Disclaimer: This story is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author's imagination and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, events or locales is purely coincidental and no slanderous intent is implied.
This is a story about a son of Duke from a fictious kingdom and the life and experiences that he has when he ends up in America. During this story we discover two fictious nations and principalities and their royal families ... These are completely the product of my imagination and bear no resemblance to anyone living or dead.
I know that I hinted that Lord Aquamaine would be Part 2 of the Moonside Manor story line. However when I started writing, it took on a life of it's own and when I tried to tie the two together they would not let me and I had to do major rewrites in Lord Aquamaine as we result. There will be more of CJ and more or LJ, but they are stand alone at the monment. Currently working on a story set in 1880s in the Ridings of Yorkshire about a boy from the coal mines.
This work is copyrighted and I ask that you do not copy, post or electronically download without my express permission.
If you are too young to be here or it is illegal in your state then please leave; finally if you are looking for hot sex scenes then look again as you'll not find any here.
Email me - Kev (UK) with your comments at ukwriter12@yahoo.com
I appologise to Italian speakers if my Italian is rubbish - blame the translation tools on the web!
Please note this story was written at the end of last year, beginning of this year. Regular readers of Aquamaine will know that the Boston Estate has been vistied throughout the story by LJ and King Roger...Over the next few chapters the family move to Boston and experience extreme problems. This is in no way meant to minimise or scandalise the atrocities that have recently happened there. I appologise in advance if this causes upset.*
------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- In an effort to help you follow what is happening the characters are listed below, but in addition since Lord Aquamaine is a very rich young man other things are listed as well, such as his businesses to help you follow.
Characters ----------- Lord Lancelot Jefferson Bravender VI - Lord Aquamaine Charles Edward Bravender - LJ's adopted son - Lord Lyonaisse Troy Jordan Bravender (TJ)- LJ's adopted son Jame Ross Bravender (JR)- LJ's adopted son Ezekiel DeLuca Nelson Bravender - LJ's adopted son Annabelle Margaret Bravender - LJ's adopted daughter - Lady Ravenswood Colt Nelson Vravender - LJ's adopted son - Lord Caderis
Baron - LJ's Horse
Anna Hemmings - Nanny Mr Jake - Master of the Prince's stables Dotty Walters - Mr Jakes wife - Main housekeeper Johan - Dotty's son - Caretaker of LJ's estates. Ryan Crow - LJs PA Andrew Collins - TJ special friend.
Rupert Devereaux - LJ's Interior Designer Brodie Reid McGregor - Clothes Designer Nicole DuBois - Opera singer Josh Connors - Country Singer
King David – Heir to the throne of Aquamaine. Queen Christine - Wife of King David. King Myles - King of Lizondia Prince Steven - Prince of Lizondia Princess Zorina - Daughter of Myles.
Governor Walt Simms - Texas rancher / Belle's husband (x Governor) Belinda Tremaine Davison - LJ's guardian (x Vice President) William Tremaine - Belle's father (retired) Arnold Tremaine - Attorney / Belle's brother Peter Tremaine - Belle's oldest son Bobby Tremaine - Belle's son Richard Tremaine - Belle's twin son Barnaby Tremaine - Belle's twin son Signor Andre De Luca - Italian Prime Minister Nonna DeLuca - Wife of the Prime Minister
President Masters - President of the USA Professor Phillip Masters - President Masters father and LJs mentor Professor Bryan Masters -President Masters brother and LJs tutor Dean Reynolds - Dean of university and LJs mentor Judge Reynolds - The deans brother Professor Absom - Class tutor Martin Japp - PI
Maria Gonzalez - Spanish speaking - Colt's mother Lincoln Struthers - LJ's friend - Partner in law firm Colt Nelson - Cace's Pa
Thomas – LJ's Major-Domo Simon – LJ's Footman - Todd's lover Mike Russo - LJ's security guard Mickael Russo - Mike's nephew Dave - LJ's security guard Gunny Wilks - LJ's security guard Todd Wilks - LJs Friend and Security guard General Wilks Coach Ord - LJ's Sensei with Dave
------------------------------------------------------------------------- Titles ------- Lord Ravenswood - 14th Duke of Ravenswood and Aeden Viscount Ravenswood Earl of Lizonby Earl of Aylsgart Baron Rooksfeld
Viscount Aeden Viscount of Kingsmere Viscount of Reymire Viscount of Rooksfeld
Marquess of Reymire Earl of Kirkowen Lord Mallamtap
Baron of Crogdun
Lord Aquamaine Duke of Rookfort Marquess of Conroy Baron of Kingsmere
17th Duke of Valkland
Marquess of Reyesford
Baron of Lizonby Viscount of Iddlesworth
12th Duke of Vauxland Prince Of Bowland
Countess of Aylsgart
Marquis of Vauxland 8th Duke of Caderis 15th Earl of Perisand 19th Marquis of Ironsea 5th Duke of Shadehaven
12th Duke of Lyonaisse 16th Marquis of Stoneacre
------------------------------------------------------------------------- Locations ---------- Chrysland (Nation) Lizondia (Neighbouring nation)
