Bulletproof Heart

Frankie's POV

Things were falling into place too well. That made me very nervous and I know Mikey felt the same. We were going into Club Terror (if the name alone didn't scare you, the bouncers sure did) without a wire. Mikey said they would find it right away and we would lose our trustworthiness. Made sense, but I was still terrified.

“Name on the list?” The behemoth on the right asked. I nodded and tried not to visibly shake.

“Y-yes. I'm Frankie Iero and this is Mikey Way. We have an -” He held up a hand.

“Yes, Miss, Sir. Z has been waiting to escort you.”

“Thanks.” We followed Z, a very large, imposing looking man with dark hair covering most of his eyes. After entering the main doors, we passed through the main dance area. Since it was only 2 pm, it was devoid of people. Some of the walls were a silvery, metallic material, some were actual mirrors and some shiny black. There were small, round tables scattered around the outside edges of the room and a bar on the right side. The last thing I would use to describe this place would be terror, but then looks are decieving. Z walked rather briskly, so I knew my sightseeing would have to wait. He opened a door that was nearly hidden on the opposite side of the main area. The door and doorknob were black so they blended well with the black wall at the end of our walk. The giant bouncer produced a key, unlocked the door and pointed to one of many couches inside the room.

“Sit.” He grunted like they were gum on the bottom of his shoe. Then, he softened as if he realized at that moment that his job was to actually do something nice instead of knock heads together. Then he left. “Uh, please.” I smiled up at him, thanking him and was rewarded with an attempt at a smile. It came out as more of a grimace, but I knew he was trying.

A moment later a handsome older man in an expensive suit walked in the room with a smile. The smile disappeared when he saw us. I swallowed hard, expecting the worst.

“Have you been waiting like this long?” We shook our heads. He let out a sigh. “I don't know why I thought Z was the right person to escort you in. I'm so sorry. Would either of you like a beverage? Soda, water? Something to eat? The kitchen just opened.”

“A Pepsi would be great. Thank you.” I turned to Mikey. He echoed the same. The man pushed an intercomm and ordered 3 Pepsis to my surprise.

“Now to the business at hand. I'm Mr. Bryar. You must be Frankie and Mikey.” He shook our hands firmly, looked us in the eye then took a seat across from us. “I've been told you have something for me. Normally, I don't take meeting like this, as I'm sure you know. But when the only child of Frank Iero comes to me, I'm just too curious. So, the floor is yours.”

“Ok... First of all, what we show you is a gift. It's information with no strings attached. Now I know how that sounds and I will explain that. Second, I do have a matter that I would like to ask advice on, and money is no object. You may say no and it will have no bearing on the gift we give to you.” He nodded. I turned to Mikey, who opened his laptop and booted it up. As he was putting in the flash drive and turned back to Mr. Bryar. “We actually have a few pieces of information, but I think this one will hurt the most and for that I am sorry. I always like the worst news first. ” I slid the laptop over to him. His face was expressionless for quite some time before it changed to one of sadness.

“Thank you, dear. I'd rather know, as would the other guys.” He finally looked away from the screen and back up at us. “Ok, what else?”

“Well, you should always come prepared to a meeting. So we did try to do a little research on you and the men working under you. Mostly to show you what Mikes here can do in a short period of time, but also as insurance in case things when badly. Bert did say you were the most feared guy around.” The older man's face held shock, curiousity, a little disbelief but was clearly impressed.

“Yes, I am, but you have to understand why. I'm running a business. My smallest transactions are tens of thousands of dollars. When people asked for a little more time in the past, I gave it to them. They took advantage of me. So now I can't give mercy on debt. But I don't go around shooting puppies like a psychopath. I'm not going to hurt a couple of teens, unless they do something to really screw me. But I don't see you doing them. Mikey, you look afraid of your own shadow. Tell me what you found, pls.”

“O-ok...Well, most damaging, your accountant Joel Russell, is embezzling money from each of your accounts. Your cash needs to be laundered, of course, so its put through several small businesses and accounts. He takes .01 from each account after it's laundered. It's such a small amount that nobody notices and since he's doing the books, he can devert anything to any account. His offshore account is currently at a little over a million.”

“What! That little ….” He stopped to take a few deep breaths. “Ok, ok. I'm fine. Anything else.” Mikey nodded.

“The men who work as managers under you – I was able to access a recording of a few of them talking at a restaurant. I don't know why the place records people, kinda creepy.” We all 3 nod. “DeShawn is 100% loyal to you. A few of the others want to stop reporting all of their earnings to you. I'll play you the recording. I cleaned up as much background noise as I could.”

