When he and Jasmine made love for the first time and he’d realized she’d given him her most sacred gift, he was overwhelmed. He proposed right away and decided to run away with her, to do the right thing.

He planned on heading to the city and making something of himself so he could continue to give her all the things she was used to. He wanted to make sure she never went without anything. He wanted to place her on a throne and spoil her rotten. He’d do or give her anything she wanted.

He’d shown up at the church full of naïve teenager dreams and one bag. When he heard approaching steps he’d turned in anticipation. His heart sunk at the sight of her father. The man approached with a sympathetic smile plastered on his face.

“Derek, I’m sorry but Jasmine asked me to come and speak with you,” David had stated. Derek didn’t understand why she’d send her father. “Jasmine said she couldn’t face you but she didn’t want to leave here. I have some cash here to help you on your way. She said you planned to go to the city and I want to help you get there,” he said with that same smile on his face.

Derek felt like his world was falling out underneath him. The man pulled out an envelope loaded with hundred dollar bills. He held it out towards Derek. David was trying to pay him off. It was as if he was saying, thanks for entertaining my daughter but your services are no longer needed.

“I don’t want your money,” Derek spat at him. David continued holding the envelope out, like he couldn’t believe the kid from the wrong side of town wouldn’t jump at having that much cash.

“Jasmine was hoping this would appease your feelings and help you get on with your life,” David had the gall to say.

“Tell Jasmine no thank you,” Derek growled at him and then turned and walked away. He never looked back. He’d been pissed when David had offered to pay him off but when he found out it was Jasmine’s idea he saw red.

He couldn’t believe how wrong he’d been about her. The thing that made him even angrier was the grief coursing through him at knowing he wouldn’t see her again. As he walked back towards his childhood home he vowed someday he’d have her begging him to take her back and then he’d be the one to walk away.

He’d made his way home, told his father goodbye and then left for the city. He worked night and day until he purchased his first company. He was excellent at his job. He found companies that were on the verge of bankruptcy, bought them and divided them up, making huge sums of money. His first takeover had led to many, many more. He was now worth far more than Jasmine ever had been and he was about to exact his revenge.

He downed a scotch and then went to bed. His day was a full one tomorrow and he wanted to be well rested for what was to come. He’d finally have Jasmine at his mercy, when her daddy no longer had any money left.

Chapter Two

Derek sat back at his desk, with a huge Cheshire cat grin on his face. The papers were all signed and now he was the owner of The Freeman Corporation. He felt unbelievably good. He had taken it right out from under David, without the man even being aware of what was going on.

David knew his company was in trouble but he didn’t know about the hostile take-over. Derek’s victory felt so much better, knowing David had walked into his former offices today only to be met by Derek’s security.

He’d been tempted to be there, sitting in the man’s chair, just so he could see his reaction. He’d barely been able to stop himself but he had plenty of time to gloat. He turned around and stared out the huge windows of his office, looking down at the thriving city of Seattle. He always felt good when he acquired a new company but this one was different. This one was the pinnacle of everything he’d been working for over the past ten years.

Derek heard commotion outside his office and turned around to find the man in question had barged in through his doorway. Derek’s secretary came chasing after him. “Sir, you can’t go in there,” she was trying to say, her voice and eyes panicked.

“It’s okay Lana, I can handle this,” he told her. She apologized and stood there, not knowing what to do. “You can call security, I have a feeling Mr. Freeman will need to be escorted from the building once we are done talking,” he finished. The smile never left his face. This confrontation was coming far quicker than he’d expected.

“You piece of crap!” David yelled at him.

“It’s good to see you again, David,” Derek said, never losing his cool.

“I was getting things straightened out and then you swoop in and steal my company out from under me,” the man continued to yell. He was so angry, his head was completely red and he could barely speak. The angrier David got, the calmer Derek felt.

“I guess you should’ve run your business a bit more above ground and not left it vulnerable to a takeover,” Derek said. David looked like he wanted to jump across the room and strangle him. Derek looked over the man, who had seemed so much larger than life when he was still a teenager. The man now looked shrunken and old. It was satisfying.

“I ran my business successfully, for over forty years, you pompous piece of trash. You may have the rest of the world fooled but I know where you come from and I know who you really are,” David spat at him.

Derek was losing some of his calm. He narrowed his eyes on the man who had changed his life. He knew David was trying to get a reaction from him but he refused to bite.