Towns and areas in Chrysland ----------------------------- Lizonby Aylsgart Valtland Jusland Sifton Park - Aquamaine Aquamaine
Properties ----------- Rooksfeld Manor (Near Lizonby) Aquamaine Palace (Home to the kings of Chrysland) Aquamaine House Florida Ocean Front House Oklahoma Ranch Texas Ranch (Main Home) Aquamaine Mansion - Washington DC Penrise Hall Iddlesworth Hall Ironbay Hall Stoneacre Castle Blackswale Castle
All businesses controlled by "The office of the Prince"
Aquamaine LLC ------------- Aquamaine Fruit and Vegetables - Florida Aquamaine Horse and Cattle Company - Oklahoma and Texas Aquamaine Wineries - Califormia and Texas Aquamaine Hotel Several Shopping Malls in differnet States Two Theme Parks Aquamaine Men (Menswear) Aquamaine Retail (departmental stores) Aquamaine Real Estate - Various Rental properties Aquamaine Dude Ranch - Montana
Bravender LLC -------------------- Bravender Gallery Bravender Art Bravender, Struthers and Tremaine - Aquamaine Law Roksfeld Accounting and Auditing Co.
At Home with Aquamaine LLC - Company created by the Bravender kids.
Lord Aquamaine --------------
Chapter 11 – Expansion and Goodbyes
With the reputation of Aquamaine we were going through a period of growth and one that found us visiting several countries to agree the expansion of the hotels with the leaders of those countries. We now had one in Russia, one in Japan, one in Australia and more just kept on coming. The hotel world had been revolutionised by these hotel and it was just begging for more.
I am not sure what made The House of Aquamaine so popular. With a vote of approval from the board we had decided to change the name from Aquamaine Holdings' to House of Aquamaine LLC'. I was also not the only share holder now. Each of the children was equal shareholders and I retained seventy percent and the kids each had five percent of the shares until they were older.
There were things that were never part of Aquamaine LLC. The hotels though known as Aquamaine the actual company was Bravender International LLC. Also there were other Bravender companies as well; The Gallery, my music, Marketing, Bravender Struthers and Tremaine and Rooksfeld Accounting. These all had separate offices as there might have been a conflict otherwise and I still was the only shareholder in most of them.
For some reason once we became "The House of Aquamaine" business improved and it was not only in Aquamaine but also the hotel business.
We had purchased a lot more properties to add to our property portfolio mainly because of the favourable sale prices and downward turn in the property market. Once they were renovated to our standards Jey was reporting that we were running at well above ninety nine percent rental capacity.
When we looked at the figures even after the overheads Jey's bottom line for rental income per month was in to the hundreds of thousands and we were really pleased as we very nearly sold it when Papa was alive. I found that I liked property and enjoyed having it available.
Personally as a family in most states we now had either a condo or a large enough house for the whole family to live in. One place that we had not visited very much was the Aquamaine Estate in Thousand Oaks. I thought about selling it, but apparently it was the first property that my mother's family had built when they settled in America.
Also I could see that the boys loved it so summers we started spending some of the time at the estate. We also employed a full staff at all times and encouraged the local people to use the estate for conferences and horse riding.
The stables we opened and took in renters where we looked after the horses for a fee per month. It turned out to be quite a successful move and we ended up building more stable accommodation. We also bought our own stock of good quality horses to the site and opened the estate for trekking and horse riding. There were several different levels of difficulty and we have cowboys on the staff that would lead each trek.
We loved out ski cabin in Aspen so had purchased several ski cabins around our own and they were booked throughout the season. They had even called it Kirkowen Ski Village and each winter we took a week's holiday at the village skiing. We kept this owned by Bravender, but managed by Aquamaine.
What I particularly liked was the idea of a lake and lake side cabins. Soon after the scare with Zeke we booked into a lakeside cabin at Lake Condor to help Zeke recuperate. We absolutely loved every minute of it, even if we had to rent three separate cottages. From that moment we looked into purchasing a lake cabin and hiking business.
It took some time to find, but eventually we found a ranch house that was connected to Lake Complex, with cabins and a bed and breakfast. The ranch was operated on a Dude Ranch basis, but that was not the main business. The main business was the hiking and riding treks, cabins, bed and breakfast, fishing, boat hire, camping tours etc.
The ranch ticked over, but never achieved the success of the camping and lake business. The Lake and trekking business even though successful we could tell that the owners had not developed to it to its full potential. I almost felt guilty as we could see money falling into it if the place was operated correctly.
