Penelope actually got a callback for her most recent audition. She called Daniel right away. It was her second ever audition and she got a callback.
To say the least, Penny was excited.
She spent the next week learning a new monologue and even paired lines.
Even though she got this amazing opportunity, so many other people did as well. A little part of her is trying to convince her that she doesn't deserve it. She tries to keep those dark thoughts out of her mind and just suppress what happened. It's not healthy, but it is not something she is doing consciously.
She went alone. It went very similar to the other ones. She sang the same songs, said a new monologue, acted with another person, and did a little dance routine.
Not long after, she was just done.
That was it. No one stared at her funny, no one complimented her. It was almost...underwhelming.
Penny didn't think much about it. She wanted to stay hopeful, but rejection and disappointment clung on to her. It all makes a person wonder if this was the right career choice. Her mother always told her to follow her heart, but how long can her heart last.
She pushes these thoughts and feelings away. It was better to remind neutral than worry over trivial matters.
A few painful days later, she got an email.
We are sorry to inform you but will not be going with you. This was a difficult decision to make because there were so many talented individuals including yourself. Blah, blah, blah...
Penny was a little disappointed. She got a callback but didn't land anything; so, of course, she would be a little disappointed. She forwarded the email to Dan, and he found her a few auditions for the week. He claimed that it would take less time to find a role if she mass auditioned all around New York.
So that is what she did for the rest of the month and halfway into the next.
Audition after audition. Sometimes a callback was sprinkled in there, but all had the same email.
We are sad to inform you...
We are sorry to tell you...
Unfortunately...
One after another, call or email, telling her that there were better people out there. Nothing in the emails told her that what she was doing was bad at all. People were just better.
This started to get to Penny by the end of her first month in New York, which was October. At this point she had mass auditioned for three weeks and it had been a whole month since she moved to New York.
Sadly, it had also been a month since she saw anyone from the Romano family. She did not expect to see Ben and Aubrey, since they both had their own families. Quentin was also someone she expected to barely see. It took some time to convince herself of that fact because she thought that they could actually have an amicable relationship. What really got her down was that she never saw Amelia and Dante (who are both retired) Addison, or Daniel. Addison was looking for a new job, and it is possible that she got one, but it could have still been possible for her to visit Penny. The same goes for Daniel. Penny knew that he was busy, but she was wondering why he hasn't visited her since her first audition. The loneliness started to kick it. Ms. Birdie was there, but she was always there. The isolation and failure...the only thing that was missing was her own father screaming in her ear. However, even though he is dead, she could still hear him whisper in her eye.
You are a failure.
You don't deserve anything.
You are worthless.
She couldn't convince herself that all of this was wrong.
By November, it was harder to get out of bed.
A weight was constantly placed on her chest, pushing her deeper and deeper into the soft bedding every morning. When she finally persuaded herself to get out of bed, the weight did relax. It still pushed her down, not only physically, but emotionally too. It got harder and harder to smile at auditions, to show that she was polite and excited to be there.
She couldn't even find the energy at home to smile at Ms. Birdie after she made breakfast.
Recently too, she has been having a hard time remembering what she has to do. It first started off with forgetting to brush her teeth or forgetting her phone before leaving for an audition. Then it turned into forgetting to do her hair or that she had an audition.
Thankfully her manager was able to reschedule them all. Well, Penny didn't feel too grateful. It came to a point, where she didn't want to audition anymore. She hated the rejection over and over again. She had such high hopes when she came to New York. She would be part of a loving family and she will find a job and be able to support herself.
So far, none of that has come true.
She also became extra self-loathing. A good amount of that came with the ten years of abuse. Penny was never truly comfortable with her body and facial features since her father constantly called her fat and ugly. To her, it was a normal amount of hatred. She never, NEVER, once questioned her talent. Her father never commented on that. She was one of the best at her old theater, everyone around her thought that. Penny could never have thought that highly of herself, but knew she had talent once she started landing role after role.
Now that she is in a competitive field, she is starting to doubt her skills. At first, it was wondering if her songs and monologues were right for her. Then it turned into if she was acting and singing to the best of her ability. Lastly, and finally, it turned into the thought that she was just bad, at everything she did.
