Vengeful Seduction

David

David

The day of the reading of the will dawned clear and bright, a perfect Indian summer day. The sky was a dark, rich blue, the occasional little cloud puffing through the air, and I knew I was about to become a much wealthier man very soon.

The whole money issue hadn’t actually occurred to me until the lawyer had called to ask me to be there for the reading. Of course, I was going to get everything, but in my attempts to distance myself from the whole situation, I had forgotten entirely about his estate.

I knew he’d been a very, very wealthy man—far beyond my own not insignificant net worth. He’d had decades to build it all up, and I was really only just starting off.

Oh, but the things I was going to be able to do with all he had undoubtedly left me …

I had visions in my head as I went into the lawyer’s office. With the money I had been left, I could boost Black Tech and really make it grow. Maybe I could even run with the big boys. With enough money and work, anything was possible.

As I walked I could almost swear the soles of my Fendi shoes barely touched the linoleum floors. At the same time, though, my heart was heavy. I had assumed I had time to make up with my grandfather. I had assumed I would have the three measly days to do that much.

I didn’t deserve this, but I knew what I could do. Grandpa’s mind had been a shrewd one, and I could honor him by building a company for the future—one that would carry not just his name, but also his spirit.

In short, the circumstances were terrible, but I would turn this experience into something really great. I had stood over his coffin and promised him I would do it, and I always kept my promises.

I stopped dead in my tracks when I pushed open the door to the office. It was a quiet, tasteful place, with generic, classy art on the walls and very few people waiting in the office.

Actually, there were only two people, other than myself. One of them was the receptionist, who glanced up at me and smiled politely, apparently appeased by my expensive clothing.

The other one was that little nurse, Kaye something or other. The pretty young lady who had apparently been taking care of my grandfather. The question was, what was she doing at my grandpa’s lawyer’s office?

Well, the old man had good taste. Kaye was something close to stunning, with her wide, full, generous mouth and her enormous green eyes. Even in her modest outfit, I could tell that she had curves for days—rounded hips and breasts, a tiny little waist—and beautiful long black hair that I was willing to bet would fall almost to her a*s if she let it down from the loose up-do she had it in.

It was more than just her physical appearance, though. Kaye had this aura that I couldn’t help but find soothing. She was a nurse, and I would be willing to bet almost anything she was very good at her job. She radiated both competence and gentleness, all at the same time.

She looked up at me, and I found myself unprepared for the look in her eyes. She was trying to learn about me, wasn’t she? Just by looking at me.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, my tone just a little bit more blunt than usual. She’d surprised me by coming to the funeral, and she downright shocked me by being here for the reading of my grandfather’s will. Unless she was here for some other reason?

“The same thing as you, I would imagine.” She glanced down away from my gaze, and I frowned thoughtfully. So she’d been invited to this, too? Had the unpredictable old man actually left something to his nurse?

“Mr. Black, Miss James, we’re ready for you now.” The receptionist won my everlasting affection for breaking the awkward moment. I hadn’t been all that gracious. Actually, I’d sort of been a d**k, hadn’t I? I’d just been so dumbfounded by seeing her there at all.

“Shall we?” I asked, and I even held the door open for her as we went into the office, which was enormous and had a gorgeous, unhindered view of the Columbia River. This guy was clearly doing all right for himself, which pretty much figured. I’d never seen my grandfather—or my father, for that matter—skimp on anything that was really important.

A lawyer would definitely fall into that category.

“Thank you both for coming,” the lawyer, a distinguished older gentleman with beautiful white hair and a dark tan that I suspected couldn’t be real, intoned. His name was, if I remembered correctly, John Dixon, or something of the sort.

He started to talk, and I didn’t pay a lot of attention. I knew what I was going to hear, after all. The only thing I was curious about was what the lovely Miss Kaye James was going to be granted. How important had she been to him, really?

“To my grandson and only living heir, I leave a message. It grieves me greatly we were not, during my life, able to mend whatever rift there was between us.” John was reading from a paper on his desk, and I started to pay much more attention.

I realized then that I didn’t even know how much money was in the estate. I didn’t even know what I was about to inherit. I listened carefully, but the lawyer just turned to the lovely Kaye, and I frowned a little bit. For the first time, I started to think that something was very wrong here.