We decided to change the nature of the ranch and concentrate on the Horse Breeding. It may sound strange, but Charlie and I talked to Baron who over the years had been my best friend. I was older than him at twenty six, he was just eighteen and still in his prime.
Baron made it clear that he felt it was time for some of his offspring to take control and have their own herds. When I was talking to him he took me to Midnight boy a five year old who had a wonderful nature and was easy to get on with. He also liked the ladies which helped.
It was strange though because he understood Baron and became quite animated so I let him loose and allowed him to walk with us. He pulled me forward and soon stopped at his baby brother's stall. Moonlight Boy had always been a weaker horse, but recently seemed to have improved. I noticed though that it was only when Midnight was around that his strength showed.
So we agreed a good number of young horses and some older breeding mares that were led by Midnight and Moonlight and moved them to the new ranch.
We also moved the mustangs from Montana so that we had two definitive breeds to offer. Other than that the cattle in Montana had been successful so we moved a small herd of Aberdeen Angus with the horses and that totally transformed the new ranch.
Even though there were no cattle drives the vacation business offered camping out in the open to add to the experience. We even set up safe camp sites among the animals so it seemed as if it was back in the cattle drive days.
We developed different levels of difficulty treks through the forest and woods and even built cabins in the woods so that the trekkers could stay there with their guides as a base.
When we viewed the site it reminded me of back home, luscious green everywhere and wooded in areas while having many acres of open space and a very large lake. What clinched the deal was its name, Lake Caderis. The original settlers had been ancestors from Chrysland. This became the "Caderis Ranch and Lake" and we set Bravender marketing on to it straight away.
We decided to sell the Montana dude ranch as it had always had bad memories for me and we had never succeeded marketing it successfully. It was fun to visit, but no matter how much money we pumped into it, it never took off. It was time to cut our losses.
The family that had ran it were not interested in purchasing it so as we put it up for sale and immediately had someone contact us with a proposal for a business idea that we loved, but would never be able to do by ourselves.
Marshall Wills a lumberman who loved everything to do with timber came to visit us when it was put on the market. It was not that he was trying to talk us out of making a good deal. He wanted to meet to talk about developing a lumber business where we not only harvested timber, but where we rebuilt the forest at the same time. It would be like harvesting normal crops, but then once the land had rested a year and cleared the forest would be replanted and the cycle would begin again.
Marshall had done his homework and knew that the Montana site was mostly forest. He pointed out that the cabins could be the homes for the lumberjacks while they're on site and the ranch house could be the Timber Managers residence.
The more we heard the more we approved of what he was proposing. This time Aquamaine would put up the finance and he would manage it. "My Prince I was born in Bowland and will serve you faithfully. All I ask is that you call it Bowland Timber." So it was that Aquamaine Dude ceased to exist and Bowland Timber plus Caderis Ranch and Lake became part of my businesses and very successful as well.
Over the years a carpentry crafts workshop sprang up on the site as did a saw mill. The furniture that the carpentry created became the toast of the United States and was cried out for worldwide. That though stayed under the control of Bowland Timber and Marshall managed it until he retired many, many years later.
The retail branch of Aquamaine with the clothes stores and the departmental stores were growing as well. To begin with we only had a few stores based in Texas and Florida, but the Aquamaine brand had really taken off especially since we became the sole stockist for the new range of Thom's Design House.
We launched the new designs each year with a major fashion show held at a local Aquamaine Hotel. The men were always local sporting heroes from the Baseball and Football Basketball world and the boys clothes were always modelled by the local boys' home or local schools. Each of the sports men adopted one of the boys for the night and modelled matching outfits as if father and son.
When we used a local CPS boy's home facility the sportsmen invariably took the kids under their wings and many times we were invited to the adoption meeting to represent the kids when the sports men adopted them.
It was about this time that Annabelle who was now eight years old became very interested in the retail world and asked if she could have a word. She had ideas about her friend's parents who were ranchers and farmers who were never able to get into town to shop for clothes for the kids.
What she wanted to do each year was put together a catalogue of all of the men's and boy's fashions. That one would be called At home with Colt of Aquamaine'. She also wanted a catalogue with just styles for women and girls and that one would be called At home with Annabelle of Aquamaine'. Both had designer names to them and should do well.
We loved the idea and hired Miss Millie as the photographer to take the pictures for the catalogues and then the kids got together with Belle as a mother, Mr Jake as a father and man, Linc as the legal connection and Amy as our marketing expert. The new catalogue was launched twice a year. First in the spring and summer, second the autumn and winter and then a Christmas special.
My PA, Ryan Crow's mother had joined our group as a typist on a part time basis and worked to type all of the costing information for the catalogue and also the layout of the wording. She had a gift and we soon took her one full time when she had the idea to publish a monthly magazine about all of what was happening in "At Home with" world.
