Longing For The Beach Billionaire Daddy
Chapter 88

*Michael*

It was strange sleeping in the bed without Shelby waking up next to me, but I did wake up to a text from her. I stretched out across the soft sheets and grabbed my phone to text her back.

Shelby: Michael, I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to thank you for this amazing house. I can’t believe how much space there is. Lin’s thrilled too.

Michael: I’m so glad to hear that you like it. Did you sleep well last night? I missed waking up next to you.

Shelby: I slept okay, but nowhere near as well as I do when I sleep next to you.

Michael: You probably sleep better next to me because you’re so exhausted from our before-bed activities.

Shelby: That makes sense. Sounds like we’ve found our new nightly routine.

I smiled at her response before heading downstairs to make myself a cup of coffee. I’d decided to return to the townhouse rather than my apartment the night before. There was a warmth to the place that my penthouse lacked.

The plastic sheets had all been removed from the floors, counters, and little furniture, and the painting in the main parts of the house was completed. It was really starting to come together and feel more like home.

I thought it might be time to walk away from the penthouse. It felt like a place where I’d lived my bachelor life, somewhere I was happy to leave behind as I made a future with Shelby. I sent an email to my assistant Reggie to set up a meeting with my real estate agent.

I could use the money from the penthouse to buy a wedding gift for Shelby; I ran over some ideas in my head. I knew she’d like a beach house somewhere with dolphins. Maybe I could use some time over lunch to look at listings.

I wasn’t excited about this start to my week. My first meeting of the day was with the FBI agents to answer some follow-up questions. I hoped it wouldn’t take long. All I wanted was Blaine back behind bars so I could start enjoying my engagement with Shleby.

An email came through on my phone, and I smiled at the furniture selections Bruce sent over from Shelby. She made very practical decisions in the pieces she picked out for the new house. A cream-colored sectional sofa, a pair of desks with lots of storage space, and a large new dresser.

I smiled to myself, forwarding the selections to Reggie, and adding a note at the bottom to pick out a few luxury appliances, like a wine fridge for the kitchen and a jacuzzi for the back patio. I knew Shelby would get a lot of use out of them, but she’d never ask for them.

As soon as I hit send, a call from Marmie popped up on my screen. I m****d out loud and seriously considered just ignoring the call until I remembered the last time I attempted that and Marmie called seventeen times in a row until I answered.

“Hello?” I said as if I didn’t know who to expect on the other line.

“We need to talk about Lauren,” she said bluntly.

“I’m sorry, Marmie, but I don’t have time for this right now. I’m on my way out of the house to attend a very important meeting,” I said, pouring myself a cup of coffee.

“You are too busy to spare a minute for your one and only daughter?” Marmie asked, knowing it would make me cave.

“Fine, what could you possibly need to talk to me about regarding Lauren? If it’s so important, Lauren needs to call me herself,” I said, giving in but trying to hold some ground.

“She did come to talk to you about this, and you turned her away like she meant nothing to you!”

“Oh, this is about Lauren cheating her way into Harvard,” I said with venom in my tone.

“She didn’t cheat her way into Harvard. She just used the connections and assets she had to make a wise career move and go back to school. You’re her father. You’re supposed to support her in everything she does, but instead, you’ve been so worried about that little slut you’re dating that you put Lauren’s happiness on the back burner. You’re a terrible father. I wish I would’ve never told Lauren the truth,” Marmie spit into the phone.

I started seeing red just as my driver pulled the car around and gave a little honk, letting me know I was going to be late if I didn’t leave right then.

“You listen to me, Marmie, because I’ll not say this again. I’m not a terrible father because I tried to prevent Lauren from cheating her way through life. She can’t get out of doing difficult things because you’ve babied her for her entire life. I was trying to teach her to have some integrity because I know you’re incapable of teaching her that,” I said through gritted teeth, dumping my full cup of coffee into the sink.

“I’m incredibly disappointed that you aided her in this little scheme of hers, but I shouldn’t be surprised since you haven’t let a day pass without coming up with a scheme of your own. As for Shelby, you’re to have no opinion about that relationship. You’re not to speak one negative thing about her, especially to me. Do I make myself clear, Marmie?” I asked firmly.

