Three
Ash
The huge house was silent except for the sound of small feet padding up the staircase. A door slowly creaked open. The face of a small boy with his big hazel eyes and mop of dark hair peered around the corner. The boy was young only about seven years old. He crept into the room looking for his mother.
“Mommy?”
The master bathroom door slammed shut as a tall beautiful woman with long dark hair emerged. She pulled a pink silk robe around her tying it tightly.
“Ashton! What’s wrong? I told you to knock whenever Mommy has the door shut.”
He looked down as he shyly crawled up onto the large king size bed.
“I’m sorry, Mommy. When are you going to come down to play with me? You promised we’d play Go Fish after breakfast!”
She flashed a brief smile shooting a nervous glance at the closed bathroom door.
“Did Dora fix you breakfast yet?”
He nodded his mop of hair shaking as he did so. He pulled the covers up over his tiny body.
“Yep. She made me Mickey Mouse pancakes again with chocolate chips.” He grinned ear to ear revealing several missing teeth.
His mother smiled and bent to kiss him on the head.
“Ashton, can you please go on downstairs and let Mommy get dressed? I’ll be down in a few minutes.”
Reluctantly, the boy slid off the bed. He hesitated a moment unsure of whether he could trust her.
“Please Mommy? You promised you’d play.”
She rolled her eyes as she inched away from the bed.
“Yes, Ashton, I promise. Give me a few minutes. Go and get the cards and I will be there shortly.”
“But I don’t know where they are.”
“Then ask Dora.”
The little boy shuffled toward the door. He glanced back as he decided to make one more plea.
Suddenly, the bathroom door flew open and a man stood there. He had a towel wrapped around his waist, droplets of water clung to his light colored hair.
The little boy’s mouth dropped.
The man was NOT his father.
It was his father’s friend whom he called ‘Uncle Mike’.
But why was Uncle Mike here now when his father was away on business? And why was he taking a shower?
Uncle Mike didn’t see the little boy hovering in the doorway when he grabbed his mother and kissed her deeply reaching his hands around to squeeze her bottom just like he’d seen his father do.
“Mike!” His mother hissed jerking away from him as she gestured toward the little boy.
Mike’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Hi, champ. What’s going on?” Mike tried to cover up his faux pas as he walked over to rumple the little boy’s hair.
But the boy pulled away from him scowling.
“Go away!” The little boy screamed as he ran from the room.
“Ashton!” His mother yelled as he raced down the hallway down the staircase out into the yard.
The boy kept running and running until his legs ached. Opening the heavy door to the horse barn, he climbed up the ladder to the hay loft above and fell asleep on the hay.
It was Dora who found him lying curled up atop a blanket in the loft.
As night fell, she brought him back to the house. His face was blotchy and red from crying. His mother was waiting for him in his room holding a gaily wrapped present.
“Ashton! I was worried sick about you! How dare you run off like that?” She hugged him tightly as she tucked him into his bed.
The little boy sat with his face set in stone.
“Here. It’s an early Christmas present. Open it.”
Slowly, the boy ripped the paper off the box. It was an electric train like his father had owned as a child. It was a valuable antique model train, the one he’d always wanted.
“Tell you what, Ashton, how about you keep this now and play with it all you want? Then we won’t tell daddy about Uncle Mike being here today.”
The little boy’s heart sank. She hadn’t given him a present to be nice only to make him keep her secret.
And keeping secrets from the people you love isn’t nice.
At least that’s what he’d been taught.
Now she was telling him it was okay.
His mommy kissed him and left him to play with his new train.
As soon as she left, Ashton dropped the train car he was playing with back into the box and shoved it underneath his bed.
He never played with the train set again.
Stepping out of the elevator, I strolled into my office. Shit, Amber was already at her desk! She could always tell exactly what I’d been doing and after a night like last night I knew I was in for it.
As soon as she spied me walking towards her, a big grin slowly spread across her face. She gave me a knowing wink.
“Well, well, looks like someone’s getting into the office pretty early today. Maybe it was to avoid a certain someone?”
I bit my lip and shook my head.
“Nope, I always get here this early. I’m surprised to see you’re here. Didn’t you have a date with what’s his name?”
“Trevor. But that’s irrelevant. So, who was the lucky lady?”
“Don’t know what you’re talking about, Amber. Now if you have my coffee ready I’ll take it in my office, I have work to do.”
Amber kept grinning as she followed me into my office with my coffee.
“You look tired. Maybe you should take the day off.”
I looked up at her in disbelief.
“Are you kidding? When was the last time I took a day off for anything? I’m fine.”
Amber nodded. She knew I wouldn’t take the bait.
“That’s good to hear, Ash because after what I have to say you may not be feeling so well.” Amber pulled out a copy of the Wall Street Journal.
I took it from and scanned the first page.
“Holy shit! What the hell?” My eyes widened at the company I was planning to buy’s stock price which had plummeted to record lows.
