Control - Noah's Rise Bundle (Books I-III): A Billionaire Romance Series

by M. P. Lodi

  Lorenzo Russo was hardly an idiot though. He had made his fortune in the Virtual Office and Business Services sector, and by 2014 he boasted that he was running over 2% of the businesses in the country, yet no one other than the business owners knew his company name until he made the Fortune and Forbes lists.

  Mr. Lorenzo didn't 'own' 2% of the companies, he was staffing them as his firm supplied the people who answered the phones and did all of the work. He supplied the infrastructure to companies both big and small. It all started in 1986 with only one employee being his girlfriend at the time. Inside of a decade, he had employees in all 50 states with some of the largest companies in the world as his clients. Ten years later, he was among the 20 wealthiest people in the U.S.

  What he did was rather simple, his company supplied a team of between four and six employees to answer all phone calls of clients, supplying toll free numbers and doing whatever was needed to make the client's businesses run successfully. They then charged clients in packages starting at $150 a month. His genius was to charge by the minute for services above the package deals, that way business of any size could afford his services.

  Unlike the typical company that paid a receptionist $300 a week for eight hours work a day, his clients paid him $150 for two-hundred minutes of operator time, then $0.50 for each minute that overlapped. The average small businesses paid him $300-500 a month which was a significant saving in comparison to a typical company which hired one employee at $1200 a month, plus taxes, plus rent, and hiring and firing, as well as dealing with labor boards, and government.

  From there he expanded by taking on larger companies. The rest is history. He created the one company in America that never wanted to advertise and was spread by word-of-mouth alone, offering a free month of service to any happy client. To this day his companies do the same.

  People could read all about the man in all of the major business magazines. Aunt Diana told Jen all about her great boss when she was just a child and always spoke of his dreamy son, Jackson. She always told Jen that she knew Jackson would be into her.

  That had been years earlier. Jen figured she would never meet the tycoon's son. He and the whole Russo family lived separate from most other people, their wealth was the reason for this. Jackson had been a student at Columbia University in Manhattan. That was as much as she knew. Then Mr. Russo Sr. was shot in May of 2015, in an area called DUMBO, at his office overlooking the Brooklyn Bridge at 45 Main Street. Jen's Aunt cried for days over the death of that man.

  A week after the murder, her Aunt Diana came looking for her. “Hey Jen, how did the job interview go?” She yelled out.

  Jen blew out some air in frustration after another failed interview. She didn't even answer her Aunt, she just remained seated on the chair overlooking the pond. The gardeners had meticulously maintained the whole back yard of the estate, Jen's favorite spot to sit and read whenever the weather was as nice as it was that day. Gorgeous clear blue skies and around 75 degrees. Jen liked to throw fish food into the pond to feed the Koi.

  Her Aunt walked out to her. “I asked you how your interview went? Didn't you hear me?”

  She looked up at her aunt, with the sun in her eyes “Not so well. Another jerk. This one asked me to give him a massage for $100. How's that for an interview for a job as a junior executive with an MBA to nowhere? I'm starting to think that's why all of the big firms now check your cell phone at the front desk security. All of the assholes at least. They're afraid to be recorded.” Her Aunt kissed her on her forehead.

  “I'm so sorry kiddo. Don't worry, things will get better. We have Bush to blame for this economy.” Her Aunt rubbed her arm and continued “If you want some of the diet soda crap that you like, I have a bottle in the fridge.”

  Everything was Bush's fault, according to her Aunt. Even though the man hadn’t been President since Jen was 15 years old. Her Aunt meandered herself back into the building, she was still attractive for a lady in her 50s. Her hair always looked beautiful and so did the way she dressed. From the photos Jen saw of her when she was younger, she was a serious looker. Men must have fought over this woman, her one living Aunt.

  “Thanks”, Jen said to her Aunt's back as she watched her walk back into ‘Help's’ Building, as Jen liked to call it. It was a two story luxury building with six separate, large suites. Aunt Diana had the best one. The building was hidden from sight right behind the most gorgeous mansion Jen ever saw up close. Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, it surely was.

