"We probably should've done this before, but now that you will be taking over as boss, you need to know all our members. We have ones outside of town, and other's that don't live here, but these are the ones who I could gather on short notice," Ray explained to Grace as they stood in front of a long line of men going down both sides of the path to the Bertolottis estate.

  Grace had seen many of them in passing, but never realized how many there were.

  How is this only a part of them? And most of them are capos! I guess when they said the Bertolottis family was big, they weren't kidding.

  They went along, greeting each one individually. Some were nervous, others bored, and some were even excited to meet her. Ray had boasted to them about her in the past, even when she didn't know about him.

  Once they finished, they headed back inside the mansion.

  "I'm good with names and faces, but I think that was too many at once for even me." Grace sighed, rubbing her eyes.

  "Don't worry about it too much; you'll have more chances to interact with them in the future." Ray patted her on the back.

  "And they're not going to be mad if I don't remember their names? You know, if you give me some sort of member record with names and pictures, I can memorize that."

  Ray laughed. "You're such a diligent worker, aren't you? I can give you that, but I'd rather you spend time getting to know them personally, rather than reading their profiles. Don't worry, Gracey; either Zain or I will be with you to remind you who they are. They know we're big, and you're new, so they won't be insulted."

  Grace stretched out her arms and looked around the lobby. "So, what's next for you to teach me?"

  "We don't have to rush it. How about we take a break for now? I have a few business calls to make."

  "Um, shouldn't I join you with that sort of thing to learn?"

  "I can see the wheels turning, Gracey; you're still trying to memorize the men. One thing at a time, okay?"

  "Okay." Grace nodded.

  "Good." He kissed her forehead and looked around. "Where's your tail?"

  "Tail? You mean Zain? He said he had something to do today."

  "That's odd... He's always hovering around you, even more so since you chose him."

  "I'll go check on Pez and... Roger. It's not long until he leaves here, is it?"

  "Probably not, but you have to respect his wishes. One day, maybe he'll come back around, and you two can be best friends again."

  Grace sighed, her shoulders slouching. "It doesn't sound like that's going to happen."

  "You never know." He squeezed her shoulder and headed to his office.

  What can I do?

  She walked mindlessly until her feet led her to Roger's room. She stared at the door for a while, wishing to talk to him, but not sure what to say.

  Knock, knock.

  Grace waited a minute. When he didn't answer, she knocked again, her ear against the door, listening for any sound of movement.

  "Roger? I'm coming in..." She opened the door to his room to find it empty. The bed was empty. No flowers she had brought for him. No extra set of clothes sitting on the dresser nearby.

  Nothing but an empty bed.

  "Roger?" Grace slowly walked in and looked for any sign of his being there. She rushed out to double-check and make sure it was the right room.

  No one was in the hall guarding him, and it was the right room.

  With slow, unsteady steps, she entered again and sat on the bed. "Ha... Where'd you go?"

  I wasn't ready for you to leave yet.

  She pulled out her phone and called Roger. It went straight to voicemail, so she called Pez.

  "What's up?" Pez asked as he answered, and she could hear him eating a lollipop.

  "Roger's gone. Do you know where he is? He didn't say goodbye or anything."

  "..."

  "Pez?"

  "He saw me before he left."

  "Is that so?" But he didn't say anything to me... Why? I at least deserve a goodbye. She pressed on the bridge of her nose as she tried to hold back her emotions.

  "He didn't tell me where he was going or what he was going to do, but he left a letter for you."

  "He did?"

  "Yeah... I'm sorry I didn't tell you right away."

  "Um... I'll come for my letter, I guess. Are you in your room?"

  "No, actually; I'm setting up all the new equipment the boss let me order, and I'm setting up my cave. I'm in the basement."

  "Isn't the basement just full of cells? And I thought you wanted out of the basement?"

  "I thought I did until I saw this place. It's huge! And the equipment he let me buy... It's way better than what we had as cops. So top of the line, I'm in love. You have to see it. Just use the staircase on the other side, and it'll lead to my cave. I'll leave the door open for you. See you soon." Pez hung up before she could say anything.

