Billionaire Games (Standalone)

by Kenya Wright

  I toyed with some of the lights. “Are you okay?”

  She didn’t say anything.

  I tightened my hold on the box instead of reaching out to Dawn and touching her the way I yearned to. Long ago, I’d had her to myself. How I wished I could go back to the younger me and slap him. Hindsight was a 20/20 seeing bastard that loved to point and laugh at me so much that I stayed up at night, embarrassed and reflecting over my past stupidities.

  Just focus on the puzzle.

  People did the craziest things when their love was in danger.

  We didn’t talk on the elevator or our walk to her room. None of it mattered. She was with me. In my presence and not kneeing me in the balls. That was good enough for now. More than I could’ve ever predicted and I’d contemplated all possibilities.

  When we arrived at the door. She stared at those numbers and let out a long breath. “I’m in room 333. Did you do that intentionally?”

  I swiped my finger along the edges. The cube beeped and one side of it turned bright green. I looked up at her. “Did I do what intentionally?”

  “Get this room with this number?”

  “I’m good but not that good.” I slipped my thumb along the cube and wished it was strumming that soft bud between her folds. I stifled a groan and returned to my game. It was always easy to get the first side in one color, maintaining that little win was always the difficulty.

  Why can’t Dawn be as simple as this cube?

  “If you had something to do with any of this, then I’ll spend the rest of my life staying away from you.” She unlocked the door with her key card.

  I pushed it open before her, making sure she understood that I could be a gentleman at times. “I don’t like it when you threaten me.”

  “It’s not a threat.” She stood in the doorway and pointed at me. “This is not going to go how you’re planning it to go.”

  “I’m not planning anything.”

  “You are. You’re doing something. I don’t know what it is, but you’re playing some stupid game. I don’t even think Max is dead.”

  I frowned. “He is.”

  “Is he?” She walked past me. “This isn’t a sweet reunion of Butterfly Lovers. If you’re playing a game, I’m going to end it with a win. You’ll be in a grave and I won’t be jumping in like Zhu. I’ll be dancing all over it and singing fucking Christmas songs”

  “Wow.” I swiped my hand along the cube. Yellow shifted to green. “Those are such strong words.”

  “You deserve them if you’re playing around with me.”

  “I’m not.” I paused from the cube. “Look at me.”

  She glared my way.

  “I’m not playing with you,” I said. “This is real. I know I involved you in fucked up games in the past and I lost your love and trust, but this is real. Very real. Okay?”

  The anger on her face disappeared as she whispered, “Okay.”

  “Trust me.”

  She sighed. “Okay. Sorry for threatening you.”

  “That’s okay. I might’ve deserved that for back in the day.”

  Dawn thought too much about things. My heart boomed in my chest. Everything had to work out just right or I could lose her forever. The goal right now was to get her out of danger and then move on. If I pushed too hard, then she’d leave me.

  And there weren’t many ways she could get rid of me. I kept her under constant surveillance. But there was one way. And she’d come damn close to leaving. I’d pushed her. I’d gone too far. She’d threaten to take her life if I didn’t leave her alone. That was the only thing that worked. My heart had broken. I’d ended the whole game that day and promised to leave her alone. The deal—or what I liked to call our break—was that I would keep my distance and she wouldn’t fucking kill herself.

  I can’t go too far. I’m only here to keep her safe. Nothing more.

  She didn’t like the games like other women. Maybe that was why I couldn’t stop being around her. Opposites always attracted. People wanted what they could never have. No matter how awesome their life was.

  “Thank you for watching out for me.” She walked over to the window. Those jeans danced around those thick hips. Another time in our life, I could’ve gripped her plump ass in my hands and taken her before she could get to the bed.

  She’ll be mine again. She doesn’t understand it yet. One game ended us, but a new game could restart us. No. Stop it. You can’t. Just focus on the plan and then get away from her. Fuck.

