Chapter 2

Charles

I sat with my feet on the windowsill and thought back to how it had all started and how I’d gotten where I was today. It was all grit, hard work, and determination on my part. I wasn’t one of those kids born with a silver spoon in their mouth or one who inherited a company or a fortune. No way. I’d dragged myself up from the street with my street smarts and a will to succeed.

I had been asked a million times what the secret to my success was, and on every occasion, I had no real secret to share. I had paid attention and learned my trade. I had learned life’s lessons early on. Ever since my parents had died, I’d only had myself, and that had been good enough for me.

I’d had jobs as a kid that I wasn’t proud of, but I would have done anything to earn a crust, and I had learned from all of it. I had watched, I had listened, and I had paid attention; I had paid a fucking lot of attention. I soon realized you could learn a lot from paying attention, and so I read newspapers; I listened to the guys talking while I buffed their shoes; I listened to the guys I used to run errands for. Hell, I even used to listen to the women who I carried groceries for, and I found out that everyone was full of information, and they never even realized how useful a lot of it could be.

I looked out the window. Actually, I do have a secret about what made me successful…you just have to pay attention to everything.

I had used all of life’s skills as I’d worked my way up from nothing. I’d had crappy jobs in stuffy post rooms. I’d been a busboy and had done many other jobs you could imagine, but they had all served a purpose. They gave me lessons, and they gave me money!

Come to think of it, I had had no real schooling and hadn’t been the most intelligent kid in class when I’d gone, but I’d probably been the smartest; street smart that was, not book smart. I wasn’t sure why, but the finance pages had always held a fascination for me, and how companies could deal with so much money and never seem to do any real work. It had wowed me because it was smart.

I had not chosen to go into finance; I had always thought it had chosen me. The industry needed a leader, a person it could grow to love and hate in equal proportion, and I surely had my fair share of both in my business life. The government had been on my back and up my ass on many occasions for reputed insider trading. But not me, no way. I just paid attention and listened, or I had someone listen for me. You would be surprised how keen some people were to share snippets of information with you just to get in your good graces. So, what kind of person would I have been if I didn’t take advantage of their good nature? It made me successful!

“Mr. Dillon. Excuse me, Mr. Dillon,” Lyndsay said from behind me.

“What,” I replied as I lowered my feet from the windowsill.

“Your ten o’clock is here. They are in the boardroom,” she replied frantically.

“Who is this again?” I replied in a flat tone.

“The lawyers for Harper Smith and Sons. They have come with their deal for the company buyout,” she replied, looking a bit stressed.

I hated companies who thought they could take advantage of their situation. I may have wanted to buy them out, but there was no way I would pay over the odds. Not unless the bigger picture required it.

“Just go in with Mikey and offer them twenty-five million. That generous offer will be on the table until the end of the day, and if they are unhappy with it, that’s their problem,” I said in a commanding tone.

“Okay, sir. I’ll come back and report shortly,” she said as she scurried off to get Mikey.

I found Lyndsay to be a good secretary, but at the end of the day, that was all she was. I had girls bending over backward to fill her position, so I had to keep her on her toes when it came to work. She handled everything well, considering her chosen anxiety level.

I looked at the clock. Lyndsay and Mikey should only take ten minutes to wrap this deal up. There was no need for pleasantries, just ‘there you, go twenty-five million on the table, take it or leave it.’ It was as simple as that. The clock ticked on the wall, and at exactly twenty-five minutes past, Lyndsay returned to the office.

“What took you so long?” I asked.

“They wanted to—”

“For fuck’s sake,” I said, cutting her off mid-sentence. “How many times do I have to tell you? There is no THEY; there is only us.”

“I’m sor—”

“Don’t fucking say it. Just don’t fucking say that you’re sorry. Did they take the offer?” I asked.

“Yes, they did. They wanted thirty million. Mikey told them the deal would be twenty after the close of business today,” she replied as she bit her lip.

“Good. Now back to your desk.” I waved her away with my hand.

