Entering Phase One

Entering Phase One
Jennifer  

“These ‘counselling services’ consisted of being locked in a room with Wez Anderson whilst he told me that he could forgive my sins for talking about such filthy things if I was a ‘good girl’ and showed him how sorry I was.” My scoff was one of disgust and I felt the bile rise unbidden in my throat.  
I swallowed it down hard and reached for Cieran's bottle of water since mine was finished now. “Anyway, I tried to stick around, I thought maybe I could still protect the little girl from sharing my fate but the closer I tried to get to her, the further her parents pulled her away. 
“Soon, everyone was talking about how I had had some kind of mental break down and no one was trusting anything I said, no matter what, I saw the looks they gave me. I couldn’t do it anymore.” I admitted, shame lacing my words.  
“I was really starting to question my own mind, and I knew, if I stayed there, I would definitely lose whatever was left of my sanity. So, I ran.” I got it all out, laying it all bare for them to judge me as they saw fit.  
“Shit.” Kevin said, “So they are after you to try and keep their secrets safe?” Travis guessed, “Why wait so long though?” Kiera asked. “They came after me right away when I first ran, I had only made it to the next town and they tried to spread rumours there about me so that even if I told anyone, they wouldn’t believe me.” I need something stronger than water; it’s only lunchtime though.  
“They hoped that if they ruined my reputation then I would come crawling back to them when I had nowhere else to go.” I scoffed. “They underestimated you.” Kiera said, which was praise indeed coming from a strong woman like her.  
“Yeah, I found this lovely couple who didn’t care about the rumours and were willing to take me on in their book shop cafe. Daily life was still hard, even just going to the grocery store but six months I was able to save up enough money to get a plane ticket out of there.” I wondered for a moment, what had happened to them.  
They were so kind, I hoped Wez and his cronies hadn’t gone after them when I went missing, especially now I know exactly how far he is willing to go, even after all this time. I glanced at Cieran who gave me a slight nod, he knew what I was thinking, he would find out for me.  
“I didn’t have a passport or any ID because Wez didn’t believe we needed it because there was ‘never any reason to leave’ so inventing a new name and registering myself with it was easier than I thought. By the time I got off the plane, I was officially J.F. Goldberg and was ready to start my new life.”  
“Even then, I spent the first few years after I started earning money, deleting all traces of me from everywhere I could. I eventually got lax though, as time went on, I hadn’t heard a thing since getting my new name, so I thought I was being paranoid to continue doing it and anyway, J.F.Goldberg Enterprises was out there by that time, becoming well known in the business world.” 
“As for why he is after me, it is not just to stop me from telling his secrets. Knowing his egotistical, narcissistic ways, he will believe that he still has enough control over me to make me too scared to tell anyone after what happened the first time I think.”  
I blew out a breath, “No, he wants my money. I am assuming that he found me from an article online, which is why I always tried to keep a low profile. Now that they know I am rich, they tried to send Johnathan in to take the money, siphon the funds back to them. After that didn’t work, he tried to bring my business down.” I scoffed out a sarcastic laugh.  
“They probably think that if they take it away then I will still go crawling back to them. At the very least, they will see me ruined because to Wez, I owe him everything I have. It is his mentality.” I shook my head, “Logic and reason really don’t come into it with him.” I mumbled to myself.  
There was silence as everyone seemed to be absorbing the information. It lasted a long moment before Travis finally spoke, “So what’s the plan boss?”. “Well.” I began, gathering my thoughts.  
“First, we need to make sure everyone is safe so that means reinforcing our defences. I already asked Cieran to make sure the businesses are secured from any cyber-attacks, and he will work with you for the estates systems too.”  
“He also brought drones, cameras, listening devices...” I trailed off, looking at the boxes in front of me before spinning to look at him. “Do you mind going over that with the team?” I asked him, realizing I was woefully unqualified to talk about that sort of thing.  
“He has already briefed me on some of the equipment, and I agreed to be the technical liaison for the estate so he can focus on protecting the businesses.” Kiera supplied. I nodded, “Good, whatever equipment is needed, consider it done, I am a billionaire and if I can’t use my money to protect the things I care about then what the hell good is it?” 
“More like trillionaire.” Connor added and my eyebrows sprang up in surprise. “Well, sounds like I won’t run out of money so please, just send any invoices to Connor, Cieran knows suppliers around here and will be able to help you source anything too.” I directed this to both Kiera and Travis.  
“Travis, I have no doubts in the capabilities of your elite team but is it enough. Covering security, day and night, both for the property and personally for me is a tall order and I do realize that you guys need sleep at some point.” I asked.  
“It might be beneficial to hire some more bodies to put on the ground but there is a risk in bringing people in. Especially in a situation like this and particularly if we end up going after Franko Blanko. We won’t be able to hire anyone from the local area.” He pointed out.  
“We do have a security team at the office, but they are more focused on cyber issues these days, I trust them but I’m not sure how good they would be.” I thought out loud. “Do you have any suggestions?” I asked.  
“Yeah, I know a few guys that I used to serve with that might be interested. Let me make a few calls and see what I can do.” He relied. “Travis, I am trusting you with this, I am writing you a blank check and will supply whatever you need.” “Yes ma’am.” He said with a solute.