All night I had been on my computer. I was finishing my so-called “notes,” or that was what I had called them. At the end of the day, words are words, no matter how they’re written.

I sit watching the cursor flash before my eyes.

What a fucking journey.

“What’s up to Bob?” Britney asks.

“I’m thinking of later. I have no idea how they’re going to take it,” I reply.

“Bob, you have been with them all the way, they won’t hold it against you, surely not?” she replies.

“I hope you’re right. They’re like family to me, after all this time.”

“It will be okay. Everything you have done has been for the best. And look at the good you have done. A family will be back together after all this time.”

“I know all that, but the secrets I’ve kept from them. And the way I went to mislead them with The Kingmaker’s daughter, just to get another, well, you know all that already.”

“What time are the others arriving?” Britney asks me.

“They will be here for lunch, and then my guys will be here around two.”

“So, it’s all finished now, you have done everything?”

“Yes, apart from a lot of explaining.”

“You can start that when the others arrive, do it all in one go,” Britney says smiling.

“You know, I think you came along at the right time. I was getting stuck with the plot a couple of times,” I say.

“I had noticed, you did manage to pull it back on track without being too obvious.”

I smile at Britney and hit the save button again. This, I did not want to lose, so making sure I had saved everything a second time was worth pushing the button.

“What about the councilors, what will happen to them?”

I look at my watch. Nine thirty. In exactly thirty minutes, all the information we had compiled on the councilors, including the tax evasion, and the fraud, was going to be systematically released to the media and to the police.

“They will be fucked once and for all,” I say smiling.

“You get a real kick out of exposing guys like this, don’t you?”

“Hell yeah. I bring together a group of people who basically have been cheated too and lied to, and I give them something to fight for. It makes me so proud they have done it,” I explain.

“How did you manage it? At the start I mean?” Britney asks.

“I did work for Ty and Joseph as was explained. I think it was the first time I was exposed to one of the others. A small light bulb went off in my head, and I wondered if there was a story to be told.”

“It was a hell of a story,” Britney replies.

“This is where it gets tricky… Shona fell for Beau, that one was written in the stars. The others, that was hard. Ty had that event with Cally, and she hated him. Trying to convince everyone about the drugs was extreme,” I explain.

“You managed it though.”

“I did, somehow. And then that thing with The Kingmaker. All that was real, but when he got shot on the docks, I thought it was all over. It was only when there was no body found, I knew I could continue.”

“Why did you choose clubs to open, and not another business?” Britney asks.

“Freedom, it gave all of them time to do their own thing, and I could send them, or manipulate the situation a little easier.”

“Bob you’re a smart guy, if I’ve ever seen one,” Britney says. “I’m surprised you managed it all by yourself.”

“I didn’t. No one really paid much attention to Bart. He is my diamond in the rough,” I say.

“Bart works for you?”

“Yeah, you think Ty would hire someone who always seems to sleep under his desk?”

Time flies when you’re having fun, and I see the others will be arriving anytime soon. I gather everyone in the courtyard as two vans pull up to the large steel gate. The vans drive into the courtyard and Ingrid steps from the second van.

“Fancy seeing you here again so soon?” Owen says.

“Bob called and said I was needed,” Ingrid says.

“How much is there?” Bob asks.

“Thirty-eight million total. The other cash is wet, my guys dry it.”

“I was out by my calculations,” I say.

“They’re here?” Britney yells from the gate.

“Who is here?” Bell asks.

I stand in front of everyone. “We’re all here, and I have some things to tell you,” I say.

“I knew you were a secretive motherfucker,” Owen says giggling. “We’re all rich!”

I see the look of surprise on everyone's faces as Shona and Beau, Alex and Brooke, Tina and Orlando, and finally, Joseph and Stacey step out from the stretch limo. Ty and Cally run over to them all.

“What are you all doing here?” Janey asks.

“Bob sent for us.”

I feel everyone's eyes glaring at me now. “Bob, what have you done?” Shona says.

“I’ve done a lot,” I reply. “I’m a hero, really!”

“What do you mean, you’ve done a lot?” she asks plainly.

“I did some slight manipulation of everything that has happened,” I say.

“I think you have to explain a little better,” Beau says.

“I started writing about you and Shona, and then I moved on to Cally and Ty,” I say. “There was no way I could leave Joseph out of the story, so I wrote about him and Stacey,” I explain.

“What about my club and me?” Tina asks.

“I gave you a lifeline with Beau, your club was dead in the water, but without you and your club, none of this would have happened.”

“You’ve played us?” Joseph asks.

“In a word, ‘yes,’ but not bad, no one got hurt.”

“I had my hand smashed with a freakin’ hammer,” Alex says.

“Oh yes, sorry about that.”

“What about all that aggravation about The Kingmaker’s daughter?” Ty asks.

“I was clutching at straws, I wasn’t to know he couldn’t father children,” I say.

“The note, what about that note?” Owen asks.

“Now this part is very very interesting,” I say. “Check your handwriting with Susan. You both write the same, triplets, huh?”

“And my sister in the hospital, what have you done with her?” Owen snaps.

“I have her,” Ingrid says.

“You have her. Why?”

Ingrid looks at me. “Do you want to explain, or shall I?”

