WHAT A FALL FROM GRACE!

One moment I was a society darling, the next, I was a social pariah, abandoned by all my friends.

The scandal shook my life to its foundation. My entire world came crushing down on me in a blink. Now, nobody would touch me or my family with a ten-foot pole. We were tainted.

Two months ago, my father, Armand Madden, the head of the successful hedge fund company, Madden Securities, was arrested on the charges of defrauding his investors of almost 5 billion dollars.

It was all over the news. I couldn’t open the TV or browse the internet without seeing my father’s grim face with his hands in a handcuff. Worse, my face were always beside my father, as if I was the one who got arrested.

My father posted a 2-million dollar bail and was able to get out of jail for a week. However, the police arrested him again and got remanded in custody because according to the court order, he was a flight risk, which was true. We were planning to escape to Hong Kong, because that country had no Extradition Treaty with the US.

We had no choice. We were desperate. Magnus Rutledge, the mastermind of this whole mess implicated my father in his staggering 50-billion dollar Ponzi scam. The evil, evil man. I thought they were good friends!

In the first few weeks following my father’s arrest, I felt utterly helpless. I was halfway through college, was all excited to embark on a new journey in my life after graduation when it all blew up in my face without warning. I was totally blindsided.

The stress of the pre-trial procedures with the endless meetings with his lawyers had taken its toll on my father, too. He suffered a mild stroke. He’d recovered but his health was visibly failing. He was wasting away in prison as his case progressed fast and the press continued to shred his name to unrecognizable pieces. I was afraid if he spent more time in jail, he would deteriorate altogether and—

It didn’t bear thinking.

On the third week, I managed to gather my wits. Time was running out on my father and my pity-party was not helping him.

I decided to grow up. Fast. It was time to stop being the hunted and the prey.

All my father’s bank accounts were frozen. We were on the immigration watch list. We knew we had nowhere to run when the government was after us. Besides, I couldn’t possibly leave my father to face this alone.

I had a plan. No more Cressida, the pampered heiress. Hello, Cressida, the warrior.

I started showing up at my father’s meetings with his lawyers at the Manhattan City Jail.

The paparazzi went nuts. I was quite active in social media and was visible in the New York fashion scene with my mother who was a former model. The paps followed my every appearance at the city jail, which was a blessing in disguise, really. I found a way to defend my father from being publicly judged even without a conviction yet. I used my considerable popularity to the fullest. I granted interviews on TV.

I was my father’s only child, the recipient of his generous love since I was born. I believed he was innocent of the crimes they were accusing him of. He was a victim of Magnus Rutledge, just one of many that despicable man had defrauded without remorse. I had to do something to save my father from going to prison for a crime he didn’t commit, not intentionally, at least.

I had very little knowledge of the business my father was running aside from what our lawyers and trusted executives had told me, so far. So, I did my own homework. I researched on my father’s case. I read the news, watched TV. It was a hot topic for some time as it also involved another company far bigger than my father’s, the JL Holdings headed by Wall Street’s most feared corporate raider, Joshua Landis III.

Joshua was my father’s biggest American investor. He was the one leading the plaintiffs’ case against my father.

I knew then, this was the sinister force trying to run everything I held dear to the ground. I didn’t have to dig deeper to know anything about the man. The internet was full of him. Business digests had extensively covered his career.

Joshua was my father’s mortal enemy at the moment. Therefore, he was my mortal enemy, too. But I also knew that he was the key to my father’s freedom.

Joshua Landis III became my mission.

I must conquer The Conqueror.

At all costs.

“No, baby, I forbid you to do this.”

“Do you have a better plan, Mom? Marin Van Cleef’s suicide just strengthened the prosecution’s case tenfold.”

My mother looked at me helplessly. The news channels were covering the tragic death of Marin Van Cleef, a prominent Wall Street businessman. He jumped from his penthouse apartment this morning after his company had filed for bankruptcy. Van Cleef was one of Madden Securities’ investors and the fourth man who committed suicide after the Rutledge Ponzi scam was exposed by the FBI.

My mother’s usually impeccable appearance had given way to stress. She had dark circles under her big, blue eyes. They used to sparkle in many magazine covers, mesmerizing and alluring. Now they looked terrified of many things, especially the future.

“I have to do this, Mom. I have to save Daddy.”

