Billionaire Stepbrother - Addiction: The Complete Series Read online

  But, there were neither pregnancies nor abortions to plague Brett. He was careful in his sowing, apparently, thought Martin drily.

  Kady was growing into a beautiful young lady and was athletic if a bit big-boned. She was full-figured, but she had a competence with people and was very agile at handling relationships. Like her mother, Kady was compassionate but also possessed of the poise and grace that comes with knowing that, regardless of circumstances, one always could depend on the family money to come to the rescue.

  Martin watched as Brett tried to grow some tech startups while attending university. Most were small successes. One failed entirely, but it was something to do with creating a game for a new social platform that tried to integrate with the new cellular phone technologies. The entire thing was beyond him, he admitted, but the kids seemed to think it was cool. They could find their gaming friends using a small map within the game that showed on the phone. But, the application was buggy, and the map APIs they were using were continually being modified, so the app itself crashed horribly. After a short time, Brett and his team dumped the idea.

  Their next effort was a way to send short strings of text as messages using the Internet. This was another technology that Martin had seen evolve. He was smart enough to know that Ghent International, Inc. needed to be able to integrate its construction software with this new platform.

  Martin had hired a few developers who seemed to know what they were doing. He even hired Brett as a summer intern and was not disappointed at all by the young man’s intelligent suggestions about how best to develop their product line for online use.

  When the latest release had been a rousing success, Martin arranged with Ted to provide Brett with an injection of capital for his fledgling social media application. Known as “Pecker,” it would allow users to send up to 280 characters of text. Their marketing people called these transmissions ‘pecks,’ as in ‘kisses.’ He thought it was catchy. Apparently, so did the public, who seized on the idea and made it a tremendous success through a viral campaign that showcased its advantages over its nearest competitor.

  “Peck ‘er with feeling! Bigger is better when it’s twice the size!” went the slogan.

  The cool kids loved it, and the investors loved it even more.

  Pretty soon, Brett was coming to his father for business advice. They set up two corporations, with one a holding company of the assets of the first, in trust.

  Martin assisted with the tax structure, which paid dividends per share, and repaid investors over a five-year descending premium with a balloon payment that could be re-invested for a lowered tax impact. They also took a percentage of investments and created an annuity to cover business continuity and legal protections that might arise from regulatory changes. That fund was self-sustaining, with a payback clause that limited its size to six percent of total asset value. It also was set up to pay for any tax attorneys, corporate lawyers or media budgets at one percentage point of the annual cash flow. It was an elegant solution to the problem of intellectual property patent rights. The holding company could divest the subsidiaries and then restructure, selling the assets from the old business to the newer one at pennies on the dollar, should the need arise. It protected the young company from predators by incorporating poison pill provisions that mandated that Brett or his father were to be officers of any companies formed through a merger or acquisition, with very lucrative severance packages. These golden parachutes would keep the players away, as it would require serious money to buy them out.

  Martin was pleased when Ted approached him a few months after Pecker had been chugging along to announce his semi-retirement from Ghent, International. He and Sarah had discussed it, and they could both afford to let others run the daily routines of their respective concerns. Martin was made President, and then CEO of Ghent, International, Inc. as Ted withdrew from the operational side of things.

  And then “Pecker” was a thing.

  Brett had been working hard on refining the application. He had used the influx of capital and the business structure that had been built to leverage some of his technology into search engine optimization algorithms that sent the data anonymously to secure databases in South Africa. These were in turn handled by Indian servers that crunched the numbers and returned buying and travel patterns of “Pecker” users. That metadata was becoming increasingly valuable in the world market. Brett hired top security coders to harden the app from hackers, and after a brief flurry of coding activity found that researchers were proclaiming Pecker the tightest and most secure app on the planet.

  That caught the attention of Walter Reighland. And suddenly, Brett was a billionaire.

  The amount of wealth for such a young man was unreal. When he told his father, Ted was speechless, and then went on a verbal tirade of obscenity that was completely unlike him. He wasn’t swearing at Brett; he just had run out of words to describe the exhilaration he felt as Brett’s father. His pride in his son’s accomplishments was so great he wept openly.

  When Sarah had found out, she cautioned Ted and Brett that they should seek professional counsel to arrange for the handling of this sum. Long experience with her family had taught her the prudent approach was always best. She let them know of a few trusted attorneys and accountants and then stood back to let her men play boss.

  However, Sarah had intimate knowledge of what was occurring because she had known Walter Reighland for a very long time.

  

  Chapter Nineteen

  Sarah Markland had a long and storied history before she settled down with her Marine husband, Captain James Wolcott. Prior to her marriage, she was a bit of a rascal and had enjoyed being wooed by the various suitors her parents kept supplying. Since they were an old money family, Sarah never worried about having to find work. She had bucked tradition, in fact, by choosing to pursue an architectural degree, and finally had landed a Masters. When she worked for Bob Fisher’s firm, she found that the business was just a bit tedious but fascinating. She promised herself she would only stay long enough to find out the tricky bits, but Bob seduced her.

