Page 3 of Once Upon a Beast

I didn’t wait for him to answer but walked out onto the balcony. I bought the apartment a little over two years ago. It was right after I had made my first billion. I could have retired; I could have faded into the night. I could have lived quite nicely off the money I made and never looked back. But I hadn’t wanted to.

The work was too important, the people I was helping still needed me, and if I was honest, I liked the thrill of making money too much to walk away from it. I had been ruthless, cunning, and it had given me the reputation as being “The Beast of New York.” It was a name and reputation I was proud of. I had worked hard to leave my past, my family, and any association with them in the dust. I had been happy with my success and I wasn’t done yet. Now, looking back, it would have been smarter if I had retired when I had the chance.

It came down to the fact that I was barely in my thirties; if I retired, what would I have done with the rest of my life?

Retirement meant spending hours being on committees, or traveling, or doing nothing with my life. While I was already on a few charity boards, it wasn’t enough to keep me busy all day. I could have bought homes around the world and traveled, but I hadn’t wanted to leave New York City. It was my home and it was where I belonged. It was where Layla was. Even if the woman didn’t want to have anything to do with me, I liked knowing I was in the same city as her.

I stayed, continued to work hard, made more money, and worked toward my ultimate goal. I had gotten one step closer. News had started to leak of my latest success. I had made sure it had; I was the one who had controlled the narrative. I had thought I was finally going to be able to have the life I wanted, with the woman I wanted to be with. Now it looked as if everything had been derailed.

Tilting my head back, I looked up at the sun that was high overhead. There were a few clouds but overall, it was a wonderful spring day. I loved spring in New York but there wasn’t a season I didn’t like. I had come to New York City because I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. I figured it was a place where I could escape my past and carve out my own future. I had been successful but all it took was one comment from my father to go and try and ruin it all.

There had to be a way to stop this; there had to be something I could do. I just couldn’t think of what it was, which was why I had called the one man I thought who could help me.

I continued to stare out at the New York skylight. I had been rude to Steve and probably should go in and apologize. The man had worked with me for over three years, he knew my moods, he knew not to cross me. If he couldn’t handle me getting a little annoyed at him because of the situation I was in, then he didn’t deserve to work for me. I heard him approach but I didn’t turn around.

“Tell me what we know,” I said.

“There’s a story that’s being worked on that states that your father is getting ready to say you took the money that he embezzled and used it to make your fortune.”

“That is ludicrous. The money was never found. The government spent years looking for it, including looking at me, extensively. There was never a shred of evidence I had anything to do with it. I was cleared.” I shook my head.

“He states that there was money you pulled from his accounts before the investigation started and you have hidden it off-shore for years. Amounts in the millions.”

“I was in fucking high school when this happened. I didn’t know how to do it, much less have the resources to.” I thought back to that time. My whole life was ahead of me. I had plans for college, for the summer before. I had thought I was going to become a lawyer and follow in my father’s footsteps. But, it all had gone sideways the morning the authorities had come banging on our door.

“It gets worse. He’s stipulating that you paid a woman to pretend to be interested in him so that you could gain his trust and do a tell-all book. He states it’s only because the two of them fell in love that he even found out about your scheme. It’s speculated that the woman is going to sue you for unpaid services.”

“I have never met this Kara woman nor do I want to. There’s no subterfuge or anything going on. I put my father behind me, or at least I was trying to. I have no interest in talking to him, much less writing a book about him.”

“You’re preaching to the choir. It doesn’t help that your father has been a model citizen and even helped some inmates who had been wrongly convicted.”

“Somehow he has turned into Saint Atticus,” I muttered.

“Perception is reality and he’s playing it to his advantage,” Steve said.

“We need to take that advantage away from him.”

“How do we go about doing that?”

As if on cue, I got a call from my doorman. “Send him up,” I said, already knowing who was there.

Steve didn’t say anything but went to wait for our guest. I followed him into the living room and stood in between my two couches as the doors opened. I looked at the man who had been like a second father to me, a man who had helped me out when my world had gone sideways in more ways that I could ever count. He had helped me choose my next path in life; he helped me rebuild bigger, better, and stronger than I ever thought I could have been.

My successes were as much because of him as they were because of my hard work. He had always believed in me. He was the one who told me that I could get out from under my father. He was the one who said I could build my own future, carve my own path. He was the one man who had stood by me. If anyone could get me out of this, it was him.

We weren’t ones for pleasantries and this wasn’t the time to make small talk. “Tell me you have a plan on how to get me out of this,” I said.

James was not a very tall man and barely stood over five-foot seven. He had slowly gained weight over the years and he didn’t try to hide it. His suits were always well-made and expensive, but he had a way of looking unkempt. His tie was slightly askew and his hair was done in his normal fashion of going every which way but together. If I hadn’t known him so well, I would have said he was frazzled, but it was just his normal look.

“Of course, I do. Who do you take me for? There is only one person who can fix this.”

“Okay, then who?” I asked.

James put his hands on his hips and smiled at me, it was then that he said two words I never thought I would hear him say and filled my heart with both happiness and dread.

“My daughter.”

Chapter 2