There was a knock at the door and in walked Jonathon. He had become my best friend. I had dragged him out of the gutter when I’d been on my way up. He had become a very useful ally and had learned a lot from me. Not everything I knew, but enough. Without a doubt, I could trust him with my life when it came to the company.

“Yo, bro, how’s your morning?” he asked as he plopped his ass in the black leather chair.

“Mr. Dillon to you, and don’t ever forget it,” I said with a smirk. “Mikey and Lyndsay just closed the deal for Harper Smith. Fucking twenty-five million,” I said as I clapped my hands.

“Holy smoke. I don’t know how you do it. That was a hundred-million deal, easy,” he replied as he scratched his head.

“I told you, just do your fucking homework. The Harper family has cash problems, and their total debt equals twenty million. They can all walk away debt free with a million in their pockets if this goes over right,” I said.

“Right on. Street smarts strike again,” he replied as he played with my Rubik’s Cube.

“So, what brings you here mid-morning? I wasn’t expecting you till lunchtime.”

“I’ve just gone through the books, and Kent is causing us a major headache again,” he said.

“Shit. How much is he down now?” I was so pissed that Kent did this all the time.

“Three million, give or take a couple hundred grand and some spare change. And that’s just the losses,” Jonathon said as he unbuttoned his jacket. “This guy’s hurting us. He’s a fucking liability, and we need to do something to stop the bleeding. It’s fucking embarrassing on top of the loss, as I’m sure you know.”

“Your right. He’s been bailed out more than enough times,” I said. “When he’s on fire, he’s unstoppable, but two quarters in a row of losses is deadly in this business. You got any ideas apart from firing his ass?”

“Well, we need to recoup some of the money, say twenty percent, and no bonus until he’s paid back his losses,” Jonathon said.

“That sounds fair, but he needs to hurt, and we need something to make him feel his loss short term. Then maybe he will get back to his winning ways and the probation will be over the next quarter. If he takes a dip, he will be finished,” I said as I sipped my strong coffee.

“I don’t know if he’s collateral or of anything that will hurt him. We should haul him in and see what he’s up to,” he replied.

We chatted more about Kent and what we could do to make him understand his situation. He had been with the company from the beginning and had made some killer deals, but as of late, he had dipped and was underperforming in a big way—a way I wasn’t happy to accept.

“Lyndsay!” I shouted.

Her little legs ran to see me. Her face was finally in a more relaxed pose.

“Jonathon and I are just off for lunch. When we get back, I want Kent in my office pronto, and don’t tell him until after lunch,” I said as I grabbed my jacket and headed out of the office.

I always enjoyed lunch with Jonathon, especially when we went back to the old part of town where we grew up, and today I had a reason for going. Tony’s Pizza was one of our childhood haunts, and it was still owned and run by Tony, a great guy who had taught me a lot.

“Hey, if it's not Charles and Jonathon,” Tony said as we walked in the door.

“Hey, Tony. How are you doing?” Jonathon said as he beamed a smile.

“You know, this is Tony’s pizza. What do you expect!” Tony went on. “So, Charles, why’d you come here today?”

“We all know you make the best pies in town, pure and simple,” I replied as I kicked out a chair. “Sit down. I have a proposition for you.”

“What sort of proposition?” He looked intrigued.

“News on the street is you are in trouble,” I said quietly.

“You know, the big boys wanna move in, and they will kill this little place if they do,” Tony replied with sadness in his voice.

“I wanna invest. Fuck the big boys. We are the big boys. And you were good to us, and it’s time for you to call in your favor,” I replied as I placed my hand on his hardworking shoulder.

“I don’t want charity. You know that,” he replied.

“This isn’t charity. You know how I work. And like I said, it’s an investment, an investment in you… So, deal?” I added as I held out my hand.

“Deal, and thank you!” Tony’s face looked refreshed immediately.

“Now come on, where is our pizza? Your service is lousy,” I replied with a laugh.

Our pizza soon arrived, and I had not lied when I’d said Tony made the best pies in town, and not just this town. He made the best pies period.

We chatted more about the investment. I wasn’t bothered with profit. I just needed a place for those quiet moments, the meetings that no one said ever existed and where conversation never took place. You know the ones? Yes, the ones where I paid attention.

