1. DINNER

Chapter one

Dominic pursed his lips a cold dead expression on his face as he eyed the older man sitting across him in the booth. He was perspiring effortlessly judging from the sweat droplets forming in the creases of his eyebrows.

"I don't think you understand me, Mr. Vivek. I'll say this one more time, the land you built your hotel is now mine which makes that building mine too. On Monday morning at 9. 00 sharp, my secretary will bring over a check of seventeen million dollars," he stood up straightening his mid-thigh length black coat before walking out of the old man's office.

His three men all dressed in matching black suits escorted him to his limousine before getting in their own car. At the age of twenty-nine, Dominic sparked fear in people's hearts at the mere mention of his name. Businessmen in New York city cower at his very presence. He never gives interviews but still his face has been the cover of the tri-annual business magazine for the past two years.

As soon as Dominic was in the safe precinct of his house, he had a quick shower before laying down on the comfy bed. He enjoyed the fear he caused among people. It made him feel superior, one of the best feelings in the world according to him. A knock of the door of his bedroom disturbed his train of thoughts. Who would be here at three-thirty in the evening? He rose from the bed walking to the door before yanking it open to reveal two men: his right-hand man Dave and younger brother Reed.

"Sir, your brother is here to see you," Dave explained the obvious.

He nodded once watching Dave walk away before his gaze shifted to Reed who had a troubled look on his face.

"Hello brother," Reed greeted his hands stuffed into the depth of his jeans front pockets.

"What do you want Reed? I have really important work in about thirty minutes," he questioned in a deep bored tone glancing at his watch.

"Won't I get invited inside first?" Reed was the cheerful one of the two.

Dominic opened the door wider watching his brother walk past him to seat on the white leather couch. After closing the door he joined him, his deep gaze assessing Reed. He kept on watching his face until Reed finally began speaking, disclosing the exact reason as to why he was there.

"Damn! This is harder than I thought. So I know I have been pressurizing you a lot for the past two years to go out with someone. I even tried to hook you up with some of my friends but never did it cross my mind of the kind of person you really wanted to date. Its okay, though you should have told me early enough. Don't worry I am fine with what you really are. It will take a lot of time for mum and dad to accept it but they will eventually," Dominic stared at his brother ridiculously.

"What are you talking about Reed?" He asked finally after a few seconds.

"Dominic it took me time to accept the fact that you are... you know-"Reed trailed hoping his older brother caught up.

"No, I don't know Reed. Just fucking tell me," he was getting impatient.

"That you roll the other way. You know what I mean," Reed blurted out feeling rather uncomfortable about the subject.

"Roll the other way? Is that some sort of cliche phrase?" he eyed his younger brother even more ridiculously.

"Dammit! I mean that am fine with you being gay Dominic! I know it's really hard for you to come out, considering you are such a successful business. I know there are a lot of things you have to put into consideration but just know I'm always right. You can count on me, "Dominic was taken aback by his brother's bluntness. Where the hell would Reed get such crazy ideas from? Crossing one leg over the other he leaned back on his chair before letting his dark gaze flirt back to his brother.

"Are you high again Reed?" Dominic inquired placing one long arm on top of the couch edges. Reed was known to blabber a lot of things that didn't make sense when he was high. And considering just how much he had been partying a lot lately, Dominic was sure his younger brother was high on some drug. The boy really needed to get a hold on himself or even better he needed to be sent to a rehabilitation center.

"Just a little but am really serious about what I said," he shrugged leaning back on his seat.

"First off I really want to go to work right now and second but more importantly I'm not gay," he stood up, heads on his pockets.

"Really? You know you can always tell me Dominic and besides, it's nothing to be ashamed of. Because I really thought-" Reed went on blabbering.

"See you tomorrow morning Reed, "He dismissed him without a second thought.

"Fine," Reed gave up raising his arms in surrender as he exited.

Dominic plopped on his bed wondering why his own little brother would think he was gay. Sure he was rarely seen in the company of ladies but that's because he was busy among other reasons. The last thing he needed in his life was another worry. To him, women were just something to worry about all the time. You'd have to worry about who she is with every living second of your life. You'll have to worry about who she texting or where she is very single time. Dominic knew he had no time to worry about such things. After all, he was too busy building his empire and he knew women were just an obstacle to his success. After several minutes of lecturing himself that women were just a distraction to the path of success, he fell into a deeply disturbing slumber like always.

When he woke up two hours later there were three missed calls from Reed. Sitting up on his bed he let out a tired yawn which he tried to muffle by placing his right hand over his mouth. after stretching his arms, he called Reed and after the second ring he picked up.

"Mum and Dad want you to come over for dinner tonight," Reed announced rather triumphantly. If there was one thing Reed enjoyed were the family dinners with his parents. He knew Dominic hated them and that was what made them even more enjoyable. All night his mother would be drilling Dominic about marriage.

"Just tell them I'm working overtime tonight," he massaged his forehead with his thumb. He had been dreading this day since last weekend. If he had a way to control time, Dominic would have just swept over tonight's dinner time.

"You know that I can't. See you there at seven," Dominic disconnected the call grunting in frustration.

Dinner with his parents was just another wastage of his precious time. All night long they would be going on and on about how beautiful their friend's daughters have grown up to be. It was only a few times that they had really cared about his work. More specifically it was his mother who was always talking about marriage. Dominic was however the least interested. All he cared about was business and if marriage had been a business, maybe then he would have taken it into consideration. The similarity between this dinner with his parents and marriage was that they were both a huge wastage of his precious time. To him, time was a great factor that needed to be utilized to the maximum for one to make a huge profit. As his eyes ran over his wardrobe trying to find what exactly he wanted to wear for dinner, he couldn't help grimacing every now and then. Finally, he settled on a cream-colored Italian handmade suit before he began driving off to his parents' house. He was closely followed by his bodyguards in their black SUV as they navigated through the familiar posh estate roads of New York City. All his mind could think of was just the dreaded dinner awaiting him. Whoever said spending time with your parents was having quality time, was clearly not in their right mind? Well if he had to tolerate his parents throughout dinner without lurching out, then he a drink. He wouldn't want to be fully sober through the whole ordeal. Putting his phone on speaker, he called Dave's phone.

"Boss," came Dave's voice the moment he picked up.

" Hey Dave, do you know any good bars in this part of town?" he questioned.

"Yeah. I know a couple but they are all not that expensive," he answered.

"Which is the nearest one?" He asked feeling more frustrated by each passing aggravating second.

"Um...there is one just around the next corner. It's called High end and the security there is pretty good too," He added. Perfect, Dominic thought.

"Well, we will pull over for a few minutes and you can all grab a drink if you want to. Just don't get drunk," He ordered.

"Yes sir," Dave answered.