“I’ll have plenty of time to rest when I’m dead Chad. Work is my mistress. Just ask your mother.” just ask your m other,” Henry had often said.

She had finally stopped complaining after forty years of this.

“We are on the verge of a final push that will set us and you children up for life, Chad. You know that as well as I do.” Chad had no clue what is father was talking about. Chad knew that his family made millions through their brokerage firm, but the reason or value of the “special projects” remained a mystery to him.

Chad had made many of the transactions and saw the numbers but still wasn’t sure of what he was looking at. That was what he told himself anyway.

Down deep, deep in the pit of his stomach, he knew that he was doing something at least in the grey area of the law. He hadn’t voiced that opinion to his father yet. He was afraid that that voice would make it, what ever it was, real, finally. What had his father done and why was it nagging Chad in the dark recesses of his brain every night as he tried to fall asleep for months.

Chad had often heard his father and mother fight about his hectic work schedule, but she had finally realized that he would never change so she had to. Chad then wondered if his mother knew more than his father suspected about the “special projects” and had tried to get him to shut it down, what ever it was.

Then one night it finally happened. Chad was asked to follow his father into their library after dinner for a glass of very special wine. That was a rare instance for Chad. His heart felt like it was going to explode. “What is this all about dad?”

Henry walked to his wine cabinet and brought out a bottle of Leroy Grand Cru Richebourg 2001 from Burgundy, France and uncorked it as if he did it everyday. He did love his wine. Some people love their tea or food, Henry loved his very expensive wine. He poured the red wine into two large wine glasses and then lifted one glass to his nose. He handed the second glass to Chad. Henry then slowly brought the one glass up to his nose and inhaled. He savored the aroma.

The room was a copy of a room in the Doge’s Palace in Venice. It had a tall, vaulted, wooden, ceiling made of carved panels of cherry wood. The room had a certain sound when people gathered there and talked.

You’ve been a great son and employee Chad but now isn’t the time for cold feet. Chad wasn’t down with the plan at first but after it was all explained to him he could see the merits and the few, small, pitfalls.

“We’re at the end of the end of the long game son. The risks are there but if all goes well, the payoff will be worth it. Chad couldn’t believe what he was hearing. HIs family had more money than they would ever need. Why had his father put them in such jeopardy?

Their building in the city, by itself, was worth millions and created a great deal of rental income for the family. It was nearly paid for now and worth forty of fifty times what it had cost to build those many years ago.

“You haven’t mentioned any if this to Suzan have you?”

“No, I wasn’t really clear about everything until very recently.”

“Good.”

As Chad sat in the opulent library, his mind went back to the subbasement and raced over what he had been involved in. He was finally beginning to understand.

“You might want to have a look at the real estate offerings while your down there Chad, just in case. America doesn’t have an extradition treaty with Rwanda as of yet.

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I’m in a quandary.

Someone is selling my books on eBay for more than Amazon charges.

I don’t get it.

One might argue it is a form of flattery, perhaps. Or just the opposit.

Perhaps I should just by other authors books and sell them at a profit.

More to come tomorrow, perhaps.