Blackmailed by the Billionaire

Chapter One

Chapter One

Cayce

I had to admit I felt a bit on edge as my brothers and I entered the meeting room at Whispers Resorts and Spa. Four more chairs had been added to the round table to make room for us.

Although not official as of yet, we were on the cusp of becoming part of our cousins’, the Gentry brothers, budding empire. All thanks to a hefty inheritance left to them by their grandfather, the men had taken something negative and turned it into something positive for more than just themselves.

The Nash brothers had been the first to receive a generous loan from the Gentry’s to build their dream resort. And it had blossomed in ways they’d never dreamed it could.

That’s what we were hoping for when we’d asked for the meeting with the men. We had big dreams. What we didn’t have was the huge amount of money we’d need to begin our endeavor.

“Why do I feel like barfing?” my brother Chase asked.

He was the second oldest, after me. It made for an odd spot for him. Even though not the eldest, he still felt a lot of pressure and responsibility for our two younger brothers. I understood how he felt and patted him on the back, giving him — and myself — a little pep talk. “I feel that way too. What we're asking for isn’t small. And it won’t be easy to leave our current employment either. But this is important to the entire world’s future. So, we have to swallow the nerves and present our ideas to our cousins. They’re family, Chase. We can count on them to let us down easy if that’s what they think is best.”

Chance, being the youngest, still held tons of optimism. “Why would they say no to our magnificent idea?”

Callan was second to the last and sided with Chance, as he so often did. “Yeah, this idea is the bomb, man.”

I agreed, but that did not alter the fact that I had no idea if our cousins, who were into ranching, farming, and the hospitality industries, would share our enthusiasm. Especially with something that hadn’t been deeply explored yet.

The echoing sound of dress shoes against the marble floor grabbed our attention. Dressed to the nines in expensive business suits, the Nash brothers entered to greet us with wide smiles on all their five faces.

Baldwyn, the eldest of them, extended his hand to me. “Cayce. Glad to see you again, cousin.”

“Glad to see you too, Baldwyn.” I shook his hand as I smiled back at him. “I’m really happy you all decided to hear us out on our proposal.”

“Sure thing, Cayce. From what you’ve told me so far, I think it’s an amazing concept. I’m eager to hear more about it.”

His brothers — Patton, Warner, Cohen, and Stone — greeted us all. Then we heard the sounds of boots coming toward the meeting room.

Stone chuckled. “Here come the cowboys.”

The three Gentry brothers were decked out in highly starched blue jeans and button-down shirts, sporting large shiny belt buckles and straw cowboy hats.

Tyrell, the oldest, tipped his hat as he said, “Welcome, Duran brothers. You boys remember my brothers, Jasper and Cash, don’t ya?”

Chance nodded. “Of course, we do.” He ran his hand over the brightly colored, beach-themed shirt he wore. “Seems we all have brotherly themes. The Nash’s are businessmen. The Gentry’s are cowboys. And the Duran brothers are all beach bums.” He laughed and everyone joined in.

“I wouldn’t say you look like bums. You look like guys who live in paradise to me. Colorful button-downs with short sleeves and khaki pants with Sperry’s,” Patton said as he gestured to the round table. “Gentlemen, you can find your seats by checking out the place cards so we can get this meeting of minds started.”

My heart raced as we all took our seats. I liked the idea of the round table. It made me feel as if we were all equals where no one person lorded over anyone else.

Tyrell began the meeting. “So, will you boys tell us all about this ocean energy plan you have?”

I looked at Chance, wanting to give the youngest of my brothers the first shot. “Chance, would you care to open this discussion?”

“Sure thing, bro.” He wasn’t as articulate as Chase and I were. He and Callan shared a casual way of talking, so I thought it best that they spoke to our cousins, at least to start the ball rolling. “So, here’s the easiest way for me to describe this thing we’d like to build.” Using his hands, he started mimicking the motion of the waves. “Waves never stop moving in the ocean. We all know that for a fact. And anything that moves creates energy. And that energy can be captured and stored for use.”

Callen took over. “Sounds basic, I know. But it’s anything but that. See, the ocean is a real b***h at times. It can go from relative tranquility to insanity in a heartbeat. And therein lies the problem.”

“People have built machines before to create electricity out of the things the ocean offers,” Chase added. “It’s not that there’s any shortage of ideas. There is a shortage of ideas that work, though. No one wants to lose astronomical amounts of money whenever a hurricane comes through and demolishes precious equipment.”

“I can see that,” Jasper agreed, nodding his head. “So, you’ll need to really work on making us see how this will end up making our company money — not losing it.”

It was time I added something. “We’re going to stay away from materials that can be bent and destroyed. That means we’re looking at using things like silicone, latex, polypropylene, polyethylene, and resin. These materials bend and can be made thick enough to withstand some clashes without splitting wide open.”

Chase was excited about this part, so he took over. “Repairs to these sorts of materials are easy, too. It would require pulling them onto the shore to carry out the repairs, but that’s not insurmountable by any means.”

