Big Bad Billionaires [Volume 2]

by Naughty Aphrodite

  “Master Nathan! What a delightful surprise, let me open up for you!”

  I thought of all the times Fabio had made me delicious snacks in my life and how seldom I’d truly expressed my gratitude to him for his efforts.

  “I’m so happy to hear your voice again Fabio...you are the best chef in California! I said and watched as the massive gates parted before me.

  I walked inside the grounds and that’s when my mom saw me walking up the drive way. She ran down towards me and threw her arms around my neck.

  “My boy, my darling boy I’m so glad you’re back!” she kept saying over and over and when I looked up the house looked even bigger behind her than I’d remembered it in my mind.

  “Where’s dad? I need to have a talk with him,” I said and my mom looked me straight in the eye.

  “I really hope you can talk some sense into your dad…he’s totally obsessed with this China deal and I think he’s gonna lose his mind if he keeps going on the way he is at the moment.”

  I followed my mom inside the house and I was suddenly struck by the incredible splendor and opulence of the house in which I’d grown up. Just the kitchen area alone was larger than the entire flat that I’d lived in back in Round Rock and I found myself wondering how on earth I’d managed to simply take the sheer size of our house for granted before. Had I really never noticed all of this, or did I simply have nothing else to compare it to? Whatever the reason, I was having a hard time coming to grips with the fact that I’d grown up in such privileged splendor without ever really noticing it at all.

  “I have fixed you a snack to eat, Master Nathan,” Fabio said and when I looked down at what he put in front of me I suddenly wondered who on earth had told Fabio that a juicy steak with chips and a large French salad was a ‘snack.’

  Just as I finished up the delicious meal that Fabio had prepared for me there was the sound of a car in the driveway and when I looked out the window I saw that it was my dad driving up in his Mercedes AMG. I thought back to all the times I’d watched my dad arriving home as a young boy and how happy I’d always felt as I ran outside to meet him. Now I only felt dread as I got up to go and face off with my dad.

  “What the hell are you doing here!?” my dad exclaimed when he saw me. Funny how much my dad and Grant Belmont had in common, I thought as I remembered how Grant also never greeted anyone back at the factory before starting to shoot off his mouth at the factory workers with some snide remarks.

  “I’ve come to have a talk with you dad. There are some wonderful, loyal people working for you at the factory in Round Rock and you are going to destroy their lives if you go through with this deal to move the factory to China! I also think it’s time that you got rid of some of the ill-mannered, talentless idiots who run the factory over there. Some very skilled workers on the factory floor are suffering from an absolute lack of proper management…a wonderful single mother got fired yesterday and no one seems to care what happens to her and her boy now!”

  “What has that got to do with the fact that I asked you to go down there and work for three months so you could prove to me that you are not just some kind of spoiled playboy and that you are capable of doing some honest hard work?” my father asked in a combative tone of voice.

  “Now you wait just a second Wilbur!” my mother interrupted and I could see that my father was slightly taken aback. We all knew that my mom was very angry whenever she called my dad ‘Wilbur’ and we’d all learned the hard way that it was best to listen very closely to what she had on her mind when she got like this.

  “You were exactly the same way when you were young! I can still recall how you acted just like a peacock when you used to pick me up for dates!”

  “Yes but that was different, I…”

  “No it wasn’t any different and I’m sick and tired of your damned little game with our only son’s life!” my mom interrupted my dad for the second time.

  We all stood there shocked and looked at my mother. She was red in the face and looked quite ready to carry on with her tirade.

  “Okay Edna, just please calm down…I guess it’s time we talked about the whole thing again,” my dad said and my mom finally seemed to calm down a little.

  “I must say that I am happy to see you seem to have learned to care for other people besides yourself…it sounds to me like you’ve have spent your time at the factory to think about things a little,” my father said and looked at me pensively.

  “I’m quite prepared to go back and work in the factory as long as you promise not to move our operations to China and destroy a lot of our workers’ lives in the process,” I said and I know my dad could tell that I was serious.

  “I’ve been having some doubts about the whole China deal anyway,” my dad said to everyone’s surprise, “and you said one thing to me that day when you were supposed to pick them all up at the airport which I must agree with and that is the fact that Mr. Cheng and his group are way too easily offended…on top of the fact that they are extremely demanding!”

  “Isn’t it time you just let go of the whole China idea?” my mother asked and looked at my dad with pleading eyes.

  “Are you ready to take your rightful place next to me in the management of Edward Electronics?” my dad asked and looked me straight in the eye.

  “I can honestly say this for the first time in my life…yes, I am ready,” I said and my dad held out his hand towards me.

  “Well congratulations son, I hereby appoint you as Operational Manager of Edward Electronics. You have proven to me that you are capable of doing some honest, hard work and that you also have the ability to learn from your mistakes!”

  “That’s wonderful!” my mom shouted and threw her arms around my dad’s neck after she’d given me a celebratory hug.

