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CHAPTER 1
Sebastian
I’d been called many things in my life. Playboy. Monster. Bastard.
I was all three, but no one could ever accuse me of not keeping a clear focus when it came to business. I had my share of enemies, both men and women determined to bring me down given my ruthless nature. Only a few were stupid enough to think I wouldn’t either catch them in the act or become determined to exact my personal brand of retaliation.
Destroying them completely.
It would seem I’d underestimated the stupidity of the man sweating in front of me. Or maybe he’d been foolish enough to think he could get away with attempting to undermine me.
“You can’t do this to me, Sebastian. I won’t stand for it. My investors won’t stand for it.”
“Quite the contrary. This is my company. I can do what I damn well please.” I eyed him, enjoying watching the worthless bastard squirm.
There was little I enjoyed more than crushing my enemies with my boot.
“You’re a bastard and exactly like your father.”
“That I am and I’m going to take that as a compliment.” While I smiled as I issued the statement, the truth was I loathed being compared to Dinalto Cawthorne. My father had never been a decent role model. The worst part about Casper’s statement was that he was correct. Through the years, I’d grown into a carbon copy of the unscrupulous man. At least I had extreme wealth to show for my hard work and forays into ruthlessness. However, I needed to remind myself that Mr. Jacobs was also an enemy, a man who’d done everything in his power to undermine our success over the years. It was time for his comeuppance.
And I was just the man to do it.
He’d once been considered the most powerful man in real estate development up and down the East Coast. He was the man to work for, the one to fear given his ability to cross the line when it was convenient and kept his deep pockets heavy.
Casper had used tactics that would rival any mafia organization, suspected of a half dozen disappearances of influential moguls in his thirty-year tenure. My father had apprenticed with him from almost the day he’d arrived in Miami, learning the man’s tips and tricks of success, remaining loyal when even the man’s partners had abandoned him.
Then out of the blue, Casper hadn’t needed him any longer.
I’d been a boy when my father had been tossed aside, which had changed him almost immediately. He’d regrouped in a couple of years, taking half of Casper’s business, determined that one day he’d destroy the man he’d once considered a mentor. That had turned my father into a brutal son of a bitch, his hatred for Casper and the rest of the world evident in everything he’d done since then.
Very slowly he’d drained the man of other clients until finally Casper came crawling back to my father, begging to work with our firm. I’d been appalled my father had taken him back with open arms, developing a different type of partnership. It had been years before I’d realized the cunning actions my father had taken were simply a savage game. Only when I’d taken the helm had I learned the truth.
What little I remembered about the early days immediately after my father’s rise to power was the move into a much bigger house with a pool and dozens of new, shiny toys. Maybe even as young as five I’d become determined to be like my father, a man I’d once considered a hero. Somewhere along the way, it would seem I’d lost my conscience.
It was funny how things weren’t always what they seemed, people ready to stab you in the back at a moment’s notice. That’s how powerful men and women jumped ahead of the line. That’s also exactly what I was doing. My father had trained me well. Exploiting weaknesses was a significant strength of mine. However, digging into someone’s past, using whatever darkness they kept hiding in shadowed corners and underneath their beds was my claim to fame. I was the best at it, better than my father.
And I intended on using it to become even richer.
After all, it was too late to change now.
I leaned over my desk, enjoying watching sweat roll down both sides of the pompous asshole’s face. Casper had believed that he could fly in under the radar, laying claim to the most profitable and expensive real estate deal Miami had ever seen. He’d thought wrong. Every enemy who’d dared try to undermine us had been wrong. There’d been countless scores of them over the years, although my savage reputation had prevented the little fish from attempting to attack the sharks. It would seem Casper was still too big for his britches.
My gaze fell to the horrific pictures photographed in vivid color I’d placed on the edge of my desk. I’d been eager to show the man my beautiful works of art that had taken me almost six months to obtain. The man had been damn good in hiding his proclivities, even going so far as to leave the city when he needed a fix.
And I wasn’t talking about illegal drugs.
He’d kept everything on the downlow, a prim and proper conservative on the outside, seemingly adoring his wife and family, including six grandchildren. All while being little more than a pedophile. I abhorred men who took advantage of children. Even if the boy in question was close to reaching the age of eighteen, that didn’t matter to me. By all rights, I should turn him into the police.
Maybe I still would.
That is if I had a conscience, which I didn’t.
Everyone had a secret, a dirty, nasty little secret hidden in the darkest corners.
“I suggest you rethink your decision, Casper.”
“You’re bluffing,” he snorted. “Those are doctored and you know it.”
