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I found myself enjoying our evenings of explaining basic mathematics or literature to her. Perhaps this is what it would be like to have children, I mused, thoughts I hadn’t had in a long time.

There were a few calls from the office, which I ignored.

I thought I’d pick them up later or call back but then I didn’t.

Natania wanted to schedule catch-up meetings but I kept coming up with excuses. I was enjoying my new romance with Kaya and after so many years of solitude and loneliness, I thought I deserved it but it came at a price.

When I arrived at the castle early one morning, Natania was waiting for me, anxiously rushing to my car as I arrived.

“Why haven’t you been answering my calls?” she demanded to know.

“I’ve been busy,” I replied haughtily.

“Meantime, everything has been going to shit!”

I rolled my eyes. “Must you be so dramatic?”

She pursed her lips and I realized that she was trying to control her temper.

“You have to call Max van Patten,” she said. He was the daytime head of the Topaz Group. “He called me because he couldn’t get hold of you.”

I had left my phone at the castle days ago, annoyed by all the pinging of messages and notifications of the Dow and share prices. Who cared about all of that when Kaya was willing to let me kiss her where and when I wanted to?

But I had let things go too far. It turned out that my enemies were plotting against me in my absence.

The board meeting, which was due to be held in Austin later that day, was to review a motion to have me removed as CEO. The board members had been sent an email that I had allegedly sent to one of our biggest recruitment agencies, in which I cancelled all the contracts of the shift workers at our hotels. Thousands of people had been sacked because I supposedly was unwilling to pay the expected and negotiated fair pay increase.

I called Max and told him the email had not come from me.

“But it was sent from your account!”

“I must have been hacked. I will sort it out.”

However, it was easier said than done. The message had been leaked to all our hotels and resorts and it was chaos. I had to talk to all of the hotel managers and assure the head of the recruitment agency that the email was not true and that the pay increase would be honored. The staff were only placated when I agreed to pay a bonus to all of the shift workers.

This bonus was not part of our budget and I knew the board members would not like it as it cut significantly into our financial projections for the quarter.

I called Marcello, the board chairman and his tone was cold.

“What the fuck, Jack? Is it true, have you let a bit of pussy lead you astray like this?”

I had to take a deep breath to calm down. I couldn’t let him get to me.

“It’s a cheap trick, Marcello, and I’ve sorted it out,” I assured him.

“And where are the funds for these bonuses coming from?”

I told him I was willing to put up my salary for a few months to pay for it.

“Are you insane?” he asked, incredulous.

I had other income, that he didn’t have to know about and I had decided to put up some of my cars for sale but I knew it was important to make this show of sacrifice to get us through this crisis and convince the board of my commitment to the company.

I was also going to find out who had done this. Although, I had a bloody good idea.

“Let me worry about the details,” I told him. “Do you think this will keep the board on my side?”

“I think so, yes.”