Charlie was fourteen and Annabelle eight, but with the other boys who were ten they led the project as this was their baby. It was an unvoiced agreement that when they differed about the catalogue layout Charlie would have the casting vote as to what should happen. With Belle's help they formed `At Home with Aquamaine LLC'.
Within three months of the original idea the first fashion show and the launch of "At Home with Colt of Aquamaine featuring Thom" took place. New York Aquamaine Hotel held a gala evening to launch the fashions and the eyes of the world were on us. During the fashion show the phone number to call for the catalogue and the internet address were issued.
By the end of the night we had over 500,000 hits and almost as many orders through the internet and almost as many requests for the catalogues to be posted out. We were a hit once again and it was all up to the kids.
Next we concentrated on launching the feminine fashion catalogue "At Home with Annabelle of Aquamarine featuring Brodie Reid". For this Aunt Belle had a word with her friend and we soon had Brodie Reid Fashions on board creating each season's outfits; everything that you would want from the working woman to nice formal fashion.
Brodie Reid McGregor was now a newlywed and her husband John McGregor was an up and coming star in politics whose family owned several car franchises. She had also designed Belle's wedding dress, so we included an off the peg wedding catalogue which had everything from the wedding cake designed by USMC Todd, to bridal gowns and male wedding fashion designed by Brodie Reid as well.
We specifically held the Annabelle's launch and the wedding launch separately and marketed them both individually. Overall it would be hard to say which one had the better reception, but if anything it would be At Home with Thom as it was a totally new concept.
As we were launching Annabelle of Aquamarine I stressed to the kids that there was never any fashion for out sized people. So in each category they also launched a catalogue and fashion for the bigger person. The two fashion houses were soon producing stock as if it were going out of fashion and the kids were making money so fast it was as if they were minting it.
I had made a point of telling the kids it was their business and that my retail house would just accommodate the activity so that it was all kept in the family. The success on the retails stores also saw the sales go through the roof and we were able to expand into all major cities in the USA. As that was happening we were able to expand to other countries as well.
The kids revelled in the joy of success and it seemed that their ideas turned to gold. Annabelle especially had an eye for fashion and Charlie took control of the business side. Young JR was the force behind the marketing ideas and I was shocked to find out that it was Ezekiel that designed their accounting package that was produced and showed how all of the lines were doing.
TJ surprised us all as he loved the design side of things and soon had his own range in the catalogues. He specialised on fashion from birth to school age. To begin with we included his fashions in the other catalogues. By the second season though he was so popular that we had to launch the, 'At Home with TJ' catalogue dedicated purely to his fashion designs.
The night of the launch was out of this world and he was in his element making sure that the show that he put together would run as he wanted it to. He ran the evening and Todd was at his side from start to finish and soon his team knew how he worked and the night was wonderful for everyone.
As a surprise Nicole came to visit and for the finale. Nicole and I stood behind stage and sang to the music that he had playing. The audience went wild and the show was a success as was TJ. Soon his everyday fashions were in every shop and his design label was in demand around the world.
We made sure that the kids had everyone in place to manage the business as I insisted that they concentrate on their schooling and like I had and use their spare time if they wanted to make sure the business was successful.
With the family beginning to take on the pressure of business, I organised extra tuition just like I had always had and soon they were all excelling. Ezekiel took to languages just like I had always been able to and of course his first language that he learnt was Italian so that he could talk to his grandpa.
After one of these talks he came running to me and sobbed in my arms. Apparently Mr DeLuca had suffered a massive stroke and could no longer talk. Nonna DeLuca talked on the phone with Zeke and both sobbed for they realised that his time was short.
Without a moment's thought Charlie was on the phone letting everyone know that we would be in Italy for the foreseeable future. He arranged to have the Presidential suite at the Aquamaine Italy which was walking distance away from the DeLuca official residence.
We arrived and went to see Nonna DeLuca and she just sobbed in my arms. He was all that she had as they had no children and no other relatives. His life had been his politics and now she was going to be left alone. Zeke refused to accept that and looked at me with his puppy dog eyes. I knew that look, especially when I saw it in all of the kids eyes looking at me.
"Nonna you cannot stay here by yourself. You must come to America and live with us and be Grandma to the children. They already love Nonna DeLuca and you can stay at the Ranch house with us as we have plenty of space. Since Ma passed on and left Colt alone the place has been lonely without her around. She never recovered after the Cace scandal. We need you for the kids."
She looked around the room and just sobbed, "Sarò la nonna ai miei piccoli bambini (I will be grandmother to my little babies)." At that all of the kids surrounded her and hugged her.
We all got chance to spend a little time with the Prime Minister and we were all with Nonna early in the morning two days later when he passed away. We were heartbroken and Nonna was bereft.
We took control and with the Italian authorities organised an official state funeral. He had been a very popular leader. It was a great surprise when the authorities asked that I and my children speak at the funeral. King David and queen Christine attended as did Princess Zorina and Prince Steven.