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  "I guess I'll see you soon." Why leave me a letter?

  Grace had to poke around to find where the entrance to the stairs was hiding behind one of the mass of doors. This place is too big. She made her way down and the door was open like Pez said it was.

  "Welcome!" Pez cheered, swivelling around on his new chair.

  He hadn't finished setting everything up, but he had a super computer with more than a dozen monitors and multiple keyboards.

  "Watch this." Pez hit a button hidden under his desk and a door in the back that looked like a bare wall, opened.

  "A secret room?"

  "I made my own panic room. If anything happens, I can hide in there. It's not finished yet, but I'll have everything I need to survive for an entire month. As one of my closest friends, you are welcome to use it as well."

  "Hiding isn't my way."

  "I know, but just in case, I figured it'd be best if you knew it was there."

  "Thank you, Pez..." Grace trailed off when she saw the letter sitting off to the side in his desk.

  "It'll be so much more awesome when I'm done, but even in its current state, I'm so elated!" Pez spun around on his chair again. "I'm in heaven. By the way, I knew your grandpa was loaded, but this... Damn! He literally let me buy whatever I wanted for my cave!"

  "Congrats, Pez; your dream came true."

  Pez followed her gaze. "Ha..." He sighed and picked up the letter. "I know; I miss him, too."

  "At least you got to see him before he left. I didn't get the same courtesy."

  "Come on, Grace; you know why. It's easier to say goodbye to me than you; he's not in love with me. I mean, we love each other as close friends, but it's not the same thing you two have."

  "Had."

  "Grace... He's not dead."

  "But he doesn't want to see me again, so he might as well be. I won't know anything that's going on with him. I won't know if he's okay. I won't know if he ends up married or having kids... Nothing. No going drinking after work—"

  "You're not a cop anymore."

  "We could've still gotten together after a hard day or something."

  Pez fiddled with the letter. "We both know how he feels about you, but from what I can tell, you still don't see him that way."

  "No." I don't think I can. "But he was still my best friend. I didn't want to lose him."

  "I wish I could help, but there was no changing his mind. Trust me; I tried. You don't have to read whatever's in here if you don't want to. I can hold on to it—"

  "Gimme." Grace snatched the letter and carefully opened it and then hesitated to pull the letter out.

  "You can sit on the couch over there as you debate with yourself." Pez directed her towards a couch in front of a seventy-two inch TV.

  Grace nodded and sat down while still staring at the letter. After a few minutes, she swallowed hard and opened the letter. A photo fell to the floor by her feet. She recognized it right away.

  It was a photo of their party after their first big bust. She had a copy of the same picture already, though it was in her locker at the police department. She hadn't noticed it before, but in the picture, he was looking at her instead of the camera.

  Grace,

  I'm sorry I left without saying anything to you. I know you deserve better, but it would hurt too much to say goodbye to you. I'm not even sure I'd have the nerve to leave after saying goodbye, anyway.

  I don't want you to cry over this. I know you hate crying, and I hate being a source of your tears, especially when I'm not there to brush them away, but I had to go.

  I have to move on.

  I have to move on from my revenge against the Bertolottiss, and I have to move on from you.

  I've loved you for so long now, and I think I knew years ago you'd never love me back. Not in the same way, at least. I kept holding onto hope that you'd change your mind and see me in a different light one day, but with your engagement to my cousin, I don't have much hope left there.

  I know it's not fair to you. You didn't do anything wrong.

  I need to have space away from you. I need to move on with my life, and if you're beside me the whole time, I'll want to keep holding onto that hope that you'd change your mind one day.

  Zain, he's... Well, he's bull-headed and sometimes an idiot, but he cares about you enough to save me, so I guess I can't really bad-mouth him here. If he ever does something stupid like hitting you, I hope you give it to him ten times worse, like I know you can.

  Stay strong, Grace, and live a good life.

  Be happy.

  And try not to get into too much trouble.

