Caught Wind

Mr. Peabody

A few weeks after the meeting with the lawyers, Vanessa expected to get a payout from Richard II. It would have been logical for him to do so. But like most rich people, who don’t want to part with their money, he decided to take matters into his own hands and act -stupid.

Sam had come back from taking care of his things that he usually does on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays. He was home a bit early this time, as she seemed a bit frustrated.

“Wassup Samuel? You look irritated,”

He exhaled deeply, “I’m good Peabody,” he said walking into the kitchen and taking a drink out of the fridge.

“You don’t sound convincing,”

“Bruh,” he sounded stressed. “It’s just...,” he wanted to say it but he thought too much about the subject. He shook his head and looked at me.

“Wassup,” I leaned against the counter waiting with a listening ear.

“Mom’s right dude, I need to find someone,” he finally blurted out.

“Interesting,” I responded. Sam had been against his mother trying to find someone for him and it was interesting to hear him say that he needed someone. He’s always been the loner type of guy, only because he hasn’t found the right person whom he can be open and honest with, therefore he does what he does.

“Why’d you say that?”

“I never thought you would agree with your mother. So you found someone from the club?”

“No, not exactly,” he said looking at me. I was curious as to who may have piqued his interest for him to agree with his mother.

“What do you mean?”

“It’s complicated,” he said, finishing his drink. “I don’t know how this person feels about me or anything at the moment,”

“Oh,” I replied. I looked at him and he had a serious look on his face. He had been in deep thought for a while. “Well take one day at a time. Find out about the person and then find out their interests. They will eventually give a hint if they are interested in you, then go from there,” I advised. It was the best I could do.

“Yeah, I could do that,” he nodded.

“Why the change of heart all of a sudden? Are you going to tell your mother?”

“Well, it was after my last....,” he stopped and looked at me. He knew I knew what he does. I don’t judge. But we’ve never really talked so open about it.

“I know. Go ahead,” I reassured him that we didn’t need to go into details too much. I already knew about his extra affairs.

“Cool, well it was then I realized, I couldn’t do it forever. I want to find someone that understands me,”

“I completely understand,” I said thinking about Vanessa. “You will, trust me. Who knows, you may have already met her,” I said as my phone rang. He looked at me and his eyes widened?

“What do you mean?” he asked. I held up my finger to have him wait as I answered the phone.

“Wassup, Peabody here,” I intensely listened to the person on the other end who had given me some very stressful news. Apparently, I wore it on my face as Sam looked concerned as he waited for me to respond.

“Is that so?” The information I was receiving was not expected and I felt that I needed to take the matter into my own hands. “Thank you for letting me know. I’ll handle it from here.” I said and disconnected the phone.

“What was that all about? What will you handle from here?”

“Nothing you need to worry about. I will inform you in due time. Are you planning on going back out tonight?”

“Nah, why?”

“I need to handle a few things and I need you here at the house should I need to call back here,”

“Peabody, what is going on?” He looked worried.

“I just got some intel and I need to check it out before jumping on it,” I said, scrolling through my phone.

“Oh ok, well I’m in for the night and possibly the weekend. I think I’m gonna give myself a rest,”

“That sounds like a plan. How about you go and check on Penelope? She might enjoy seeing you,” I said not really paying attention to him as I needed to jump on a few things as soon as possible.

“You think?” he said, perking up. It was then I knew why he wanted to stop. He wanted Penelope.

I looked over to him gazing back at me, wanting me to give him a definite answer.

“Yeah, I think she enjoys your company,” I said, boosting his ego.

“I think so too. I’ll go and see how she’s doing,” he smiled and walked in the direction of the south wing.

I headed towards my room to check on a few things before I informed Vanessa of what was discovered.

By the time I had verified everything, I had to inform Vanessa to make her aware of what was going on. She needed to know so she could figure out what our next step would be as I needed the next few steps coordinated perfectly in order for me to keep Vanessa safe.

“Vanessa,” I said as I opened her bedroom door. She was brushing her hair at her vanity table, looking as beautiful as ever.

“Yes Brian,” she said, turning around and looking at me intensely. “What’s wrong?” She knew immediately by the tone in my voice.

“I don’t want to alarm you,”

“What is it Brian?”

“A hit has been placed on your head.” Vanessa looked at me and stood up with her mouth agape.

“Are you serious? How did you find out this information?”

“One of the guys let me know. They told me none of them wanted to take the job, but one newbie did,” I told her.

“A newbie?” She stood in front of me. “By who?” she asked, looking at me. I didn’t want to tell her but I had no choice. She was going to be pissed.

“Richard II.” Vanessa’s eyes widened and then she frowned so hard, I knew she was beyond pissed.

“This motherfucker had the nerve to put a hit out on me because of this fucking lawsuit!”

“Seems like it,”

“Brian, how much is to be paid out?” She wanted to know how much this man wanted to pay to have her killed.

“Is that important? It’s not going to happen,” I said, standing straight with my hands clasped together in front of me. I was ready to go to war.

“How much, Brian?” Vanessa demanded.

“1 million.” I said. She looked at me and I watched the anger take over her eyes. She was ready to make heads roll.

“Are you fucking serious? He is willing to have me killed for a million dollars just so he won’t have to pay $10 million that he fucking owes me. Well, now he owes me interest,” she said walking over to her laptop.

“That’s understandable,” I said, walking over to her. “You don’t have to worry. Nothing will happen to you,”

“I know you will make sure that I’m okay, but who will protect you?” she asked.

“Now you know, I can take care of myself,” I stood tall, puffing out my chest.

“Yes, but I don’t need you dead trying to protect me,”

“You ain’t getting rid of me that easy,” I said, sliding my hands around her waist and pulling her towards me.