  I returned my attention to the cube. “I will leave you alone as soon as I know that you’re not in danger.”

  She took in the room. “Thank you for getting me this suite, but I don’t need anything this big.”

  “You deserve it.”

  “Do I?”

  “That’s what I said.”

  The suite symbolized her. Sensuality met sophistication. It was bright, bold, and dripping in classic European elegance. Dawn should’ve been walking around in luxury every day, instead of roughing it in that shitty apartment of hers. When I discovered she moved there, I couldn’t wait to get her out of that place.

  The damn landlord refused to let me buy it. No matter what price I gave the old, white woman she shook her head, always saying that she didn’t like my energy. I doubted it was my energy. I was sure the color of my skin had more to do with it. The last time I offered to buy it for twice as much as it was worth, she called the cops without telling me. Had me sitting on the couch and holding my checkbook like an idiot while the boys in blue marched in with their guns pointed at me. She’d told them I was a con man.

  They didn’t ask for identification or anything. I was in handcuffs within one minute and lying on my stomach by the next.

  Money didn’t end racism in this country, but it damn sure helped with swallowing it.

  It ended up being an unlucky day for those officers. My lawyers had their jobs destroyed by nightfall, their homes taken from them by sunrise, and my brown face haunting their nightmares for the rest of their lives.

  Had Dawn known of the situation, she would’ve wanted to fight the cops in a more legal way. She probably would’ve wanted to donate money and support an organization fighting against police brutality and racial profiling. She would’ve wanted to picket and publicly fight them instead of ruining their lives from the shadows.

  She could. I could not. She never understood how much I had to keep a low profile. Not many knew my name, not even Dawn.

  The first day the man I called my father took me off the streets, he rode me in his limo to his huge house and said to me, “You’ll always be unknown and hidden. You can never let anyone get too close. It’s better for us that way.”

  “Yes, sir.” With shaking fingers, I limped after him, scared that he wouldn’t really be my savior but instead the person to finally kill me. Two bullets were still lodged in my thighs. I’d done a quick wrap-up but just with the knowledge of shit I’d seen from tv. I had no idea if I should be walking or saying my last words before I died.

  “Today is the beginning of your new life,” he said. “No more street thug crap. You’re a businessman now. It’s just your business is doing the things that others won’t. Your new name is Hundun.”

  “Sir, my new name?” I held my side and bumped into the wall, barely able to keep myself up. Blood smeared all over my hands.

  “Yes, do you know where Hundun comes from?” He gestured for one of his men to go over and pick me up.

  “No, sir.” Feeling like a baby instead of a tall, teenaged boy, it was hard for me to relax as a grown man carried me into this huge house.

  “Hundun is an ancient, faceless being from Chinese mythology. You should look it up. There are many things you can learn from myths.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  And that was when the world darkened and I passed out.

  Hundun was one of my many names in this world. People knew me by others. I was one of the many business enforcers for The Federal Reserve Cartel. The Ei
ght Ruling Families. The rich of the rich—Rockefellers to Rothschilds, Warburgs to Goldman-Sachs. They owned the Federal Reserve. A private bank that held America by the balls. They didn’t control corporations dealing with oil, media, and banks—they owned countries. They definitely had this country in their greedy little grips. They had all of the east coast and most of the west.

  The man I called my father, was a top economic hitman for all of the Eight. I’d met him in the worst way possible. I’d killed four of his men with a fork and a butter knife. But in all fairness, they’d raped and choked my mother to death. As far as I was concerned, we were barely even.

  He’d been just as pissed as me as he came on the scene and saw what they’d done. For a few seconds, he’d had his gun pointing my way. And I could’ve sworn he was going to shoot. But something registered in his eyes as he stared at me and instead of pulling the trigger, he put the gun down and motioned for his other men to put me in the limo.

  And from then on, everyone treated me like his son. I remained by his side all my teenage years and helped take on duties once I turned into an adult.

