. I had met Annette through various travels to the city where she was a server for a pub. I never bothered getting drunk. I had visited there for dinner and lunch. Until Annette moved in, I always ate out, but now that she lives with me, she has treated me like a husband, business partner. Whatever task I assign her, she takes it head-on with no questions or complaints. She has been a valuable asset to my company, personally and professionally. I closed my eyes with a sigh, uncovering myself walking to the closet, getting a navy blue business suit, a white shirt, and a light blue decorative tie. I walked to the wooden door, going into the restroom to take a shower.

---

I sat on the bed, putting my shoes on, then fixed my watch after buttoning up my blazer. Standing to my feet, I placed a gentle kiss on Annette's forehead as she stirred in her sleep. I smiled, walking from the room, closing the door on my way out. Once I got off the yacht. I walked around the shores, looking at the boats. I walked around the island, the sound of friendly chatter around me, as the smells of bread from the bakery and other various aroma's surrounded the area. Nantucket a peaceful peninsula. My mother had loved it here. She loved it to the fact that she had begged my father to purchase land here. My family and I moved from California to Nantucket when my brother and I were nine-years-old. I walked as the sounds of my phone ringing once more caused me to retrieve it from my pocket. Seeing the same unknown caller, I accepted the call.

"You know you're hard to reach, brother." My brother sounded irritated as a sigh escaped his lips.

"Sorry, Nicolae. How are you?"

Silence was his response. For the longest moments I opened my mouth to speak, "I have been busy with research, I've dug up some interesting facts around our mother's 'suicide' if that is even the right term for this."

I stopped, "What are you trying to say Nicolae?"

"I can't say too much over the phone, I've sent my finding to your address in New York. Your secretary has them as we speak, be on the first flight to New York and meet there in the morning at your bank, we'll talk then, in private, you better bring your little lady with you. Nantucket isn't the safest place for her eight o'clock, Leonard."

" What are you trying to hide, Nicolae?"

"Eight o'clock Leonard." The phone lost connection.

I looked at my phone with a sigh, 'what are you trying to tell me, Nicolae,' I looked at the phone once more, 'was it suicide? Or Homicide? What did you risk in calling and telling me this?"

I placed my phone in my pocket, rushing back to the yacht. Once inside, I saw Annette sitting on the bed fully dressed, "We have to make an emergency trip to New York, hurry and pack."

I walked passed her into the bathroom, splashing some cool water on my face, "Lele, are you?"

"I'll explain everything on the plane. Come on, let's go. I'll buy your clothes once we reach New York."

I dried my face walking from the restroom. I could tell by her expression I worried her. I sighed, "My brother called me. We must leave right now, my love."

With no further questions, Annette got her shoes on, and we left the yacht.

Nicolae

After I disconnected the lines I hung up the phone looking over the bridge watching if anyone was watching me as I dropped the phone into the ocean placing the hood over my head, I walked towards Leonard's bank. It had been ten years since our mother's 'suicide' and that was an overpopulated reaction when anyone talked about the events. I had believed the same lie for eight years until I had started working for the New York City Police Department when the red flags really began to raise was when I had looked at the reports on the polices findings leading to the days of our mother's said suicide, reports stated that the cause of death was not suicide, but a blunt force to the head. The chief had also told me something else not mentioned in the reports but he had taken pictures of it.

Millionaire and former friend of the family, Jay McGee, and our mother were caught in an affair. An affair for Jay since he and his wife Virginia were married and expecting a child. Our mother had planned to come clean with Virginia about the affairs if Jay had not agreed to pay the child support to her for their love child, the encounter quickly heated until Jay had used a pipe to strike our mother in the head twice, killing both her and the unborn child. I sighed 'First our father, now our mother. Will this rush for power ever be stopped, what will it take to stop this mess that our father created.' I continued my walk to the bank my hands in my pockets.

The sounds of screaming and the squealing of tires rang in my ears before I felt an intense pain shoot through my body as darkness clouded my vision.

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