  The whole economy was taking a crap, and since the current regime took office, welfare rolls had doubled, debt was up to 18 Trillion and the country was now heading into a depression. Ask anyone looking for a job, they were all depressed. Even the government stats for unemployment were lies. Almost one in every three Americans didn't have a job. Yet supposedly the unemployment rate was not even 6%. Lies on top of more lies. But that was politics for you.

  Both political parties were like a virus on the nation, sucking the country dry. We were living in a world of lies, held up by debt and distracted by the glitz and glamour of a brother fucking his sister and pushing a ten year old boy out of a window. What a messed up world we live in. Jen liked that show too. She liked to repeat the joke that all of the Houses on Game of Thrones were really only fighting over a chair.

  She heard a car door slam shut, someone was moving in next door. There were never any sounds coming from that house. It was Lorenzo Russo's other Mansion that he never used as it was perpetually under construction since he bought it ten or so years earlier. That was the one that would get wiped out from the sea. Jen was a little curious and decided to walk to the wall separating the two estates. There were a few trees at the wall which divided them, which she used to climb when she was just eight years old.

  That was when her mother and father were killed in a car accident on the Long Island Expressway. Jen was now twenty-two and never drank one sip of alcohol because of it. The drunk that killed her parents gave her a permanent block in her head from ever wanting to drink. She was the total opposite of her best-friend-for-life, Emily.

  Jen looked around the garden, and none of the staff were around which prompted her to climb up the tree for fun, she did lots of strange things when she knew no one was watching. Peering over the wall, she saw a muscled arm carrying a black suitcase. The person went into the next-door mansion before she could get a better look. She had a feeling that arm was connected to a hunk of a man. He had to be handsome. Something about him was mysterious. She couldn't quite place it. Why would he go into Mr. R's second estate? No one ever did. She climbed back down and wondered who it was before walking back into the building to see her Aunt.

  Walking into the suite in the ‘help's’ building, Jen saw her Aunt busy doing something at the kitchen table. The kitchen had an island, and the table overlooked a window that had a view of where Jen had liked to sit by the pond. “Didn't you tell me that the mansion next door was also owned by your boss?” She asked her Aunt.

  Her Aunt seemed startled at first by the question. “Why... yes, there is family over there for the time being. I might as well tell you since we can't have any talk outside of this room. Come over here for a quick chat.” Her Aunt waved her over with her left hand.

  Jen walked to the kitchen table where her Aunt was set up with some pastries and a TV screen. She was watching some terrible 'Housewives' reality show. She looked at her Aunt and shook her head. As if it wasn't enough that they lived in the shadows of extreme wealth, without her Aunt needing to watch shows about other rich people too.

  “Hon, I need you to not tell anyone, not even the other staff here on the property. It’s a matter of life and death, so no texting, no Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, no Facebook, and definitely no photos of anything that goes on next door. Do you understand?” Her Aunt said to Jen with a worried look.

  Jen held her Aunt's left arm with her right hand. “Are you OK, is something wrong?” Her Aunt looked like she had something to say,
but couldn't. What could make her act like this? Something was scaring her.

  “I can't go into details, just... never ever bring up next door. Never. Promise me Jennifer. And DO NOT ask me anything more, I'll explain when I can, in about thirty days or so.” She put her finger up as if scolding Jen. She only ever called her 'Jennifer' when she was pissed off, or scared as she was in that moment.

  Jen then said softly “Just answer one thing for me.” But her Aunt shook her head with her eyes closed and shouted “NO!” She was really freaked out with whatever was going on. Jen never saw her so frazzled before. She needed to know what was going on, now more than ever.

  “You never saw anything. Understood?” She looked right into Jen's eyes, making her feel like she was that little nine-year-old little girl again, who threw out all of her Aunt's wine because someone could get drunk from it. That really pissed her Aunt off and she yelled at her for at least ten minutes that day and even grounded her. That was until Jen screamed and cried about not wanting to lose her Aunt like she did her Mom and Dad.