Nonna requested that we go with her to the reading of the will and so all of the children, at her request attended. He had been quite a wealthy man and had left everything including all of his businesses in Italy to Ezekiel and Colt. Ezekiel refused and stopped the meeting insisting that Nonna be looked after. She smiled and told him that they were both independently wealthy and his fortune he wanted Zeke to have.
That day Zeke inherited the Grande Vista Palazzo a magnificent home that Signor DeLuca had grown up in and also Giardino di Fiore their home on the coast. The businesses were an investment company based in Milan and the largest advertising company in Milan also. Both were known by the reputation of the family name DeLuca Advertising and DeLuca Investments.
Nonna and Zeke went to meet with the board of each company and invited me as Zeke's guardian. He and Colt were sole owners of these companies and were determined to get to grips with the way they ran. As soon as we got there he could tell something was wrong and called Charlie and asked if he could come down to the DeLuca Investments building.
Charlie had the ability to read people and could sense immediately when something was out of place. After being shown around the place by the equivalent to the C.E.O Charlie turned to him and said, "Now you will do that again and this time you will tell me what you are hiding from the new owner or you will all be terminated."
Nonna just looked on and in Italian started shouting and swearing in Italian at the man. They had all expected Nonna to be the new boss and were shocked by the fact that little Zeke and Colt would be the new owners. Most found it an insult to have to work for a child. Zeke challenged definitely took after me as he issued a challenge. A dual and what surprised us all was that he challenged them in Italian.
They would choose their best two investment brokers and they would face Zeke alone. Each team would be given $30,000 which Zeke would fund from his own accounts. If their men at the end of the trading week ended up with more profit then he would sell the company. If however if he had more profit then all of those that doubted him would be terminated.
They offered to provide the accounting software for the challenge, but Ezekiel insisted that they purchase together a new computer and that he be given the weekend to prepare software just like he had with the catalogues. Independent judges could be present as he designed the software but no one else.
Nonna and I with Charlie would be the ones that recorded all of the trading during the week and exactly what each team owned at any one time. Zeke's software worked far better that the software that the investment company used and they were shocked at how good it was.
We soon realised the disadvantage that Zeke had as the others had chance to study the market over the weekend and Zeke was creating the software for the challenge. After two hours he started his phone calls and his investing. He went in hard and strong while the others who were conscious that they had to show a return and were cautious.
I cringed at some of the investments that Zeke made and ended up taking my hat off to him as not once did any of his transactions show a loss. He would drop all of his funds into one thing one moment and then as the cost had risen sell everything just as the price was about to fall.
At the end of the week the company fly boys had made a respectable $50,000 profit. Whilst during the same time Zeke had made $320,000 profit. The firm were shocked and accused us of falsifying the results.
Zeke had thought in advance and before the results had been announced had the largest accountant company in Italy come in and audit the results. When we had a clear picture of the place we also had them audit the whole company.
Nonna went ballistic! A ten year old boy had beaten them at their own game. She also noted that he had kept his investments and they had now matured to $500,000 and he was still manipulating them so that he got the best out of his portfolio. They had sold all of the shares and stocks at the end of the exercise and had lost out on a huge surge that took place whilst he saw it coming and took advantage of it.
We called my HR division over and with Charlie they interviewed every one of the employees. Fifteen staff were removed and replaced by newly qualified accountants. The C.E.O for Zeke was a man called Enrico Lombardi who was about thirty, but was the only one that had believed in him when he entered the place. He had even acted as Zeke's gofer during the exercise.
We stayed in Italy for some time and made sure that there were no problems and that the team was working as would be expected. The turnover tripled and the profits more than tripled. Enrico was a blessing as he worked well with Zeke and even called him regularly when we returned to America to make sure that he was happy with what was happening.
Now to DeLuca Advertising that was a totally different story. Gino Romano was the senior executive of the company and had several younger advertising bods under him. We arrived totally unannounced and I noticed as they saw that Nonna was with us that they went to hit a panic button. I grabbed the secretary's hand and told her we would announce ourselves. Dave took her off the premises as we had sacked her on the spot.
Nonna walked through the halls to the board room and was shocked that they were meeting to push through a hostile takeover. A woman Nonna had never seen was sat at the head of the table, her name was Zita Giardano. She was stressing that the company would not survive now without the lead that it used to have, but we threw her off her stride as we walked into the room.
Nonna looked at her, "By all means please go on Zita I am extremely interested to hear what you think of me. You see Andre was the head of the ship, but I was the person that steered it. Bless him he was good at the investments, but had no idea about advertising. This was my baby, but we kept it in his name. Now get out of my board room! You were not invited. If you wish to talk takeovers then you can talk to the new owners; specifically Ezekiel DeLuca Nelson Bravender and Colt Nelson Bravender. I am sure that are interested in purchasing your little company my dear."
