Brielle Ronaldi has devoted her life's work to uncovering the secrets of extraterrestrial life. After her world was turned upside down, Brielle finds herself quickly climbing the ranks of the G.L. Brooks Association. A recent addition to the facilit...
Redacted...nearly everything had been redacted. Brielle Ronaldi: native to Boulder, Colorado, Ivy League graduate and valedictorian with a double major in biology and cosmology, extensive military career in which the government had given her the means to obtain a doctorate in evolutionary biology which she'd done in only four and a half years...Uncle Sam had redacted most everything else in her file. Even his contact within the FBI couldn't dig anything up on her.
"Mr. Brooks, is everything alright?" Gregory looked from the bulky manilla folder to his driver before closing the endless sea of black and turned his blue gaze out the window.
"Yes, Dimitri. Everything is fine. How much longer until we arrive?"
"About thirty minutes, traffic permitting, sir." Gregory nodded approvingly before casting one last annoyed glance toward the redacted file. "Trouble with Miss Ronaldi again, sir?" A curious hum was the middle-aged Russian man's answer. "You take on a specific expression whenever she steals your thoughts, sir."
Gregory chuckled softly before tossing the accursed folder to the seat beside him. "More secrets, Dimitri. I've never met another woman so cloaked in mystery. Frankly, it's really beginning to piss me off." The man shifted in his seat before adjusting his tie ever so slightly. "I honestly don't know what mother ever saw in her."
"Perhaps it was the fact that Miss Ronaldi doesn't cater to your every whim simply because of who you are. She doesn't seem like the type of woman to bow down and give you what you want just because of your business, your family, or your looks. She's headstrong and challenging. I believe Mrs. Brooks may have thought an independent female would do you some good." Gregory hummed again, taking in his companion's words.
"She's definitely challenging, I'll give you that." ------------------------
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The sun had recently set on the city and Gregory was leaving his mother's home from her birthday party. It was almost 8:00 P.M. and traffic was backed up at the exit near the facility. After creeping along at a steady seven miles per hour, Gregory Brooks could finally see the flickering of red and blue emergency response vehicles. Some dumbass was probably on their phone and had a fender bender.
"Mr. Brooks," Dimitri glanced in the rear view mirror at his passenger, "remind me again, what color was Miss Ronaldo's motorcycle..?"
"She has a red one and a white one. Why do you ask?"
"And she usually takes the red, yes?" They could now see the disturbance on the highway, and it was no fender bender. A large blue pickup was parked crookedly in the outside lane while a red sports bike lay in pieces near the shoulder. Paramedics were lifting the rider onto a gurney; it was a woman dressed in a jacket, black shirt, and shorts. One of her shoes had seemingly been lost in the chaos, and her right leg was covered in blood. Dimitri was already pulling the car to a stop behind a police cruiser and Gregory jumped from the back seat in a mad dash for the ambulance.
"Hold up, bud! You can't go over there!" The young officer stopped Gregory in his tracks, and he tried to see around the cop.
"Brielle! God damnit, would you move?! I know her! BRIELLE!!" The woman on the stretcher seemed to move a bit, and one of the paramedics lowered their head to hers. Before calling over to the stubborn cop, telling him to let the man in the suit pass. Gregory didn't wait for permission to dart under the caution tape and run over to the medical vehicle where he was ushered in next to the rider. There was no doubt about it, the woman was in fact Brielle Ronaldi. The right side of her jacket was torn to shreds, her right thigh was bruised, bloodied, and swollen all to hell, and her left leg had a massive bruise covering most of her thigh and knee.
There was no helmet on her head, a bulky neck brace covered her throat, and her face was scraped and bleeding with noticeable bruising. Glass and gravel coated her wounds and she had a far-off look in her grey eyes. "How do you know her?" The female paramedic questioned Gregory as she hooked a large machine to Brielle's hand and chest.
"I'm her boss..." his voice was softer than he'd realized, and the blonde woman shook her head.
"Well I'm sorry to say she won't be at work tomorrow, sir."
"Fifty..." the pair turned their focus to Brielle as she spoke with a weak, broken voice. "Fifty bucks says you're wrong...I'm just gonna be late." ------------------------ Once they reached the hospital, Gregory followed the medical staff into an emergency exam room where they began to cut away Brielle's torn jacket and x-ray her entire body. They lifted her from the first gurney to a second, earning a disgruntled moan from the woman. Upon further inspection, the emergency room doctor had stated that her right femur had a compound fracture, and her hip was dislocated. Her right cheekbone was fractured, she had multiple cuts on her scalp, and the doctor feared she had a concussion.
"Your leg is going to need surgery, Miss Ronaldi."
"The hell it is..." Gregory cast her an angry gaze which she returned with even more ferocity. "You're not cutting into me."
"It is required to correct the damage, Miss Ronaldi. You will need multiple pins and screws to help fuse the bone back together, and-"
"Then you better make damn sure I stay unconscious because if I wake up in the middle of it no one here is going to have a good day..!"
