The Billionaire’s Pawn

STRIKER

“Welcome back, Cade. How’s your honeymoon?” Linden gave me a brotherly hug with a back clap.

“Thanks, and too short. I feel like I can still use another week, but I have a lot of things to do. How’s everyone?”

“Sax and Kye are busy with their job. Others on assignment. That leaves me here alone.”

I sat across his desk. “What’s the latest?”

“He’s under surveillance.”

“Are you sure he doesn’t know it yet?”

“No. I don’t think he is aware, or he’s just too confident that no one will recognize her in New York with his new identity as a woman.”

“That’s good.”

“But I think he’s intimately involved with Magnus.”

I stared at Linden in shock. “What made you say that?”

“Magnus visited him twice in four days and left in the morning.”

“Magnus is gay?”

“Not necessary. He sees Ivy as a woman, so Magnus is straight.”

“I don’t know how London will react to this?”

“How’s she, by the way?”

I sighed. “Hanging in there.”

“Should I expect another good news?” He had a slight smile on his lips.

“What good news?”Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g

“Are you planning on having a family?”

“Not now, but yeah. I wanna have kids if she wants.” I couldn’t help but smile. Was I ready to be a father? I didn’t know, but I wanted to have kids of my own one day.

“So you two haven’t talked about it.”

“Not exactly, but the topic came up.”

“I’m happy for you, man.”

“I want you to go out there and have fun with women, brother. This is not real happiness. You’ve been working so hard for years. You have enough money. You can invest in Hover if you like.”

“Easy for you to say. Braddson has billions, and your Dad is also fucking rich, but whatever you say, Cade. That’s dopamine talking.” He put the folder on the top of the desk and pushed it to my front. “That’s all I have.”

“What I’m trying to say is you need a life outside the firm. And their money is not mine.”

“I couldn’t trace his money. My guess is he hides it somewhere, still in cash. I can reach someone in the agency.”

All of a sudden, I felt frustrated. “We will catch him.” I flipped the folder open. “He has only one parking ticket. I can’t believe he’s this clean.” I still couldn’t believe Linus stopped working on catching that son of a bitch.

“Ivy is none. She paid her tax on time and has worked in an Ad company since last year.”

“Before last year?”

“Also, Ad company here in New York. But before that, Ivan was a delivery guy in one of the leading e-commerce companies in the world.”

“Then he stopped. Why? Because he had money. He might deliver his money in separate packages to a P. O. Box. There’s no way to trace it. Damn it.”

“Hey. We made progress. Or he bought cryptocurrency.”

“And the more we can’t track the money.” I sighed in frustration. “If my wife asks you, just tell her we’re making progress. I don’t want to disappoint her. And we’re actually making progress.”

“Don’t worry.” He gave me a manila envelope. “Check that out. That’s the closest I could get, or I would blow my cover.”

“Thanks, man. I’ll write the check.”

“Save it. I will only take it when our job is done.”

“Alright.” I stood up.

“Where are you going?”

“To see Dad.”

“Do you want me to drive you there?”

My eyes narrowed. “Why?”

He shrugged. “Nothing. I just wanna come with you.”

“Did Moses put you into this?”

He laughed as he shook his head. “No. You’re my best friend, and my work for today is done. So I wanna tag along, dumbass.”

“Okay. Get your ass ready.” I walked out of his office with the envelope in my hand.

I waited for Linden in the car when I felt like checking my Instagram. I posted the view I took from the veranda of the house, and then I added the picture of the cove in Burkhese with the caption, two more beautiful places with you.

I went to check London’s account and followed her. It was funny that she was already my wife before I got to follow her account.

“I see.” I smiled as I clicked the heart button of the photo she had recently uploaded. It was from our wedding. I loved the caption.

Linden joined me in the car. “I’m driving.”

“No way. This is my car.”

“You’re too overprotective over this piece of shit.”

“Nah. But I’m driving. Now buckle up.” I drove off the driveway to the main road.

“So, what were you doing when I got in?”

“I followed London on Instagram.”

He laughed out loud. “You’re stalking your wife?”

“Of course not. I thought who are married couples didn’t follow each other on social media. I just liked her latest post.”

He took his phone and checked the app. “Wow. That’s new. The last time you posted was when you arrived. And then this one. Nice. I can’t wait to revisit Capria. How are the prince and the princesses?”

“They’re good.” I stopped at the red light. “Maybe your destiny is in Capria.”

“Or maybe she’s not born yet.”

“Sometimes you’re an ass. How many weddings have you attended in less than five years?”

“Just shut up, Cade. I’m happy for you, though. Let’s just keep it that way.”

The light turned green. I drove toward the busy street. “I just don’t want you to grow old and alone.”

“Don’t push it.”

I surrendered my hands before I held the steering wheel. “Okay, man.”

Thirty minutes later, I parked the car. We headed to Dad’s office.

“Aren’t you gonna start working here?”

“Not anymore. Dad wanted me to accept Moses’ offer.”

