I’d used my expertise in two fields to start a little known, but much needed profession. Everyday in some part of the world, some asshole is taking something that’s not his. Whether it be human or object, I’m the man to get your shit back for you.
If a kidnapper asked for ten million, I’ll take six to get your lil darling back for you. I had yet to meet anyone who didn’t see that as a bargain. After the first four jobs, word got out and I was way ahead of schedule. I was an elitist fuck. No job less than three million. Then shit got so I had to hire a team to take the lesser jobs because people were desperate and I wasn’t such a hardass that I couldn’t help where it was needed. As the dough piled up I started plotting and planning. But I knew it was going to be a while before I was even close to achieving my goal.
I’d put thought of Ashley out of my mind because all they did was make me crazy. But I’d already made up my mind that I was coming back for her no matter how long or what it took. Of course I kept tabs on her from afar. Always with the hope that one-day she’d get out from under her old man’s thumb and come looking for me. But she hadn’t.
Each year that went by was torture. There were times I thought I would die for want of her. It got so I was going to just give up the whole idea of revenge and just come get her and take her away. And then Sylvia came along and everything changed.
We met two and a half years ago when she offered me five million to recover her husband’s body. He’d gone hiking and got lost and no one knew where to find him. That had been a year earlier. It was my downtime when she called, and for some reason though it wasn’t my usual, and something I would’ve passed off to someone else, I took the job.
It took me three weeks but in the end I was successful. For some odd reason she reminded me of Ashley and when I brought her husband’s remains back I couldn’t take money from her for doing it.
I had no idea who she was then. Didn’t know that she and her husband had one of the most successful import export businesses in the world. I found that out a few weeks later when I was called to a meeting at their headquarters where she made me CEO of her company. She said the only other man she knew who would’ve done what I did was her husband.
I wasn’t sure in the beginning, but the old fraud convinced me that since she had no kids and her closest relatives were less than desirable, and more importantly I’d be helping her out, I’d taken the gig.
We’d fallen into a relationship that felt as if we’d known each other forever instead of having just met and under those circumstances to boot. Two years later and I’m thankful everyday that I wasn’t such an asshole as to take money from a widow for retrieving her dead husband. Though she’s given me more than the five million ten times over.
When I told her the story about Ashley when she asked me for the one hundredth time why I didn’t settle down, she’d been almost as pissed at the situation as I was. Then she’d lit into me for waiting so long to go get my girl.
It was just in time too, because six months later I’d heard about the upcoming nuptials and had put my shit in overdrive. Once again Sylvia stepped in and took over where she claims I was missing the mark. Most people think she’s my assistant but Cerberus has more tolerance. I know with her there no one was getting past her to get to me.
She hates business and anything to do with it, but she likes to keep an eye on me since she thinks I’m half an ass, her words. And she needed to be here to supervise so she could see her grandkids sometime in this millennium.
I smiled when I thought of the old tyrant and her manipulations. I’d wanted to go head to head with old man Stahl, but she talked me into going to the shareholders. She’d claimed she wouldn’t mind being part owner of another company and put up half the funds needed to buy them off. When I argued that I could afford more, she said it didn’t matter because she was leaving it all in a trust for her grandkids anyway.
I am amazed everyday at the differences between her and the wealthy people of my hometown. I’m pretty sure she’s richer than all of them combined, and yet she doesn’t have the snob factor. Even now, she had chosen not to meet Stahl and the board of directors as an equal and part owner, but chose instead to stay in the background as my so called assistant. She knew how much this had meant to me, and had wanted me to have my day.
13
Rock
I’d lied to Ashley when I told her I would save her dad’s company if she came to my bed. She had yet to realize, she has no choice in the matter one way or another. She doesn’t seem to get that I had always planned to come back for her. She didn’t know that the reason I didn’t come back sooner was because there were two people I needed to avenge in this town, her, and my old man.
When Stahl had threatened my dad with the loss of his insurance once he fired him, in essence sentencing him to a slow death, something cold had grown inside me. I wouldn’t have walked away from her if the threat had just been to me, or even her. I know I could’ve protected us both.
But my old man was a different story. His care and medication ran into the hundreds of thousands a year. There was no way I could’ve covered that and get out of debt in this lifetime. I was already taking care of his bills and mine and taking care of anything the insurance didn’t cover, which can add up real quick.
So as much as it gutted me I’d had to leave her. I can still remember her face that night, the face that had haunted me for five years. I’d told her to come with me, held my hand out to her. She’d been shaking her head before he made the threat of firing dad. That rejection, is what her little ass is paying for now. The only reason I’ve been as easy as I have been on her so far, is because Sylvia had convinced me that maybe, Ashley had known what her dad would threaten.
