Rebound, Boundless Series, Book 1

Chapter Thirty Seven

For a month after Chelsea's wedding, I was living under the euphoria of our love. So many changes had taken place. I was let go from the inn. I was disappointed I'd lost my job but was relieved I could devote more time to Matt. Ross told me he was selling the inn to spend more time with Alice as they prepared for her to pass on. Her health had worsened, and I visited her a few times. She'd get tired or I'd become too emotional to remain by her side. She looked like my mom, laying in bed covered with quilts. Her head was wrapped in a kerchief to keep warm. Ross took great care of her. Their extended families took care of the little things. All I wanted to do was give Alice a bit of normalcy with our conversations.

I'd talk about Matt and our relationship. She'd expressed her hope we would marry and have lots of babies. She made me promise to pursue a career I was most passionate about. It was her fear that I'd flounder from job to job with no direction. She'd expressed regret for not continuing with her parents' love and care of the inn. Alice understood it was time to let her dream. It wasn't fair to Ross to continue living someone else's dream. She was at peace with the sale. Ross would be financially secure for the rest of his life.

I thought more about what Alice advised about the future. I needed to prepare for my future. My debts were making it impossible for me to live comfortably. Matt had money and properties. I had a studio and debt, which I couldn't climb out of. I'd lost my ambition. The lesson I learned from Alice's illness and the passing of my mother was 'life is short,' and I needed to make a plan to implement stability while incorporating fun.

Matt and I would spend a few evenings a week together. I'd spend Friday evening to Tuesday morning at his place. I'd given myself a few weekday evenings of alone time at my place. He'd argue we could have individual quiet time in his apartment, which was big enough for the two of us. We'd also drive to his house up north and spend the night. I still maintained my morning shift on Sundays, but I considered dropping it from my schedule too. Money wasn't as tight because Matt picked up the expense of food and commuting. He also purchased my toiletries when we'd shop for food together. I'd allowed him to buy me a few gifts of clothing but stopped him from buying out the store on one occasion.

On Thursday afternoon before my shift in the sales office ended, a knock on the door startled me. I'd been engrossed with work, lulled by the sounds of the activity in the main workout room. I glanced up to find Eric, standing at the door with a pursed smile.

"Hi, Eric. How've you been?" I smiled, genuinely missing our initial repartee.

"Hey, Perla. Can I talk to you privately for a moment?" He asked tentatively.

"Sure." I motioned for him to take a seat. He shut the door behind him. I got nervous, but tried to mask it when I asked, "What's up?"

"I really shouldn't be telling you what I need to tell you." He paused gathering his thoughts as to how to start his revelation. "I'm working for a company here in Boston. It's a huge corporation. I'm one of the IT security people on staff at their headquarters."

"Okay?" I prodded.

"The company name is Pentagon Group. Have you heard of them?" I thought about the name. Other than the military installation in the Nation's capital, nothing rang a bell.

I shook my head, "No... Should I?"

"I definitely think you should. You see. . ." He looked over his shoulder, then continued, "Your boyfriend, Matt, is Dr. Mathias Keene, right?"

"Yes." My eyes narrowed, wondering what the connection could be. "He's an orthopedic surgeon."

"He is, but he's also affiliated with Pentagon," Eric said. I shook my head, trying to catch his meaning.

"What do you mean?" I leaned back in my chair, bracing myself for something terrible.

"Dr. Keene is part owner of Pentagon Group, along with four other people. Each of them owns twenty percent of Pentagon."

I shrugged, knowing he meant Lark, Zipper, Kent, and Brady. "Okay? I don't think it's any of my business what his affiliation is with Pentagon."

"Pentagon owns a bunch of smaller corporations and businesses. It's a multi-billion dollar company making decisions in Boston and many cities around the country and they're also established in Europe."

I wanted him to get to the point. He obviously felt I needed to know more about Matt's dealings than Matt had been ready to share for himself. "Eric, I'm not interested in his business ventures. Thank you for the information. . ." I rose up, ready to open the door for him to leave.

He interrupted me. "Did you work for the Liberty Inn?"

"Yes."

"And did you work for Brassi Construction?"

I glared at him, swallowing through the dryness in my mouth. "I did. How do you know so much? What's going on?" I worried that Ben's family was out to harass me again, especially after the death of their daughter.

"I have the information I compiled, which I want you to read. It's a lot of documents, emails, and texts I retrieved when I was working on a system failure. I noticed your name and that you worked here. I didn't want to print anything out. I saved everything on this flash drive." He handed me the tiny, silver drive.

My heart skipped a beat in slight terror. "Why are you giving me this? I don't understand." I shook my head.

"I think you should know who your boyfriend really is and the power he's been holding over you..." Eric stood from the chair. "Listen, I'm giving you more information than I should. I just want you to be aware of the information they created about you, and make a decision for yourself." He shoved his hand in his pants pocket. "I've gotta go." When he pulled out his hand, he held a white card. "Here's my card. Call me if you need me." He slid a card on the table, opened the door, and exited the office.

After assessing the tiny USB drive in my hand, I inserted it into the USB port of the sales office computer.

I opened the first of many files, pictures, and messages. I read through several text conversations between Matt and Brady, Matt and Zipper, Matt and Kent, and Matt and Lark. Mostly it was between Matt, Brady, and Zipper. The conversations were about Liberty Inn and their need to purchase to proceed with the 'Second Big Dig,' a large resort project within the city.

Reading through the rest of the text and documents, I learned Pentagon had purchased Brassi Construction—Brady's acquisition. There was a text stream between Matt's buddy, Brady, and my ex-sister-in-law, Aida. It was an explicit and intimate history of their personal relationship. It was a relationship I wasn't aware of.

When I finished reading and analyzing the files on the flash drive, I spent two more hours past my shift, following up with online research about Pentagon and the men behind the conglomerate. I cursed myself for not having researched Matt before entangling myself with him. Had I done basic internet research, I would've learned about his association with Pentagon.

All the dots I failed to connect, painted an unsavory picture of the man I'd fallen in love with. Interviews, hard stories, and soft stories, about each Pentagon member and their life-long friendship and business dealings portrayed men willing to do anything for the mighty dollar. After exhausting my own research, the truth of our relationship was finally revealed to me.

Our love affair was all a lie, a well-manipulated and calculated lie, for which money was at the root. Money had destroyed my past and now threatened my future with Matt. I needed to get to him. He needed to finally tell me the truth.