Mr. Big Shot (Mr. Big 1)

John turned back to me. "How's the build coming?"

He meant the build of my new catamaran, on which we planned to sail around the world. A forty-two-foot beauty, The Phoenix as I dubbed her, was custom made and equipped with the latest technology and top of the line materials.

She was spectacular.

"Going really well. I'm looking forward to spending a few weekends at the beach house before the end of the season. Once the sale goes through, and as soon as the cat’s finished, we can take it for a few test runs up and down the coast before heading out for The Bahamas."

"Can't wait."

Sailing around the world was what kept me going. The money from the sale of our business was nothing to me but freedom. It was a way to break completely free from the reach of my adoptive parents, and do what I really wanted. John and two of my buddies from Columbia were going to crew the cat with me. We’d worked hard for the past few years building up a social media app that would mean we'd be able to do whatever the fuck we wanted for the rest of our lives, each of us becoming New York's latest young billionaires under thirty-five. Hell, I was still under thirty.

I planned on getting into the space industry after we returned from our world tour, investing my money in the mission to Mars. I might even try to go on a one-way trip, become a modern explorer.

There was nothing on Earth keeping me there except my sister, so leaving on the journey of a lifetime and then the journey of a century? Hell yes, sign me up.

My agenda was completely free for the rest of my life once the deal went through. As soon as that happened and my cat was finished, I was gone.

But first – first I had to rub Lexi911 in Eric's smug face.

I could barely wait for Saturday to roll around…

* * *

We finished our dogs and walked back to my car in a parking garage a few blocks away. On the way, we talked about the deal and how the only snag was that one of the buyers was the brother of the woman everyone thought I was going to eventually marry.

Everyone was wrong.

Felicia Blake was sweet, and we did date on and off for the past few months, but she was not my type. Despite the machinations of my adoptive mother, Felicia's mother and practically everyone else in their close circle of friends, I couldn't be tempted out of my plans to leave. Felicia's brother Harrison was one of Chatter's prospective buyers, so I had to tread very lightly. I didn't want to lead Felicia or anyone else on about my intentions, but at the same time, I wanted Harrison's support for the deal. It shouldn't matter that Felicia and I were not going to tie the knot. I'd already had a very disastrous go at engagement and potential marriage. What should matter was that the deal was great and would make the new owners – and me – very rich.

I kept my fingers mentally crossed that nothing would happen to scupper the deal and that within a couple of weeks, the ink would be dry on the sale. Then, John and I would be casting off from the slip at Alpha Yachts in Patchogue, NY. Our first non-US destination? The Bahamas, followed by Jamaica and then a trip through the Panama Canal on our way to the Galapagos, French Polynesia, Fiji and then on to New Zealand and Australia before hitting Indonesia, Malaysia, South Africa, South America and back to the USA.

After that?

Whatever the fuck I felt like.

Which was space. I'd soon have a cool billion and I already had big dreams.

I only wished my parents had been alive to see my success, but they had both passed, killed in a car crash when Dana and I were only eight, leaving us orphans, raised by adoptive parents neither of us cared for.

* * *

On Thursday morning, John and I sat in my office and talked about the sale of our business, going over charts and balance sheets for our presentation. We had a big meeting coming up with the potential buyers in two weeks and we wanted to be on top of things. The time went by fast, and I was due to meet Lexi at 1:00 p.m. at the Columbia Circle food court. At twelve-fifteen, I closed my files and took my car, hoping to find a parking space somewhere near the mall. I brought along my red umbrella to identify myself to Lexi. In my pocket was a NDA that I'd get her to sign. Once she saw me, I figured she'd know who I was and so I didn't want her to go to the gossip rags and spill that I was hiring her as an escort. That was the last thing I needed, considering that I didn’t, in fact, use escorts. I'd never used one and I never intended to.

Using Lexi was all just a means to an end.

I'd hire her for the night, parade her in front of Eric at the dinner, and then say goodbye. She'd play her part in my little family psychodrama, and then I'd never see her again. Hopefully, neither would Eric.

My PD continued to follow Eric after I found out he was cheating on Dana and discovered that he hadn't used her again or any another afterward, so perhaps the escort was just that one time. Still, Eri

c was on the edge, drinking too much, doing blow and generally acting like an idiot. I doubted he'd change when he discovered I knew about his cheating. If you could use an escort once while being married and your wife very pregnant with your first child, you could use one many times.

If he didn't use another escort or pick up a random woman in a bar for the rest of my sister's pregnancy and after the baby was born, I wouldn't tell her about his cheating ass. That would be my leverage. The carrot I would dangle in front of him to put him back on the straight and narrow. If he failed to heed my very generous warning, I'd use the stick. I'd tell her what he did, and the rest would be up to her.

So it was with a slight surge of adrenaline in my blood that I went to the food court and found a place at the front of the seating area, glancing around for a beautiful woman with long light brown hair, who John assured me, was attractive enough to be a model, even if she wasn't tall enough. John had seen her with Eric at a club in downtown Brooklyn on a weekend when Eric was supposed to be out of town on business.

I grabbed a tray of sushi and sat down, my red umbrella on the table beside me. There had been no rain for over a week, so she'd know who I was when she saw the red umbrella.

I planned on arriving early and watching the people come and go so I could catch a glimpse of her before she saw me. I liked to take whatever advantage I could when handling a business deal. I glanced around the food court, looking for someone who resembled the woman John described, but there was no one there who fit the bill.