The Hacker's Billionaire

A man without a soul?

Ethan's POV

"Why are you calling me? What happened?" I ask impatiently.

It is still early in the morning, and I wouldn't say I like getting calls from prison. It better be good. I set up quickly in my bed. What if that woman has escaped? I know exactly where she will come first. She will come for her son. She will come for little Eric, and I love Eric too much.

Eric is like my son. He's still a baby, and I must protect him. I do not know if that woman stole the family jewelry, but where did she get all that money if she did not steal the jewelry? That is what I kept thinking when they arrested her. She kept saying that she was innocent and being set up. I believe her. I tried to prove her innocence, but I could not. Something about Liam also got my attention. The family jewelry was supposed to come to me. All of a sudden, Liam had a lot of money. He said he made good investments. I do not know if I believe him.

I do not know what to think. But I don't want that woman near my child. Yes, I see Eric as mine. I have adopted him.

"So when we came in this morning, we heard that Bianca Henderson has unalive herself," The woman guard that always spies for me in prison tells me. I know my parents also have their spies in there. They will know by now that she is no longer alive. But something does not feel right.

"Do you mean she committed suicide? Did you see her body?" I ask. I hate it when they use these politically correct terms. Just call it by the name. Suicide is suicide. It's not unalive yourself, but bullshit is that.

"We have seen her body. I noticed when they moved her to the morgue. I did not work yesterday, so I did not know until this morning. Of course, there was an investigation, and taking the body to the morgue took a while." My spy says.

"Are you sure it is her?" I ask as I cannot shake this unnerving feeling.

"Yes, sir, it was her." My spy answers.

Well, I guess at least now I am rid of her for good, and I no longer have to worry about her coming after Eric.

"I will come and claim the body. I will bury her," I say, knowing no one else will do that. She was Eric's mother, after all. It will only be him and me attending the funeral. I will take him to his mother's funeral. I didn't want her to hold him, but I could at least take him to her funeral. I can go to the graveyard. There is no need for a church service. What is the use? It will only be the priest, Eric, and I.

I do not know why I feel so sad for the young woman. Perhaps it is because she wasted her life. Maybe it is because she had to deal with my family. Anyway, that is not why I want to claim her body in the first place. I want to make sure that it is her. I want an autopsy, and I want DNA. I have never seen her, so I do not know what she looks like. As long answer her DNA proof that she is Eric's mother, I will be happy that it is her body.

I get up and put on my black suit. I always wear black. My clothes are as black as my heart. It will not be the first woman that the Maverick family has murdered. Well, it is if she was innocent. Suppose I find out that she was innocent. I will bring Eric to her grave yearly and tell him about his mother. Not that I know much about it, but I will make up stories to make him believe that she loved him very much and died of natural causes. I want him to know that he had a mother that loved him.

A child needs to know that his mother loves him. I know because I know my mother never loved me. My parents only saw me as a means to make them money. What they did to me and what they made me do still haunts me to this day.

Before I go to work, I ensure that little Eric is okay. I only allow his nanny and myself to touch him. He is still so small, but he has been a handful since he started walking.

I always play with him at night until he falls asleep in my arms. He could have been mine. If only I never listened to my parents when I was a young, stupid boy. I was Liam, their puppet.

I do not want to think about the past right now. I have work to do. I do not want the world to know that I have claimed the body of Bianca Henderson. There's only one person I trust that will help me to find out whether it is heard that died. I know they are very discreet. They have helped me in the past.

I pick up my phone, and I dial a number.

"Malone, I need your help. I need to get the body out of the jail morgue. I want a DNA test and will send you the child's hair. I want to be tested against the body. I want you to ensure his mother died in prison." I say.

"I know who you are talking about. I will do everything. Do not worry about anything. It's all in my hands. Do you want me to arrange the funeral?" Malone asks. I like the man. He's to the point, and he does not ask unnecessary questions.

"I'll arrange the funeral. It will just be at the graveyard. There's something else I want you to do for me. Please prove her innocence. I will pay you as usual. I am sure you can find do it." I say.

"Leave everything to me. I will find out everything you want to know. As usual, we will discuss the price after the job is done." Malone says.

