Rock Star Billionaire

"I see," Brasher said, nervously clearing his throat as he looked down at the papers in front of him. "Well, I guess there's no use in delaying the delivery then, is there?"

"Would someone just man up and tell me what the hell is going on here?" I said impatiently. "I'm tired of this secretive game of ping pong knowledge sharing."

"Jack, your father left a will stipulating that you are to become the new CEO of Baby Steps," Brasher said.

"Well, then he was out of his mind because that's never going to happen," I said matter-of-factly. "Anything else?"

"Um, yes, actually there is," Brasher said nervously. "You don't have a choice in the matter."

"The hell I don't," I replied. "I'm independently wealthy and need nothing from any of you. I owe you nothing, and I'm not doing anything to keep that stupid company alive in the absence of my father."

"Jack, listen to the man," my mother urged as she looked helplessly at my brother.

"Jack, your father’s company is held by Bank of Manhattan, isn't it?" Brasher asked.

"Indeed, it is," I nodded as I stuffed a bite of jam-covered toast into my mouth and chewed.

"Well, the money your dad is paying you has been frozen until you take the CEO position at Baby Steps, and you either decide to run the company or hire someone to run it for you," Brasher said quickly. "You'll have no access to any of the money you invested in the business until you take care of your father's business."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" I exploded.

"Jack …" my mother said disapprovingly.

"No, seriously?" I said looking around the table in disbelief. "That bastard stipulated that my assets—the assets I've earned through my own blood, sweat and tears, and that I loaned him—will be on hold until his damn business is taken care of?"

"Jack, Pop had hoped that you'd come around and see that the company had a great deal of potential," Lincoln began.

"And you? You had to have helped him with this fucked up plan, didn't you?" I said, shooting my brother a look that made him avert his eyes. "Why in the hell did he pick me? He knew I had no desire whatsoever to run the company."

"Your father believed that you were the one who could best represent the company's interests," Brasher said as he slid a stack of papers across the table. "It's all explained in this document, as are the parameters of the agreement. If you run the company for a year and turn a profit that is within the normal range of what Baby Steps has been doing for the past five years, then your investments in the company will be unfrozen. At that point, you'll be given the option of staying on and running the company or hiring someone to replace you. Either way, at the end of the year, you'll be free."

"So, in other words, I'm being punished for having helped that bastard yet again?" I asked in a tone so venomous that my mother got up and walked away from the table. I knew she was crying.

"I'm not sure I'd say that, Jack," Brasher said. "I'd look at it more as an emergency management strategy that your father hoped he'd never have to use but put in place just in case something like this happened."

"This is so far beyond fucked up," I said shaking my head as I scanned the documents in front of me. I looked at Lincoln and said, "You know that, right?"

"Jack, Pop needed someone in charge who knows how to run a business," he said. "I'm the company's banking resource. I can't do it."

"Why didn't he just vet someone and put them in place to succeed him?" I asked. "That seems like it would have been a hell of a lot easier than roping me into doing a job that I have absolutely no desire to do."

"Pop had his reasons," Lincoln shrugged. "He didn't always explain them to me."

"This is such utter bullshit," I said angrily. "But I have no choice, do I?"

"No, Jack, you don't," my mother said from the corner of the room where she stood staring up at a painting of my father that she'd had commissioned several years before his death. In it, he looked like the strong pa

triarch everyone thought him to be, but all I saw was vengeance and anger.

"He's dead, and he still gets his way," I said, shaking my head as I grabbed the papers and stood up. "I guess tomorrow is as good a time as any to get started. Would you tell Jimmy to bring the car around tomorrow morning at eight sharp? I'll be going into the office."

I marched across the room, yanked open the door, and headed up the stairs to my room. I quickly changed into running clothes and tried to calm myself. If my father had overseen it, then the paperwork was airtight. I wasn't getting any of the money back that I’d loaned him until I'd fulfilled the terms laid out in the will. As angry as I was, I'd been trained not to openly defy the man who'd helped bring me into this world.

I did, however, have the beginnings of an idea how to get out of the deal and get back to my life before a year was up. I was going to have to play the part of the dutiful son and concerned CEO of this ridiculous company until I could work out the specifics of my plan. Tomorrow would be a good day to get started.

I put my earbuds in and headed downstairs to take a very long run.

*