When we arrived back at the office, Kent sat at my desk, his hands clasped as they rested on his knees. I must have admitted, he looked a little edgy, and he looked like total shit.

“Holy shit, Kent, you living on the streets? Fuck, you look like shit.”

“No. I have just had… Well, I’m not sleeping well,” he replied nervously.

“Fuck, you look like you aren’t sleeping at all,” Jonathon said.

“You know why you are here?” I asked as I placed my jacket on the hanger.

“Sort of. I have taken a bit of a dip,” he replied as he tugged at his shirt collar in nervousness.

“Yes, you could say that you have been down for two quarters running, and this quarter you have dropped three million in losses,” I replied as I sat on the edge of my desk and stared down at Kent. “You do know we should fire your ass for this. We’d have done it for far less to anyone else,” I said.

“I know, and I’m sor—”

“We need to recoup something. You have just cost us too much,” I said. “Do you have a savings account that you could draw from?”

“Not much. Not enough to make a dent in what I owe,” Kent replied with a solemn look.

“Well, you gotta put up something. How are we going look to them out there if we don’t get our money back?” Jonathon said from the couch. “We could sue, but what use is that? I mean, it would take years for you to pay it back.”

“Please, I can make it right. I promise,” Kent said.

“Don’t you dare beg. Begging doesn’t pay the bills; you know that,” I said. “I do have one solution, though, for a quick payment until you can get the rest.”

Kent’s ears pricked up. “What’s that? I’ll do anything. You know I love this company.”

“I’m away for the weekend, and I could do with someone who will keep me company and take care of me, if you know what I mean. Do you know anyone who can fill the position?” I said, thinking of devouring a pleasure-giving woman.

“I…erm…well, there is…”

“Spit it out! Just say it.”

“My daughter! You can have my daughter!”

Although I was shocked, I showed no sign of it. I had learned to keep my emotions in check from high-stakes poker, and it had paid in dividends when it came to business.

“So, why would I consider your daughter?” I pushed. I already knew the reasons. I’d seen the misbehaving girl years before at one of our company family outings and had spent the day trying to hide a hard-on. She was beautiful, sexy as fuck even as a teenager. I couldn’t imagine what a few years had done for her, but I sure as hell wasn’t giving myself away. My cock twitched at the thought of her, grown up and still acting like a little bitch. She needed someone to teach her a few lessons.

“Well, she’s very smart, and she’s beautiful. Young and a little unruly, too. She’s still in college, but they will have finished college before the weekend for their summer break, so she has nothing to do apart from bum around and spend my money,” he said.

“So, if I agree to this arrangement we have…let’s say it will pay off five hundred grand of your three million loss and you will have a couple of weeks to find the remainder,” I said. “Do we have a deal?”

“Yes, we do. I’ll let her know,” Kent said. “You will take care of her though, right? It’s not like you’re going to hurt her.”

“As if I would hurt anyone,” I replied with a smile. “Lyndsay will have all the details when you arrange it with her, but no; no one will get hurt.”

“Thank you, Mr. Dillon. Thank you for being so considerate,” Kent said as he stood.

“Kent, look at me.” Kent turned toward me. “I’m not being considerate. I’m recouping some of your debt,” I said as I stared into his eyes.

Kent started to shuffle his way toward the door, his head down.

“And stop drinking. It’s not doing you or me any favors,” I added.

Kent glance over his shoulder sheepishly before heading out of the office. I sensed he would head straight to his desk and have a quick drink just to calm his nerves while he thought about how he would tell his daughter.

Jonathon had sat and watched the conversation unfold. He left the office to go find someone else for us to harass. Then I sat and pondered what had just happened. I had just agreed to take Kent’s daughter with me for the weekend. I had to know what she looked like now.

I accessed the college website and trawled through the girls listed.

There you are, kitten.

I found her and was pleased to see that Kent wasn’t wrong. She was beautiful, and such a tender age. Christ, just twenty-one and ripe for the picking. I had visions of the weekend and how I could bend her to my will. My cock grew thick and hard just looking at her picture and thinking of the things I was going to do to her.