“Unlike you, David, I kept a protective, watchful eye on my business. I may have started out on the wrong side of town, as you like to point out but I made choices to change my life and now you’re the one who will have nothing,” he said, with a mocking smile.

David actually lunged at him, as the security guards stepped into the room. Derek held his hand up, to stop them from grabbing the man. He wanted him to try and throw a punch. Derek was normally not a violent man but it would be his total joy to knock David across his pathetic jaw.

David saw the look in Derek’s eyes and quickly backed down. “This isn’t the last you’ll hear from me,” he said, still not leaving.

“Security please escort Mr. Freeman from my building. Let the front desk know he’s no longer welcome to step foot on the premises,” he finished. He then turned his back on him, as if he didn’t matter in the least to him.

“I will get you back for this, just you wait,” David yelled, as the men dragged him away. Derek continued to smile as he sat back down and once again looked over the papers that gave him ownership of the Freeman Corporation.

Derek pressed his buzzer, “Lana can you please pull up the full employee list for The Freeman Corporation and the financial documents.”

“Yes sir, I will have the information to you within a few minutes,” she replied, as efficient as always. He didn’t know how he’d been so lucky to find her but if she ever retired he’d have a hell of a time replacing her.

She brought the information to him and he got to work. He hadn’t done his normal homework when acquiring the corporation. He normally knew the business inside and out before he took it over. He simply hadn’t cared with this one. He was buying it up no matter what. He didn’t even care if the buy ended up costing him millions; he had the money to spare. This was about his pride and nothing more.

As he studied the papers over the afternoon, he was surprised to find there were some legitimate reasons to keep the company as it was, instead of splitting it up like he normally would do. If David had run things how he was supposed to, the corporation would’ve never gone into jeopardy of being taken over. The man was more of an idiot than Derek had originally thought.

He’d have to think about what he was going to do with this one. If he decided to leave it in tact, the first thing to go would be the name. Derek wouldn’t leave that man’s name attached to any aspect of the business.

The Corporation was a major producer of medical equipment. They actually made a quality product but had a horrible marketing department. If the right people were brought in, he may decide to keep the company together.

As he studied through the papers over the next several days, he discovered David had embezzled millions of dollars. That was one of the reasons the company was in such a weak state. He’d leave the legal department to look further into it. He wouldn’t mind if the man ended up in prison. It would just be icing on the cake.

The minute David had placed the corporation on the stock market; he had investors to be accountable too. Since David had been stealing from those investors for years, they were going to want answers. He smiled some more as he thought about David’s life continuing to go down the drain.

He left all the staff at their jobs for now but had memos sent out notifying them they were going to have to defend their jobs. He normally left all of that to his staff but since this operation was personal to him he’d be conducting many of those interviews, himself.

Derek had a couple of trusted associates coming with him and he was like a kid on Christmas morning. It was time to go to his new corporation and do some investigating. He’d made the decision to keep the company as it was but there would be a lot of people losing their jobs and a lot of new hires. It would take months to get it all straightened out.

He was getting ready to leave, when his father walked into the office. “Where are you off to, son?” his dad asked.

“I’m going over to the new company today. I have to eliminate some staff and get the HR set up to hire new employees,” he answered as he headed towards the elevator.

“I’ll come with you, since I’m a great judge of character,” he said, as he climbed in the elevator with him.

“That would be great. I could use an extra person I trust,” Derek answered. He knew his father had a soft heart but he was also a shrewd business man and would know who could be trusted to stay on and who was far too loyal to David to be trusted.

“Son, I know this has been your dream since that dirt bag hurt you but you need to remember most of these employees didn’t even know David Freeman. They’re just like you or I, trying to make a living,” his father reasoned.

“I hate it when you’re right, but I know. Most of the executive positions will be replaced. I simply can’t trust people who worked closest with David. I’m not worried about any of the factory workers. My staff will make sure all of their background checks pass but other than that I’ll leave them alone, well not completely leave them alone,” he added.

“What?” his dad asked, with confusion.

“David was by far underpaying the factory workers, while padding the executives’ pockets. They are barely making minimum wage,” Derek said with anger. “I’m going to raise their pay and offer bonuses for high work production and early completion of projects.”

“That’s why you’re so successful son, you actually care about the core of the company,” his father praised him. Derek knew what it was like to barely be able to survive and didn’t like that feeling. He always treated his employees’ well. He had a very low turnover rate. Once people came to work for one of his corporations, they didn’t leave.