Prologue
Julian
I always knew at some point I’d be involved in that one phone call they give you before they toss you in prison. It just seemed inevitable. You don’t drink like I do, fuck like I do, live like I do, without making a few enemies. For me, business is the kind of game you’ve got to play dirty or not even bother playing at all.
And I’m one of the best when it comes to getting dirty.
But when that phone call finally happens, I’m on the other end of the line.
Hell, I’m on the other end of the planet.
Alaska. I’m in some small town in the middle of the frozen wasteland where no person in their right mind should ever live. The kind of place you hurry to pass through on your way to somewhere — anywhere — better.
This place is so small that more than half the people in this town are on our payroll, and we’re outnumbered two-to-one by the neighborhood polar bears.
When I first got here, our head of security for this project reminded me that I should always bring a gun with me when I go outside to use the hole-in-the-ground they call a toilet. Otherwise I would probably end up a meal for those very same polar bears.
Normally, the prospect of a bear attack while my pants are around my ankles would be enough to make me leave, but this place happens to sit right on top of some huge energy reserves.
That’s why I’m here. The only reason I’m here.
I need to make sure this development project for my family’s company, Stone Capital, goes off without a hitch. My older brother’s the CEO, now that our father’s passed on, and, when I’m not on the other side of the planet, he and I are inseparable.
That’s how it’s always been. We look out for each other, and when we were growing up and our parents were being the special kind of underhanded hard-asses that only they could pull off, he did what he could to shelter me. Just as we did the same for our younger brother, Mike.
It’s the only way to survive in our family.
I’m deep under the hood of one of the modified jeeps our team uses to get around up here and do surveys when my phone rings. This kind of work is the only break I get from the day-to-day shit like browbeating union leaders and bribing whoever the hell I have to bribe to get work done. I like this kind of manual work. It helps me keep my head straight.
I stand up, cursing as I smack my head on the hood. I look at my phone for a second in surprise. I didn’t think I even had a signal out here.
It’s my older brother. Alex.
“What’s up, man? Please tell me you’re calling to let me know I can get the hell out of this place and that you’re sending some other unlucky bastard to take over.”
“Julian, you there?” he says, his voice staticky, fading in and out.
“Yes, I’m here. The signal’s just shit. As is everything else up here.”
“I really don’t know how to say this, man, so I’m just going to come out and say it: I’m stepping down as CEO and I’m going to be going to jail for a while.”
I pull my phone away from my ear and look at it. Am I hearing this right?
“Are you fucking with me right now? You realize I’m not in the mood. This morning, it was so cold my piss froze mid-stream. Literally. It was pretty cool, and I took a few pictures, but, still. Although I have to admit, smashing it was kinda fun, too.”
“No, man. This isn’t a joke.”
“Then why the fuck are you going to jail?”
I don’t even feel the cold around me, I’m so damn angry.
“Look, I can’t talk long, they’re already waving at me to wrap this up. The short of it is, the lawyers and accountants going through dad’s estate found some irregularities with my name on it. The kind of irregularities that qualify as criminal. Whoever set me up for this did a pretty good job. I was lucky to get any sort of plea deal, so I took it. I didn’t want you and Mike, or the company, to have to deal with a trial.”
I feel sick to my stomach. Out of everyone in my family, my older brother’s so squeaky clean he’s practically a boy scout. The most criminal thing he’s done was being late to return a library book.
“Who’s in charge then?” I manage to say, despite the fact that I feel like I just took a gut shot.
He sighs. “That’s up in the air. There’s a few candidates. I’ll be meeting with my lawyer later in the week to lay out a plan for the board to guide them through this transition. But you know mom probably will make a play and, from what I’ve heard, she could probably get at least half the board on her side.”
Of course she will. That woman’s a snake in the grass. She’s been waiting for this opportunity her whole damn life.
“Fuck if I’ll let that happen,” I growl, suppressing the urge to throw my phone to the concrete floor. “I’ll take the job myself before I let that bitch steal the company from you.”
“I hope you’re kidding. You don’t want to be CEO.”
“Maybe not. But I sure as shit don’t want to see her profit from you getting fucked over..”
I’m dead serious, but even so, Alex reacts like I’m joking.
“When’s the last time you attended a full board meeting, Julian?” he says. “Was it before or after that tabloid story about your little ‘altercation’ in that strip club in Bangkok?”
I pause for a second, thinking. “Before.”
“You’re on the board because you’re a Stone, and you’re good at what you do, but there’s no way the board is going to take you as CEO. They can’t appoint someone with your reputation, right after their previous CEO gets put away for white collar crimes.”
He’s right, but there’s no way in hell I’ll admit to it. And there’s no way I’m going to let something like the truth stop me. It hasn’t before.
“You might be right, Alex, but it’s been a while since you and I’ve met. I need you to get the word out through your lawyer that I’ve changed. Strip clubs, boozing, partying, that’s all in my past.”
Fuck, it hurts just saying that. Like I’m betraying my principles.
But then again, this is my brother. And there’s nothing I wouldn’t do to settle the score for him. He’s the best man I know and he’s been there for me my entire life.
I owe him.
Alex laughs, loud and hard, and it’s a while before he’s able to catch his breath and talk again. “And just why is anyone supposed to believe that?”
I steel myself and force out a lie to the man I trust more than anyone else. “Because I’m engaged.”
Silence.
“You’re serious?”
“I am. Tell the board that I’m coming down and I’ve turned over a new leaf. I’m serious about this. When I get to Los Angeles, they’ll see an entirely different Julian Stone. And their next CEO.”
“Well, congratulations. I mean it. I’ll let them know. I just hope you know what you’re in for, brother.”
“I am. And thank you, Alex.”
He hangs up and I stare into the engine compartment of the jeep I’m working on. The gears in my head are spinning as I sort out my next steps.
Where the hell am I going to find a wife?