Alright, so I just started school again and have been getting tons of assignments. I can't promise when the next chapter will be up but I hope soon. Don't think that I'm ignoring you or giving up, I'm just busy!
x
las96
Damien's POV:
I sat on my father's private jet beating myself up. Phoebe needed me this weekend to be with her at the wedding and I was letting her down; again. I knew that I could not keep dropping everything without Phoebe finally getting tired of it and leaving me. It was what happened between my father and his first, second, and fourth wife – the third one left because of his cheating. When I first met Phoebe we were both starting out in the business world, we were more focused on one another. She was still the free spirit that I fell in love with and I could not believe that she was still putting up with a guy like me. I loved my job but I loved her more. I was determined to tell my father that I would not be his slave boy anymore. There was no need for me to prove what an asset I was to the company. I was going to let my work and profit speak for itself.
Phoebe was my background on my laptop and I shut down the file my father sent me to look over just to look at her. She was the most beautiful girl that I had ever met and I pinched myself every day for being the man worthy enough for her. The photo was taken in London of the two of us kissing in front of the Big Ben. Corny, I know, but it made her happy and that was all I wanted to do. Her smile was genuine, I could tell because she had crinkles around her eyes. All I ever wanted was to make her smile like that all day, every day.
My plane landed and my driver was waiting to take me to my father's office. I kept reviewing the files that he sent me about our tax filings for the company. The numbers were off so I fixed the spreadsheet and sent the file back to my father. He was waiting for me in his office, Oliver sat faithfully at his desk. I could feel him check me out as I passed by. Even after all this time he looked at me in a way that made me uncomfortable and every time I told Phoebe she would roll over in laughter.
"How was your flight?" my father asked, not even looking up from his laptop.
"Alright considering I had to leave my fiancée."
I was not happy about being here and the sooner that I was able to leave, the sooner I could get back to Phoebe.
"I'm sure she'll be fine. I need you to sign this paper understating our taxes," my father shuffled the papers towards me.
"You want me to do what?" I could not believe what my father was asking of me, "I thought those numbers were a mistake. You did that on purpose?"
"Don't be naïve Damien, if you're going to succeed in this world then you can't be afraid to break a few rules. Do you honestly believe that every billionaire and millionaire got where they are today by playing by the rules?"
I had always admired my father's work ethic but right now I saw a man that I did not even know anymore.
"I can't do that," I shook my head, "I refuse to do it."
"Then you're out of the company," my father stood up from his desk, "There are tons of other eager twenty-something year olds waiting and begging to be my protégé. I could ask anyone of them to do this and they wouldn't even hesitate."
"I'm your flesh and blood, you'd honestly just kick me out of the company like that? People would talk, questions would be asked, you wouldn't be able to get away with this."
"I've been doing this for years. How else do you think your Ivy League education was paid for? All of those trips and boarding schools, you think I got there by playing fair? Wake up Damien, it's time for you to be a man now. Phoebe isn't going to want to be with some nobody that has no means to support her."
My father knew that Phoebe was my weakness, I would do anything for her.
"She loves me, she would never turn her back on me because I had no money!"
"Oh yeah? Let's test your theory. Her ex, Blaine, I'm sure he'd love to sweep in and take Phoebe as his own. I can only imagine the two of them having kids that are supposed to be yours, living in a house that was meant for you, all of that gone when I blackball you out of the company."
I would rather die than have somebody like Blaine marry Phoebe. I had to do this for her, she would have to understand. He had me and from the satisfied smirk on his face, he recognized that I was going to do what he said.
"Alright, where do I sign?"