Total pages in book: 27
Estimated words: 25085 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 125(@200wpm)___ 100(@250wpm)___ 84(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 25085 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 125(@200wpm)___ 100(@250wpm)___ 84(@300wpm)
“Good morning Gabe.” She’s the only one who calls me that except my mom. Everyone else prefers my last name as they said it suits the man more.
“Good morning Nadia.” I kept going even though I wanted to take her in my arms and kiss the hell out of those pouty lips. Her breasts looked full and ripe beneath the silk and I felt my body react. I tamped down the impulse and called myself ten kinds of fool for letting her still have this power over me after what she’d done.
“Are you ever going to talk to me?”
“Not now Nadia I have a meeting in an hour and I’m already running late.”
“I said I was sorry.”
“I heard you sweetheart only your sorry isn’t going to be enough. Look, now is not the time I don’t want to have this conversation as I’m heading out the door and I certainly don’t want to hash out our dirty laundry in front of Elsa.”
“Should I come to the city for lunch then?”
“No I’ll be too busy for that, I’ll see you later.” I caught the flash of pain in her eyes but steeled myself against it. No way was I letting her off the hook that easily. I walked out the door before I did something stupid. I sped down the driveway, not even looking in the mirror to see if she was watching from the top step, which was her usual habit. I’d programmed myself in her absence to not put too much stock in the little things she’d done before she’d taken flight and left our family home for parts unknown. She’d fucking gutted me and I’d vowed to never give her that kind of power over me again. There was no excuse in the world she could give me for her behavior that I would accept. We were husband and wife, a team. We were supposed to be together in all things; when part of that team decides to play renegade without regards to the feelings of the other, they’re no longer considered a team. This was her doing she’d made the choice. My own mother had cried because she hadn’t even had the decency to say goodbye. We’d worried together for two days and nights, not knowing where to look when we’d exhausted all our resources and no one could tell us where to find her. I’d felt like a million kinds of fool asking people if they knew where my wife was. Oh no, she wasn’t getting off that fucking easy.
Chapter 6
I got caught up in work and didn’t have any time to dwell on personal matters. The company I’ve been trying to acquire had just folded under the pressure of my onslaught. The president of one of my top competitors had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar months ago, and the ship was sinking fast. A good many of their clients had already been heading my way. But the company had been one of good standing before all this mess and I thought it would be prudent to merge the two and take over their operations. That way, the honest workers who might be out of a job if the SEC closed their doors could hold onto their jobs, not to mention their pensions if the deal went through. With the acquisition of this particular firm, I would be closer to my dream of a multi armed financial service: Insurer, brokerage, and investment banking. I’d set my sights on the century and a half year old company before all the fireworks but they’d been playing hardball. Now with their weakened stance I was about to gain it for a song compared to the hundreds of millions it would’ve cost in the beginning. Today by end of day the deal will be signed on the dotted line. It didn’t matter to me that the president of said company was none other than Stephan Aristobulus, father of my one time lover Sabrina. I never mixed business with my personal affairs; it just so happened that he’d been handed the company some ten years earlier and had since driven it into the ground. The once outstanding firm had been slipping in the ranks for the past six or seven years and had come to my attention a year and a half ago. That’s when I’d started my takeover campaign, but they’d held out this long. There was speculation in the financial papers that I’d been behind the whistle blowing but that’s not the way I do business. Had I been privy to that information I might’ve used it to my advantage. It’s business after all but I would most likely have gone to the board. I fought dirty yes but I liked to keep my hands clean.