Could be, but still she should’ve never defied me. I didn’t train her to do that shit. She had no idea that by siding with another man over me, dad or not, that she had broken a cardinal rule. That was going to take longer to forgive. Add the fact that she’d worn another man’s ring…
That reminds me. I walked to the wall safe and removed the little velvet box I’d stashed there. I flipped it open and looked at the diamond that nestled on the bed of satin. It was so her. Classic beauty. Just a four-carat teardrop solitaire on a slender platinum band. The wedding ring itself was an eternal circle of diamonds that complemented it well.
I snapped the box closed and put it in my pocket so I won’t forget to take it home. I had one meeting today and then I was going back to her. I checked my watch and looked towards the door. If he’s one minute late I’m out of here. The only reason I was even meeting with him at all was for her. I planned to back him into a corner, make him an offer he couldn’t help but refuse. That way I could tell her that I tried.
He came through the door with five minutes to spare. I could tell this was hard for him; he’d aged ten years since yesterday. I didn’t get to my feet or reach a hand out in welcome. Instead I sat behind the desk that was once his with a look of disinterest on my face.
He wasn’t looking so formidable now. And though I hadn’t been afraid of him five years ago, my old man had been. It was understandable. The man was dying and this asshole threatened to cut off his only means of support. He’d taken a grown man and brought him to his knees. A man in fear for his very life, vulnerable, and already at the brink. Dad had come a long way since then.
His health had improved and he’s been healthy for the better part of a year now. He’d tried begging me to give up my vendetta against his boss, but he didn’t know what it meant to me to come back here like this. I didn’t want the damn company. I could’ve chopped it up and sold it off and made a killing. But I wanted my dad to see that his son had fought for him in the only way he knew how. And I wanted to make Stahl a laughing stock.
There were plenty people in this town who’d been waiting for the old man to get his comeuppance. I just have to get his daughter to leave this shit alone once the dust settled and she realized he was out. It didn’t matter though. Wh
“Have a seat.” I pointed to the visitor’s chair in front of the desk and watched him lumber towards it and sit down like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. I couldn’t care less if his ass keeled over right here and died.
“You asked for this meeting; what do you want?” I wasn’t expecting him to beg, he was too proud for that. I didn’t need him to anyway; I’d already taken everything from him. Without the company all his assets were going into free-fall. He and his wife’s expensive taste, not to mention the mistress he’s had for the past ten years, hadn’t left much for savings.
I knew his house was going to be next. I’d seen to it by having Sylvia use some of her contacts to call in his mortgage at the bank. As soon as it went on the market for a fraction of what it was worth, I planned to grab it up for my dad. I know that will kill him, the final nail in his coffin so to speak.
The old man had lived in the same little clapboard house his whole life and never complained. My dad had got my mom pregnant when they were both seventeen. He was a good guy with a lot of prospects before he had to give it all up to be a husband and a dad.
He’d worked odd jobs here and there until he signed on here over twenty years ago. I’d never forget what he’d given up for me. To stay here with mom and I. The football he’d looked forward to playing, that he’d been so good at, had fallen by the wayside. While his peers had gone off and done things with their lives, he’d been stuck here under this asshole’s shadow and I can only imagine the shit he’d had to put up with to take care of his little family. Now I can give him something back.
“I want to know what your intentions are towards my daughter.”
“Is that what this is? The answer’s none of your fucking business. Your daughter last time I checked is an adult and she answers to one man; me.” I stopped short of giving him the details. He’d probably expire on the spot if I told him just how I planned to dominate his little girl in every aspect of her life.
“If that’s all.” I started to rise but his next question kept me in my seat.
“Does she know what you’ve done? What you’re doing?” Oh so that’s your game.
“She doesn’t need to know anything, but feel free to fill her in if you’d like. It’s not gonna change a damn thing. Just so we’re clear here.” I leaned over the desk and looked him in the eye.
“Five years ago I didn’t leave because of any fear of you. I left because of your threat to my old man and the fact that if I got what I wanted he would’ve lost his life. You used your money and power to threaten a sick man who’d worked for you most of his adult life. When he needed the security of his job and the insurance it came with, you had no qualms about taking it from him to punish me. Now I can buy you ten times over, your money don’t mean shit to me.” I wanted to punch him in the face, but that was too easy and would only land my ass in jail. No, this way was much better.
“Well what you’re doing might mean something to her. I am her father after all. Maybe she won’t be as understanding…”
“She’ll never defy me for you again.”
“I won’t be so sure, she did it once before.” He smirked at me like he really thought that shit was going to make me back down.
I pushed the phone on the desk toward him. “Go ahead, call her.” A staring match followed in which he swallowed hard and looked away. “You see, I used to think that she was defying me for you last time too. But I’ve since come to realize that she knows you so well, she’d known that you would threaten my old man or something worse. That’s why she told me no.”
