CHAPTER 17

~ A Broken Home~

Whatever Pauly just said does not compute. Deena looks at him for a minute and responds.

"What do you mean someone broke into the house? I thought we were getting state of the art security so that no one can break into the house…"

Pauly, "The crew finished up this morning on the system but when Big' and Jerr' got back this afternoon, they said someone had been in the house."

Deena, "Well maybe it was the workers. Maybe they didn't finish. What all did they do?"

Pauly, "They put the system in the house and around it and they did the gate but from what the guys described, they wouldn't have done something like this."

Deena shakes her head, "I'm just having a hard time understanding I'm sorry."

Pauly, "Bigg' and Jerry said the police are assuming that it was an inside job. There was no sign of breaking and entering…I don't know, I don't have all the details but if my boys said someone's been there then I believe them."

Deena looks around and then back at Pauly.

"Well, what do we do?"

Pauly thinks for a split second.

"We are not doin anything. You're gonna stay put with 'Leena, while I go back to Vegas to check it out."

Deena, "Are you crazy? I'm coming too!"

Pauly gestures to her to be quiet and he continues.

"I will feel much better if you just go with my Aunt to my Mom's when she comes tomorrow."

Deena, "…and I will feel better knowing what the hell is going on in my house."

Pauly looks at her and Deena continues.

"I stay there too Pauly. I am not running if there is a problem that we both can solve. I signed up for this when I moved in…"

Deena looks at Pauly not budging.

"It's my house too and I'm not going anywhere."

Pauly knows Deena is serious and stubborn. He sighs and then nods his head.

"I'll tell my Aunt to still come to get 'Leena in the morning but until then we'll catch a red-eye to Vegas. We can't let another day pass to wait to see what has happened."

Deena agrees and she waits for Pauly to see what flight he can get them on. In the meantime, she decides to let Nicole know that there are some problems that they need to handle back at the house but she wouldn't go into detail as of yet.

After a while, Pauly comes back in and tells Deena that they are booked for a five in the morning flight. It is not as soon as he would have liked to get there but it is the best he could get within a short time frame. With it still in the middle of the day, it seems to creep by slower than ever but they try to enjoy the rest of their time in Seaside before going back to God knows what.

-The Next Day-

Biggie picked Deena and Pauly up from the airport and Pauly just asked if he could give him the best explanation he could and the details before they even entered the scene. However, it never prepared them for what they see now.

Pauly walks across the den, feet crushing what's left of the broken glass from broken picture frames and vases. Nothing has been moved and the evidence has been roped off so to speak by police tape. Biggie and Jerry called the Police as soon as they got back to file the report. So it is merely a crime scene right now.

Biggie and Jerry watch Pauly as he silently surveys the area with no type of expression showing up on his face. Of course, that all changes when Pauly looks as if he remembers something.

To himself, "Oh shit…! Tell me it's not…!"

Pauly high tails it to the door that leads to his studio downstairs. The guys follow him as fast as they can but they can hear him before even reaching him.

"What the fuck bro!"

Pauly looks at all his memorabilia down and broken on the floor. He side steps the tape and picks up his favorite poster, the one that he frequently used in his venues and on all his flyers after making it official with Hard Rock Hotel. It is broken and the picture is ripped in half.

Along side that is his mixing board smashed. Away from his mixing board are his prized Italia, blinged out headphones…they are broken in half. Pauly swallows a lump in his throat and turns to the guys.

"You know how long I've had these, when I got these…how many shows I've done with these!?"

Biggie and Jerry cannot voice the remorse they feel for seeing this happening to their closest friend.

Pauly continues almost hoarse.

"How tha hell could they have…?"

Pauly keeps items like his headphones and his laptop locked up safe but he now sees that where he had them is broken into. Luckily, he had his laptop with him in Seaside. He would have died if anything happened to that.

He doesn't even want to see anymore. Enough is enough but then they hear Deena's voice.

"Pauly!"

Everyone runs upstairs and Deena is by the den looking at her phone, distraught.

Pauly is the first to approach her.

"What's wrong?"

Deena, "This came through on my text message just now…I-I don't understand. Is this my car?"

Pauly takes the phone. It is a picture of Deena's BMW before and after what it looked like being vandalized. Under that is the message:

This was phase one. Phase two hits home…and phase three will lead you all the way, ensuring that Pauly comes back to me…

Pauly doesn't even want to look up to meet Deena's eyes. When he does he almost wants to cry himself.

Deena sniffles, "Pauly. What is going on? You never told me that the car got trashed."

Pauly, "I wasn't going to. I was hoping to get it fixed so you neva knew the difference."

Deena, "I don't even want to know how long this has been going on…I just want it to end."

Pauly walks up to Deena and hugs her. He locks the message in as evidence and then they stand there quietly for a while. Biggie and Jerry leave them alone and go into the other room to talk.

When Deena settles down some, Pauly looks at her.

"I'm gonna go talk with Big' and Jerr' about gettin a suite downtown. (Shaking his head) I can't stay here. Do you have some things you wanna grab before we go?"

Deena wipes her face, "Yeah. Can you come with me while I grab them?"

Pauly, "Absolutely. I'm right behind you."

Soon enough, Pauly and Deena pack up some more of their things and then they all head out to get a room to stay in until further investigation can be done.

-Later on in the Day-

It is now three in the afternoon and Pauly is seated with the same Officers that took down the report from Biggie and Jerry the day before. He is on the lounge in the suite giving them more of a detailed description of the items damaged in their home.

When they finish the Officers stand up and are about to leave when Deena comes flying into the living area where they are.

With the phone against her chest, "Pauly…!"

She approaches them and he looks at her expression, not having a good feeling about what she is about to say.

"Pauly, your Mom is on the phone."

Pauly looks at his phone after taking it out of his pocket. He frowns but looks back at Deena. He is about to question her but Deena hysterically interjects.

"…She says 'Leena is gone!"

A/N: *Fabulous Friday FicNation!* Starting to get down to the knitty-gritty here, so read and review, you know the drill.