“Oh honey, but…”

“Time is running out. The longer Daddy stays in jail, the lesser the chances of us getting him out of there. I have to do something.”

“And what exactly is this something, Cressida?”

I’d asked myself that same question over and over. What could I possibly do to save my father from spending 20 years in prison? By the way the news had portrayed him so far, despite my efforts in defending him through my public appearances, he was as good as guilty.

“I don’t know, Mom. All I know is I have to talk to Joshua Landis.”

“No! That man is the devil himself!”

“Don’t we know that already? But I’ll be damned if I’ll just sit here and wait for him to send us all to hell with a one-way ticket!”

My mother looked even more dismayed. I hit a nerve. “I’m sorry, Mom. I didn’t mean it like you haven’t done all you can. You went to him and got nothing. It’s my turn to talk to him.”

“He won’t change his mind, Cress.”

“I know. But I still have to try. I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if I didn’t do all I could to save Daddy.”

My mother hugged me tightly. “Have I told you how lucky we are to have you?”

I smiled through the tears brimming in my eyes. “This is the least I can do for you and Dad. You’ve given me everything. Please, let me do this for you and Daddy. For our family.”

“Promise me you won’t let that man get the better of you. You are your father’s daughter. A Madden never surrenders.”

I nodded and uttered the words solemnly. “A Madden never surrenders.”

“Joshua Landis III,” I whispered to myself.

The devil’s name rolled like acid on my tongue. Bitter was not enough to describe how his name tasted in my mouth. How ironic that his parents had named him from a character in the Bible. He was nowhere near that Joshua from the book of life. MY Joshua was evil, ruthless, merciless, and he ruled this part of the world where I lived in.

I was utterly clueless how to deal with him, but maybe, I could use the oldest trick in the world. The trick that caused the damnation of mankind, launched a thousand ships, and toppled empires.

I was young and inexperienced. I couldn’t boast of an exceptional beauty either. I was beautiful in my own right, I knew that, but Joshua Landis was always seen with the most beautiful women draped on his arm at important functions. His last date reported by the society pages was the most famous supermodel in the world. If that wasn’t stiff competition in the beauty department, I didn’t know what was. But I had one thing that I thought those sophisticated women didn’t have anymore. I possessed the one thing that a very powerful man like Joshua Landis would possibly want under the circumstances.

My virginity.

It was a shot at the moon, but I hadn’t much choice left. I had to play this card. My last card.

It was a good thing my mother always inculcated in me the premium of my chastity in the world where I was born into. That age-old badge of honor that any man would be proud to wear on his sleeve. Being first. The only. The last. I wasn’t sure on the latter, but being first, that had always been Joshua’s game.

I didn’t know much about him, but I did know one thing from the news articles I’d gobbled about him till the wee hours of the morning when I was desperately looking for a way out of this mess my family was currently in. He was a conqueror. He loved winning. Losing was not in his vocabulary.

With that, I’d presumed he’d love to be first in anything. Especially if it involved his enemies, and I was the daughter of one of his mortal enemies.

Before my family fell from grace, I was the quintessential princess of high society, pampered, privileged and self-entitled. We were part of New York’s most powerful and most exclusive set.

I knew the rules of the game, too. The game of having power and furthering it. I was Armand Madden’s only child but my father’s wealth alone couldn’t guarantee me a great match if I behaved like a loose woman in society. The rags had featured enough of those heiresses falling drunk on their asses in some plush night spot, or the ones jumping from one bed to another. I’d read enough about them getting dumped by their billionaire boyfriends because what man would marry someone who’d slept with every eligible dick they’d met in the hopes of getting a ring on their finger?

My mother told me I had to have added value to be able to capture the husband that would give me and my family a more secure position in the hierarchy of the creme dela creme of high society. Why wouldn’t I heed the wise advise of my mother, Ana Kourkova, a Russian beauty queen? She migrated on her own to the United States and worked her ass up to become a woman every man wanted to have decorating his name. Case in point, she married my father, the most elusive billionaire bachelor in his day.

Yes, my virginity was the most valuable asset I had, and the only bargaining chip left at my disposal.

Now, all I needed to do was make Joshua Landis III bite the proverbial apple, or in my case, the cherry, and get him addicted to it.

Then I could control him.

Thanks to some inspirational women in history— Helen, Delilah, Cleopatra, Evita—they sure boosted my morale in going through this ridiculous mission.

With a little help from Xtube, I was all set.