Chapter 1
Jake stuck his nose into the pages of the book and pretended to read. It was an excuse so he didn’t have to deal with the men in black suits sent to fetch him.
Well, snatch him was more like it, for that was what they did after they interrupted his class and asked the lecturer to see Jake. Once Jake set foot outside the classroom, he they grabbed him and escorted him to his parents’ limo. Only after he was tucked safely inside did the men spill the news. Jake’s father had passed away the day before and they were taking him home for the funeral. Jake was unprepared for such terrible news, not that he felt sad about it. His father had mostly ignored him. Welther Sr.’s silence regarding the decline of his health was unremarkable, and Jake was surprised that he was summoned home. He didn’t think his older brothers, Craig, Seth, and Tony, deemed him important. A mother’s darling, that was what they called him, an epithet Jake never attempted to deny. After all, he did prefer going home to her small house.
Someone cleared his throat and said, “We’re here, Master Jake.”
Jake blinked and looked out the filmed window of the limo as it glided smoothly down the driveway leading to the main door of his late father’s house on Hollywood Hill. Jake reluctantly entered the mansion. Welther Sr. was a lawyer and thanks to those over-the-top actors and actresses, Jake’s father could afford all the luxuries.
Again, one of the bodyguards interrupted his train of thought. “They are waiting for you in the library.”
Jake glared at him. He wasted no time, though. He wanted nothing more but to finish this discussion with his brothers. Then he would flee to his mother’s house and only return for the funeral.