"That's good with me." I say, and I hang up, knowing we have nothing else to discuss. I don't want to waste this time. I know he's a very busy man.

After talking to Malone, I walk to Eric's room. The little man is already up and going. He runs to me as he sees me holding out his little hands.

"Dadda!" He shouts as I pick him up and hug him.

"You will never be often like your mother was. Daddy promises you. I promise you I will love you like my own forever. You will be my son. Daddy promises that the seed donor will never find or know about you." I say.

I'm glad that I bribed my parent's spies. Never to tell them that they have a grandson. They would have killed him. They wanted nothing to do with Bianca Henderson. And I wonder why. Is it because they felt guilty for what they have done to her? Is it because she was innocent, and they blamed everything on her and never wanted a trace of her in their lives again? Did they use her like they used everybody else in their lives, then when they are broken, they throw them away? They will never break me. They will never know my son, and they will never know that he exists. Their spies are not very loyal because they do not get paid much. So they keep their mouth shut about the child. Well, very few people knew that she was pregnant anyway. She was kept in confinement while she was pregnant on my demand. A court case did not take long. Nobody could see that she was pregnant. I only found out because of my spies.

"Dadda!" Eric says again, giving me a wet kiss on the mouth.

"One day, little one, we will clear your mother's name, and I will tell you all about her even if I have to make up stories because I didn't know her. Dadda promises that I love you and will do anything for you in this world. For your sake, I will clear your mother's name and prove who the guilty one is. One day I will make the sperm donor pay for his sins. I hoped I could do it before something like this happened to her. Not that I wanted to hear you, because I don't want anyone near you. I am relieved that she is gone and is no longer a threat to take you away from me. Not that I would have allowed her to do it. I know I call her that woman, but I guess I will have to start calling her Bianca because that was her name, and she was your mother. She gave you to me. I wish I had a photo of her that I could show you one day when you are grown up and tell you that that was your mother. I will make up some story of why we don't have photos of her. Daddy knows he will have to lie, but he wants you to know she loved you." I say as I hand you back to his nanny.

I have to go to work, so I put on my mask. I do not allow people close to me; some say I do not have a soul. I have too much to lose to let anybody too close to me. I know they think I am heartless, but they do not know about my little boy I am hiding from the world. I cannot allow anybody close to me.

I put on my cold smile as I walk out of the door. I know women find me attractive, and I know that I can be arrogant sometimes. Nobody knows that it is a mask I am wearing to keep people away from me. It is just a shame that some women cannot take a hint. Women like Amanda Krueger that does not want to leave me alone.

The Krueger family is very wealthy. Amanda was spoiled since she was a little girl, and now she's just a brat. She's a pain in my ass. And every time I see her, I want to scream.

I get into the limo and drive to my office. I do not allow anybody except for the guards and the nanny to come to my house. I do not want to take chances with Eric's life. I know that his mother wanted to call him Eric. I heard her begging to hold little Eric one time. She called the little boy Eric. I do not know why she wanted to call him Eric, but I called him that. I thought it was a good strong name.

I arrive at my office, and I get out of the limousine. My faces turn, and I do not show any emotions. Some of the young women in the office have tried to flirt with me, but I put them straight. Everybody knows not to mess with me. I am a demon when I do business, but I am a devil regarding my privacy. Nobody knows where I stay, and I prefer to keep it that way. I don't want somebody like Amanda Krueger to come to my house. I like to leave my private business at home.

I can see everybody looking down and pretending to work as I walk into the office. I know they fear me more than they fear the devil himself. I know it can be heartless, and I can be cruel. But if you work for me, you work because you get paid good money. I hate lazy people.

I have the hair of little Eric with me. I walk into my office. Malone is waiting for me, and I do not even ask how he got in. I just had him hear that I've put in a little plastic bag. He nods at me. Put the bag in his pocket and walks out. I knew he would come to fetch it. You never go to them. They always come to you. No words are needed between us. He knows what he's doing, and I know how to trust him.

I still feel a little bit awkward about her death. Am I a man without a soul like everyone says I am? No. I am a man with dark secrets. I am a man that must protect a little boy who has nobody in this life but me. I am a man who has been hurt badly in the past, and I will not open up to anyone and get hurt again.