  Jen stood up, raised her right hand up to show her palm and said “I don't know anything, I promise.” She turned and started to walk out of the room to get to her bedroom, when she heard from behind “Remember that, please.”

  She didn't turn around. Her Aunt sounded more like she was pleading with her as opposed to the ordering she’d done before. Wow...she was truly scared.

  Her Aunt was yet to realize that it was like telling Jen to not think of a pink elephant. Who on Earth could 'not' think of a pink elephant at the mere mention of it? How the hell was Jen not going to at least be curious as to what the mystery was next door? More importantly, why was her Aunt so scared?

  Emily

  Emily Kazinsky grew up in the same Help's Building as Jen. Unlike Jen who came to live with her Aunt when she were eight, Emily had lived there her entire life as her mother had been in the employ of Mr. Russo for going on thirty years. Mr. Russo bought the estate they lived on almost 25 years earlier, he also bought the one next to this one about ten or so years ago, but never really did anything with it as it was prone to flooding.

  Jen and Emily had been together every day of their lives, through every grade up until the 12th. When it came time for college, Jennifer had a scholarship to St. Johns University in New York City, and Emily decided to party for four years instead at the local community college, where she still somehow managed to get her associates degree in liberal arts. Fortunately for her she was a hairdresser, and made decent money.

  Emily was just getting back from an appointment, when she saw the familiar sight of Jen upstairs reading at her window. She read too much, as far as Emily was concerned. Emily did often read books that Jen suggested. If Jen wasn’t by her window reading, she’d be with a book by the koi pond instead. She waved up to her friend who seemed excited and waved her to come upstairs.

  Aunt Diana often said that Emily and Jen were two peas in a pod. They did in fact share and tell each other everything. After losing her parents so young at the age of eight, Emily was there to comfort her friend whenever she needed it, especially the nights that Jennifer would cry herself to sleep. They were like blood-sisters and Jen's Aunt Diana considered Emily her adopted niece. All three were just like family.

  Emily's mother never minded as she filled their own apartment with relatives from the old country, Poland. Her mother helped a dozen relatives resettle here in America. A parade of cousins and cousins filled their suite in the servants building on the estate. Her mother knew and trusted Emily's 'Aunt Diana', who was also her boss.

  Before Emily touched the front door, her phone vibrated. A text from Jen saying 'Stay there.' She smiled. The front door opened and there was Jen. She must have flew down the stairs. Before Emily could say anything, Jen said “Walk with me” She seemed overly excited.

  “What's going on?” She asked Jen as the two walked down the block. “You have to hear this.” Which meant she was about to reveal yet another deep dark secret of some staff member on the estate. That's usually what happened when she acted like this, it was Jen after all, so she was used to the drama.

  Jackson

  “Hey bro, it's about time you got up.” Noah didn't answer. He walked past Jackson making a low moan, he needed his coffee. Jackson has seen that walk for the best part of a week. They couldn't have any visitors in the house, had to have all supplies dropped off by Jackson's Dad's former bodyguard, and Noah stayed up till all hours of the night. Most likely whacking off to internet porn. Jackson never knocked after a certain hour. He didn't want to know.

  Noah was the type of guy that always had women, but now he couldn't. He was dead after all, just as Jackson was. Officially dead. It was a ploy that the F.B.I. agreed to, and with the help of Pat Persani, Jackson's dad's bodyguard, it was how it had to be for now.

  Noah walked over to the coffee machine. “Shit, we're out of French Vanilla again. Seriously?

  “Don't look at me, I don't drink it. It’s all you. Shit brother, you went through a whole box in a week?” He said to Jackson.

  “I like my coffee as well,” Noah said. “I can't stand people until I've had at least two cups in the afternoon when I get up. I feel bad about that fact too. I really detest people, but after my two cups, I'll have a change of heart, and feel far better about hating people.” He was always a joker. Jackson figured that Noah was scouring the net all night for not only porn, but convoluted snippets of wisdom, jokes, memes and vines. He amused him though and was the type of guy that was always the life of the party. Too bad there was no party now for almost a week and they were prisoners, in the lap of luxury in friggin’ South Hampton.

