Page 45 of His Rules

“I know. You went through a tough time. I’d be gun shy. But there are other pressures.”

“There are always other pressures, Danny. You know that. You save lives every day. That is all about pressure.”

“The difference is I enjoy what I do. Can you honestly say that any longer? Oh, I know you. When you started Aeronautical Enterprises, you were like a kid in a candy store. You were so happy and eager, you even slept at the office. I remember the day you secured your first medium-size contract. Two planes. You were on cloud nine. It was the first time I’d spent more than thirty minutes with you in almost a year and a half.”

“Yeah, I remember. I had to put everything into it just to make it feasible enough to possibly survive. Dad didn’t raise a quitter as he told me more than once.”

“No, he didn’t. But he didn’t raise a robot either. You were a hell of a lot more fun without all the pressure. Maybe it’s time you think about selling your half of the company. Start something new. Something that will excite you again. Hell, maybe that would allow you to engage in a real home life. You know exactly what I mean. Maybe you’d want to spend time with your wife so she wouldn’t need to find attention elsewhere. Maybe you’d enjoy going to little league and tossing a football in the front yard. Christmas and Thanksgiving with all the trimmings. In other words, maybe you could get a life.”

He was right in that I’d been born into a life where my future had likely been a topic of agenda when I was less than two years old. However, his words angered me enough that I bristled. “You should talk, my friend. You’ve kept yourself a grieving widow for how many years now?”

I sensed my terse words were going to start an argument.

“He’s far too greedy to give up what he has, Daddy. You know that better than anyone. And as for you,” Kacey said as she walked in my direction, her smile even more egregiously sly than before. “My father has had his hands full being a single father. He sacrificed his own happiness and any life you’re talking about for his only daughter. Meanwhile, you amassed a fortune selling planes while my father has been saving lives.”

“I think that’s enough shop talk for the night,” Daniel said. “This is meant to be a celebration dinner of my daughter returning home.”

“And poker?” I asked, trying to liven up the tense tone.

“The guys are coming over around nine,” he answered. “Just remember what I said.”

“During which conversation?”

“Both.”

It was his own way of drawing a line in the sand.

They were lining up like quicksand expanding in the grass. The next few weeks would prove to be very interesting.

Very interesting indeed.

“Why are you here?” I threw out as soon as I opened the door. Seeing my ex-wife at this time of night put me instantly on a precipice.

“You’re not keeping your end of the bargain.”

She had the nerve to barge into my home at one o’clock in the morning with demands. “What bargain are you talking about, Ashley?”

“You wanted my silence regarding our marriage. Remember? In exchange, you sold off hundreds of shares of your stocks to me. With the codicil they wouldn’t drop below a certain level. Well, they did that yesterday. Now, if you’re purposely causing an issue within your company to fuck me over, I will bury you.”

I had no idea why I’d allowed my father to talk me into marrying the woman in the first place. I’d done so out of loyalty to the family and the fact at the time that it would mean her father’s company and my dad’s would merge, becoming a powerhouse in the hospitality business. The deal had been to stay married for a year. I’d thought I’d fallen in love, so the marriage had endured three more.

My father had sold the majority of his shares, now barely involved. It still burned me.

Meanwhile, it had been all about business to her. Given she was now the head of what had been my father’s operation, she’d gotten her cake and had eaten it with cherries on top. My father didn’t seem to care. I did.

Although I blamed myself for allowing the conniving bitch to win in the end. In order to end my life with her, I’d been forced to agree to the codicil even when my gut had told me I’d been out of my mind.

“Business is fine. Stocks fluctuate. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a busy day tomorrow.” I headed for the door.

“You do realize your father still owns a portion of the company that you refused to step up to the plate and work for. Don’t you? He’s still getting a salary. A salary I might add he needs to keep.”

I turned around abruptly, getting in her face. “Is that a threat?” I wasn’t privy to the terms of the deal he’d made with her father, but I knew he’d been allowed to remain as VP with an office, although he almost never made an appearance. The money he’d made in making the deal had been substantial. Why would he even care?

“Let’s just say a deal is a deal. If you don’t keep up the end of the bargain we struck, I’ll be forced to find a way to kick him out, which will mean him losing a significant amount of money. With his gambling habit, he might find that difficult to live by.”

Gambling habit? My control freak father?

“What the fuck are you talking about?” While Ashley had sunk very low in her methods to try to remain married to me, I’d never believed she was capable of something so atrocious.

---