Chapter One
Josh Winchester had never thought his life would be like this.
Growing up, he had just been a simple lad with simple dreams. Finish school. Get a job. Marry his dream girl and have the two point five children. Live happily ever after like they always did on the telly.
Becoming a DotCom millionaire- back when such things had been possible- fresh out of college, and following it through to the list of top fifty billionaires certainly wasn’t part of the plan.
But when life gives you lemons, why settle for lemonade? Make a fucking cheesecake.
However, that cheesecake had become something of a tart these days.
Drained from the evening’s exertion, Josh hardly noticed the bing of his penthouse’s private elevator as the doors slid apart to reveal an opulence that had long since lost its sparkle.
Marble floors and gold inlay sounded nice, but when it all came down to it, the only difference between that and the stick-on gear you bought down at the DIY store, besides the price tag, was the prior just meant something else to polish.
He could afford the expense, but the prices the local cleaning companies charged to come out and do a property in Knightsbridge were highway robbery with violence and buggery.
With an exhausted sigh, he stepped out of the elevator and made straight for his bedroom down the hall, shrugging off his jacket and tugging his tie loose as he went.
It had been the usual hullabaloo that it always was on Christmas Eve. He’d been representing his organisation, Firewall, at a charity ball for the rich and famous, pretending not to know all the funds raised would actually get carved up amongst the host and organisers to pay for the spread and décor.
Strange as it might seem, he’d used to enjoy the yearly shindigs. The pomp and glamour masked behind a veil of festivity and good will to all men, and an opportunity to press flesh with the stars without them begging for funding for whatever vanity project they were fronting.
That was while his wife was alive. His angel. His Sonja.
The uncontested love of his life. And his greatest regret.
Without her on his arm, the charade just wasn’t worth the effort.
Pulling at his dickie bow, desperate to loosen its noose around his neck, he pulled open his bedroom door, and suddenly stopped dead, his eyes wide in disbelief.