Keeping his eye on the doorway, Edward furiously typed his codes into the computer, hacking into the mainframe at Central Federal Bank. If you knew what you were doing, new banks were easy targets for the first few months of operation.

Edward wasn’t especially proud of hacking into other companies’ computer networks, but it guaranteed business for his father’s company. It seemed that when a company found out how vulnerable their information was, they were willing to pay almost anything for additional security. Since Donovan Technologies offered just that, Edward continued to help with that area of his expertise. His father might not understand it, but one day, Edward would make the ex-marine proud of him.

When the Central Federal Bank logo appeared on his computer, Edward sat back and smiled, pressing his fingertips together in front of him. He worked a little of his magic, transferring large amounts of money from one account to another and then back again, just to let them know he had access.

He opened an email in their system and left an anonymous note, letting them know how easy it had been to access their information. He hovered the cursor on the send button, quickly scanning the email before clicking the button.

When he tried to escape out, his screen froze and then went black. He worked on hacking back in to be sure his connection was severed completely. Then his father interrupted, walking into his office. Edward quickly but nonchalantly closed the program and leaned back in his chair.

“To what do I owe the pleasure?” Edward said, looking his father dead in the eyes.

Reese Donovan dressed to impress, and his good looks and intelligence had paved the way for his success. Edward was the spitting image of his father as a young man—but his intentions were different. A little more altruistic—to his father, a little too soft.

“Edward,” his father prodded. “What are you working on?”

“A possible new account.” Edward briefly glanced at his computer before looking back at his father. Although his father was casual about the question, Edward knew better. He had a way of reading into little gestures of others very well. Edward was quite aware his father knew he was lying. But he’d rather be deemed a liar than a felon. “It seems the new bank that opened last week has some interest in ramping up security for their system. I don’t have all of the information yet, but I should by week’s end.”

“I wasn’t aware you worked in sales.” Reese’s sarcasm suffocated his words.

“Well, you know me. I try to help out where I’m needed.”

“Excuse me, Mr. Donovan?” Edward and Reese looked toward the door simultaneously.

Claire stood with her hand ready to knock, her eyes on Reese.

Edward noticed how Reese’s face relaxed. The ridges in his disposition smoothed out and a smile formed on his lips. A rare sight indeed.

“Yes, Claire?”

For a woman in her sixties, Claire’s beauty was timeless. She exuded sophistication and class, and her endless patience made her a perfect fit as Reese’s executive assistant. She reminded Edward of his mother—the way she carried herself and lent a helping hand wherever needed. Edward had no questions about why Reese kept her in his company and close to his side.

“You have your luncheon meeting today. If you want to be timely, you should get ready to go. The media will be there.”

“Ah, yes. Of course. Thank you, Claire.” Reese walked toward her, only speaking up once more before disappearing with Claire by his side. “Edward, I suggest you stop pimping the company like a flirtatious car dealer and get back to work. I’m going to need your reports by tomorrow.”

Edward didn’t remove his eyes from his father until he disappeared out the door. He should have been used to it, but the cutting tone still speared his heart.

He reached up and turned his screen back on, wanting to undo everything he just accomplished.

Armed with an impressive portfolio of client companies, Donovan Technologies provided firewalls, security protocols, and other cyber defenses to thwart people like Edward. But most people like Edward weren’t peeking into accounts to show off. Donovan Technologies provided not only cybersecurity but also an array of multi-level support for the businesses under their umbrella. Business Lenders Inc. had helped finance them, and Merge Inc. swooped in when they were failing, bought them, and sold them for parts. The three heads of Donovan Technologies snatched companies up by the mouthful, and if they weren’t strong enough to pass muster, devoured them whole.

He glanced over at a picture of his mother and father from when they were first married. They looked so happy. Edward was sure it was an act: his father standing straight and tall in his dress blues, his expression stern. The woman next to him wore an elaborate white wedding gown, her arm linked through his. A sunny smile that reached her eyes as she leaned into him for the photographer. He wondered how long she’d needed to rehearse for such a perfect pose.

He leaned back and thought back to a childhood nothing like the happy image on his desk. You obeyed him or suffered the consequences. Reese had always been stern. He hadn’t been a monster, but he was never affectionate, loving, or soft. More than once, he remembered watching his mother love that man and go out of her way to take care of him. She never begged him for affection, but Edward knew what the pain in her eyes meant. By the time Edward was twelve years old, she was done trying to win him over. Edward watched her leave.