“C’mon now, this is serious. How are we going to handle it?”

“You let me do all of the work,” I kissed her forehead and led her to the bed. “I don’t need you to worry, you focus on the next step since Richard II wants to play games. In the meantime, I’ll handle this shit,”

Vanessa sat on the side of the bed, holding onto my hands. She was worried, more so about me than herself. I didn’t want to tell her that I knew when and where the hit was going to happen as I didn’t want her to always be on alert. I needed her to relax and go with the flow. I hated keeping her in the dark, but it was best for her own good.

I tipped her chin up and placed a loving kiss on her lips. I lingered as she cupped my face in her hands. She pressed her forehead against mine as I held her hands.

“Brian...,” she hesitated. She was scared and she didn’t want to show it.

“I got this. Trust me,” I said looking in her eyes. “I won’t anything happen to you, I promise.” Vanessa looked at me and caressed my cheek. She gave me a weak smile and nodded in agreement. “I’ll be back,” I said as I planted a kiss on her forehead and left.

I needed to handle some business. They messed with the wrong person.

---

Vanessa

Brian just informed me that Richard II has paid someone to kill me. This is something that I didn’t expect and I will not take lightly. Apparently, he was not happy with the terms of the settlement, therefore he figured the best way to have it go away was to get rid of me.

Wrong move!I see that Richard II wants to play hardball, well he has threatened the wrong person. I know Brian can take care of protecting me, but I’m worried that he is not thinking about having protection himself. I’m sure he can handle almost anything but he is not bulletproof.

While Brian was out doing what he does best, I decided to plan my next move. Since Richard II didn’t want to pay me willingly, I’ll have to force him to do so. I hadn’t planned to release the videos to the public but he left me no choice. I will have to prepare Penelope about what may come out. My plan was to keep her out of it as much as possible; however, with her being with Richard II the night of the event, it’s inevitable that the news media will place Penelope as the individual in the video, even if she’s blurred out.

I walked to the south wing to speak with Penelope and heard her speaking with Sam. I smiled as I loved the fact that he enjoyed speaking with her. I tapped softly on the door and waited for a response.

“Come in,” she sang. I opened the door to see Penelope sitting on the side of the bed smiling, looking better than ever.

“Hello Poppie, how are you?”

“I’m good. Feeling better, thank you. I should be able to get back to my apartment soon,” she said, folding her legs upon the bed.

“In due time, no rush,” I said sitting down on the bed next to her. “Poppie, I need to talk to you about a few things,”

“I’ll let you two talk. I’m gonna go and take a shower. I’ll come back before you go to bed, if you like?” Samuel asked.

“I would like that,” Poppie smiled. She likes him, I thought. I knew I could have been a matchmaker in a past life.

“Great, see you then,” he said smiling as he left the room.

“What is it you need to talk to me about?” she said, turning her attention towards me.

“Unfortunately, I need to talk to you about the night of the incident,” I said. Poppie’s facial expression dropped. She didn’t want to relive it and who would?

“I figured we would have to speak about it, eventually. It’s okay...I’ve been thinking about it honestly,”

“What have you been thinking about?” I asked.

“How I could cut that fucker’s balls off and feed them to him.” Poppie blurted. She looked at me with such anger in her eyes. She had been hurt and she wanted him to hurt just as bad. I agreed.

“My kinda girl,” I said. She looked at me, surprised that I agreed. “I knew I liked you,” she smiled and I wrapped my arms around her as she leaned in for a hug. She wrapped her arms around me and I held her for a moment just taking in the moment.

“How can we do that?” Poppie said sitting up and wiping away tears that had fallen down her cheeks.

“Well, I found out that in order to hurt sadistic rich people, you have to know how to hurt them,”

“What does that mean?”

“Some rich people are great to have as friends because they are about helping others as well as increasing their wealth. Whereas there are a handful of rich individuals that don’t give a shit about anyone but themselves, yet they want everyone to know about them,”

“So how do we humiliate him?” she said. She was smart and she caught on quickly.

“Unfortunately, that’s where you come into play. I’m not sure if you are aware, I have video of the entire incident. Copies have been made, with your identity blurred. However, it was already known that you attended the event with him, therefore people will eventually put two and two together,”

“You’re wanting to release the video,” she said. I looked at her and nodded. She stared at me for a second and then down at her hands.

“Yes. But only if he doesn’t agree with the settlement terms,”

“Settlement terms?” She looked confused. “I don’t understand,”

“We have been meeting with his lawyers due to a breach of contract. Therefore we are looking to settle out of court with a few terms and conditions. Along with a $10 million dollar payout, half going directly to you.” Poppie’s eyes grew large as saucers.

“$5 million dollars?” she stammered.

“Yes. It is part of the contract everyone signs when they become a client. Should they breach the contract in any way, it is a cash payout with a minimum of $2 million. It may increase depending on the breach.”

“Wow,”

“In this matter, we are requesting $10 million dollars and we will revoke his membership. He will not be allowed on any premises under the Elegant Escort Corporation.” I finished. She looked amazed.

“You are one bad bitch,” she blurted. I laughed so hard, I couldn’t contain myself.

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“It was,” she said looking at me. “So how do we do this?”

“I will have to release the video to the media networks and social media platforms, only after he pays in full.”

“And if he doesn’t?”

“Oh, he will.” I said looking at her. “Will you be alright once it is released? You may be contacted by a few reporters and such. I will do everything I can to make sure it will not disrupt you in any way.”

“I’ll be fine. I want this motherfucker to suffer.” she said scooting further in the middle of the bed.

“So do I. And I will. I promise.”