Chapter 4

Adonis didn't know if he was ready to hear his father's solution. Lately, he and his mom have talked to him about settling down and starting a family, especially since he exited his twenties.

"Are you ready to get paid?!"  His father said!  

“Kings are always ready." 

They looked at one another as Adonis waited for his dad to give the solution.”

“Contract marriage!”

Adonis laughed. "Are you joking? No, you are not. Dad, no, that’s going too far.”

“My boy, it's the perfect solution. It’s no different from any other agreements you sign nearly daily.”

Adonis looks suspiciously, smiling at him.  Nothing inwardly excited him like his career did. He threw himself into his work and career enthusiastically. It brought him as much pleasure as a female's body in bed. But nothing about this sounded pleasurable at all. 

He blurted out, “I want children. I wouldn’t dare have children with a contract wife. Don’t you and Mom want grandchildren? You know Mom wants some. Bryce is a grown man, and she is ready to hear the pit-ta-patta of little feet running around.”

“Son, how do you want children and not a wife? It's like a package deal. You can't have one without the other.” Mason Weston dropped his head against the high-back leather chair, irritation nipping at his nerves.

How did he and his dad end up in this conversation? Even as a teen, his father never talked to him about the birds and bees or what he desired or wanted personally. It's been from diapers to briefs business with his dad.

“It’s a good thing we’re  talking about this now because clearly, you have lost your mind, Adonis.”

“I’ve lost my mind? That's hilarious; give yourself more credit, Dad. You wouldn't have made me CEO if you thought I was looney.” Adonis said, chuckling. 

His father returned his attention to the ceiling.

Adonis released an exaggerated sigh. “Dad, we will cross overseas, but this isn’t the route we must take to get there.” 

“No, maybe you should take some more time considering my suggestion. 

“No, I’m fine. I disagree with what you want to do. When I think of marriage, I think of you and Mom, a traditional marriage that involves children and family. I'm assuming love is involved somewhere, right? Even though I don’t want it for myself, I still think of it that way.”

His father stared at his right hand, opening and closing it, trying to work out the stiffness. He still suffered from a bit of achiness from time to time, especially when he got stressed out and his son was doing a number on him.

“Are you even listening to me?” Adonis’s voice penetrated his father's thoughts.

“Mom would have a fit if she heard you talking about some fake marriage for business purposes.”

“She might be eager if she heard a grandchild could come out of it.”

“There’s no way mom would condone me having her grandchild in a fake marriage.”

“Well, there’s no way she will condone you screwing around with women only to produce a child.”

Adonis smiled. “Yeah, Mother might be prissy and petite, but she wouldn’t hesitate to knock me upside the head if she thought I was intentionally spreading the Weston seed around town to produce a child.” 

A marriage is a marriage. Contract or traditional. Give it some more thought. 

“It’s not like I'm not considering your suggestion.” Adonis still wondered why he needed to explain himself.

“I just don’t want or intend to do the whole relationship, commitment thing. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to be a dad.

Again, Mason frowned, looking at his son as if he didn’t recognize him.

“Adonis?” Mason grounded out. “Say something that makes sense, son! You are going to pass up a deal like this?” 

“Dad, I’m not trying to get with anyone, contract or traditional. I’m not ready to deal with the clingy, high-maintenance, self-centered, materialistic women. 

“She’s Asian! For peak sakes! How do you know if she’s that way? You've never dated a foreigner!” 

“She’s rich, isn’t she? Trust me, I’ve dealt with enough elite women to know. They are all the same.”

Mason jabbed his hands into his pockets. He studied his son's face for a long time before speaking again. 

Adonis was now ready to end this dead-end conversation. “Okay, Dad! I’ll think about it.” He said to get the man out of his office so he could get some real work done!

“That’s my boy! We have some time, but don’t spend too long pondering it.” 

“Alright, Dad. I need to get to work.”

Adonis sits in his chair, still tripping over his father’s wildly insane suggestion. 

"Tokyo is our next move."

Adonis was mentally a brilliant man. His approach to business was similar to his approach to intimacy. He gave forethought to everything he did beforehand, which made him an exquisite lover, he's been told countless times. Adonis envisioned what he would perform in the bedroom in advance, resulting in cries of passion that would fill the air with him softly whispering.

I hate that I will have to break that beautiful girl's heart. But Ms. Tokyo is a beauty, but she's all legs and no biscuits. I need to avoid making any mistakes that I'll live to regret, and I don't believe in regrets."

So he picked up his cell phone and returned to work, taking another route to acquire that Tokyo deal.

After spending all day on the phone making calls, Adonis asked his secretary to hold all the calls. He had been exhaustively working for hours and deleted everything he attempted to put together from his computer. Adonis also had a pile of balled-up papers he had been scribbling ideas on, tossing them in the wastebasket. Adonis sighs, running his hand through black-silky strands, feeling depleted and somewhat defeated. Adonis takes a deep breath, knowing I will come up with something over the weekend.

Later that night, when he got home, he saw an envelope sticking from his door.

"Adonis, here are the tickets. The ship leaves the dock at 9 a.m. tomorrow. Don't let your boy's money go to waste."

Thanks

Beenie,

Adonis has explained this to his friends many times. "I love only one thing, and that's making money. I eat to it, sleep to it, and even make love thinking about money. It's almost "criminal" how it makes me feel and what I'm willing to do for it. It's like a powerful drug coursing through my veins. I don’t do things like vacations. It wastes precious time, and I could be making money. Making money, to me, is a vacation. But ordinary people will never understand that. So, it makes no sense to call Beenzino and tell him anything. It will just go in one ear and out the other. 

"Since he's spent his hard-earned money and gone to such great lengths to bring this over here, I guess I better go.” 

Later that night, he fell asleep. When he woke up, something wasn't right. Adonis didn't feel the same. It felt strange.

He wasn't one to read much into dreams he had, but this dream, someone told him. “You don't have what it takes to get this Tokyo deal."  He sat up in bed, wondering why his subconscious sounded like a woman's voice.

"Do I need this stress? No! Do I need the money? No! Do I want notoriety and recognition as the wealthiest man in the world? Yes! If I can tap into this market, I will have reached my long-life business and financial goal as the wealthiest man in the world! It would shock all his friends and enemies in the world's top three percent earners! This one thought has been Adonis Weston's driving force since he became CEO! To be the greatest!"

But all Adonis efforts and motivations weren't working. It all felt null and void. Adonis shook his head,

"What's happening to me? I'm about to pass it all up to go on a cruise! I don't even know if I get seasick. This isn't like me at all! Am I becoming a softy? Never may that happen! Beenzino! You owe me big time!"