“Are you so defensive about that girl because of the pictures floating around of you two? Still trying to cover that all up? Maybe you shouldn’t be talking to me about integrity Michael,” Marmie quipped back.

“How do you know about the pictures?” I said, doing my best to keep my composure.

“Lauren talks about it all the time,” Marmie answered.

I silently cursed my own daughter and her similarities to her mother. I almost let it slip that Shelby was going to be a big part of my life for a long time now that she accepted my proposal, but I stopped myself, knowing Shelby would be upset with me if I let Marmie know before we decided to go public.

“Shelby isn’t going anywhere, and the pictures aren’t a big deal,” I managed to say.

“Whatever you say, Michael. Some men go out and get a sports car when they go through their midlife crises, but I can see you like a different kind of ride,” Marmie snapped.

“I’m not going to help Lauren in any way with this scheme of becoming a lawyer, so unless you have anything else you need to discuss with me, this conversation is over,” I said, gritting my teeth so hard it hurt.

The line stayed silent for a long moment, so I hung up on Marmie without another word. I got into the car and slammed the door shut behind me. My new driver wisely didn’t comment and headed off toward the office. The last thing I needed was to be late for this meeting, and now after talking with Marmie, I had to walk into it disheveled too.

***

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” I said, taking my place across the table from them in my conference room.

Neither commented on my lateness, but rather got straight into the questions they came to ask me.

“Mr. Astor, did you close your personal and business bank accounts when you discovered the break-in at your penthouse?” Agent Gatlin asked.

“Yes, my security team has a procedure in place to put a freeze on all accounts in the event of a data breach. As far as I’m aware, that protocol was followed in a timely manner after the break-in. Do you have any new information about the data breach? Have you caught the hacker?”

“Unfortunately, we don’t have any new information to share with you at this time in regards to the hacker or the data breach. We did, however, discover a large sum of money missing from the Astor estate. It appears we were wrong about your bank information being secure.”

My heart started racing. The Astor estate was solely my responsibility. The multibillion-dollar estate had been in my family for over one hundred years. I’d spent my entire life learning how to manage the estate and grow the family fortune. So many heirs to large family fortunes like mine lost everything within a few years. I’d been strict and diligent in making sure that didn’t happen to me.

“How much is missing?” I asked, trying to keep my composure.

“Just under one hundred million dollars,” agent Gatlin said.

A pit formed in my stomach, and I was glad that I hadn’t had time to eat anything before leaving the townhouse, or it may all have come back up. I shrugged my shoulders, unable to think of how to respond without going into a frenzy. The other agent, who rarely spoke, looked at me with contempt.

“My team will handle it,” I finally managed.

“Wouldn’t it be nice to have so much money that the news of losing one hundred million dollars doesn’t even phase you? I guess it’s true that the ultra-rich are a completely different breed,” the agent sneered.

“If that’s all the updates you have for me, I think it’s time for you both to go. It sounds as though I have a lot of work on my hands,” I said, glaring at them.

“Very well,” said Agent Gatlin, standing to leave.

I didn’t bother shaking either of the men’s hands, and I waited for them to show themselves out before heading to my office.

“Useless,” I said to myself as I walked down the halls.

I shouldn’t have been surprised that the FBI still hadn’t turned anything up. Luckily, I had people in my corner that were much more skilled and didn’t have the rules of the FBI to hold them back. I pulled a painting off of my office wall, and uncovered the hidden safe behind it. Pulling out a burner phone, I quickly dialed a number I hadn’t had to use in years.

“Michael, it’s been too long,” a gravelly voice said on the other end.

“Delany, it has been. However, I don’t have time for small talk at the moment. I need you to do a job for me. My computers were stolen, and I just discovered a large amount of money has been stolen from my estate. I need you to replace this hacker and help me get the money back,” I explained.

“What kind of compensation are we talking about?” Delany asked.

“How about five percent of the money you help me recover? That way, the better job you do, the more you get paid. I have an IP address I can send you to get you started on this hacker’s trail.”

“How much money did you lose? I need to make sure this is worth my time,” Delany asked.

“Oh, it is worth your time Delany. They stole one hundred million dollars from me. So do we have a deal or not?” I asked.

“Deal.”