Chapter 2
Owen
I was getting pissed. I’d spent the last hour on the phone, dealing with the worst customer support I had ever encountered. As smooth jazz played on the other end of the line, I looked down on Grant Park through the floor-to-ceiling windows of my top-floor office in the center of the Loop, the largest financial district in the country. In a way, I was grateful for the pause and the rare moments I could take to contemplate my business, my life, and everything.
And there was a lot to think about. My roots were in Chicago, as was my business, but lately I felt like I needed a change…
“Mr. Hayes?” a woman on the other end said, bringing me back to reality. It was a new voice – I guessed I was now speaking to the head manager, or whoever was in charge of that shitty showroom. “My name is…”
I cleared my throat, loudly interrupting the woman. I had calmed down some, and was able to speak, respectfully, yet firmly. I said, “Let me tell you something. I trust you’re well aware of who I am, and by now I hope to God you understand what I’m asking of you. Please, don’t waste any more of my very valuable time today. I need this done as we agreed, by Monday. I don’t care what’s stopping you. Contact my assistant if you need any help.”
I ended the call, tossing the phone on the couch in the middle of the office. Normally, I wouldn’t have cared to speak to some low-tier manager, but the last couple of days made me want to find any excuse not to speak to the law firm. Business had been great, but every once in a while, certain government agencies would set out on a witch-hunt, and I would have to find and navigate certain backroads.
The speaker phone on my desk came to life: “Mr. Hayes?”
“Here, Monica,” I called, still standing inches from the window.
“Lucas Baxter is on line three. Says you have to talk to him. Says it’s important.”
“Have I ever had unimportant calls?” I smirked. “Tell him I’ll be with him in five.”
“Got it.”
There wasn’t anything for me to do in these five minutes, but I had to make my lawyer, Baxter, wait. After four minutes had passed, I made my way to the desk in three strides and pressed a button.
“Hayes.”
“Where have you been all day?”
“I’m away on business, Baxter, you know that.” A lie, but a decent one.
“Good answer. Look, I’ve sent over some papers for you to look at, possible answers to this problems of ours. And I know I’ve told you this already, but you need to meet with the District Attorney.”
“Lucas, let me cut you off here. We’ve talked about it, yes, and my answer remains the same. Tell him I’ll be in Brussels until September, and after that he can catch me in Osaka.”
“You’re always somewhere…” Baxter said. “Look, okay, I’ll get it done.”
“You better.”
I ended the call and walked back to the windows.
God damn that District Attorney, always looking into my business when I didn’t fucking need it. He’d have the IRS on my ass soon enough.
I thought about calling him, getting it over with.
But no, not yet. I had to take some time off and regroup. I knew it was a crappy strategy – innocent businessmen don’t find excuses not to prove their innocence. Or, rather, not to negotiate it, at least. There was a temptation to really leave the country. Lie low somewhere in China.
“Mr. Hayes?” Monica called. She was standing at my door. Monica was five years older than me, but looked five years younger. She was a looker, and crazy smart, but she might have been the only woman in the world who wasn’t interested in me. She’d been married for the better part of her life, since college, and perfectly happy. Unlike all the other women I’d ever known, she had no interest in my money. Ironically, I had no interest in her. “Mr. Hayes? Where are you?”
“Just… thinking.”
“Oh, now you’re thinking!”
“Hey, watch it. What did you want?”
Monica widened her eyes and pursed her lips, gesturing at my phone. There was only one man she would bother to announce in person.
I cocked my head, feeling annoyed already. “What does he want?”
She made a face. “No idea honestly, but you better take it.”
“Thank you Monica.”
I stared up at the ceiling. Mother fucker. What a day. Lazily, I walked over to the couch and grabbed the phone. There was a missed call.
Fucking Lawson. He was my friend, but a shitty one at that. I viewed Lawson as my mentor, in a sense, always learning from his mistakes that he so often found himself in. How he got away with half the shit he did I would never fully understand. He had somehow successfully managed to find millions of dollars’ worth of loopholes in his company’s taxes. When the government came to question him, he was a cocky idiot which only made them investigate into his business more. I tried to tell him to quit acting like a kid but he never listened to me. He always said that he knew people that could get him out of things, and he would use that to his advantage. I never fully believed him until I watched his problem with the government slowly disappear.
If there was one other thing I had learned over the years through Lawson, it was diplomacy. You never knew when you might need someone’s help, and staying on good terms with everyone was only smart.
I picked up the phone and redialed, mentally preparing myself for whatever trouble he had found himself in again.
Lawson picked up after the first ring. “Owen, my friend! Happy you returned the call! I wasn’t expecting it, frankly! How have you been?”
“You read the news. Hayes Inc. is stronger than ever,” I lied.
“Congratulations, buddy! I knew you would pull through!”
“Of course we did.” I clutched the elbow rest.
“True. But word on the street is the District Attorney is gunning for you, know anything about it?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ugh he just wanted to run the rumor mill. I didn’t give a shit about what he wanted to know, I had to actually handle my business.
“Well I hear he frequents an investment of mine.”
“An investment? Which one?” Lawson owned properties all over town, easy to hide his money that way.
“Do you remember that place we used to frequent in the old days? The Chicago Buyer’s Club?”
I did. Back in the day, when we had just graduated college and started making our first money, the club was where we spent our weekends. Those were some legendary parties that saw cash flying in the air amidst girls’ underwear. I stopped visiting it right after things with work started to pick up.
“What about it?” I asked.
“Well, it’s somewhere the higher end people in this city like to be.”
“Why are you telling me this Lawson?”
“Hey I figured we used to help each other, and I screwed up, stopping that relationship. This is my olive branch. Meet with the District Attorney, or even better snap and few pics and be on your way. It can only help your case.”
He had a point.
The me of five years ago would’ve been out the door already, but the me of today sat still.
“I don’t know about that, Lawson. As tempting as that sounds,” – it didn’t – “I think I’ll pass.” I wasn’t very interested in getting back involved with Lawson.
“Come on, man, don’t be like that. Look, I’ll be paying for everything, whatever you want. Women, booze, whatever, you just get that pic.”
He wanted this blackmail for his own purposes, I was sure of it. But it was still worth a shot.
“Oh, and did I mention?” Lawson said, bringing me out of my thoughts on the commissioner. “There will be an auction! A dozen of hottest chicks we could find! The best of the best!”
The idea didn’t sound appealing at all, but speaking with the District Attorney there might play to my advantage. I doubted the DA would like it to be common knowledge that he frequented auction houses of women. It was even worse than a potential sex club.
“Okay, Lawson, I’ll bite.”
“I knew you would want to come! I will see you there Sunday at nine, okay? I’ll tell the boys to reserve a space for you at the staff parking.”
“You’re overdoing it.”
Lawson laughed. “I know, I’m just happy my old pal Owen is back!”
“I never left,” I said. That part was true, he left me. I was still here.
As soon as I hung up, I saw Monica stepping into the office. “I cannot believe you agreed to meet with that asshole!”
“Easy. I’m not meeting with him. I’m checking out the club, and speaking to the other attendees. Maybe I’ll get a date or something.” I smirked at her, we both knew I didn’t need to buy some girl.
I could have whatever I wanted.
Whoever I wanted.
Whenever I wanted.
Monica considered it. Then said, “Wear the navy suit. It makes your eyes shine.”
I smirked, feeling better for the first time that day. I was already going to wear a blue one.
On my way out, she turned to me and said, “You know he wants something from you, right?”
“Oh, I’m counting on it.”