When she left Reese standing in the living room next to his two boys, old enough to understand but still too young to change things, Edward knew his life had been forever changed. He was glad for his mother that she was finally going to find happiness. But it didn’t stop him from crying himself to sleep that night and wishing he had the courage to beat his father down.

The truth was, he would never be able to take that first swing—and not because he was afraid of him. Yes, he knew Reese would throw him in a corner any time he came at him, but Edward loved his father to a fault.

No matter how Reese treated him and his brother Jack, he always looked up to Reese and admired his accomplishments. He liked to think his father had taught him how not to treat people by example, but even after so many years of the same struggles, Edward longed to impress Reese.

It was times like this that he admired his older brother. Jack didn’t give a shit. He seemed unbothered by the lack of affection. In fact, Jack was becoming just like their father.

Edward got up from his desk and took a break to clear his head. Grabbing his suit coat, he breezed out the door and headed uptown.

After a sandwich and a couple of beers, he was back in the office, with a better sense of direction. He settled back behind his desk just as a text came through on his phone. He lifted it from his pocket and opened it.

Reese: We need to talk. I’ll be back at two. Be there.

“You got it, sergeant.” He stared at the text, angry at his father’s disrespect.

He pre-screened his emails, then closed them down. Once he’d navigated to his favorite financial newsfeed, he saw what his father needed to talk to him about.

BROADEN MARKETS HACKED – SET TO RESTRUCTURE AND REBUILD

“Shit.”

They were only supposed to increase security, not change their entire system. Edward made a phone call to Broaden’s security team to make sure they were still closing the deal.

Edward looked up just as Reese walked in. “Okay, well, listen,” Edward said over the phone. “If anything changes, give me a call. I’ll give you priority status. I understand how vulnerable it can be. Good luck.” As he hung up the phone, he looked at his father, who was standing over him.

“Broaden?” Reese was not pleased.

“Yeah. They backed out.”

“That account was potentially worth a hundred grand.”

“I know.”

“I put off two other accounts because of the work we were going to put into this one.”

“I’m sorry. It happens. We can’t win every account every time.”

“You’re right, Edward. We can’t. But I can. I know what you’re doing, and I want it to stop now.”

“What I’ve been doing? What do you mean?”

“Don’t play stupid, Edward. Your hacking and worming your way into other companies’ networks is going to catch up with you. When you go to prison because of it, I will not be there to bail you out. I will deny everything and wash my hands of it, of you.”

“Do you have any idea what I’ve done for—”

“Not for, Edward. To. What you have done to my company. You just cost me a hundred thousand dollars.”

“A lot of the accounts we currently have are because of me,” he said, beginning to raise his voice. “Compared to the millions you’ve already made, a hundred grand isn’t that big of a deal. Companies change their minds. Broaden overreacted and freaked out. That is all. They’ve decided to revamp their whole system, which will cost them a lot more. I’m working on it, though.”

“Don’t.”

“What?”

Reese leaned over Edward’s desk, his face inches from his son’s. “If you want me to show you how serious I am, continue what you are doing. The next time you try to so much as pull twenty bucks out of an ATM machine, you’ll be denied. Do you understand me?”

Edward could feel his blood pressure rise. He wanted nothing more than to rip into his father. “You’re kidding me, right?”

“Try me. I’ll freeze your financial assets so fast, you won’t have time to fill your gas tank to leave the city.”

“Why not? You freeze everything else you give me. What’s stopping you from this?”

“What are you talking about?” his father asked, standing back up defensively.

“You have no compassion, not even for your own family. You live, breathe, eat and sleep business. It’s the only thing you love. It’s the only thing you’ll ever love.”

“Don’t be getting all soft on me now.” Reese softened just enough to notice. “Why are you doing this, Edward? Isn’t the company enough? You aren’t a teenager playing on your computer with your freak friends. Why can’t you grow up and become a man?”

It wasn’t enough to have to deal with working with a father who didn’t seem to give a shit about him or show respect, but when he dug in and watched you bleed. That was rough.

“You have no idea what I can do.”

“Why don’t you show me then? Make something of yourself.”

“I shouldn’t have to. What I’ve done so far should speak volumes. Oh, but yeah. You’re right. Jack is your CEO. You have everything just as you want it to be. It doesn’t matter what I do.”

Edward walked out, leaving Reese behind. He was hoping to walk out successfully and show how angry yet together he was, but running into Jack was not in the plan.

“Whoa, where’s the fire?” Jack put his hands out toward Edward to steady him.

“Excuse me,” he mumbled as he tried moving around him.