  Jackson got up from the sofa in the family room and stretched. He and Noah trained five days a week and both had excellent bodies. The kind women always double take, not Arnold Swarzenegger kind, more like a more muscular swimmer's type of body. Well, that was Jackson. Noah was moving up with bodybuilding and just started to inch toward a full-fledged hulk. Jackson stretched out his calves by leaning against the wall, and while stretching said “I'm going out for some air in the yard.”

  “You know where I'll be, right there at that huge ass TV. There's a game coming on in an hour.”

  Jen

  “There’s a hot guy next door, stretching out on the grass. HOLY SHIT. BRB!” - That was Jen's text to Emily, who had an appointment cutting hair across town. My God this man was a sight. He was about 5”11, or maybe even 6' and had a body to die for, with short brown hair, neatly trimmed.

  He was flexible too. He bent down and touched the ground with the palms of his hands without bending his legs. Jen kept staring, this time she had climbed a different tree. She felt like she were a kid again, climbing trees and spying on people. If only she could be a kid again, life was so simple back then. Here she was at twenty-two doing the same things she did when she was just thirteen. At least no one would ever see her act like this.

  Damn... he was hot. He must have been at least twenty-three to twenty-five or so. She couldn't tell from the distance. His arms were incredible. He had on blue shorts, a white top and sneakers. The tree she was in partially extended into the next estates land, with branches that went over the wall. She sat on one such branch several times over the last four days, hoping to glimpse who it was next door. She wanted to see the pink elephant that had something to do with scaring her Aunt Diana.

  Sure, it was stupid and dangerous, but what the hell? She remembered once how unsafe the tree was. There were people who lived here before the Russo's built the mansion, after the last wipe out by the sea. She remembered an older kid who fell out of this very tree, he sprained his ankle and cried. That was when she was all but twelve. Memories can really get you thinking.

  Jen never liked to dwell on her own. They always led down the same path of invariably thinking of her Mom and Dad. Then she'd cry her eyes out. Her thoughts veered there now and she quickly focused on the man’s body. It was a sight indeed. Well worth he
r lowering herself to such a childish act. She'd climb a hundred trees to see this man work out. Hell...she might sell tickets once her Aunt gives her the go-ahead in a month, as she said.

  Then, suddenly, she felt something crack. Jen froze. A thought of dying flashed through her head as the branch she had about 90% of her weight on snapped. Down she went, first with her leg hitting the brick wall. She hit the ground and was in pain. Her heart was racing, she was worried that she fell on the other side of the wall. She was more scared as her Adonis came over to her and stood over her. Her leg was in terrible agony. Her ankle too.

  Fuck...she was bleeding. She touched her left leg and it had a cut, but didn't look deep. Jen tried to stand up but couldn't, her adrenaline was off the charts. She had that flight reflex, but couldn't run which gave her a fright until she focused on her pain. Her eyes teared up.

  “Who the fuck are you?” The object of her spying stood above her, then knelt down. She avoided his face at first. Embarrassed at the situation. Suddenly his hands were all over her. What the fuck was he doing? Feeling her up? She felt like crying. What did she get herself into? She was going to scream but realized he was frisking her. What was he, a cop?

  Her heart pounded hard. Finally, with enough nerve to look him in the face, she did. “I'm so sorry” is all she said, and glanced back to the ground. He stood back up, after obviously failing to find anything on her.

  “I had to be sure you didn't have any weapons.” He said, seeming like the forceful type, but yet there was something in his beautiful eyes that said he was gentle. His patting her down didn't fit his nice, deep voice. But she did just fall out of tree while watching him. This was anything but a normal event for either of them, she was sure. He stood up and looked at the branch that lay next to her, she held her ankle and felt it numbing and blowing up.