As she stood up, I looked at Dave and just said, "Make sure she does not come back."
Zeke stepped up to the table and looked at everyone, "Now tell me who gave you the right to invite her into the board meeting?"
Luciana Costa stood and looked at Zeke, "And who would you be little one?"
Nonna looked at her, "Luciana he is the new owner and it is he who will decide if you are the right person to continue to lead this company for him and his brother."
Luciana glared at her "Andre promised ..."
Nonna looked at her, "I know as you climbed out of his bed that he promised you that you would have the company one day. In his will he left you nothing. I knew what you were doing and when you were meeting and had it filmed and faced him with it.
"He loved me more than he did you or the scandal that it would have caused. You will go with these men, Mike and Dave. You will clear out your things. You will collect Alberto, Marcello and Robert and all of you will leave now. You see I know that he was also screwing those two boys in his spare time."
Charlie stepped forward and in Italian said, "Now we will interview everyone that is working for this company to ensure that the staff we have in place are the ones that will be true to Ezekiel and Colt. Zeke and Colt may be the new owners, but we take it very seriously when we say we give loyalty to our staff and we expect that in return. Never cross any of us."
So that was it, we took over the advertising company and felt again it was not making the most of the opportunities that were around. We called Amy from the Office of the Prince to come over and see if she could put it back on track. As it was Ezekiel's company all of her time was on a consultancy basis.
Again the best move we made as it was soon running to expected or above turnover. As we returned to America we held a family conference as we needed to make some serious decisions. The main ones were...
My music career was taking off and we were getting more and more requests to tour with Josh Connors and promote our album. Plus I really needed to create another album quick. One thing that did sound fun was that Josh and I had been offered as regular TV show. It would be ours to include whatever we wanted as long as it was entertaining. Since Josh lived in Boston we would be doing the filming from there.
With the kids in full swing with their mail order and internet business we also needed to take into account their needs. Added to that was the need that they would have for some time where schooling was concerned. We had to have them in a good school and little Colt was due to start very soon.
The one love of my life which had been successful was my martial arts and I desperately wanted to open my own training centre so that I could share my ability with others. Add to that we wanted our own fitness centre as it was the one area that we did not have an opening in.
As was usual we all sat around the dining table and I led the discussion. "Are you happy in Texas? We do not have to live here as we can set up our offices where ever we are. There's that beautiful estate in Boston and then there is also an estate in Thousand Oaks. I just need to know what you think. We don't necessarily need to stay in Texas. Where do you all want to live?"
Charlie looked around the table, for a fourteen year old you could tell that the others placed the leadership of the family on his shoulders and it seemed to be a position that he gladly accepted. I was to learn that they each had their place.
"Father it is as if you have the ability to read our minds. There is just us here, we were thinking that we need to be where people are. With all of the money that we have we hardly know anyone. We need to get out into the world and make a name for ourselves. Aquamaine will survive as will Bowland and Lyonaisse, but will we?"
JR looked at everyone and continued, "The businesses can run themselves now and we can take a back seat as all of the organization that has gone into them has placed Aquamaine stronger than it has ever been. Kings of Europe and Leaders of nations are our clients and yet we still push ourselves to do more."
Ezekiel looked up, "If I had my way we would settle in Italy away from America, but that would be unfair to all of you. I know I will do that one day, but at the moment we need to be where we can get the most out of our school years. I love this ranch, but again I want to be closer to the action so to speak."
TJ looked at everyone and then shook his head and kept quiet and looked at Annabelle to let he have her say. She looked at him and then spoke, "Daddy I agree with the others we need to be where others are as we have been alone too long. We need others our age nearby." She looked at TJ, "You have to tell him Troy. Please!"
I was really worried as TJ was in tears and still he refused to speak. Charlie looked at me and shook his head. "TJ we know you are only ten, but we also know that you have become really close to Andy recently at school and yet none of us know anything about him. Tell me about him Teej."
"Oh...he has brightest blue eyes that make you melt when you look at him daddy. He's eleven, but only a few months older than me. He has blond hair that's curly and goes shaggy down to his shoulders. We've been friends for ages, ever since he came into the area two years ago. He loves hearing about our family because..."
I looked at him, "Because TJ?"
"Oh daddy he lives with foster parents and they hate him. He used to be with a really nice family that loved him and they had even met me and were nice. His daddy treated him good and they wanted to adopt him."
He was sobbing now, "Then the Child services or whatever they are arrived in the night and moved him for no reason at all. The other day he arrived at school and was in tears because they'd beat him with a belt. You see he asked if he could spend time on our ranch as your guest and they just beat him for no reason.
"I took him to the nurse and she would do nothing until Todd told her to go and leave us in the room to look after him. When he took his shirt off I cried because he was all bruised and bloody. I took pictures with my phone and showed them to the headmaster and yet he would do nothing."
