Total pages in book: 36
Estimated words: 33691 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 168(@200wpm)___ 135(@250wpm)___ 112(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33691 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 168(@200wpm)___ 135(@250wpm)___ 112(@300wpm)
2
Asher
I rub my temples as the plane finally touches down. Between the jet lag and time change, I already have a headache. There is a private room with a bed, but for some reason I can never sleep on a flight. Instead, I’d gone over the financials for Encore. The whole reason I’ve been in Japan for the last six months.
Investing in Encore had been my call, and it was one that’s going to make billions. A new generation of electric cars will be hitting the market soon. They require less time to charge than any others that are currently available. I needed to know how everything worked because the next factory to be built will be here, and the plan is to make the factory run completely off solar power. Nothing creates energy like the sun, and it’s been far too unutilized. Not any longer.
I stand when the plane starts to slow on the runway, putting everything back into my bag. “Sir, do you need anything else?” the flight attendant asks. Normally I don’t have one on my flights, but this was a long one, and the pilots might need her for something.
“No,” I respond without glancing her way.
I know I’m being rude, but it’s easier to be off-putting. I’m fucking jaded, and I know it, but it’s better than dealing with any advances that could come my way. I’ve found if I act this way, it deters most. Not all—some women are more persistent than others—but I learned that even at a young age, watching them throw themselves at my father and then me before I was even out of high school.
Finally, the plane comes to a stop. The flight attendant opens the door as the pilots step out from the cockpit.
“I’ll be leaving after my father’s birthday party,” I inform them.
“I was told you’d be staying for—”
“You were misinformed.” I check my watch. “I’ll be leaving when the party ends. I won’t be staying longer than needed.”
“I’ll update the flights.” He nods in response before I descend the stairs wondering where the hell my car is. I had instructions for it to be waiting for me. A blacked-out SUV sits with the back open. Someone is already carrying my luggage over and putting it inside. I start to say something, but the driver's door swings open, and Chase steps out.
“Welcome back.” He gives me a cocky smile. One that has gotten him very far in life even when we were kids.
“I didn’t know you were back.” Chase travels excessively for his family's company, the Silverstein Group. They build some of the tallest buildings in the world.
“I wouldn’t miss your father’s birthday. Besides, I figured we had work to discuss.” He holds his hand out and knocks the sides of my fist. Fuck, I think it’s been a few years since I’ve seen him. We always keep in touch talking business, but we’ve both been busy doing what is expected of us. “You don’t look happy to be home.”
“My father got married.” I say what he already knows.
“So?” He shrugs. “It’s not some twenty-something girl. The woman was a nurse.”
“Was?” She already quit her job. Of course, she did. Why would she need to work? I know what she’s nursing now. My father’s wallet.
“Who gives a fuck if she is only about his money? If he’s getting what he wants, then she gets what she wants. It’s a fair trade, man.”
“You’re not wrong, but Dad isn’t in this for only sex. He’s in love with her. You should have seen him.” I shake my head, thinking back to the dinner I was forced to attend when my father showed up in Japan.
Okay, I wasn’t forced, but I wasn’t going to miss seeing my father if he was in town. It was clear the man was smitten with the woman. She’d been nice enough—pretty, too—but I could tell she was nervous. Why? Was she scared I’d see who she really was? Likely. My father has a type. Soul-sucking leeches.
My father and I tend to be a lot alike. Neither of us want to fail. It’s why he stuck with the marriage to my mother for so long. He kept trying to make it work when all the woman did was make all our lives hell. It had been me that finally got her to leave and never come back. I gave her enough money to never bother any of us again. My father could have done the same, but he kept thinking she’d change. People don’t change.
“He’s a grown man who can clean up his own messes, Ash.”
“Pretty sure I cleaned up the last mess.” Chase mutters something under his breath. He’d disliked my mother as much as I had. I wasn’t going to allow Emily to bear the same fate as I had with her.