Standing just a few feet away was the man I despised more than anyone. He had used a situation to control and manipulate me into doing grotesque acts no normal man would ever think of doing. I had been under the assumption the entire time that he had video footage from his own camera; one hidden well out of sight in the hopes of catching someone taking from the Brothers till. I assumed that he was nothing more than a heartless janitor in a pair of ratty coveralls who found a convenient means of making some extra money. But Brady turned out to be so much more.
"You're head of security?" I choked out.
"Are you really that surprised? You really are that damn airheaded, aren't you?" He said with a smile and a shake of his head.
"You did try to tell us," Eddie said to Brady.
"What can I say? I'm a good judge of character."
"I thought the company has a security team," I interjected.
I was sure I wasn't mistaken about that. There were usually security teams on the main floor to guard against anyone getting to the upper floors without authorization. I also knew that they patrolled the building as I'd seen one or two during my weeks lodging in my car.
"Of course we do. We're no different than other companies who have their property guarded at the door and around its perimeter," Eugene responded. "There are always potential threats that a security team will have to guard against. Those, for the most part however, are more 'outside' threats than anything. Mr. Brady has more of an 'inside' security position."
"What that simply means is that it's my job to find the sneaky, little thieves who try to take from the Brothers and their company," Brady clarified.
"But you're just a janitor," I said, still in disbelief.
"Exactly!" Eddie said. "Who would think that the guy mopping the floor and scrubbing the toilet would be the one watching your every move?"
It actually made perfect sense. Brady wasn't just trying to get lucky in getting footage of someone stealing. He was doing a job, a secret one, that our employers had charged him with. Was I really that airheaded?
"My job is to keep an eye on all personnel; especially new employees with access to highly lucrative items."
"Like cash in a safe?" I said in a dumbfounded voice.
"Exactly; like cash in a safe," Eddie said.
"Just as I'm sure you're aware, my brother and I actually do a fair amount of business dealings out of state and overseas," Eugene said. "The two of us simply can't keep an eye on everything. That's where Mr. Brady has come in and he's done a fine job too at sniffing out those who have tried to take from us."
Eugene didn't have to say it. How many Brady had actually caught and thrown to the wolves was a mystery, but I could think of two immediately.
"Clint and Daniel?"
"Very good," Eugene cooed.
"Those two were your predecessors. This job that you held was one of our most trustworthy positions. So, it should be easy to understand that we needed to make sure that the person holding it would not do us wrong."
Besides the pictures in my basement room to remind me everyday, I remembered the stories that Brady told the first time I met him face to face; well, with the steel bars of my cage between us. They too had taken from the Brothers, in one form or another. Seeing the Brothers in person, I got a sense of just how serious and threatening they could be.
"Those two were a lot like you in ways. They were good with numbers and dependable in doing the job," Eddie said.
"The one thing we had to test though was their honesty and loyalty," Eugene added.
They went on to divulge a horrible truth; one that connected the three of us together in a manner. The Brothers needed to make sure, beyond a doubt, that one of their most trusted employees would stay as such. While most people have small struggles that they deal with day to day, not everyone has huge financial decisions that would hold their life in the balance. The Brothers took matters into their own hands to make sure that happened.
"Take Daniel," Eddie said. "He was bright and charming, but he never had a knack for the stock market. Yet, that didn't stop him from investing large amounts in hopes of a big payday. Too bad that inside trader tip didn't pan out for him. He too found himself in a peck of trouble."
"And Clint," Eugene added, "Wasn't any better. His free time was spent hitting the casino tables. It was easy to see he thought he was a high-roller. Wouldn't you just know that he was egged into a game of high-risk poker. The cards just didn't fall in his favor."
"Then there's you." It wasn't one of the Brothers, but rather Brady. "You were good at crunching numbers but not at understanding odds. How did that sure-fire tip pan out on that big wager you made?"
The way Brady talked, the way the Brothers looked at me, the similarities between the other two and myself, I was quickly beginning to paint a picture. These were not simply coincidences. There couldn't have been that much bad luck between the three of us.
"You guys planned this. All of this!"
Both the Brothers cracked a smile. Brady stood there with that smirk of his while giving a gentle clap with his hands.
"After a thorough background check was done along with having each of you watched for any sign of unusual or dangers habits, It didn't take long to see a weakness in each of you. One that may potentially come back to bite us," Eugene said.
"So you what? You tricked us into some trap?"
"We did little more than guide each of you," Eugene said. "We simply created an environment that played towards those habits."
"Of course, we had to make it so that those hardy wagers would not pan out. How else would we know how desperate you each would become."
It was a fucking trap! Right from the start, it sounded as if I was going to be tested. Yet, the way it all unfolded, the Brothers couldn't be completely to blame. Sure, a seemingly genuine and harmless gambling tip found its way to me that was orchestrated by the Brothers. Yet, what happened beyond that was my own doing. I wasn't forced to make that wager, but they'd done enough homework on me to know I wouldn't be able to resist. After that, no one suggested to me to take money from their safe; no one held a gun up and forced me to do it.
I had just as much blame.
"Had any of you actually come to us and revealed your problems with honesty and humility, we would have gladly stepped in to help you out of your situation. At that point, trust would have been earned," Eugene told me.
"Yet, you took that little gambling tip and ran with such ease. Clearly you didn't put much thought or consideration into what you were doing; especially when trying to get your way out of that jam," Eddie said.
"That's the ditzy part of her brain," Brady chuckled.
I couldn't help but pick up on the feminine pronoun; something Brady loved to do. The Brothers seemed to have a good laugh at the joke. That got me to thinking...
"If you did all of that, then you must know what hell Brady has put me through," I said, raising my arm and pointing him out.
"Of course we knew," Eddie said.
"Though we can't take the credit for the idea," Eugene added. "We do let Mr. Brady have his own fun with the people he catches stealing."
"And with me, you found your pleasure by turning me into some whore for you?"
"Basically," he answered with a smile. "But don't think you're that special. You're not the only one that was given a choice, you know."
As Brady talked, I remembered back to just a few days after I'd taken the money. An envelope appeared in my mailbox that seemed to come from nowhere. Inside that envelope were the items that started me on my path towards Dafni; a threatening letter to expose me and the evidence that would do so. This, however, was not a unique scenario.
"Both of the others got similar letters with damning evidence to prove I was serious. They were asked to the shady motel and given the same offer. Do you know the difference between them and between you, Dafni?"
"My name isn't Dafni!" I said in a meek, panicked tone.
"Both Clint and Daniel were actually men and refused to be humiliated by turning into some fucking, pathetic sissy."
Did that really happen to them? I tried to imagine them, both unharmed, going to the same motel I'd frequented for many weekends. They were probably just as nervous and scared as I was, not knowing what their blackmailer wanted. I could picture them walking in a room, probably two-eighteen, and finding no one inside. At their first instruction, stripping all their clothes away, they probably took off; not willing to be pushed around in such an embarrassing manner.