(Beginning of Recording)

Nico: All I'm saying is, we could keep 1 or 2 pulls a month for ourselves. Thats not that much.

Rick: I agree, Nico. The old lady burns up my money faster than I can make it.

DeShawn: Do you even hear yourselves? We wouldn't be where we are today without Mr. Bryar. Not only that, he protected us from a hell of a lot. This is just greed talking.

Rick: Of course it's greed talking. What, you don't like money? You gotta nice house and car too.

DeShawn: Yes, I like nice things, but not at the expense of stepping on the very person who got me here. This is so much more then I ever thought I'd achieve, so I'm good. Count me out. Mr. Bryer means way more to me than money or even a job. And if you do decide to do anything shady, don't expect me to keep going out to dinner with you like we're friends.

Nico: Whatever. Hey, where are you going?

DeShawn: Lost my appetite.

Nico: You don't think he'd tell Bob do you?

Rick: I don't know. He's a kiss ass, probably. It's his word against ours. 2 against 1.

Nico: Yeah, but still. We should lay low with the idea for a little while at least.

Rick: Can you believe him? Still calls him 'Mr. Bryar' off the clock too. Ha Ha What a loser.

(End of Recording)

“When was this recorded? Can you tell?” Mr. Bryar looked stunned.

“Last night, Sir.” Mikey answered.

“Thanks. How long did it take you to find all this info Mikey?”

“Um, about an hour for everything. I didn't have much time. Frankie got a hold of me on short notice.” Mikey said this looking at his lap. In normal circumstances, he felt awkward and unsure of himself, although I had no idea why. But the feeling was magnified in from of such a powerful man. This man was obviously impressed and intrigued by him, which made him uncomfortable.

“DeShawn called me and asked to speak to me when it was convenient for me. I'm going to have to promote him and fire those other 2. I'm very impressed with both of you. Frankie, you are intelligent, poised, confident without being cocky, and speak fluently for someone of any age. Mikey, I hope you will let me schedule a meeting with you. I'm so impressed with your talents, even though I know I only saw a glimpse. Let's not forget, you both are so gutsy for just coming in here to talk to me. Grown men are too scared to do that. How old are you guys?”

“I'm 18 and Mikey is 16. He's the genius. He's graduating high school in a couple weeks. It only took him 2 yrs and every single Ivy League College has already accepted him and given him a scholarship. They're fighting over him.” Poor Mikey looked down even further into his lap.

“I can't believe I'm saying this, but I really don't know what I would have done without the information you 2 gave me. I had so many traitors in my house, and now I wonder if there are more. I'm forever grateful. Now explain how all this is really just a gift, because if something seems to good to be true, it usually is.”

“We desperately need M. out of the way, so when we came across the flash drive this seemed the logical solution. We aren't the blackmail type as I'm sure you can see. So although you aren't our enemy...”

“An enemy of my enemy is my friend. Very well done.”

“Yes, we knew we were in over our heads. Just meeting you was risky, because we didn't know you at all. It could have gone very bad. But, it seemed the lesser of 2 evils. I'd rather walk into a dangerous place bearing gifts, and it paid off. Much better then expected, because I actually like you.” He laughed.

“I like you too. Believe me, I'm a good friend to have.”

“So, the rest of the story. As I said before, I have advice to ask and if things went well, we would love help. As I mentioned before, money is no object.” At the mention of money, he waved his hand and made a pfft sound. “But really, it has nothing to do with the gift. No strings were attached. You win, we win if M. disappear which is what we hoped would happen once you and the others saw the pictures.”

I explained the entire situation from John's icky proposal, how Bert and Mike were forced into illegal acts by M. including my (and Lindsay's) subsequent kidnapping, how we would just go to the police about it but it would get Bert and Mike in deep shit. Of course, I'd tell them the truth and help explain but Lindsay, well, she's been sedated this whole time. She's an effing bitch on a good day and this time I'd been upset if I were her. Somehow, I don't think she could be reasoned with either. When I was sure I'd told him everything, he asked a few questions.

“Siblings?”

“3 older step brothers who support me fully.”

“Mother is...”

“Always gone on business trips. Didn't come home or believe me when I told her John agressively came after me, even though my brothers did right away. Then when John flipped the story, she believed him again and chewed me out. I moved out after that and into my winter cabin. When I was taken, she never called anyone else to check if there was news. She might have still been on her stupid trip. The boys dropped everything to fly here. Billie is waiting at the hotel with Gee, my boyfriend. Mikey's brother. My other brothers were on overnight flights the night I was taken. Its killing me that I haven't even seen them yet and I know they're so worried.” I was doing a terrible job of not crying. “Sorry.”