I hadn’t been sure that Sylvia was right, but his reaction gave me all the proof I needed. It eased something in me that had been in knots for the past five years. We’d become so good together. I had no doubts that she was mine, that I owned every inch of her, especially her heart. Then she’d shook her head no when I told her to come with me and fucked my shit up. Now I know she’d been trying to protect me.
“You think you have all the answers don’t you? You think taking my company is going to make you somebody; well it’s not. Everyone around here knows that you’re nothing but a…a …gigolo.” What the hell is he talking about? The surprise must’ve shown on my face because somehow he thought it was guilt.
“Oh yes, I know all about your ‘assistant’.” He had an evil grin on his face that I’m sure had put the fear of hell in many, but it didn’t do much for me. “What about her?” This ought to be good. I sat back and waited for what the drowning man would come up with next. He’s been fighting ever since he found out that he’d lost everything he’d worked so hard for as was to be expected. He didn’t yet realize that shit was just entertainment for me.
“I did my research, I know who she is. Another rich man’s wife that you’re screwing for money. Just like you did with the women at the country club before I ran you out of town. You think I’d want something as low, as filthy as you soiling my daughter?” I laughed in his face; I couldn’t help it.
14
Rock
“You’re such an asshole. First of all, Sylvia’s old enough to be my grandmother and if she ever hears you maligning her character she just might sue you, and I’d encourage her. As for the women from the club, I never took a dime from any one of them. I was fucking them the same way I fucked you, only in a different venue.”
“I was proving to them and people like them that they’re no different, no better than me and mine. I loved fucking them, soiling them as you say. Knowing that you rich snobs couldn’t satisfy your own women so they had to come looking for me. Money can’t buy orgasms and as much as women like diamonds, they love a nice hard fuck every once in a while.” I thought he was going to swallow his tongue.
“You’re crass, uncouth…my daughter will never stay with a man like you.”
“Listen ass wipe, I suggest you stop thinking about your daughter. You might as well forget you ever had one. The only way you will see her again except in passing, is if I allow it. So I’d be nice to me if I were you. Cause right now I’m not so inclined.” So inclined my ass. It was my mission in life to never let him see her again.
If he’d done any of this out of love for her I would’ve been more understanding. But I knew for him it was all about control. From what she’d told me, he never had any time for her, barely acknowledged her existence, and had treated her like shit. He’d only shown an interest when the son of a business associate had shown an interest.
He’d been trying to use her to make money by merging the two companies and a marriage between their offspring was to be the solidification of the agreement. After I’d left she’d convinced them that she wanted to finish college first before she got married and they’d agreed and that’s what brought us here.
Jeff the asshole was the guy she’d met that night in the club when I first saw her. Apparently he’d taken one look and fallen hard. Or he’d sensed the submissiveness in her, and decided to exploit it; I have no clue. I’d learned all of this after the fact. After I’d left here.
I’d seen him that one night when I had her in the backseat of my car. It was her final test of all things. I wanted her to submit to me in a public place to prove that she had what it took to be owned by me completely. It was for both of us to know that she was ready, that she would put her trust in me in everything.
She’d proven herself wonderfully. I’d driven us out to the football field about an hour after a big game. The excitement was still in the air, but everyone had pretty much left I knew. It was the possibility that there might be a straggler or two about that had added to her angst.
She was scared out of her mind, and with good reason, as we’d found out two days later. I’d taken her out to the middle of the field with nothing on but her collar hooked to a chain. I’d pushed her beyond her boundaries, having her kneel on the grass at centerfield under a bright starry sky. I’d kept her there until she stopped being nervous, until all that she saw or thought of was me, before walking her back to the car.
It was she who had attacked me once we were closed up inside again. The act had freed up something in her that she’d needed to let go to move forward. When she threw herself at me and clamped her soft lips over mine, I’d simply pushed the seat all the way back and pulled her over onto my cock to ride.
It was the first time she’d been the aggressor and we’d both been on a high that night. I knew it was the final step to breaking her free of him and the ideals she’d been raised with that would’ve made her no better than him. I’d picked my head up to nibble on her tit when I saw him in the shadows lurking. I’m not sure if he’d seen me see him, but he’d disappeared.
I never told her, and never realized who he was until after the confrontation with this asshole. But I knew enough from what she’d told me to put two and two together. His old man hadn’t done shit to me, so his company was safe for now. But Junior had a target on his back for life. As soon as that company changes hands, as soon as he inherits, I’ll tear it apart. In the meantime, taking the one thing he seems to want more than air is good enough for now.
That’s one of the reasons I’d moved back here instead of taking her away to the city I’d lived in. I knew it would kill both him and her old man to see us together day in and day out. I’m enough of a bastard to find joy in knowing what that shit would do to both of them.
“If that’s all for today? I know you have to come back to retrieve your personal effects, I’ll have someone call you when that’s arranged.” I smirked and got to my feet. The meeting was over.
“But we haven’t discussed what I came here for.”
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