  The whole time I remained Hundun or any other name. I was this faceless man, bullying the super wealthy. The highest echelon on the class level. That one percent of the world population that owned it all. Slicing a billionaire’s throat at the orders of my father was just my little way of balancing out the inequality of wealth distribution on this bullshit planet.

  It was a difficult life. A lot of people would’ve paid money to know my identity. I couldn’t truly marry or have a family of my own, not with the running around and hiding. Not with all the dark and twisted realities in my game of life.

  One of the main ways I made money was negotiating secret billion dollar deals. Ones that the rich wanted out of the public eye and handled in the sewers of the nation’s capital. Wealth gave the wrong people power and they enjoyed it so much, they refused to compete on a leveled playing field. They kept the broke poor and kept political power tight in their hands.

  I made sure dirty politicians did bad things. I helped trigger terrorist attacks to incite public support for war. And during the wars, I sold weapons to countries on both sides. I rigged races and made sure the powerful continued to dominate and the rich kept on rising.

  It was a family business. One that I despised to my very core. But it was always that family part of the business which made me unable to look away. If not for the man I called my father, I would’ve died on the streets. If not for his business, I would’ve never had the money and experiences that I enjoyed on a day-to-day basis.

  But there was one thing that hurt the most.

  If not for this secretive lifestyle, I would’ve never pushed Dawn away. When I met her, she was supposed to be a short fling. With each day, I fell, deeper than with any other woman before. By the end of the month, I drowned in her. And to save her and me, I played a game—one so bad, it ripped us both to the core.

  And one day I hope she’ll forgive me.

  My thoughts went back to Dawn as she walked around the spacious suite.

  “I’m only staying one night,” she said.

  My frown never left my face. “You don’t like it?”

  “I have an apartment.”

  “Is that what they call that shabby box you live in? I’ve seen crackheads aim higher.”

  “I’m only going to be here tonight.”

  Doesn’t matter. This plan is better.

  “Are you really checking out this room?” I waved my hands around at all the marvelous details.

  The suite came with a 2,000-square-foot living room. Splashes of vibrant pink complemented a crisp brown-and-white color palette. The combination resulted in a warm, yet exciting space. A wet bar stood to the right. Two large flat-screen TVs hung on the wall. A separate 600 square-foot bedroom was in the back with its own luxurious bathroom—marble counters, whirlpool tub, and shower.

  “It’s nice, but I’m going back to my place in the morning.” She ran her fingers through her hair and sat on the couch.

  “Fine,” I mumbled, grabbed the remote control, and turned on both televisions.

  The news came on at the right time and showed her the reality of Max.

  “Still no new information on the body found at Wiscont Boulevard,” the news reporter said. “Although no suspects, witnesses saw a white man with black hair leaving the vicinity.”

  A sketch showed on the screen. I knew Freddy’s face and the artist had captured it well.

  “Police are asking residents to contact them if they see this man in the area. The phone number is 1-800-546-3009. In other news, one South Miami resident had a big surprise waiting in her car this morning.”

  I muted the television as a picture of puppies filled the screen. “Do you see what I mean? Max is gone.”

  “He’s really dead,” Dawn whispered.

  “And they think his brother had something to do with it.”

  “No.” She rose from the couch. “They probably think Freddy was the last person that saw Max before someone else took his life.”

  “Say what you will, but this is dangerous. I think Max was going to tell you to be careful of this Freddy. That’s pretty much what he said to me.”

  She eyed me. “Maybe you should go to the police. Were you the last person that saw him?”

  “I doubt it and I plan to go to the police station tomorrow. Would you like to go with me?”

  “Yes.”

  You’re so suspicious.

  “Good.” I turned off the television. “I know that I’ve done some shitty things when we were together but right now, I’m trying to keep you safe. That’s one thing that you can say about me, I’ve never put you in harm’s way.”

  “You’re a liar. You hurt me.”

  “Not physically.”

