Penny For An Italian Thought

Part 27: The Melody That He Is

Hey fabulous readers, one more chapter left for this book. Enjoy reading.☺ Vote and comment if you like the story.☺

Brianna's POV

I can love a person with my entire heart with no effort;
I cherish people so close to my heart, hold them tightly in my fist, because I know them and believe in them.

Chloe couldn't do this. She was my friend and I knew her. But immediately a question crept in my mind uninvited, 'Do I really?'

Yes, Chloe was one of my closest friends after David and Ellie. I met her for the first time in the company and we just clicked. That doesn't happen with someone who pretends.

Here, Alex bailed me out. Yes, I got arrested for a number of crimes whose hanky panky legal names I didn't know. They interrogated me for hours under a bright light till I was seeing spots. Alex was furious, but seeing that David was my lawyer, I got bail sooner than thought. To speak the truth, Burke's strategy didn't bother me at all. I knew he had something up his sleeve. He wasn't an idiot. I knew he had a plan B. What I didn't know was that the plan was Chloe. I needed to ask her; ask her why.

There were so many discrepancies in his story that I wanted to stand up to him, point at him and say that he was wrong. I couldn't because I knew he was powerful enough to make his way through it. I knew it.

The media had covered the entrance to Alex's apartment, where I was staying. All of them were having a gala time covering this case and my friends and family had been calling all day. Mom was freaking out and even though I told them it was unnecessary, they took the next flight back home. Alex had been out all day while I stayed at his apartment with David, Ellie and a bodyguard named Arnold. I just sat there being tired. I had fought alone for too long. I trusted the wrong people and now Alex is out there cleaning the mess. Technically, it's his and Burke's mess, but I got involved the minute Burke decided to frame me for his handiwork.

My apartment building was now being investigated. Burke had a very good hacker in his pocket considering the fact that he had disabled the cameras in my building. None of the footage had him coming in. David and Ellie were shaking with anger the entire time. I don't think I've seen David that angry before. He looked like he wanted to yell at me for keeping this from him, but he was considerate enough to let me explain. I told him the whole story while he was trying to understand it by a legal aspect. He assured me that he would find the judge that sent a court order for Alex's records. He explained that it had to be a friend of Burke's as it would have been impossible for Burke to do that without drawing attention to himself. I was glad that David could help me with this. Ellie held his hand just so that he could calm down. I wasn't worried about any of these things; not Burke, not the fact that I could go to prison, not that my closest friend was a traitor or my name was on national television being portrayed as a corporate criminal. All I was really worried about was Alex. Burke did what he originally wanted to do - proving Alex an ex-criminal in the media. He took Alex's records and put them through the company's board. Though, a few selected members thought that since Alex was proven innocent, the board should tweak its strict outline about clean CEOs, while the others thought that Burke was an ideal clean CEO. If only they knew. The media was having a gala time with all this easy TRP and everyone glued to their tv sets eager to see what Alexander Armenti was going to do next to save his 'lady love'. That's right. We were given a number of nicknames, the modern Bonnie and Clyde, the three musketeers - the third musketeer being Chloe. Yes, unoriginal and stupid.

I was sitting alone in my apartment. I had handled the situation alone for so long and was a little glad to let my friends help out now. Although, I was constantly worrying about them. Now that Burke knew that his secret was out, he could do anything. Various scenarios were playing in my mind and I was getting paranoid by the minute. Our original statement about Burke wasn't released to the reporters, but I wasn't going to give up. David was the best lawyer in New York and I was going to meet him in a few minutes. I wasn't particularly worried about that. Actually, David and Ellie found it creepy that I showed no signs of anger for Burke or Chloe. It was because I knew we were going to set them straight. I looked down at my phone. Alex was supposed to call me after his meeting with the board members which should have been over an hour ago. I stared at the screen closely and I jumped when it rang. The time between that seemed to have slipped away. It was David. He had gone out to look for Alex. He asked me to keep the door open so he could come in through the security. I opened the door and sat on the couch again. I was a little relieved that I was going to meet Alex. He had been away for the meeting with the board. The company wasn't only monetarily important to fight for, it was all related to his self respect. He didn't want a company with potential to go down the drain. His company was a symbol of himself and his innocence. He was too good a businessman to let it go away. The door crept open and cleared my thoughts. I looked up at the door to see Alex, but saw only David. Dressed immaculately like a lawyer, he entered the apartment with a nod.