Unless he was going to deal with her very small bequest first? But then why had he mentioned me first? It didn’t make sense.

“To my nurse, Kaye James,” the lawyer continued. “You filled my last days with light and happiness. Your smiles meant everything to me. Your gentle spirit brought me peace. To you, I leave it all. Every car, every property, every last cent in every bank account. Thank you, Kaye. I only wish I had more to give you because you certainly deserve it.”

For a moment, there was complete silence in the room. During that silence I felt something inside me, some basic idea the universe was a good and fair place, die. The last little bit of hope—of trust—in my heart withered, and in its place anger blossomed. Sick. Hot. Feverish.

“You b***h,” I hissed, turning to face Kaye. All of my dreams went up in smoke right then and there. I could, and I would, build Black Tech into a leading worldwide brand, but it was going to be a lot harder, and I would be very old by the time that happened.

“Mr. Black! Please,” the lawyer said, and I noted dimly that he didn’t seem surprised by my outburst. If the man read wills on a regular basis, no doubt he was used to this sort of thing.

Kaye didn’t say anything back. She just bowed her head, letting her hair swing forward in a dark, wavy waterfall to obscure her features. In her eyes, just before they were hidden, I could swear I saw the faintest gleam of something.

Tears?

Surely not. No doubt this woman had plotted with my grandfather. Maybe she’d even put him up to it.

“He wasn’t in his right mind when he wrote this will,” I stated. I tried to keep the hint of desperation out of my voice, to sound firm and strong and not like I was grasping at straws. “He never would have done this otherwise.”

“Slander,” the lawyer said right back, his tone casual enough, but his eyes burning. “I was there, Mr. Black, and I assure you that he was in complete control of his mental faculties. I don’t appreciate you insinuating otherwise.”

It was a warning and we both knew it. He was a lawyer and I wasn’t, and if he thought he could make a slander suit stick, he probably could. I needed to be careful, even if I suddenly felt like every inch of my body was packed with coals, smoldering and burning me from the inside out. Even if the last thing I wanted was to be careful.

So I did the one and only thing that I could do. The only thing that could save me before I said or did something to get myself into more trouble than I could handle. I wasn’t poor, but getting into a legal pissing contest with a lawyer wasn’t something that I could really afford.

I stood up and I stormed out of the room. I even let the door slam behind me and walked past the receptionist without so much as looking at her. She probably was pretty used to people having reactions like that, just as her boss was.

I would very much like to claim that I didn’t look back, but it wasn’t true. I did, just once, and just for a split second. Not at the asshole lawyer, but at Kaye, who hadn’t moved from her spot or spoken the entire time she was there.

I wasn’t going to just take this lying down. Legally, I knew I couldn’t challenge her for the money. The will had been incredibly clear. There had to be something I could do—I had never been known for simply accepting situations I didn’t like.

There was something about the way Kaye bowed forward, some sadness far more eloquent than words could ever express. Words could lie, but I was absolutely certain she could not have faked that posture. Not unless she was a lot more of a con artist than I already thought.

As my anger burned, it changed. It didn’t stay quite as hot, but lingered on and refused to die out. A hotter anger might have burned itself to ashes, but this slow simmering rage, I knew, could last for years.

For as long as it took to get back what was mine.

The details, I wasn’t quite sure about yet. I would figure them out when I’d had some time to think about it. One thing I did know, however, was that Kaye James was going to suffer for what my grandfather had done.

Even then, I felt a surge of misgiving about that. What had Kaye done wrong? Nothing, really, other than provide exemplary service to a dying old man. Could that have been enough for him to sign away all of his worldly possessions to a relative stranger though? No, she must have done something to convince him, I told myself.

In business, there was collateral damage. Kaye was a nurse, and nurses were tough. So I did my best to put the small twinge of guilt I felt out of the way and focused instead on my dreams, the ones that needed money in order to become a reality.

Those dreams had seemed so attainable and hopeful just earlier that day, tinged only with grief over my grandfather’s death. Now they were tinged with bitterness, feeling poisonous as they wound through my head.

I was going to get what I wanted, though, no matter the cost. The businessman in me could hardly do anything else.

That b***h would get what she deserved.

Vengeance would be mine.