“I will, it’s only right,” I say. “Owen… and where is Susan?”

“What has Susan got to do with all of this?” Owen says.

“So many times you nearly figured it out,” I say.

Owen looks at me blankly. “Figured what out?”

“Susan is your sister.”

“You’re kidding me?” Owen says.

“Not at all. I checked with the orphanage, three babies were found in a hotel. I then checked with the hotel, and they had a record of a foreign lady checking in who was pregnant, but they never saw her leave.”

“You say three babies, and Ingrid has my sister?” Owen says. “You mean to say that Ingrid is our mother?”

“This is the part where you all make up I think.” I smile.

“My sister in the coma, you checked her out?” Owen asks Ingrid.

“Da, I did tell you she was better with family.”

“Why didn’t you mention it earlier?” Owen asks.

“Bob said the story was not finished.”

“That is why you gave Susan a Russian name,” Owen says as Ingrid smiles at him.

“Hang on a moment,” Alex says. “If you’ve planned all of this, this means all our relationships are fake, Bob?”

“Alex, you’re so wrong with that assumption. I’ve never seen relationships so strong in my life,” I say.

“Yes, but we would not have gotten together out of choice?”

“You all had a choice, not one of you did I push together. You were all looking for that special person to save and to be saved by,” I say.

“Hmm, I feel like I’ve been saved,” Brooke says.

“I just had the black ops, and a dead club, so I was saved,” Tina says.

“And me. I was kicked out of the Navy and took a job as a dancer,” Orlando says.

“I suppose, I was in the shit with my gambling,” Alex says.

“I was a card dealer who wanted to be much more,” Brent says.

“I think you all get the picture, these choices you all made,” I say.

“Okay, we’re all thankful for everything, and it has been a hell of a ride. What happens now?” Owen asks.

“You and Susan have a big hotel and casino to run,” Ingrid says.

“And the rest of us?” Joseph asks.

“Most of you have a club. You and Ty have successful businesses, although not entirely legal. And now you have a share of the spoils once it’s dry,” I say.

“And that’s it, the end, what about you?” Shona asks me.

“I have Britney, and I have all the recognition and fame one person could ever wish for,” I say. I beam a wide smile.

Owen looks at me. “Bob, you’re talking in riddles again. We don’t know what you mean.”

“Character wise, you will all be famous,” I say.

“What do you mean, character wise?” asks Janey, now folding her arms.

“Well, you didn’t think I was going to write all these stories and not publish them, did you?”

“We’re characters in a set of books? What the actual fuck! You mean to say, we’re not real?” Brent asks.

“Of course you’re not real, but the books are exactly as it happened and as I saw it, so now you are,” I say plainly. “They’re more of a diary of events, but with action in them,” I say. “Oh, and naughty sex scenes!”

“How many damned books have you written about Bob?” Stacey asks.

“Seven.”

Stacey pouts. “Seven fucking books, we’re in seven books?”

“No, each book sort of starts with a new couple.”

“Bob, you’re one sneaky motherfucker, but I have to admire how you did it,” Joseph says.

“That’s the thing, Joseph, it was all of you who did it. I just directed you and wrote about it. All of this has actually happened. You lot are heroes… on paper,” I explain.

“Get out of it, real heroes?” Ty says smiling.

“You saved the world from The Kingmaker, and you have saved Las Vegas from years of more corruption,” I say. “That is why my publishers have already spoken to Hollywood about you all!”

“Movies, we’re going to have a film made about us?”

“When will that happen?” asks Bell.

I glance at my watch. “In about ten minutes when the club finally opens.”

“What do you mean when the club finally opens?” asks Brent, becoming impatient.

“For a group of people who have faced so much adversity, you can be a little slow. Why do you think we’re all in the courtyard?” I say.

“We have no idea.”

“Two people are missing out of all of us, who are they? And best of all… where are they?” I ask.

“Mikey, where is Mikey?” Owen asks.

“And the other, who had a significant impact on you, Shona.”

“Conor, you mean Conor knew about this?”

“He did always say he could keep a secret.”

“Now you’re going to say they’re inside, in the club. The club that is now open to the public,” Alex adds.

“It is a club that isn’t just open; you’ve got so much free advertising,” I say.

“Why is that? asks Bell.

“This is the launch of the last book, it’s called, ‘Sunday Fun Day.’ You might find there are quite a lot of cameras outside.”

“Can I just ask one thing, Bob?” Joseph says.

“Sure.”

“Is all of this really over? I mean, there’s no more story to come?”

“Joseph, you know what us writers are like, who knows…”

“But why did I have to be caught on the damn fire escape?” asks Brent. Everyone laughs a hysterical laugh.

“Oh, because that’s hilarious,” says Janey. “God, it’s Sunday fun day, everyday, isn’t it Bob?”

“Oh, yeah!” I say. “Every. Single. Day.”

“You rock, Bob!” says Beau.

“Yeah, I know!”

“Did you really just add that in?” asks Britney.

“Totally!”

“You are naughty!” says Britney.

“Yes, yes, I definitely am.”

“And hot!” she says.

Britney types on Bob’s computer. “BOB!! I did not say that!”

“Sorry…”

“All’s well that ends well.”