  Sarah was a bit of a conundrum to her parents. They had been married for a very long time and were of the old school of marriage - hell or high water until death parted them. Her father was a banker and was dry and mostly humorless. He did occasionally show some manner of affection towards her, and she knew that he loved her in his way. Her mother was the typical Connecticut old money wife; involved in the historical society, a patron of up and coming artists, and staid. She was very conservative, both in her personal life and her financial decisions. Sarah did not think her mother was exactly a woman who had made her fortunes through social climbing, but it was true that her father’s family was far wealthier than her mother’s.

  Both families were rich as Croesus, so it didn’t ever affect her as she flew along through her private schooling. Sarah lived in an insular society and came to expect the riches showered on her, and the advantages such wealth bestowed.

  She wasn’t ashamed of her status, nor was she overly demonstrative. Sarah managed to escape a lot of the neuroses that the children of the very wealthy occasionally caught. Her poise and charm were accentuated by her family’s elite status and their class. No one would have ever accused the Markland’s of being uncharitable, and they would have found themselves shunned if they had.

  In fact, one of Sarah’s summer internships had been at one of their foundations.

  It was a place where ill children were given medical care that was peremptorily expensive for their families. This life-saving organization was continuously lauded for its administrative efficiency. It was particularly because of work that she had performed during her time there.

  When she left to pursue architecture, her mother had tried to dissuade her, but gently. She could not imagine why Sarah had any interest in the subject past mere hobby. There were all the social events to attend, after all. And, the men of their circles had set their sights on landing h
er ever since her cotillion.

  Sarah was demure, but no neophyte at love’s ways. She had never been one to shy away from a challenge. Her boyfriends over the years were surprised at her openness to try things. She had lost her virginity by fifteen and was very self-aware of the fact that she was orgasmic only with clitoral stimulation. She was smart at keeping the boys at bay, and if anything untoward or demeaning was said of her, it wasn’t said for long.

  Sarah was taught about many things to which the average teenage girl never even knew existed. She knew how to defend herself from an early age, taking martial arts with other children of the wealthy, from private tutors who were often experts from actual combat. There was a hint of the criminal in some of these proceedings, but that never tainted her nor her fellow students. They were taught to defend themselves ruthlessly and show no mercy to their opponents. Key phrases that signaled their elite status were given to them, so if they needed to speak to the police or other authority figures, that would garner them immediate and particular attention and protections.

  Sarah learned to drive defensively, scuba dive and snorkel and drive boats, pilot planes, and race motorcycles during her teen years. Her studies were augmented by experts who were paid handsomely to educate her properly and assure she could hold her own in any arena of social combat as well.

  Sarah found she had a natural talent for writing and drawing, and could speak four languages fluently by the time she had reached maturity.

  She graduated with honors with a degree in architecture and decided a sabbatical was in order. So, between her undergraduate and graduate studies, she traveled to Europe, to tour the countryside. She had a grand holiday, enjoying the company of many wealthy men. Sarah particularly enjoyed her stay on the French Riviera.

  There, she met another girl, Giselle. Giselle was a bored, rich brat, who was running away from her mother. They played together and had fun teasing all the spoiled boys who were trying to fuck them.

  But, Sarah had always been more attracted to the more stable and mature men she encountered on her travels. One of these men introduced her to Captain James Wolcott, USMC. They were attending a social event, where the servicemen collected gifts for underprivileged children. Sarah and Capt. Wolcott had hit it off immediately. Sarah returned to the States and arranged to visit her parents and tell them she wished to be married. Her mother was not sure that she could not do better, but her father was pleased she had finally made an adult decision, and “would finally be starting her life”, as he put it. When they had met the Marine, even her mother was swayed by his courtesy and professional demeanor. He was a no-nonsense kind of guy, her mother confided to Sarah. He would take some special handling to stay close to home, she cautioned.

  Sarah ignored her mother’s sage advice and accepted Capt. Wolcott’s proposal. A short courtship later, they found themselves happily married and on a honeymoon that was cut short by his being deployed to Kuwait. But, they had managed to get pregnant during their brief stay, and so Kady had been born and welcomed while her father was deployed out of the country.

  Five years later, the two Marines from the honor guard had shown up one morning to dutifully inform her of her husband having given his life in the service of his country. Sarah had to make a choice. She knew that Kady was her priority; the best way to honor her late husband would be to give her every opportunity for success. She thanked the Honor Guard and then set about taking charge of the rest of her life.

  Her first order of business was to let Kady know what had occurred.

  She took some time off, and then traveled with Kady to several of the places where they had enjoyed family times. At each place, Sarah reminded Kady how much her father loved her, and that he was hard at work putting himself into dangerous situations, for their benefit and the benefit of their way of life.

  “But, Mommy, why isn’t Daddy here to play with us? Is he okay?” asked her daughter.