Jack peeked into Edward’s office and smiled when he saw their father.

“Still letting Daddy get to you, I see.”

“It’s none of your business, Jack.”

“You have to learn to be more like me, little brother.”

Edward stepped up to Jack until their faces were two inches apart and spat the words that flew off his tongue. “I work my ass off, so I don’t become like you.”

“What? You think you’re better than I am?” He cocked his head and puffed his chest out. “Let me tell you something, little brother. I will always be ahead of the game and above you. No matter what you do or where you go, I will always have the upper edge.” He slammed into Edward, knocking him off his feet and against the wall. “Don’t forget it.”

Jack was right, Edward thought as he struggled to regain his balance. I’m never going to make it with Jack and my father against me. He knew fighting him this way was no use. If Edward wanted to get anywhere and be respected, he needed to do it himself.

“Aw, why the sad face?” Jack patted Edward’s face. “Don’t worry, little brother. I have always looked out for you, and I always will.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Edward mumbled.

“What’s that, little brother?”

“I said, I don’t need your help. Stay out of my way.”

“We’ll see, once the old man retires at the end of the year. I’ll be running this company, and you’ll be working for me.”

“That will never happen if I have anything to do with it.”

“Fortunately, you don’t.”

Edward watched Jack walk away. “That’s what you think.”

When he got back into his office, he pulled up a list of the companies in which he held interests. His father bought stock when they were showing signs of trouble.

“I do this to show faith,” his father once told him when he asked about it. “If they believe I have faith in their company, they tend to invest in my security systems. If they recover, I’m the hero. If they don’t, my investment company swoops in and takes over.”

“So, you win either way.”

“Precisely.”

Edward scrolled down until one profile caught his attention: MWSA Cosmetics. He knew the name because of the bad blood between the owner, Mia Walker and his father. What he didn’t know was how attractive Mia Walker was. Her picture on the company website caught his eye and awoke something primal within him. He clicked on the link and admired her profile picture. He got to know the company more and researched why it was faltering.

“I believe my plans may have changed,” he said, studying Mia’s face. “And your company will facilitate them.”

“Excuse me, Edward?” He looked up from his computer screen with wide eyes, hovering his finger on the power button. Claire stood in the doorway with a smile on her face.

“Yes, Claire?” Had she heard him? Did he need to explain himself?

“I have a call on hold I think you should take.”

“Who is it?”

“Mia Walker from MWSA Cosmetics.”

Edward looked back at the picture on his screen. “How coincidental,” he mumbled.

“I’m sorry?” She stepped toward him.

“Um, isn’t that one of my father’s companies?”

“Yes, it is. However, he is out and unreachable, and she is insistent on speaking with someone immediately.”

Edward would have jumped at the chance to talk to her. It was the perfect start to his new idea in destroying his father’s plans for her company. His skepticism kept him asking questions. “Wouldn’t my brother be the next in line for such a task?”

Claire’s expression said it all, but he waited for her answer anyway. “Edward, you and I both know you should be the one running this show when your father is not able to do so. I think you should take it.”

Hesitant, yet jumping at the chance, Edward forced himself to accept the challenge in a calm and cool manner. “Pass her through. I’ll take it. Thank you, Claire.”

She smiled before disappearing from his doorway.

“This is Edward,” he said, picking up the receiver.

“Edward Donovan?”

“Yes? What can I do for you?”

“This is Mia Walker. I received a message earlier today that there has been a meeting scheduled between my department heads and yours. I would like to know why. This was not authorized by me, nor was it brought to my attention before now.”

“Well, that makes two of us,” Edward said, his anger growing at the lack of information from his father.

“Then why am I talking to you?” she snapped. “I need to talk to someone in a higher position, someone who actually knows something.”

He took a minute to swallow the words he wanted to say before replying to the wretched woman.

“Mrs. Walker—”

“Miss, thank you.”

“Sorry,” he said. “Miss Walker. You are president and owner of MWSA Cosmetics, correct?”

“Yes? So?”

“And you had no knowledge of this alleged meeting?”

“Hence my phone call.”

“Then how much further up the ranks should I be if you had no idea? Obviously, this meeting is a big secret between select personnel from each company. I am thinking there is a very good reason for that. Any idea what that might be?”

“None. Not that I would explain it to you if I did know.”

“Rest assured, I will find out. When is the meeting? I’ll make sure I’m there.”

“You should probably ask your daddy first.”

He heard the call disconnect and stared at the receiver in disbelief. He slammed the phone down and scoffed at her picture, then closed it down.