The beginning of November was when she lost faith, lost love, in herself.
Her thoughts turned isolating too, causing her body to do that same.
If no one wants to be around me, then I don't want to be around them.
Sadly, it was easy to do since Ms. Birdie was the only one around. She would be very short and seemingly annoyed with the old woman, hoping that she would leave her alone. She did a little, no longer asking Penny about her audition or what her plans for the day was. She would ask what to eat, cook it for her, and just watch her. Ms. Birdie knew that something was wrong. She wanted to be a supportive person, but it was far out of her reach.
Ms. Birdie saw as Penny withered away, mentally and physically. The girl ate twice a day and that barely any food to begin with. The truth was that the weight on Penny was just too heavy. She barely had enough energy to chew her food.
She spent the first two weeks of November lying in bed. Sometimes she would sleep for a majority of the day. Other times she would never go to bed. If she was luck, she would just cry in bed.
Sometimes, she would cry about another rejection letter.
Sometimes, she would wake up from a bad dream and cry about that.
Most times, it was easier to feel nothing at all. To just stare at the ceiling or wall and wish she was never born.
Penny would go to a total of two auditions of the course of that two weeks. She used to have five in a week. Daniel tried to keep in contact with the girl, but her phone was turned off and she wasn't looking at her emails. He came to the realization that something was wrong. He couldn't see her himself, but he called the one person who knew what she was doing.
Dr. Aubrey Romano-Hill
***
DR arrived in New York the same time as Penny and still has nothing. After locating DeLuca at the cafe, his trail went cold. He checked bank accounts, facial recognition, even having a spy from the company inflate the Gallo family.
Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
He spent the whole month of October using every single piece of technology to find this man.
The less answers DR got, the more he threw himself into his work.
This wasn't the first time.
Dylan Romano was always seen as the black sheep of the family, even though he did not look the part. Dylan always felt overshadowed by his older brothers, Ben and Daniel. Ben was the oldest, and always seen as the most mature to his father and mother. Daniel was a radiant person. Sunshine bursting from his pores. Dylan was just never that. He always had a scowl, even as a baby. That is how his parents told the twins apart: Dylan's scowl.
By they were in high school, the two had two very different friends. Daniel had many. Dylan had one.
That one was actually his goth girlfriend.
Also, at this time, Dylan was a little goth too.
The two had been friends since the beginning of high school and started dating a year later. The two loved each other with every bone in their scrawny bodies. The Romano's were hesitant at first, due to her gruff personality and exterior. Soon, they all saw the love the pair had for each other and approved of their dating.
Dylan and his girlfriend decided to take a gap year together after graduating because they truly didn't know what they wanted to do for the rest of their lives. They found concept of college stupid. Dylan's parents pushed it, so of course, Dylan pushed back.
Similar to his younger brother, Quentin.
The summer after senior year, tragedy struck.
His girlfriend was found dead in her bathroom due to an overdose.
The police decided it was that she was using, that it was accidental. They found more drugs hidden in the house. Everyone was devastated.
Especially Dylan because he knew for a fact that his girlfriend had never and would never use. He knew for a fact that her father was the one who used.
Dylan knew something wasn't up. So, he broke into the police department and stole her file.
He actually moved out of his house and rented a cheap apartment on the other side of town. His family tried to get to him, but they still had three younger children to worry about. One was an extra challenge. For the rest of the year, he researched everything he could about the case. His goal was to find her father.
He had a feeling at the father murdered his daughter.
At this time, he also learned how to hack. This was how he found the father. Every Sunday, he would go to this sports bar in Connecticut. So, he met him there.
He sat in the back of the bar, watching him. The disgusting man got up from bar, stupidly leaving his drink. Dylan walked by and carefully placed a roofie in his beer. He came back and guzzled the drink. By the end of the night he was drunk and drugged up. However, this was nothing out of the ordinary.
Dylan had it all planned out. His girlfriend's father never met him, so he took this opportunity to meet him. They struck up a conversation. Once the man realized that he couldn't drive himself home, Dylan offered a ride.