  “Congratulations Master Nathan! Perhaps I could throw us together a little dinner later to celebrate?” Fabio said and shook my hand to congratulate me.

  “Sounds good, I just don’t know if I’ve got any space left in my stomach after that little ‘snack’ you made me earlier,” I joked and we all laughed together.

  It suddenly felt as if I was really home again and we all went inside and talked about everything that had happened during the almost three weeks that I’d been away. My dad was surprised and disappointed to hear how badly Grant Belmont had been treating the factory workers.

  “I always thought that Grant was a strict, yet very fair manager,” my dad said as he listened to me listing all of the ways in which Grant had been acting inappropriately in his management of the factory.

  “Where is this Emily now that was so cruelly fired by Grant?” my mother asked and I felt a pang of regret as I thought how badly I’d treated Emily the last time I saw her.

  “I have no idea,” I said, “but I think the very first thing I’d like to do as Operational Manager is to find her and set things straight.”

  “I think that’s a very good idea, son,” my dad said and I noticed that my mother was looking at me somewhat quizzically.

  “She’s a bit more to you than just an ordinary factory worker, isn’t she?” my mother asked with a knowing smile.

  “Who knows mom, maybe she is…only time will tell,” I replied and my mother sat back in her chair with a satisfied look on her face as Fabio carried in yet another plate of delicious snacks and put it down right in front of me.

  EMILY

  My mom and dad were so happy to see me and Justin that there was no time to worry about the additional financial strain it might place on them if we packed out and lived with them for a while.

  “Grandma, Grandpa!” Justin shouted and my parents had their hands full with him as he ran through their house like a wild deer.

  “Don’t you worry about a thing my girl, we will find a way to get through all of this,” my mother said after I told my parents how I lost my job because my car wouldn’t start.

  “I just wish you could have told us about the dire straits you were in financially so we c
ould have known to turn down the money you sent us for my operation!” my dad said.

  “Don’t be silly dad, you’re going to go to the hospital and they are going to make sure you will be with us for many more years to come, “I said and gave my dad a brave smile. I thought back to all the times in my life that my dad had been there for me and how he always believed that his daughter would one day see all of her dreams come true. He always had my back and I‘d always had the confidence of knowing that my dad would be right there in my corner, no matter what fight I had to fight or obstacle I had to face. My dad was the more outspoken one of my parents and he never hesitated to speak his mind, while my mother was more of a quiet anchor in our house. I knew that my parents still loved one another as much as the first time they’d met and I always kept hoping that I would also one day be lucky enough to experience that kind of love in my life.

  Later that day I was sitting outside with my mom while my dad was playing Gin Rummy inside with Justin. We could hear Justin shouting ‘Gin!” every now and then as my dad kept allowing him to win. We didn’t talk at all and my mom was doing some knitting while I just relaxed in her presence as I’d always done as a young girl. This was the place where I’d dreamed all of my dreams about becoming an actress one day, before Randall Trent came along and destroyed it all on prom night.

  My heart wandered back to Round Rock, Texas and the gorgeous blonde boy I’d met there in the strangest place of all; the dirty factory floor where I’d spent so many lonely hours wondering if the rest of my life was going to be spent alone in poverty and shallow misery. I would not go as far as saying that I missed working on the assembly line, but I did miss those stolen glances and furtive looks that Nathan and I intermittently used to exchange while we slaved away together. I missed old Jerry’s friendly voice and the cups of coffee he would bring me whenever I looked as if the strain of working on the factory floor was getting too much for me.

  I wondered what Nathan was up to and how he was getting along on the assembly line without me there to help him when he got stuck. He was such a charmer in certain ways and so stubborn in others…I hoped that Jerry was taking good care of him and shielding him form Grant Belmont’s wrath as I couldn’t imagine what a guy like Nathan would do if he lost his job at the factory. He was so impulsive in certain ways that I found myself worrying about him and I wondered if it would be possible to put a phone call through to the factory and ask to speak to Nathan. I thought about t some more and decided that it was probably a bad idea as Grant was sure to get wind of the fact that an ex-employee was trying to speak to Nathan and this was sure to be in contradiction with one of his many ethical bullshit rules.

  “I really wish they would stop speeding like that in front of our house,” my mom said and when I looked up and saw the silver Porsche coming around the corner with screeching tires I just shook my head in amazement at the way some people drove as if the entire road belonged to them.

  When the Porsche stopped in front of my mother’s house I got up immediately and marched down the garden path to go and find out what the idiot’s problem was. I’d been through more than enough stress as it was and didn’t feel like watching some immature playboy making a spectacle of himself outside our place with his goddamned expensive sports car.

  “Just what the hell do you think you’re doing driving like that in front of our house!” I shouted and felt ready to kick a couple of dents in the silver paint of the Porsche’s passenger door. All of the pent up frustration and anger about me getting fired suddenly welled up inside my chest as I waited for some kind of response from the driver.

  “I just thought it was time I gave you a lift to make up for all the times you drive me to work,” the driver said as he climbed out with his Ray Bans and tailored suit.