Amber shook her head sadly.
“I don’t know how this is happening. Obviously, someone knew that you wanted Vitalife, but who?”
“Amber, if I knew that person would be in a momentous amount of pain right now. I went to Grayson he claimed he doesn’t know anything.”
“Jeremy wouldn’t try to weasel this one away from you, would he?” Amber asked in a hushed tone.
“He’s not smart enough.” I stood up carrying my cup over to the picture window overlooking downtown Manhattan.
“No, whoever did this is smart. And they know me very well. This was an inside deal.”
I sighed turning to Amber.
“Get Martin Stahli’s secretary on the phone and schedule a lunch meeting for today. I think I may know who’s behind this. If I’m right, your assessment of my day getting worse will unfortunately be accurate.”
Amber nodded as she walked to her desk.
Finishing my coffee, I sat down and sighed.
How the hell could I be facing one of the biggest losses of my career after such a fantastic night like last night?
“Ash, Martin will meet you at 12:30 at Del Frisco’s.”
“Thanks.”
As I prepared for my lunch meeting the door to my office flew open. Jeremy stood there his fists clenched, his face bright red. His chubby face huffed and puffed as he was obviously out of breath from racing down the hall.
“What is it, Jeremy? I’m getting ready to leave.”
He tossed another copy of the Wall Street Journal at me.
“What the fuck, Blackthorne? I thought this was in the bag. This deal is worth half a billion dollars!”
I stood up, buttoning my suit coat.
“Relax, Jeremy. I’ve got an idea of who’s behind this.”
“Who? Who is it? You told me you’d already talked to Grayson. Who the hell else has the kind of money to buy these stocks out from under us?”
“The guy I’m going to have lunch with right now.”
Pulling at his thinning dark hair, Jeremy’s eyes widened.
“You’re not going to tell me?”
“Did I say that?”
“If you were going to tell me you would have by now. So, who is it?”
I shook my head smiling.
“It’s under control. Let me do my job.”
As I went for the door, he stepped in front of me. Jeremy has always irritated going back to our first meeting at Harvard, but since his father took me on as a partner he’d really become a thorn in my side. I thought it was because his father looked at me as the son he’d always wanted and as his successor not Jeremy.
But that wasn’t my problem.
“Jeremy, step aside. I have business to attend to.”
Like a spoiled child, he stood in front of me refusing to move.
“Tell me, Ash.”
“I don’t have to tell you shit. Now move!” My voice rose. I hated to let him see he’d gotten under my skin, but now was not the time for his rivalrous, childish games.
In a sniveling, snide tone, Jeremy leaned against my door.
“Might I remind you, Ash, whose name is first on that door? And whose money you will be losing if you don’t get this deal to go through?”
My fists clenched as I gritted my teeth.
“Look, if you don’t get the fuck out of my way there won’t be a firm come tomorrow. I have to go fix this deal. That’s why your father hired me and not you to be his second in command. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a job to do.”
Jeremy scowled as he slowly moved.
“You’re right, my father does know how valuable you are to this firm, but he also knows I’m the one who will go down with the ship if it sinks. You see, it’s our name that’s first on that door and always will be. You can’t live with that. If we lose, you’ll just pick up and move on.”
My rage boiled inside. With a wide swing of my arm, I slammed him against the door.
“Are you fucking questioning my loyalty? I’ve been here since I graduated business school a year before you! I signed an agreement with your father. My name is on that door even if yours is first. And you’re wrong, Jeremy, if I lose this deal I not only lose millions of dollars for this firm I lose my fucking reputation as the biggest, baddest shark in Manhattan. I might as well go be a damn bank teller if I fuck this up. So I have a hell of a lot more to lose than you and your father. Now for the last time, get the fuck out of my way so that I can guarantee the success of this deal!”
Jeremy’s face paled as he scooted out of the way. Helplessly, he stood watching as I walked down the hall.
Amber eyed me worriedly as I hopped on the elevator.
Del Frisco’s was as crowded as I expected it would be. Getting a table here is nearly impossible, but they always manage to work me in. It was the place in Manhattan to power lunch. Everyone who was anyone on Wall Street came here.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Blackthorne. Let me show you to your table.” The attractive blonde hostess led me to a corner table. It was where I liked to sit when I was discussing business.
Handing me a leather backed menu, she poured me a glass of Pellegrino.
“How’s business going, Mr. Blackthorne? I’m assuming quite well as usual.”
I winked at her. She was quite pretty though a bit too young for my taste. She couldn’t have been more than twenty. I usually steered clear of women under twenty five. Younger women tended to expect more in terms of commitment than I was willing to give. Career oriented women over thirty tended to be safer. They appreciated a man who could give them what they needed without messy strings attached.
“Business is great. Let Paulo know I’m here please and send him out when my party arrives.” I pressed a hundred dollar bill into her palm.
