Prince Walker
When the Chips are Down
“Iassure you all, ladies and gentlemen, this is exactly what this company needs right now!” I shouted over the uproar around the boardroom table. Andy stood beside me and shrugged. We’d given it our best shot. A couple of the board members aimed sympathetic glances my way, but I knew it would go no further.
My motherfucking father!
What the fuck was his problem? There was no doubt in my mind that he had it in for me – his own son – why was he so set on seeing me fail?
The presentation we’d given the board was right on target. We’d pitched our plan for the new chips. Andy had been prepped to explain the political upheaval that would ultimately be working in our favor. There’d be a shortage of the metals that would give us a perfect opportunity to launch our new product before the competition had even had a chance to think about it. It was technology I’d been tinkering with for over a year already. Not that my fucking father would understand any of it. He’d hated my fascination with science and technology when I was a kid.
“A man’s gotta have two things, boy,” he’d always say. “A good head for business, and a willingness to go for the throat.” And then he’d laugh and add, “Make that three…a long hard cock to keep the pussy happy between meetings.” That never ceased to amuse him. “At least you got one of those things, kid.” Maybe that was what he resented me for eventually. By the time I’d hit my late teens, we were pursuing the same women. It made me sick, knowing my mother was home waiting for him, while he was out fucking anything wet and willing. He’d despised the fact that women eventually began to pay more attention to me, even when I wasn’t waving money in their faces.
Though I’d learned pretty quickly that money always helped. Money. Power. And that long, hard cock.
“Order! Ladies and gentlemen! May I please ask for quiet,” my father was calling. His expression was so smug, I could have punched it off his face with my fist. As the clamor calmed down, he turned to me once more with a smirk. “It seems the board has decided,son,” he used the word like an insult. Itwasan insult. As long as he was running the show and treating me like a rebellious boy, these people would never take me seriously.
“Father, I assure you, we’ve done our homework,” I tried again. “The international stage is set for it right now. No one else has this—”
“Homework?” he interrupted, his face ripe with ridicule. “Isn’t that what you said the last time? When you completely fucked up the Chinese deal?”
“That wasn’t my—”
“That was a complete fiasco, and you know it. In fact, you’re still paying that debt now – what did it cost our company finally? Close to a billion?” He glanced around the assembled board members, meeting the eyes of each in turn. “Ladies and gentlemen, I must apologize for the behavior of my son. I have been remiss in my duties as a father, and he has been allowed to run rampant through the halls of this prestigious firm for too long.”
I slumped into my seat, fighting off the sense of defeat. If I had to go up against anyone else, the outcome would be different. But my own father? Even if I could convince them to take me seriously when my dear old dad was giving me a public dressing down, I didn’t think I’d ever have it in me to be ruthless with him the way he was with me. He was the man who raised me. Whatever my flaws might be, disloyalty wasn’t among them. Andy took a seat beside me and gave me a nudge with his elbow.
“Bide your time,” he said enigmatically under his breath, and I gave a nod. We had more than one card up our sleeves. Still, it hurt to know that I was being taken out by my own flesh and blood.
The chairman, my father, shot me a look filled with venom and triumph. I gave a grunt of disgust and then turned away.
∞∞∞
It felt like the longest day I’d had in a year. No, scrap that. The longest of my entire goddamn career. I slammed the door of the Maserati, almost tempted to kick it closed before remembering that my current financial situation probably wouldn’t accommodate the cost of panel-beating.
I stepped into the elevator and waited impatiently for the doors to ding open into my apartment. All I wanted now was a hot shower and bed.
Bed.
Sasha.
With all the excitement of the day, I’d almost forgotten about her.
No, that wasn’t exactly true. I’d be made of stone if I’d forgotten what I had waiting for me when I got home. As the doors slid open, a rich scent met me, and I inhaled.
What is that? Chicken? Some sort of roast?
I followed my nostrils into the penthouse entrance hall, astonished by how different my home seemed now that it was infused with the fragrance of cooking. The carefully prepared meals I was presented with each night were seldom made on the premises, despite the fact that my kitchen had probably cost a million dollars to install. I dropped my briefcase in the hallway and sauntered toward the kitchen. And stopped dead.
Sasha was moving adeptly around the open-plan space, checking on saucepans and stirring as she worked. Stark naked. I fought back a chuckle.
Well, damn!
It was nice to see at least one person on the planet seemed to take my instructions seriously.
“Smells good,” I said, and she shrieked and dropped the spoon she was using.
“Oh!” she bent to retrieve it, then glanced around nervously, as if uncertain of whether to put it down, or hold it in front of her. As if a spoon would manage to hide…all that.