“It's ok, dear. I'd be feeling the same on either end. I'll help you fix this. You don't need to pay me. We both have plenty of money.”

“I don't. I'm going to be on full scholarship.” Mikey joked before he realized he said it out loud. The other 2 laughed.

“Then we'll both pay you at the end.” Mr. Bryar said possibly joking, although I wasn't totally sure.

“Do you have any reason to believe or at least suspect your mother could be working with John? I know she's your mother and all...”

“Oh, well I hadn't thought of that. But, her being my mother won't cloud my thinking. For years, John was more of a parent then she was. He would play games with me, take me out, basically be a friend when I needed one. He and my brothers basically raised me after my dad died. My mother was always gone and when she was home she ignored me. When I was young, she was different. We'd make cookies or sew together while dad was touring. Once my real dad died, she changed. She didn't want to be around me at all. When she was, she snapped at me. I always thought I reminded her of dad.” It occurred to me that she knew the contents of the will long before I did. Dad must have told her something about how things were going to be split before he died. I can't think of any other reason why she would shut me out. “My inheritance! Oh my God, I'm so stupid. The will was not to be read until my 18th birthday, so of course that's when I found out what it said. Frankly, I didn't even think much about it until right before it was to be read. Mom started acting antsy and I just wanted it to be over. The only thing I cared about was the winter cabin. We had so many good memories there, my dad, Brendan and I. Singing, playing music together. That's where our grand piano and all his guitars are. I knew dad wouldn't give it to anyone else, but you still have those moments of panic. He could have given everything else to charity and I would have been fine. But that cabin, it was us.”

“So, what happened?” Mr. Bryar was paying rapt attention.

“I got the cabin, of course. Good thing too, because if my mom had received it she would have sold it, and everything in it. But, that's not the whole story, let's back up. We were called in for the reading of the will, my mom, Brendan and I. Brendan is my best friend, like a brother, and has been since we were young. Bren's family is poor and his parents ignore him which is amazingly stupid because he's the most talented musician since me. Kidding. My dad taught him music right alongside me. Bought his band instruments. He loved him like a son. When my dad died, Brendan lost a dad too. Only he didn't get the sympathy cards, hugs of support, not even parents at home to say they were sorry his best friend's dad had passed away. But, he had me. So, it was the 3 of us at the reading. Brendan was given decent amount payable on his 18th birthday, with trust funds he can access at age 25 and another at 35. Knowing my dad, he was probably thinking this would help in case he tried to make a career out of music. This would keep his dream alive, or at least keep him alive. He also had a list producers, record execs, and others in the biz who would be willing to help either of us, should we need it. Next, came my mother. She got the house we lived in and our 2 cars. She received a sizeable amount. It's more than enough for one person, or 2 since she remarried, to live on. My dad had already set aside a trust fund so that she could stay at home and take care of me after dad died. Instead, she started working right away. I don't know exactly how much was in the trust, but my dad was always very generous. Factoring in the length of time it was to last until the will was read, and knowing how much she was given after that, it was probably at least $10 million. Anyways, I was read last. You can imagine what happened. I got the cabin, all my dad's guitars and piano, which is all I wanted. I wanted it all for sentimental reasons but the instruments alone are worth a fortune so who even knows if she wanted those too. But, what really made her hate me was the money. He basically gave almost all of his money to me. She must have known or at least suspected, since she acted bitter as soon as he died, but as soon as it was official.... She left without a word.”

“That's a motive for sure. Let me check things out. What do they look like, your mom and step dad?” Mikey brought up the picture of John and M.

“Here's John, pretty cozy with M.”

“Hmm. I guess so. He gets around.”

“Just a moment. Shouldn't be too hard to find a picture of the wife of a rock star. Even one that's passed away.” Mikey had one pulled up before he even finished talking.

“Unbelievable!” Mr. Bryar was shocked at his speed.

“Just Google that time. Here … Linda Iero – Armstrong.”

“Ok, can you send these to my printer over here? I know that's a stupid question.” Mikey just smiled and went to get the printer's information. “If you could print me a list of everyone currently in danger from M. and John, that would be helpful. I can get rid of M. with pleasure and assure you his men won't touch you or any of your friends. John will take a little longer but I'd like to think that nobody slips from my reach. I even have an idea for Lindsay.” His mouth broke into a mischievous smile.

Notes

To my favorite ppl in the whole world,

When I get an update with an apology about it being too long, I always think, Too Long? No such thing! We wait for these updates. These are stories that we (hopefully) love. If you can't fit it all in at once, take a break. This chapter is very long. Your welcome!

2 more chapters until the end of this story!!!