Chapter 4 - The Claws of the Past
Two weeks after Christmas, the honeymoon phase of our sudden reunion was violently interrupted.
We had relocated from the hotel to my private estate in the foothills of Boulder—a sprawling, secure property surrounded by pine trees and snow. For fourteen days, life had been a dream. I woke up every morning to the sound of Luke and Violet playing in the living room, spent my afternoons teaching them how to build snowmen, and spent my evenings talking late into the night with Cassandra, slowly rebuilding the deep emotional intimacy we had lost.
But Julian Calder was not a man who accepted defeat gracefully.
It was a Tuesday afternoon. I was in the kitchen with Luke, showing him how to make waffles, when my phone rang. It was an unlisted number.
I answered, placing it on speaker while wiping flour off my hands. "Damon Prescott."
"Enjoying your sudden paternity leave, Prescott?" Julian Calder’s mocking, icy voice filled the kitchen.
I immediately turned off the speaker, stepping toward the patio doors away from Luke. "Calder. How did you get this number?"
"I have resources, Damon. Just like I have resources in the press," Calder sneered. "Have you seen the front page of the Wall Street Journal online this morning?"
A cold knot tightened in my stomach. "What did you do?"
"Oh, nothing much. Just dropped a little story about the legendary Damon Prescott," Calder said smoothly. "It seems the CEO of Prescott Technologies was hiding two illegitimate children in Oregon while pumping up his company's valuation. The board is holding an emergency meeting in two hours to discuss your 'reckless personal conduct' and potential breach of fiduciary duty. They're voting to strip your voting control."
I gripped the phone tightly, my knuckles turning white. "You're targeting my family, Julian?"
"I'm targeting your vulnerability," Calder corrected viciously. "You dropped your guard for a low-class nurse and two bastard kids, Damon. You got soft. And in this business, soft men get eaten alive. Expect the process servers at your front gate within the hour."
He hung up.
Before I could digest his threat, Cassandra walked into the kitchen holding her phone, her face completely drained of color.
"Damon..." she whispered, her hands shaking. "My phone is blowing up. Reporters are calling my mother in Portland. They're calling the hospital where I used to work. They're calling my children... 'illegitimate cash grabs'."
A fierce, dark rage flared within my soul—a flame far hotter and more dangerous than any corporate ambition I had ever felt. Calder thought he had found my weakness. He didn't realize he had just stepped on a landmine.
"Cassandra," I said, my voice dropping into an octave of terrifying calm as I walked over to her, taking her phone and setting it on the counter. "Look at me."
"They're going to destroy us, Damon," she cried, panic rising in her voice. "Your board, the media... they're going to turn our children's lives into a circus!"
"No, they aren't," I said, wrapping my hands around her face, forcing her to look directly into my eyes. "Three years ago, I didn't protect you because I was a coward running after money. Today, I am the most dangerous man in this city, because I have everything to lose. Trust me, Cassandra. Please."
She took a shaky breath, looking into the absolute certainty in my eyes, and nodded. "What are we going to do?"
"We aren't going to hide," I declared. "We are going to fight."
I immediately called Richard, my COO.
"Damon!" Richard practically yelled into the receiver. "The board is in a full panic! Calder’s media leak is tearing the stock price down four percent in pre-market trading! The board wants an emergency vote at three PM to suspend your voting rights!"
"Tell the board members to assemble at the headquarters in downtown Denver at three PM," I commanded coldly. "And call every major news outlet in North America. Tell them the CEO of Prescott Technologies is holding a live press conference at three-thirty PM."
"Damon, are you insane?!" Richard gasped. "The media will tear you apart over the secret kids!"
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"They won't tear me apart, Richard," I said, looking over at Luke and Violet, who were playing happily with their toy blocks on the rug. "They are going to watch me destroy Julian Calder."
I turned to Cassandra. "Get your best dress ready. And wear the pearl necklace I bought you in Portland four years ago. We are going to show the world who the Prescott family really is."