He said his address, but that didn't matter to Dylan. He drove him to an abandoned building, tied him to a chair, and waited for the roofies to wear off.
The next day in the afternoon, he woke up and Dylan wanted his questioned answered.
It took some physical convincing, meaning that Dylan had a knife and the man had flesh.
Dylan learned the whole story.
The father was more than just an addict and asshole. He abused his daughter for years. She never fought back because he was stronger than her. If she fought back, she would never win. That was until her father ran out of money. Through his drug connections, he found out that if he sold his daughter to a gang that ran a human trafficking system, he would get a huge stack if cash. This time she decided to fight back. It didn't work. With a needle in his hand, he injected her with whatever drugs he could get her to stop fighting. The cops during her investigation overlooked all of her cuts and bruises that she sustains just because they found a needle in her hand. A needle that was actually staged by her father who killed her with his own drugs.
When he heard the truth, Dylan flew into a rage. He took the knife that was in his hand and stabbed the man, over and over again until he was good and died. Hopefully, rotting in hell. Dylan burned the body in the building, as well as all his clothes, the chair and rope. Just anything that would prove him to be the killer.
Dylan didn't feel regret. He was relieved. He got rid of a horrible man that walked the Earth.
He was careful with everything, but he still managed to get the attention of The Company, who tracked him and offered him a job to be a detective. He would work high profile cases underground and then kill the offender. He would be working outside the law.
He accepted.
He went to his family to tell them he found a job, gathered anything else from his trash apartment, and traveled the world.
It has been twelve years and he still loves his job.
He always thinks about the one he loved most and always reminds himself that he is doing his for her.
The Company made him go by his initials and never tell anyone his real name.
DR became a master at solving this cases, but now he is stuck. He has never been stuck like this.
By November, he was completely confused. How could a person like him go missing? The Gallo mafia had power, but not enough power to make a person disappear. Or maybe The Company's information on them is wrong. The thing is... they have never been wrong.
DR feels himself slipping into insanity, a crazed mind fixed on finding this man. Now longer is it about finding William Marshall's killer. Now it is just about finding this mysterious man. DR is convinced that he murdered Mr. Marshall, but right now, he is more focused on the chase.
This must be a game, DR thought to himself every day, as he checked all of his sources. It became his routine. He would get out of bed after a fitful sleep, check emails, social media, bank accounts, and facial recognition. He would spend the rest of his days looking for more clues. Sometimes it would be into Mr. Marshall's banking and company (however, that was rare). Other times, it would be researching the family.
His routine barely left time to eat. DR only eats about once a day. He was already a pretty skinny man, but now, he is basically all bones and skin. Thankfully, his ominous trench-coat covers his body and that he doesn't leave the house.
As the months pass, he became more paranoid than ever. He constantly look behind him, as though he felt eye bore into the back of his skull. He would make sure to check all the locks on the door after he opened it once a day. He would check the locks when he woke up, when he opened the door for some reason, and before he went to bed. DR, at bedtime, would look frantically around the room, checking all nooks and crannies.
His life was work and once he was good at it. Now, he was failing at something that should have been simple.
DR was close to giving up. He stood out on the balcony, in the cold November wind, smoking a cigarette. He seems to be smoking about two packs a day. He never left his hotel room, but rather got them ordered and brought to his front door.
DR looked up to the night sky. In New York, there honestly wasn't much to see. The city lights drown the starry night. The only thing he could see was the slight sliver of the moon. He reached into the pocket of his black sweatpants for his phone. He took a second to look at the screen, thinking if he really wants to do this.
He opens up the call app, planning on dialing the boss's number.
He finger inched closer and closer to the number.
He was so close.
He just needs to place his fingers on the dial button to end it all. To end his career.
To end his life... That was the only way out of The Company.
He closed his eyes, preparing himself for...
DING DING
DR opens his eyes to see a block to text from an unfamiliar number stretched across his phone.
I hear you are looking for me. Come back to the scene of the crime. Then we can start the real chase.
A smile stretched across DR's face. He cleared his hotel room in ten minutes, requested a private plane, and was ready to fly back to San Francisco.
Ross DeLuca better get ready for the wrath of Dylan Romano.