Ruin The Billionaire

Jake

Some years back, I arrived at my first ever apartment, not far from the University of New York where I was to study. A lot of my high school friends had joined the same university and I had lived in New York my whole life so it was not a big change. It was like being home away from home. The only difference was that I was nineteen and had a kind of freedom that my parents had never allowed me before. I could do whatever I wanted.

At Castle apartment building, I met James Milner. James Milner was your typical jock. He looked like those thirty something year old men who play teens in movies and series. He had a muscled body, pretty face and was the quarterback of the football team. My family was rich, but James’ family was crazy rich. While we were of new money, he came from old money. The riches had been in his family for generations and generations. James did not have to work for anything.

James was in his last year of college, older than me but he took me under his wing. We quickly became friends because of our shared obsession with Multiversal blood, a horror science fiction TV series. We bonded together more than I did with the other guys, his friends. Being friends with James came with a lot of advantages, and also disadvantages.

At first, I did not see the bad side of James clearly. The way he looked at women and how he talked about them should have been a red flag for me. But, I was young and stupid. We all were. We laughed at his sexist jokes and encouraged his sick humour, not knowing that behind that humour was a dark reality. James spoke like a pro on women and all of us who were younger than him looked up to him as we learned the ropes of navigating romantic and sexual relationships.

Beneath the cool boy façade, James Milner was a toxic monster searching for other people who could encourage his deviancy and also participate in it. I remember that day clearly, the day I realised that staying away from James was for my own good.

That night, we had a party at his father’s vacation house in New Jersey. It was a bit out of the way. There were five of us guys. James Milner said he had invited three girls. Having girls at these parties was normal, nothing out of the ordinary. What we didn’t know was that James had something else planned.

There was alcohol, drugs, loud music and a whole lot of other things. An hour into the party, our neighbours dog started barking furiously. I was making out with some chic when we heard it. We pulled away from each other and listened because it was too distractive. Some seconds later, Dave Hill came to the kitchen.

“Jake, come with me.”

“For what?” I asked. “What is wrong with that dog?”

“Something’s going down.”

Frowning, I stood up and followed Dave to the backyard where shouting was coming from. When I got there, I saw a dog in a cage barking loudly while the guys stood there talking and laughing.

“It’s time to end this stupid dog,” James said.

“What the hell is going on here?” I asked.

“Hey, Jake. Was wondering where you were. Welcome to the party. In fact, I suggest you do the honours.”

James started walking towards me. He handed me the gun but I refused to take it. I was not going to do something like that. James turned to his friend. “Our little friend here thinks he’s too good. What should we do for him?”

“Make him, make him…” the others chanted.

“Don’t worry guys, I have a better idea. Jake will bring the two puppies here.”

“No, I’m leaving this party.”

I started to move away but James grabbed me. “You’re not leaving.”

“Here are the pups!”

I turned to see Darren Dutch jumping over the fence, followed by Mathew Smallman. Both were carrying a puppy each.

Dave Hill grabbed the gun from James and pointed at me. “Give him both puppies.”

I was a bit afraid of dogs and never liked them. Having to carry two puppies was scary. My hands were shaky as I held them close. The puppies were very young and small. They must have been a few weeks old.

Darren Dutch turned away from me and aimed at the dog in the cage which was now barking harder. The gun went off. I turned away as the dog fell to the floor.Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

Darren turned to me with the gun. I thought he was going to shoot me. “Put the pups down.”

“There’s no need to shoot them.”

“I can shoot you boy.”

Reluctantly, I placed the puppies down and turned to run away but a strong burly man grabbed me. It was James’ bodyguard. “Where do you think you’re going?”

James and Darren killed the puppies as well and we all went back inside as the two maids cleaned up the mess. James made us all swear not to say anything. Apparently, the neighbour had travelled to the city and wouldn’t be back for a few days. The person who took care of the dogs had been invited to the party and drugged. By the time, he woke up, there wouldn’t be a trace of the dogs. James threatened me. He claimed to have pictures of everyone at the party so if anyone reported, we would all be implicated.

The owner of the dog eventually returned and reported his dogs missing, but nothing was done. What James did was never discovered. All of us who had been there were sworn to secrecy and we intended to take the secrets to our grave.

How my mother came to have pictures of me at that scene was what I did not know but if they came out, my reputation would be ruined. I had to find a way of getting rid of the photos. Being my mother’s slave was making me miserable each passing day. In addition to that, I had other pressing matters to deal with.

Ashley Kendall was not picking my calls and I was furious. That stunt she had pulled off had annoyed me. I couldn’t believe that I had once thought she was intelligent. She had fooled me really well. Regardless of what news reporters said, I knew that Ashley had started the whole thing. Lilly wouldn’t do something stupid like starting a fight on the street.

I looked up Ashley’s address and decided to go and confront her. When I got to the stairs, mothers was ascending.

“I was coming to find you,” she said.

“I’m busy.”

“Here,” she said, removing something from her shopping bag. She handed me a box. “You have to propose to Heather tonight. I have already made dinner reservations at The Pearl and I need you both to be there by 8. Everything has been organised. This is the ring that you will be putting on her finger.”

“No,” I said and continued walking down the stairs.

“I know you don’t think I can do it, son but don’t try me. I have tried to be patient with you but I’m getting tired. You haven’t even thought of giving me a grandchild, at lease get married and settle down. Those two women fighting for you was the last straw. I can’t take any more humiliation from you.”

I sighed. “They were not fighting for me. Ashley Kendall attacked Lilly who decided to fight back. Did you want her to cower and do nothing?”

“The fact is that they fought on the streets and I can’t have you dating trash. Both of them are not good for you. I can’t have a daughter in law that goes around fighting on the streets. I need someone with dignity. You have failed to find one by yourself so it will have to be heather.”

Without saying a word, I went and opened the door before stepping out. If she did not have that damning evidence on me, I would have sent her out of my house because I was fed up.

I got in my car and drove off, not wanting to think about my mother. I dialled Jared’s number and placed it on speaker phone.

“Have you found out anything?” I asked him. “I really need any information I can get. My mother has reached dangerous lows and I can’t take it anymore.”

“I’m following a very good lead that might have great results,” Jared said. “Give me two days and I’ll give you info that will stop your mother from whatever she is doing. I know there’s something but I haven’t been able to find the main source. By the way, I was going to call you. I need more money. This involves bribing about a lot of people.”

“Okay, I’ll send you the money.”

I hoped that lead would get us good results because it was all I had. Confessing that horrific truth to the world would do me no favours.