Nonna had been listening, "Papa we need to get this boy safe and soon. Nonna will look after him as if he were hers. I adopt." I looked at her and nodded my head.
"Do we know where he lives?" TJ looked at me and nodded, "Charlie call Uncle Linc now and tell him what's happening. Belle call Aunt Belle and Uncle Walt tell them and see if they can get the governor over to us with people to help. I'll call Zoltan Goldstein he was a young doctor we met when we took Zeke to be checked just recently after the shooting."
When I talked to Zoltan he was shocked by what he heard and told me that he and his partner would be over as soon as we could get the plane to them. His partner was a policeman, but did some security work on the side so might come in useful.
Within the hour Belle and Walt had arrived with what seemed to be a very reluctant governor. "Good evening sir. Who might you be?"
"Governor Impress what the hell is this all about?
"Walt, just who the hell is this and where is your cousin who used to be governor?"
"No one knows where he went. He's missing presumed dead at the moment. His wife and children were all found dead at the mansion and he was nowhere to be found. We're all in shock. This muppet thinks he owns the world."
"Send him away we do not work with muppets! I'll just call President Myers. He needs to know anyway."
Governor bristled at that, "How dare you?"
"Quite easily sir...! I dare because I care. Obviously you do not!"
When Linc heard from Charlie about what was happening he was out like a shot as was Mary who was now a fully qualified nurse. Anne took their baby and said she would look after her for awhile. He also had his cousin who was a CPS case manager. Doctor Zoltan arrived next and the last to arrive was President Myers with someone called Judge Moxston.
Charlie looked at the Judge, "What's wrong sir you seem on edge. Do you know something about this situation?"
"Of course not... I...I'm just worried about the boys." The judge snapped.
I looked at the judge, "You mean boy surely? If you do not get rid of the attitude then leave sir. Charlie is right. You seem as if you know something."
With that things settled and we drove with the agents that the President had bought and arrived at TJ's friend's house. After knocking on the door a very unkempt looking woman answered. "What the hell do you want at this time of night?"
"We've called to talk to Andy. Can we see him please?" asked Belle.
"Don't know who you are talking about. We have no one called Andy at this house."
That was it TJ stepped forward and shouted, "Andy are you in there? We're here to help?" No answer.
The CPS worker Melanie Struthers spoke up. "According to our records you have a foster child in your care called Andrew Collins." She also shouted, "Andrew! Andrew this is help are you there?" There was still no answer.
The FBI agent stepped forward, "Madam move out of the way as we have a warrant to search the premises."
"Let me see it... how the hell did you get that at this time of night?"
I stepped forward. "Good question, Judge Moxston signed it. Now let us in."
She glared at the Judge and it was as if there was an unspoken message going on. "Okay, you best get it over with."
We started from the basement and worked systematically upwards throughout the house. As we were in the attic, it was bare and yet it was obvious that someone had slept there recently. As we were leaving I heard muffled noised coming from the wall. Mike and Gunny rushed to the wall as did Charlie and felt along the wall. There was nothing.
We were about to go, but there was that noise again so I moved toward the wall and noticed a rug on the floor. Out of instinct I kicked it out of the way and noticed and trap door in the floor; Gunny moved me out of the way and pulled the trap door up and open.
There stuffed in the hole no bigger than six feet square were nine boys.
They had all been brutalised, beaten and raped. TJ screamed and jumped down and took a little one in his arms and howled with rage, "NO........." what we were looking at was the thing of nightmares.
Todd took Andy in his arms and handed him out to Mike who carried him to Doctor Zoltan. Mary rushed forward and working together they worked on Andy to save his life as Charlie stood guard with a sobbing TJ in his arms.
Todd and Gunny worked together and passed out all of the children who were injured, but not as badly as Andy appeared to be. They took the children near to Zoltan and talked through what they were seeing. While all of this was happening we heard a gunshot coming from downstairs.
Melanie had one of the children sat on her knee and was asking basic questions and getting the names of all of the boys. They were all placed recently by the new CPS director. The FBI sent a team over to his address and arrested him and confiscated all of his records. This was the first time that the authorities came across The Golden Knights. We found out this was who had been referred to as THEY.
There it was again. Just what in the hell was it that could do this to young children like this. Judge Moxston was quiet and just kept shaking his head.
One of the boys cringed and screamed when the Governor approached him to what we thought was just talk we were put on alert and as he went to leave the boy stuttered, "He raped me... Has a birth mark on his left upper leg."
Doctor Zoltan's partner the cop held his gun to the Governor's trouser and said, "Drop them ... NOW!" The governor did nothing so he pulled the trigger and skimmed his knee cap with the bullet. "Now drop them or it will be your cock next time." Sure enough when the trousers were down there was the birth mark so he was arrested for rape.