She nodded and smiled, pleased with the large tip. Paulo was the waiter who took care of me every time I dined at Del Frisco’s.
As I glanced through the menu, a stocky older gentleman in an outdated suit stopped at my table.
“Well Ashton, this better be good. I had another lunch meeting scheduled at Crusoe’s.”
Inwardly I rolled my eyes. No one over the age of sixty ever lunched at Crusoe’s except those who couldn’t get into the better restaurants. I glanced up at Martin who was easily approaching seventy.
No wonder.
“Martin, pleasure to see you. Have a seat. Take a look at the menu. I’m going to go with the filet myself, but the salmon is excellent as well.”
Martin tossed the menu down.
“You know I’m not interested in how good the food is here. You called me down here, so what is it you’re wanting?”
Paulo marched up to the table with a tray holding two glasses and a bottle of Macallan.
Placing the glasses in front of us, he poured them half full. Martin’s eyes drifted down to the liquor briefly before downing the whole glass and motioning for another.
I merely sipped mine as I watched him.
“Wow, this early in the day. I’m impressed.”
Martin leaned back and sighed.
“Spare me. Just because your father and I went way back doesn’t mean you and I are friends. Let’s get to the point.” He looked at his Rolex.
“Do you have somewhere else to be?” I asked my voice thick with irritation.
“Just golf at 2:00.”
More like a nap at 2:00.
My father and Martin had done business together for years. He was a slick old bastard as my father liked to say. My father never trusted him and neither did I. Still, I thought he may be behind the stock buy out at Vitalife.
“Vitalife,” I uttered one word as I watched his reaction carefully.
Martin shrugged.
“What about it?”
Paulo placed a cup of lobster bisque in front of me.
I nodded to him as I paused to take a mouthful of the delicious soup.
Deliberately, I swallowed and blotted my mouth with cloth napkin.
“Someone bought several million dollars’ worth of shares yesterday.”
Martin’s gray eyes flickered with a hint of interest.
“So what? People buy and trade stocks every day. This is Wall Street, Ashton. I thought you went to Harvard you should know that unless your father bought your degree for you.”
I eyed him with distaste as I finished my soup.
“You know me better than anyone else on Wall Street because you knew my father. Only you would know how much I wanted to buy that company.”
Martin finished his third glass of scotch. The old guy would be wasted by the time lunch was finished. He would never make that golf game. He’d pass out in the cab on the way home.
Martin took a bit of his salmon.
“You lend your interests more importance than they deserve. Why would I be targeting Vitalife?”
I tore into my filet and viciously stabbed a piece and brought it to my mouth.
“You know as well as I do Vitalife was going under. They were the only company in the world trying to manufacture this particular drug that successfully alleviates the pain of several types of cancer specifically pancreatic.”
Martin smiled and nodded.
“The cancer that killed your father.”
“Yes.”
“So that company not only stands to make you billions it could help people like your father.”
“You got it.”
Martin finished his salmon and tossed his cloth napkin down.
“Ashton, I wish I could help you, but I don’t have the faintest idea of what you’re talking about. Vitalife wasn’t on my radar.”
I was sick of fucking around with this guy.
“The company that bought those shares goes by the name of H.L.’s Dream, LLC. And that happens to be the name of your yacht. Coincidence? I don’t think so.”
Martin templed his fingers together beneath his chin.
“Perhaps my company did buy those shares, but it wasn’t my idea.”
I gripped the table as I glared at him.
“Then whose was it?”
“I’m not at liberty to discuss this further. If you need more information, you may contact my attorney.” Martin tossed a business card at me.
I tore it in half and threw it on the table.
“Bullshit, Martin! Cut the crap. Sell me back those shares!”
He laughed.
“Why the hell would I do that?”
“Better check your own stock. Eagle has a new major stockholder.” His company, Eagle Enterprises was a decades-old fixture on Wall Street.
Martin’s eyes widened with rage.
“What the hell did you do?”
I shrugged smiling.
“Nothing except beat you at your own game. Sell me back my shares and I will make sure you get your shares in Eagle back.”
Martin grimaced.
“All right, Ashton. Consider it done. But there’s just one thing.”
“What’s that, Martin?”
“My company may have bought those shares, but I sold them an hour ago.”
“Who did you sell them to?”
Martin wobbled as he stood up.
“I haven’t the faintest idea. Wish I could help you, but you said if I sold those shares you’d give me back mine. Well, they’ve already been sold.”
“I meant to me, asshole.”
Martin slipped his suit jacket on buttoning it.
“I can’t give you what I don’t have. But check out the company-RJ Investments I believe was the name.”
“Wait a minute. Why the hell did you buy the shares then sell them? They weren’t worth anything yet.”
“Ask RJ Investments. Now, Ashton, I do have to be going. The salmon was delicious as you said it would be.”
I slammed my fist on the table.
Who the hell was RJ Investments?