  I looked closely at him but still my mind refused to connect all the dots…then it finally dawned on me. It was Nathan!

  “What the hell?” I stuttered as he walked around the car towards me, “have you gone totally off your rocker and stolen a car to impress me?”

  “Not exactly, although I would feel very happy if you were indeed impressed with my rapid move up in the world,” Nathan said with a broad grin and took me in his arms.

  “I don’t understand what’s going on,” I said and suddenly felt very silly.

  “I’m so sorry for the way I shouted at you the last time I saw you,” Nathan said, “Can you ever forgive me?”

  “Actually I wanted to apologize to you again for selling the toys you bought Justin…as it turns out it was all in vain anyway,” I said and looked up at Nathan as if was seeing his face for the first time. I thought back to that first day when I saw him on the factory floor and how helplessly lost he’d appeared to be as he struggled to find his feet in the assembly line. I remembered how he’d looked just like some naughty schoolboy every time he arrived unannounced at my little apartment and how my heart had yearned for his beautiful smile during the time that we’d been apart. As I looked at him now he appeared to have come of age and there was something mature and very manly in the way he looked straight into my eyes with self-assured confidence. I still couldn’t figure out exactly what was going on though, or where Nathan had gotten the money to buy such an expensive car with.

  “You’ve done nothing that I need to forgive you for and I promise you everything is going to be all right,” he said and kissed me on my lips right there in the middle of the street.

  “For some reason I believe you,” I replied, “now please tell me whose car this is!”

  Nathan just laughed and promised to explain everything to me in due course.

  “Why don’t we sit down somewhere so I can fill you in on what is going on,” Nathan suggested and I took him by the hand and walked back to my parents’ house with him. Nathan was a perfect gentleman and even though we were not officially together or anything, I felt incredibly proud as I introduced him to my parents.

  “If only you knew how many girls have tried to introduce me to their parents before with absolutely no luck at all!” Nathan joked and my dad laughed out loud.

  “Seems like you’ve really hit the jackpot this time my girl!’ my dad said and my mom immediately scolded him for his remark.

  “Don’t you talk like that and make the young man feel all uncomfortable now!’ she said and looked at my dad with a stern expression on her face.

  “Oh its quire all right, Nathan doesn’t know how to be offended,” I joked and we all sat down and listened with mouths wide open as Nathan explained that Edward Electronics really belonged to his father and that he was now the Operational Manager of the Company.

  “It took me a number of phone calls and some help from old Jerry on the factory floor to get a hold of your employee file. I used the information inside it to get hold of your parents’ address and just hoped that this was where I would be able to find you. Fortunately you had them down as your next of kin and that’s how I landed here today.”

  I shook my head in disbelief and found it hard to wrap my mind around everything Nathan was telling me. “All this time you were filthy rich and you said nothing while you watched me struggle without money?” I asked incredulously when he was finished.

  “Not at all, “Nathan replied, “I was actually just as dirt poor as you after my dad took away all of my credit cards and froze all of my bank accounts while I worked at the factory to prove that I was capable of doing an honest day’s work.”

  It was quite a story and even though I knew that what Nathan was telling me was the truth, my mind still didn’t quite know how to process this incredible dump of information.

  “So what happens now?” I asked and all of us looked at Nathan expectantly.

  “Well, I have the funny feeling that some people at the factory are in for a bit of a surprise as far as their employment status are concerned and as things stand the factory in Round Rock is going to need a new Factory Manager very soon.”

  “How does that help me to get my old job
back?” I asked, still puzzled.

  “You’re not getting your old job back,” Nathan replied, “I’m offering you a brand new job as Factory Manager in Grant Belmont’s place!”

  I sat there stunned and my mom threw her hands in the air. “Hallelujah! “ she shouted and my dad had tears in his eyes when he looked at me.

  “You see my girl? Everything is going to be all right just like I promised you.”

  “What about you?” I asked and looked at Nathan for some sign of what he might be thinking as far as the two of us were concerned.

  “Well I’m going to have to work very closely with the new Factory Manger to make sure that she puts far more effective management systems in place than we have at the factory at the moment, so I will be moving into a large mansion in Round Rock, Texas for that purpose,” Nathan said and looked at me with a broad grin on his face.

  “That sounds more like it,” I said and suddenly my heart flooded with joy as I realized that Nathan and I was going to be working side by side again at the factory.

  “I know you will probably have to ask your parents first whether this would be okay, but the place where I’m going to be staying is very large and it would be such a shame to let so many of the rooms stand empty…I thought that maybe you and Justin could live there with me for free as one of the perks of your new management position,’” Nathan said and looked over at my parents. “Of course Emily will be staying and sleeping in her own room,” he added hastily.

  “Of course,” my dad said and winked at Nathan.

  “Would this be an awkward time for me to tell you that I love you?” I asked and kissed Nathan right there I front of my parents while my mom and dad smiled happily.