“Wait. Are you going to work at the Hover? That’s awesome, man.” He clapped my back.

“What’s so awesome about it?”

“Well, you’re a pilot. So you have chances of flying those latest aircraft designs.”

“I don’t think so. I will be focusing on research and desk jobs.”

“That’s a good idea. You’ll be the next-”

“Don’t,” I warned him.

“In the next ten years, brother. Trust me.”

I let go of a deep breath before I pushed my Dad’s office door. I froze in my place to see Linus sitting before my father. Before I could turn back, he already saw me. He looked surprised, but he didn’t seem to look mad, though.

“Sir, good to see you here.” I went to shake his hand, and I didn’t see any hesitation or anger in his eyes.

“Welcome back, Striker.”

“Thanks.” Then I hugged Dad while Linden was shaking hands with him. “Hey, Dad.”

“Good to see you, son.”

“You, too.”

“Tate.” Linden hugged my father before he went to the window to see the view outside.

I sat next to Dad.

“When did you two come back?”

“Last night. London is back to work.”

“So, I’ve heard. How’s she?”

“I think you should pay her a visit and settle whatever anger and dispute you both have for each other.”

“You have the audacity to tell me after you married my daughter without me?”

I shrugged. “Well, in my defense, it shouldn’t be up to me, isn’t it? You both didn’t give us a choice to choose our partners, and marriage is not something to play with. Did that occur to you before you roofied us? For the love of God, sir, marriage is not a business deal. This is a lifetime partnership and commitment. But, yeah, it’s done. We committed to each other when I accepted to marry her and put my ring on her finger. Now, let us be happy.”

“You seem to get along.” That was all he said. Unbelievable.

“Maybe we are lucky we like each other. And if there’s, anyone to be blamed for this fallout is you and my Dad. I wanna say this one more time. This is our life now. We do it together, or we don’t. That’s how marriage works, in our terms. So I am here without her knowing that you are here. I want you to reconcile with your daughter, and it should start with you since you are the one who played matchmaker between us.”

He drew a deep breath before he looked away. “She’s mad at me.”

“Can you blame her? She was crying the day you called her. She said you abandoned her. After what she’d sacrificed for this marriage, that’s how you treat her? That’s so damn low, sir. I’m sorry, but I have the right to protect my wife. Whatever it is you’re after, you can’t take it from me. I have nothing to offer you but give what I can to my wife.”

“I’ll talk to her.”

“Thank you.”

A few minutes later, he asked to leave.

Once he was gone, I faced Dad. “What did you two talk about?”

Dad suddenly looked guilty.

“Look, Dad. I’m not mad. What you did back then, you thought, was for the better of Cade Premium. It’s over now. Now tell me what he wants this time?”

“He wants to know if you’re back.”

“So he knows we’re back from you?”

“I think he knew before he dropped by.”

I nodded. “Of course. Reed still works for him.”

“Then make him work for you. He’s trustworthy enough.”

“Not right now. I’m still working on something. What else did you two talk about?”

“About your relationship with your father. I told him. They are civil but don’t expect my son to be on our side after what we did to him. I’m afraid if he fixes his issue with London, he’s gonna use her again.”

“London is not stupid. She knows how to set limits. And I trust her.”

“That’s good to hear.”

“She cares about me, Dad. She would never do something to jeopardize our marriage.”

“I know you two would work out.”

“Yeah. It’s too early to say, but I’m confident we can make things work between us, but I came here because I wanna talk to you about something.”

Dad stole a glance at Linden.

“Don’t worry. I trust him with my life.”

“Okay. What is it all about?”

“I’ll pay what you owe to Linus.”

He was instantly on his feet. “No. No, son. I will pay. I didn’t tell you about it because I didn’t want to involve you.”

“I’m sorry, Dad, too late for that, and I made up my mind. You can’t stop me. Just please, let me help you.”

“No, Striker.”

“Dad, please?” I would beg if I should, and it was time to give back what I owed him-everything I had.

“Where are you gonna get that amount?”

“Trust me. I’m working on it.”

“You’re going to borrow from your father?” Colors drained from his face the moment he realized he could be right. He was ashamed.

“No. I will ask him to give me.”

His eyes grew wide in shock. “Are you insane? Why would he give you such an amount?”

“If I’ll ask you to give me ten million right now, will you give me?”

“Yes,” he answered me quickly.

“Then I’m confident he will.” I shrugged. “He’s my father, after all.”

“This is not you, Striker. Don’t do this? Don’t act so impulsive. And then he thinks you’re only after his money.”

“Dad, if he cares about me more than his money, he will not think twice. He has hundreds of billions, and I’m only asking him for how much?”

“Please, son. I’m begging you. Let me take care of my own problems.”

“Dad, I’m so sorry. You’ve been there for me since the beginning. Let me help you this time.”

“You’re helping me, but you will be forever indebted to him.”

“It’s okay, Dad. I got this.”