I still could not understand why the headmaster had been like that with Andy, or the nurse. So once we had finished at the house and settled Andy and the boys into the hospital we decided to pay a visit to the school. Doctor Zoltan was good so we left him and some guards with the kids and the CPS to make sure that they got everything that they needed.
It had taken all of the night and was eight in the morning. Faculty were just starting to arrive at the school as we drove up. We showed the warrant and even though the head was not there yet we got access to his office and spoke to the deputy head. "Tell me, have there been any missing children recently that you know of in the area?"
He seemed ill at ease and desperate not to have to say anything. He even tried to walk out of the office. He suddenly got this dejected look about him. "Look in the bottom draw of the desk. Not the one that you can see, but the hidden one. The handle inside the bottom draw opens it. You'll see what you want."
Gunny did so and handed twelve to fifteen invoices over to me. Everyone was for goods sold to The Golden Knights. The most recent was Andrew Collins. Just then the headmaster walked in. We were all in his room so he was not aware that any of us were there. As he stood there Gunny closed the door.
"Gunny before you close the doors please get the nurse. At gunpoint if needed."
"Leave her alone."
"Sorry mister headmaster sir. No can do. We are going to be as understanding with you as you were with Andrew Collins yesterday. Care to tell me about him? Also tell me why there is a bill of sale here for an Andrew Collins to the tune of $50,000 payable to you. You seem to have quite a good income going on here. Five invoices and all five names I recognise as boys we just rescued."
He slumped down into the chair, "I am being blackmailed into doing it."
I looked at him, "Who by and who are The Golden Knights?"
"Peter do not tell him or you will be no better than dead. I'll see to that" shouted the nurse who had now arrived.
"That's who by sir, the fucking wife that I have grown to hate. As for the The Golden Knights..." He never got the sentence complete as a bullet flew through the window and straight into his head.
He never had a chance, but it still meant that we had no answers to the question as to who The Golden Knights were. I couldn't help but wonder who had called for backup as no one knew that we were here.
At that the FBI cleared the room and took the deputy head and the nurse into custody to have their special type of investigation. What happened that night resulted in The Golden Knights growing scared so they stopped openly operating? They were on the run. Only when they became greedy and hungry for depravity did they get careless.
We returned to the hospital where we discovered that the private investigator that we had put to work with the CPS had found the homes of most of the children that we found including Andy. They had all been abducted in different states and had been missing for several months.
When they were in the hospital the staff recognised Andrew, but something was wrong. In the missing persons picture that they had seen he had almost black hair and not blond. When they told the investigator and he looked into it that case was solved almost instantly and the parents were on their way. The others took longer to solve.
In the end all, but one family were found. When parents arrived and they heard what had happened Andrew's parents arranged with CPS to have long term foster care of the boy with the option after six months if no one was found to adopt him.
That only left TJ and how he felt about Andy. He was not ashamed of it either. When Andy came out of theatre TJ sat with him with Andrews head on his chest nursing him. It was clear that Andy felt the same. When Andrew's parent's arrived and they saw them and they understood immediately.
I was pleased that they accepted him for who he was. I was also pleased to hear that they were from Boston as most of the family were keen to move there and now TJ would be as well.
It took some persuading but Mr Jake agreed to stay on as overseer for the ranching and lake operations. We desperately needed these watched and monitored to make sure that they were working to their best. He interviewed and took on an assistant manager to train as well so that he did not have all of the pressure on his shoulders and would do less and less travelling.
Miss Dotty was beside herself as she wanted to be with us as housekeeper, but in the end stayed with Mr Jake. She did appoint Anna as her eyes and ears in housekeeping and she maintained contact with all of the properties. It was a sad day when we bid farewell. Mr Jake organised sending our horses with a few others to the stables in Boston. Of course that included Baron. We would be in contact continually as he was my eyes and ears.
That's all for now folks ... Chapter 12 - Family life settles down and they move to their estate in Boston. When visiting their new school the children are attacked and then ... ... ... ...
I appologise to Italian speakers if my Italian is rubbish - blame the translation tools on the web!
Please note this story was written at the end of last year, beginning of this year. Regular readers of Aquamaine will know that the Boston Estate has been vistied throughout the story...Over the next few chapters the family move to Boston and experience extreme problems. This is in no way meant to minimise or scandalise the atrocities that have recently happened there. I appologise in advance if this causes upset.*
The character list has been reduced by those that do not appear again...
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I would like to thank all of those that have written to me to say how much they are enjoying the story. Many of you have already read my other story Moonside Manor (that one is in Beginnings as well). Continue to let me know what you think it really helps to inspire me ...
Write me with your feedback and comments at ukwriter12@yahoo.com ... For those of you that do contact me I will always try to reply.
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A little about myself ... I'm Kev, from the UK and born in Yorkshire... Ancestors were miners. Me I'm and accountant. I have always loved writing and hope you enjoy...Let me know!!