  Your BFF no matter the time and distance,

  Roger

  Grace's tears dripped onto the letter. She sniffled as she wiped away her tears.

  Pez picked up the photo from the ground and petted her head. "What did he say?" Grace handed him the letter. "You don't mind if I read it?"

  She shook her head no.

  He read through the letter and felt himself tear up. "Man, why didn't he just say this to you directly instead of in a letter?" He sniffled. "Ugh, I mean, I know why, but so harsh. Even I'm ready to cry."

  Grace glanced up at him, and she spotted something on the back of the photo. She plucked it from his hand to read.

  I'll always love you.

  "What the hell?" Grace cried harder and showed Pez the message. "If you're going to love me anyway, why not be beside me?!"

  "I think the temptation would be too much." Pez pulled out a tissue and blew his nose. "Ha, I didn't expect to get so emotional again."

  "Again? Did you cry when he said goodbye to you?"

  Pez's lip quivered. "I'll refrain from answering that question."

  Which is as good as answering it, but I can't blame him.

  "Ugh." Grace rubbed her face and slapped her cheeks lightly, hoping to snap herself out of it. "I can't keep crying over him. I need to distract myself somehow."

  "You can help me set up some more things."

  "Are you sure about that? I don't want to break anything..."

  "I wasn't talking about anything tech related, but rather my panic room. There's a lot of work to be done there."

  "Oh, that..." Grace hummed as she thought about it. "Might work as a good distraction, but shouldn't we have an expert help us out?"

  "I have everything planned out perfectly, with every detail written down; we just need to follow the plan. Easy, right?"

  "Sure..."

  "I thought you said this would be easy?" Grace yelled as she blocked her face from the water gushing out of a burst pipe.

  "I don't know what we did wrong!" Pez went to look back over his plans. "This shouldn't be happening! No, no, no! I can't let any of this water out of the room. All my new toys can't handle this much water."

  The water suddenly stopped.

  "What'd you do?" Pez asked.

  "I didn't do anything."

  "What are you two doing? Don't you know to turn off the water before playing with the lines like that?" Zain asked from the doorway with a huff. "You two are lucky I came along."

  "Where's the valve for that?" Pez looked around the room.

  "For the whole estate? In the basement storage room. For this place specifically." Zain stepped out of the room and pointed at the panel on the wall. If it wasn't open, you couldn't even tell it was there without feeling around for a button. "I expected better from both of you. And why do renovations in here on your own? I knew you were decking it out, but did you completely overhaul it on your own?"

  "I got help from a few guys, but I didn't want others in here... or knowing about it."

  "Your panic room? More like an apartment, but it was here before you got here. Well, it wasn't set up as an actual 'panic' room per se, but it was a basement apartment."

  "Why was it like that in the first place?" Grace asked.

  "For the last tech-head that wanted to live with their computers in this cave. Although I must say you've brightened it up down here and have way more equipment."

  "Oh yeah. Why are you down here?"

  Zain took a step down onto the water-filled floor. "I came looking for you. You weren't in your room, and you didn't answer your phone. Next place to check is with Pez." He held his hand out to her.

  "Uh, I'm a bit dirty right now, and soaked to the bone."

  "As if I mind a little dirt." Zain took her hand and led her out onto the dry floor above. "Have you been crying? Your eyes are red." Zain lightly touched right below her eyes.

  "I... Uh..."

  "Roger's gone," Pez said, still looking at his plans.

  "Oh... I see..." Zain thought for a moment. "How about you get cleaned up, and I'll help our little buddy here fix this?"

  "Cleaned up? There's still more to do here—"

  "Learn to take a hint, Grace; I want you clean so we can go on a date."

  Her cheeks flushed. "Oh... Pez—"

  "Get going." Pez waved her away. "You deserve some time to relax and go on a date with your fiancé."

  "Um, okay..." She looked up at Zain, and he kissed her on the cheek. "Dress up; we're going someplace nice," he whispered to her and headed in to help Pez.

  An actual date?