The Boss's Daughter

Wayne O'Brien

Wayne O'Brien had been a fixture in the Colicci firm since he was eighteen years old. He had grown up with Jean since elementary school. 

The two met on the playground. She was trying to play with some classmates but they didn’t want to play with her. She went over to the fence where she thought no one could see her and began to cry. She didn’t notice the shy, quiet little boy watching her. When she put her head down, he rushed to her.

“Angels should never cry when devils won’t play with them.” He had never spoken to her before so she didn’t know who was talking to her until she looked up. When their eyes met, she truly saw flashes of light in her mind. He was so handsome. He was a little bigger than most of the boys in her grade. He reached out his hand to her. She took it.

They spent the rest of recess walking and talking. She thought he was the smartest person her own age that she had ever met. He quoted poetry and philosophy like a grown-up. They went back to class and she couldn’t help but to sneak peeks at him whenever she could.

These two were inseparable when they were younger. They spent every recess together. He always protected her from the mean kids on the playground. When summer came, she invited him to come to her house to play. They spent every day together, playing Queen of the Castle. They never argued or fought. He would stay for dinner every night. She was always sad when he had to go home. She would cry herself to sleep each night. But he was always there, outside her window when she woke up.

As the carefree days of childhood made way to the hassle of middle and high school, they continued to meet every day. Instead of playing, they read together, talked, and got to know one another in an entirely new way. He walked her to school each morning and home each afternoon. They spent so much time together, that her mother started calling them the siamese twins.

She saw him as her knight in a leather trench coat in high school. Jean took a chance and in the middle of her sophomore year, she asked Wayne to be her boyfriend. She felt invincible whenever he was around.

They had some obstacles. Jean had befriended a young lady named Lyn James. She thought that her new friend was wonderful but had a great sadness. As the girls grew closer, Wayne has pushed away more. One day, when Jean was dealing with issues at home, the phone rang. She answered it.

“We can’t see each other anymore,” Wayne said in such a pained voice that she could hardly believe it was him. All she could answer was “If you think that is best.” She hung up the phone while sobbing.

She tried to call her friend Lyn and discovered that her line was busy. She just went to her friend’s house to talk instead. She had to figure out what had happened. When she got there, Lyn’s mother let her in. She said Lyn was on the phone in her room.

As Jean walked down the hall, she could hear that the call was on speakerphone. The other voice in the call was Wayne. She heard him telling Lyn “She didn’t even ask me why. She just said that if I thought it was best, then she hung up on me.”

The next thing she heard broke her heart even more. “Well you know she has been seeing Edward for almost a month now?” followed by “She just didn’t want to be bothered with telling you!”

At that moment, Jean ran out of her ex-best friend’s house with tears streaming down her face. How could she tell him such lies? As she was driving, she lost control of the car and crashed into a tree.

The next thing she remembers is her father saying that she will be transferred to a new school.

 Her father brought him into the business because he was a strong, fair enforcer. He still loved Jean and volunteered to be her personal security even before she knew she needed it. 

He watched her grow from an awkward young girl into a beautiful, independent young woman. 

When Jean thought she was going to lose her father, it was Wayne who held her when she cried. And it was Wayne she ran to when her father woke up to tell her what had happened. 

He is her rock. He is also the only person other than her father who could call her on her bullshit. 

Jean loved him more than she could ever tell him. She knew that in this business, loving each other could be a liability for both of them.

She figured that when her father had arranged for her to marry Eddie, that cemented Wayne knowing that he would never have a chance with her again.