Protect Me

Chapter 4: Cameras

LEONARDO

It wasn't until two hours later that I realised just how soon I would be seeing Medi. Not that she had any idea. I sat in my office at my mahogany desk, watching the security footage from around the house and grounds. One of the guards had noticed some scuff marks in the ground on the outside of the east wall that afternoon. I had come in to check the security footage and noticed Medi outside of her room speaking to her mother and Emilio on the screen.

She seemed to want to enter her bedroom and get away from them. The guilt of having an affair with with her stepfather must have made it difficult for her to spend much time around them. Or maybe she was jealous of her mother and that was why she wanted to get away, she couldn't stand seeing them together. That seemed unlikely though. I doubted she had any kind of real feelings for him. He was not particularly desirable without his money or claims of power that would never be a reality, whereas she, at the very least, looked fairly attractive. She could likely land some idiota who fell for her looks if she wanted someone with more personality than Emilio.

I found myself watching her hand squeezing her arm, her body leaning towards the door of her bedroom, her mouth as she chewed on her lip. I wondered how it must look when she screamed in pleasure. She could do so much better than my old, overweight, powerless brother. Maybe he just bought her nice things. She was surely after the money he could provide. Even if he had no real power, our famiglia had enough money that he would never need to work to enjoy relative luxury. Especially residing under my roof.

"Boss, did you find anything?"

I turned my head to my employee, Luigi, who had just entered the room. He was young and relatively new, but he had proven his worth. He lacked the experience that most others in the organisation had, but he made up for it with quick wits and various skills.

"Not yet," I grunted. Usually this kind of task would be over in a minute or two for me. I must have been moving slower than I thought.

Confusion washed over Luigi's features but was quickly replaced by a smug smirk when he saw the screen in front of me. Medi still stood there, playing with her lip, her arm bringing her shirt tight as it reached across her, showing that she had at least some semblance of a figure under her loose clothes. I didn't think it was intentional, it seemed too natural and, based on our earlier interaction, I did not believe she was a particularly good actress. Besides, her mother was right there. I doubted she would attempt to flirt with Emilio with his wife right there. She did not seem bold enough.

"Ah, well she is hot. But she's your brother's stepdaughter." I frowned at Luigi's insinuation. He squinted a little at the screen. "I wouldn't mind taking a crack at her though."

Something bristled inside me.

"She is a guest in this house and is to be treated with respect," I instructed. I would not have my hospitality questioned by anyone, no matter how inconsequential they were.

"Yes, Boss. I would definitely treat her with more than respect though. She'd be feeling downright worshipped by the end of the night."

I didn't like how he was watching her on the screen. Licking his lips. Adjusting the crotch of his pants. Maybe I was a bit more protective of my brother's relationships than I thought. Maybe I didn't like that he was talking like this in front of me as if I wasn't his boss. Though he often talked similarly in front of me and I had never bothered me before.

It must be because of Emilio's claim. Even if he is undeserving, he still has some kind of claim on her and she has shown no interest in rejecting that claim.

I quickly switched the screen to one of the cameras that monitored the outer boundaries and began rewinding the footage, looking for any figures that might have created the scuff mark.

"There!" Luigi announced. I hadn't seen anything, but I trusted Luigi's eyes. I stopped rewinding and played the footage. A figure ran on the screen and tapped the wall before running off.

"Check the wall, find the man, get him downstairs."

"Yes Boss!"

As he left the room, I began checking the surrounding footage around that time. I needed to find how he had arrived, whether he was alone or if others were involved. I found the figure taking a stroll down the street in the footage from one camera, but he never continued to the next frame. He had an idea of where the cameras were located.

After the time of his wall contact, he walked away in the same direction he had been going initially. Anyone who saw him outside of his quick detour would not think anything of him. Just a pedestrian in the area. I followed him until he left the view of the cameras. Nothing else of much use, but I sent frames of him from various angles to Luigi's phone.

I looked back up at the running footage. The car with Emilio and his family was arriving on the screen. I had the urge to continue watching, but I had other tasks to continue. I turned the security footage back to the live stream and glanced over everything. Emilio and Demi were walking down the hall to their room, so Medi must have been able to escape the uncomfortable interaction. Nothing appeared amiss, so I closed the footage and opened up my other screen to continue my other work.

It was another forty-five minuted until I was interrupted again, this time by my phone ringing.

"We have him in custody," Luigi's voice spoke from the other end. "I'll return within the hour after I've cleaned up here."