Chapter 21

Leo

I never knew Shangri-La was a real place. But here I am sitting in the middle of it.

The beautiful, untouched wild of the Himalayas in Bhutan surrounds me. The entire country is a paradise.

A paradise seemingly stuck in time. It’s been weeks since I’ve had Wi-Fi or even cell coverage. Everything here is old school. Children even play with old-fashioned toys, not electronics.

And study after study shows they are the happiest people on Earth.

Maybe that’s not so hard when you live in the middle of such natural beauty.

I only wish Grace was here with me.

It’s been just over three weeks since I dropped her off at her apartment. We were able to text and phone while I was in Kathmandu, Nepal. Flying into Bhutan is so treacherous, I had to fly the one commercial airline that makes the trip.

But as soon as I landed in Bhutan in search of my brother, I quickly got out of the last remnants of civilization and cell phone coverage.

My private investigator found him at a meditation retreat at a monastery halfway up the mountain in the middle of absolute nowhere.

And I mean nowhere.

There’s somewhere like Buttfuck, Montana, and then there’s this place. No roads, no communication. A five-day hike up a mountain to get here.

And George’s first words to me when he saw me? “Holy shit, you must be desperate to sell.”

I told him to fuck off. He’s lucky I didn’t punch him.

I’ve spent the past two weeks making every argument I could to convince him to sell. The asshole still isn’t budging.

So much for his meditation session on family.

The longer I stay here, the harder my body aches for Grace. I regularly imagine her underneath me, moaning and whimpering as I drive into her. At least once a day I have my cock in my hand, thinking of her.

There’s not much else to do halfway up a mountain. I can’t wait to get back to her.

But I can’t leave until I convince George to sell. And he isn’t budging.

As calm as my surroundings make me, George makes my blood boil. Just thinking about him makes my back muscles tense.

I stand up from my perch on a rocky crop and move to the ancient courtyard. George is sitting in the middle of it in the lotus position, wearing an orange robe.

A soccer ball rests near the doorway, and I kick it as hard as I can. I aim at his head, but the ball connects with his back.

George jolts up and glares at me.

“Fuck you, asshole,” he spits.

“There is only one asshole here and I’m looking at him.” My fists ball and I fight to relax them before I beat his head in.

“Why are you even here? You will never change my mind. Go home.” George throws the ball at me and I sidestep to avoid it hitting me square in the chest.

I kick the ball again, aiming at his body. The ball flies over the ancient cobblestones, narrowly missing him. George starts to get up.

“You think I want to be here? With you?”

“I think you want to be back in New York, running the family company. How are you even here so long? Who’s taking care of the company?”

“I don’t even give a fuck anymore. I’m done with running the company. I’ll let some asshole run it into the ground. If bankruptcy is what it takes to get this company out of my life, then so be it.”

“You wouldn’t,” George grunts as he kicks the ball at me.

I move, letting it hit the courtyard wall before stopping it with my foot.

“Have I hit a nerve?”

I’ve long suspected George’s reason for not selling is because he likes the ego trip of having his last name on a famous company. He probably uses it to pick up women. That, and that he won’t sell just to be an asshole to me.

I was always the favorite child. Not selling is the best he can do to hurt me.

George doesn’t say anything, instead he glares at me. I glare back, my chest heaving as I form a plan in my mind.

“I will run our company into the ground. Not only will the Newbury name be gone, but it will be gone in spectacular fashion.”

“There is no way in hell you’d ever do that.”

“Maybe I’ll take it down with a big scandal. Forget kids’ toys, I will start making sex toys. I’ll invest every penny in those sex robots. I’ll even send you one, programmed to tell you what an asshole you are.”

Newbury will be synonymous with sex and scandal.

“I’ll think of a good scandal, don’t worry. And somehow it will involve you. George Newbury, the dumb brother who caused the company to collapse.”

He screams, the noise echoing around the courtyard as he breaks into a run. He lunges at me and I raise my arms in defense.

I shove him as hard as I can. His head snaps back, but he recovers quickly and throws a haymaker punch that lands firmly on my jaw.

Ignoring the pain, I start swinging, suddenly wanting to cause him as much physical pain as possible to make up for all the bullshit he’s put me through.

In defense, George wraps his arms around my shoulders. Our heads knock against each other’s.

“Sign the fucking papers already,” I growl into his ear, my teeth gritted.

“No fucking way, never. And the more you ask, the firmer the never becomes.”

Grunting, I push down on my feet until he topples backwards. I land on top of him with a thud.

“I don’t need you to sign if you’re dead,” I say, not really meaning it.

Several hands grab me, and pull me to my feet. A dozen monks have appeared and drag us away from each other.

My breathing is heavy and I try to catch my breath as I rub my swollen jaw.

“You must leave now,” one of the monks says, smiling politely.

“Good, get him out of here,” George says, wiping blood from his lip.

“You must also leave,” another monk says, his accent thick.

George’s eyes narrow at me and he attempts another lunge in my direction, but the monks hold him firm.

“I’m out of here,” I say, “I’ll be sure to send you the very first sex doll.”

I turn on my heels and stride to my meager bedroom off the courtyard. I only have a few things to shove in my backpack before slinging it on my back and heading to the mountain trail.

Fuck George.

Fuck Newbury Toys.

I’m going to get Grace.

Five days later, I arrive in a town. From here there’s a road back to the capital, and I can fly out of here and make my long journey back to the US.

I strip off and stand in the shower, the weak flow of water the best feeling in the world.

Until I look at my phone, that is. There is cell coverage. As soon as it connects, my phone starts beeping and chiming with four weeks’ worth of text messages and emails.

There’s only one person I care about hearing from. I click on Grace’s name, and start to read.

She’s pregnant?

Holy shit. My heart leaps as I immediately remember the clause that considers grandchildren to be the same as children when weighting their say in decisions.

Fuck you George, I just won.