Once upon a billionaire Heiress.

Transfer of inheritance.

Thelia paced the floor of the living room, her hands clasped behind her. Her stepmother sat on the sofa, her eyes closed and surrounded by sad lines. The air was thick with worry and tension.

She should be out there. With the police, with her men, looking for him. It was past seven in the morning and there was no word from her father! Nothing.

"This is useless!" She hissed, placing a hand on her head. "Staying here won't find him -"

"Staying here will keep you safe, Thelia." Her stepmother said, opening her eyes.

Thelia sneered at her. "I'm sure I'll be safer somewhere else, Stephanie."

Stephanie sighed and reached for her phone beside her. She tapped rapidly on it and then shook her head. "Nothing from the men."

Thelia scoffed and walked to the window. It only allowed her a view of the spacious garden beside the house. A garden filled with Acerola shrubs that had been planted by her mother. The Gardner had arrived and was trimming the leaves of the gigantic shrub. She watched as he stopped before three gravestones and shook his head sadly. He did that every day. She could imagine what he thought.

What a pity. Two children and their mother dead. Two boys!

And then he would glance at the house and shake his head further.

And the only one who survived was a tiny little girl.

She left the window in anger and resumed pacing. She had vowed to protect her father, to keep him safe. But what could she do now? What if he was dead?! What if like her brothers and mother, whoever was after them had gone for her father?!

"Calm down Thelia. I can see the lines on your forehead." Stephanie mumbled.

"Calm down? How am I supposed to do that?! My dad could probably be lying unconscious in a ditch in a pool of his blood! I cannot calm down."

"Let's not assume the worst, okay. I'm sure Lukas is fine-"

"Of course! Because in the past years since you've been married to him, he has spent the night out without informing anyone about it!" Thelia fumed. "Mist! If you must speak, then speak with your wits about you, Stephanie!"

The older woman bit her lip and rose to her feet, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I'm just asking you to calm down. There's no need to be snide about things Thelia."

"Don't touch me!" Thelia hissed and shrugged her hand off. She glared at the door in fierce determination. "I'm going to find my father."

"Do what you want then," Stephanie said in resignation.

"I don't need your permission." Thelia hissed and stalked towards the door.

"But at least change into something more suitable. You haven't changed from your... Sports clothes and to be frank, you stink." Stephanie advised.

Enraged, Thelia opened her mouth to launch into a rampage about how her clothes and look should not matter to her when her phone vibrated. Uwe's name flashed across the screen and she swiped to accept his call.

"Uwe, please tell me you have good news, I'm about to lose my mind." She said into the receiver.

The old man grunted. "I have good news. We found your-"

"Alive? Is he alive?" She blurted, cutting the man short.

The man sighed impatiently on the other end. "Yes, Miss Actona. Mr Actona is fine."

She held her breath. "What is wrong then? Is he injured? In a coma? On the brink of death?"

Not that Thelia hoped something would be wrong with her father. She loved him too much to hope so. But he had been missing for a night, something must have happened and him being uninjured was rather more fishy than him dead.

"He is well and... Good, Miss Actona." Uwe said, exasperated.

"Is that my daughter?" Her father interrupted the conversation.

"Yes sir," Uwe replied.

"Well, hand it over. Unless you want to be badgered blue-black. She can be quite fierce to deal with." Lukas said on the other line causing his daughter to huff in anger.

"That's not fair, Dad, and you know it! What the hell happened to you?" She reproved.

"Calm down Red. I'll be home soon and I'll explain everything." Her father's playful voice reached her ears and she sighed. When he hung up.

Might as well take a bath. She had to agree with Steph on something. She stank like a skunk.

****

When Lukas Actona arrived at his home, it was with four cars filled with the police and two cars for extra security. He arrived in one of the black tinted cars that Uwe drove. His bodyguard, chauffeur and valet was a man in his mid-forties. His dark hair was cropped in a buzz and his severe dark eyes were hidden in dark glasses. He was a serious-looking man who was all business and rarely smiled. Lukas could count the number of times the man had shown a reaction other than grunting and glaring at everything and everyone in suspicion.

"I trust you'll be fine now on your own Mr Actona." The head of the police crew who had followed them said as they got to the door. The Actona compound wasn't very large. The only thing that was extensively big about it was the garden which lay on the left side of the compound. "Or perhaps you would like us to sweep the perimeter, just in case."

Lukas smiled and waved a hand in dismissal. "Not necessary. A man will die one day, won't he?"

"Will you stop joking about things like that?!" His daughter hissed from behind the door. He could hear her undo all the locks before it finally slid open.

Was this living? Lukas thought as he took in the face of his only survivor. Was this living if she had to live like a prisoner? If she had to be worried every time her father took a detour and landed in trouble. His Thelia was beautiful and deserved the world. She deserved to see beyond the compound, beyond Berlin, heck even beyond Germany. To travel the world, taking in wondrous sights with her pretty blue eyes and flaming hair. She had the passion of her mother, his wife, the severity and sternness and backbone.

It was simple to Lukas. Thelia deserved better.

He grinned and stretched his hand open wide. "As you can see I'm in one piece." He announced. "And, tired and very hungry. So how about you don't badger me right now and wait till I'm rested?"

The girl pursed her lips and shook her hands in the air as if to dismiss all her thoughts. She squeezed her father's arm and turned to go back inside the house.

Lukas turned to the chief of police, "I trust you will let Cohen go. I already explained that he saved me instead."

The chief of police looked conflicted. "But he has all the traces of a vagabond. Putting Jim behind bars will be doing everyone a favour."

Lukas chuckled and shook his head.

"Let him go. He deserves better. Everyone, all of us deserve better." He said and nodded in dismissal.

The chief of police took the hint and backed away, using hand signals to round off the police and soon they were gone.

Lukas stood outside his door, glancing around his compound and sighing. While Cohen's place hadn't been the epitome of comfort, it had felt safe and helped him forget a lot. He could feel it. Death was imminent.

Uwe came beside him with inquiring eyes. He wondered why his boss just stood by the door, frozen and staring into space. Lukas smiled at him then coughed, the red marks on his throat looked visibly redder and Uwe grabbed him by the shoulders, steering him inside.

"Call Heinz. Tell him..." Lukas whispered, "to meet me at the spot tonight."

****

The spot was an open bar in one of the classy streets of Berlin. Lukas saw from the glass windows, the merry laughter of free men. Men who had nothing but were happier. Men without a death sentence waving above their heads.

It was hard, being a billionaire. To have the amount of money that people craved for themselves, that could buy people a future. Lukas Actona experienced first-hand what cruel people would do for money. If he had lost Thelia too, he wouldn't have been strong enough to push through.

How would Thelia survive then? With him gone, all alone and against the odds?

"Mr Actona?" A middle-aged man who sat beside him in the black as night Porsche called his attention.

"Yes, Heinz?" Lukas asked, eyes still fixed on the window.

Heinz glanced at the document in his hand in disbelief. "Are you sure about this?"

Lukas looked at him. His playful demeanor had completely changed. His blue eyes were hard and cold.

"Yes. I am not addled, Heinz. Quit looking at me like that. I want all my shares transferred to Cohen Anschutz."