  “Emotionally and psychologically is even worse. It’s easier to heal black eyes and cuts, but sometimes it takes forever to heal a broken heart.” She looked away. “And that’s what you did to me. Because of you, I have a hard time trusting men, especially rich men.”

  “You should. Eighty percent of regular men aren’t shit. Over ninety percent of rich men are the most decrepit, soulless individuals you’ll meet.”

  “Finally, you speak the truth. I’m going to bed.” She walked off. “Are you going to make this situation even creepier and stay the night or will you be flying back to DC right now?”

  Someone knocked at the door. Before I could answer, she stopped heading to the bedroom and turned around.

  “Don’t worry. It’s probably my men.” I headed that way and opened the door. Todd, the head of Dawn’s security team, stepped through.

  Bald head and scarred face, just him standing around scared most away. I liked the idea of Todd beating the shit out of anyone that bothered Dawn. Because of that, he got top pay.

  “Hello, sir.” He nodded at me. “We have a report on Thing One.”

  Dawn hurried to my side. “Thing One? Who’s Thing One?”

  “I named your brothers—Freddy and Max—Thing One and Thing Two from The Cat in the Hat. Freddy is Thing One.”

  “How mature of you?”

  “I try.” I returned my attention to Todd. “Where is he?”

  “Thing One and another guy booked a flight to DC,” Todd said.

  I turned to Dawn. “I doubt that’s a coincidence. How much does he know about me?”

  Shock covered her face. “Nothing.”

  “Does he know my name or where I live?” I asked.

  “No,” she said.

  “But he’s going to DC?” I kept the skepticism on my face and returned to Todd. “Any indication of where he’s staying or what he’ll be doing?”

  Todd appeared uncomfortable right before saying the next update of information. “He’s made reservations at the W and purchased champagne and brunch tickets for the Madder Hatter’s event tomorrow morning.”

  “What?” Dawn shrieked. “How does he know about your m
useum?”

  “I sure as hell didn’t tell him.”

  “What’s the champagne and brunch tickets?” She widened her eyes.

  “I’ve been doing these little VIP events at the museum,” I explained. “People can spend their morning eating a chef-prepared breakfast and sipping champagne as they have the whole museum to themselves. Apparently, Freddy is a big fan of art these days.”

  Todd kept a neutral expression on his face. “I plan to have several men waiting there and following him around, sir.”

  “No. There are enough cameras in the place to watch him.” I looked at Dawn. “Did you tell Freddy where we met?”

  “Of course not.” She shook her head. “I didn’t talk about you at all. He doesn’t even know your name.”

  “So how did he know about the museum?” I kept the anger off my face. “This isn’t a coincidence. I don’t believe in coincidences.”

  “It could be a coincidence.” The words came out strong, but her gaze appeared worried.

  “Todd, have my plane ready. I’m going up to DC tonight. I want to meet Freddy.”

  “Yes, sir.” Todd left.

  I headed toward the door. “So, it looks like you’re finally rid of me.”

  “No.” Dawn’s voice held an edge as she grabbed my arm. “You’re not going up there.”

  My dick went hard at her touch. Such a simple gesture of her gripping my arm and it felt more like she was tugging the edge of my dick and begging me to put it in her mouth.

  Later, Dawn. You’ll have it all later.

  I raised my eyebrows. “You just told me to go back to DC. Now you want me to stay?”

  “No. I mean, yes.” Widening her eyes, she let go of my arm. “I just don’t want you to go up to DC to talk to Freddy.”

  I crossed my arms over my chest. “Why not? Freddy and I have things in common. We like art and we have a sick fascination with you. Tomorrow morning should be fun.”

  “Don’t go up there,” she demanded.

  “Why not?” I asked.

  “Because there’s no reason to talk to him.”

  “Aww.” I fake pouted. “And here I thought you were worried that Freddy was going up to DC to kill me like he killed his brother.”

  “He didn’t do it.”