  Sarah was hard pressed to tell the little five-year-old girl the truth, but she had a particular plan in mind. She was also dealing with her own very real grief. In spite of Capt. Wolcott’s peccadillos, he was still a fantastic father to Kady. She had to come to terms with the fact that he would never see her fully grow into the beautiful and competent woman they both had spoken of to each other during her pregnancy. Jim’s life, once Kady had been born, settled down a bit. Sarah allowed as to how, once on a deployment, she could not fault the man for the need to release the stress and tension of battle, in an immediate fashion. She didn’t care, one way or another, so long as he came home and maintained a properly hygienic approach to his fun. After all, there was fun, and then there was responsibility. She never doubted his love for her - only his ability to keep his dick in his pants when he was overseas.

  Jim’s death relieved her, in a very odd way. She felt a fondness for him and loved that he was part of Kady. The girl’s demeanor and some of her habits reminded her strongly of him. Sarah searched and watched for the best time to unleash the terrible news for her daughter.

  Sarah had told Kady immediately that her father would not be coming home the day that the Honor Guard had given their condolences. At the mandatory funeral, Kady was still operating under the misguided assumption that a five-year-old might entertain - it was simply a bit beyond her understanding and experience.

  The opportunity arose in a serendipitous way while they were at the zoo. They had been watching penguins in the aquatic tank, and Kady loved how they would chase fish and each other. She squealed with delight at their antics. One of the fish was her favorite and kept eluding the penguins, dodging right and left. It was colored a drab olive color, but it had bright eyes and yellow fins.

  “That looks like Daddy!” she cried. “Look at the pretty colors!” She remembered his uniform, and the medals he wore.

  Sarah and Kady watched as the fish darted and plunged into the depths of the tank.

  “Is it gone?” asked Kady. “Where’s Daddy-fish?”

  Suddenly, the fish appeared again, and a smile lit up her childish countenance.

  She was rapt with attention as the fish hovered just behind the glass of the aquarium wall.

  “There he is! Hi, Daddy!” she said, just as a penguin gulped it down.

  They stood there watching the penguins for a while longer, Kady eagerly searching for the fish. Sarah was motionless and silent. A tear had formed in her eye, and she knew this was the moment for which she had quietly hoped. She wiped it away and knelt by her daughter, who still was glancing about the huge tank.

  “Where did Daddy go?” Kady asked. “Did that mean old penguin eat him?”

  Sarah got very close to her and looked at her innocent face, with her blue eyes staring back at her. It was as if a miniature version of Jim was staring back at her, urging her to tell their daughter the whole story. Sarah licked her lips, and the tears were close.

  She grasped Kady by the shoulders. Kady was looking very intensely at her mother, her every attention on Sarah’s face. She knew that her mother wanted to tell her something very important.

  “Sweetie, I love you very much,” began Sarah. “And so does your Daddy.”

  “I love you too, Mommy. And especially Daddy. I wish he would come home to us, even though I know you said he can’t,” said Kady.

  “Kady, your father is dead. He was killed on a mission, and those men who came by needed to tell us that,” said Sarah. Kady nodded, not comprehending.

  “I know, Mommy, and then they had that fun.. funer…that party for him, with the loud guns, and the flag and all those men with the hats and medals,” Kady said. “I remember that. It wasn’t a very fun party. It was sad, sometimes. I wish Daddy had been there.”

  Sarah choked back a sob, not able to tell Kady about the reality of Death, that her father’s remains - his body - were there. She hugged her child closely, and now the tears were coming freely.

  “Kady,” she tried to get out. “Kady, the fish…the fish is dead. It was eaten by the pengui
n. It is now part of it…it is not ever going to swim in the waters again, sweetie.”

  Sarah couldn’t continue. She began to cry, kneeling in the penguin tank, her daughter’s face finally registering the finality, the actual knowledge of Death, and how it had claimed her Daddy.

  She began to bawl, and some of the other patrons moved away from them.

  The two of them hugged each other, crying over their shared loss, surrounded by people, whose only crime was their ignorance.

  After a time, a man walked up to them.

  “Excuse me?” he said. “May I be of some assistance?”

  At first, Sarah thought that the scene they had caused may have alerted a security guard or some other employee of the zoo. She feared they would be asked to leave, so as to not disturb the other patrons.

  Standing, and drying her eyes on her sleeve, Kady still clinging to her legs, Sarah composed herself enough to address the man. She noted he was handsome, fit, and naturally concerned about them. It put her mind at ease as he placed a kind but firm hand on her shoulder, steadying her as she rose.

  “Ma’am, I can certainly see that you and your daughter are genuinely upset over some personal situation. May I please again offer my assistance?” he said.

  Sarah fished around in her purse, finding some tissues that she used to clean herself up, and also wiped Kady’s face. Kady was wailing, and hugging tightly to Sarah’s legs.

  “Daddy! Oh, Daddy! Daddy!” she kept repeating.

  “May I?” asked the man. Sarah, defensively put her arms around Kady, shaking her head, but the man knelt down so he could see Kady’s face.

  “What’s your name, darling?” he said.

  Kady squeezed her eyes tight, and pushed her face into her mother’s thighs, grabbing even more tightly. “Go ‘way!” she yelled.