Cash asked, “Have you been able to build any prototypes?”

We hadn’t had time to do a single thing, since we still held on to our current jobs, which demanded almost all of our attention. So, I answered his question in all honesty. “Cash, we’re currently working ten- to fourteen-hour days at Mantabo Industries in Brownsville. I’ve been asking for some time off, or at least shorter workdays, for over a year now. Our boss won’t let us have time away from weapons development.”

Jasper seemed curious as he steepled his fingers then leaned his chin on top of them. “You guys are into making guns and stuff?”

“Something like that.” What we designed was much bigger than just guns. “We’re not at liberty to discuss what we’ve been working on, though.”

Chase nodded. “We’ve all signed nondisclosure agreements that make it impossible for any of us to go into specifics about what we do at the company. So, please don’t ask us about any of that.”

“How do you plan on working on your own things then?” Cohen asked.

I hoped it wasn’t going to be too much to ask, but the asking had to be done. “We would need to be able to quit our jobs at Mantabo. And that would mean our salaries would need to be included in the loan amount.” I gulped, praying that what I was about to say next wouldn’t sound too greedy. “For like the next five years.”

Tyrell nodded. “Of course.”

I couldn’t believe he’d agreed so readily. I’d been more worried about that than anything else. “Well, that is a relief.”

Baldwyn smiled knowingly. “With any loan given by us, there is always an inclusion of money for each of the lenders to live on. And we also like to take care of your living situations so you can direct your complete attention to what you’re doing. We’ll pay your bills, is what I’m saying. That way, you won’t have to do anything other than focusing on your work.”

Things were sounding too good to be true. “Hold on a minute.” I wasn’t about to get greedy. “We don’t want to take advantage of anybody here.”

Tyrell just laughed, the sound of his deep voice filling the room as he said, “You’re not going to take advantage of anyone, Cayce. See, we’re all in this together. We share all profits made by all the separate ventures each of us possesses. And we’ll continue doing that if we think your venture will make us some money.”

“It’ll do more than make money, Tyrell,” Chance said. “It will change the world for the better once we get this thing figured out. We can sell our mechanisms throughout the entire world. And we can keep improving on them as we go, too.”

Baldwyn and Tyrell exchanged serious expressions before Baldwyn asked, “Are you men in this for the long haul? We need to know that. If this is a passing thing, then we don’t want a part of it. But if you’re looking to do this for the remainder of your careers, then we can think a lot more about coming in with you on this thing.”

“This is my dream,” I said quickly. “It’s all our dreams. It would be a privilege to work on this for the rest of our lives.”

Stone looked at each of my brothers as he asked, “Does that go for each one of you guys too?”

They all nodded, and then Callan added, “You have no idea how invested we are in this thing. And we make great money where we’re at now. It’s not about the money, though. This is about helping people. This is about creating energy from what is so readily available to us, but that very few have harnessed.”

“But some have,” Cash stated. “Can you tell us about some of the experiments that have proven to actually work?”

Chase was the one to answer this question. “Several inventions have been produced and are currently being put to practice. There’s a point absorber buoy. Like all buoys, this is anchored to the bottom of the ocean. The bobbing motion it makes as the waves move is converted into energy that’s stored in a generator and then sent ashore to a grid system. But this too can be torn to bits when a storm hits.”

“Sounds daunting,” Warner said as he shook his head. “We could lose a ton on this.”

My heart stopped beating as both the Gentry brothers and the Nash brothers nodded in agreement. I felt the air leaving my lungs as I was sure they were about to let us down.

“Time to take a vote,” Jasper said. “Raise your hand if you think we should give these men a real shot at making life a lot better for the planet.”

One by one, each man raised his hand. And I finally let out the breath I’d been holding. “Thank God.”

My brothers and I left that meeting feeling as if things weren’t real. Within a week’s time, we’d each have two billion dollars in our personal bank accounts. By the end of the week, a business account would be opened for our new business, Whispering Waves Electric Company. We had twenty billion dollars to work off of — and that was just for starters.

Baldwyn’s wife, Sloan, was going to get to work designing homes for each one of us. They had even given us the enviable job of finding the land we wanted our homes built on.

We’d be completely taken care of for the next five years, at least. Now that we had more money than we knew was possible, there was only one thing left to do to end our old lives and allow us to begin living the new ones. The ones that we always dreamed of.

We had to tell our boss that we were quitting our jobs, effective immediately. We wouldn’t go back to work for Mantabo Industries, not even for a single day. We had bigger fish to fry now.

I prayed our boss would understand and wish us well but knew that it was only a pipedream. The founder and CEO of the company we worked for was a man in his early forties with tons to prove. Niko Armstrong wasn’t one to accept no for an answer. But that was the answer he was going to get if he asked us not to leave his employment.

Giving up a five-hundred-thousand-a-year salary had sounded like it would be hard on us. But now that we had a couple billion a year guaranteed for at least five years, that didn’t bother us anymore.

Thank God for the Gentry’s and the Nash’s.