Chapter 5 DAMON ESPINOSA

Flashback:

YEARS BACK ....

Another day of non-stop fighting,as I sit on my bed playing video games with my younger brother who is only 5 years old;I am older than him by 10 years,we live in Kansas City , the most populous city in the state of Missouri in the USA.I shudder as I hear things crashing around the room,mixed with the sound of altered voices,once Milan starts to cry clinging to me.

I hug him back trying to get him to stop sobbing, feeling his heart racing in a total state of panic.

It's no big deal. They're just throwing the old stuff away, that's why it's so noisy." I whisper in my brother's ear in order to make him stop crying, making his eyes glue themselves to my figure.

Milan nods and runs away, answering me in his broken voice. I remove the headphones from around my neck and place them in his ears, putting on the music of ''Backstreet Boys'' As long as you love me''.

It was a yellow Okman that I had gotten from my father some time ago on my birthday.

This calmed my brother down as I could hear everything they were shouting at each other and the compulsive crying of my mother screaming back at my father who later left the house and never came back and since that day my mother has never been the same cheerful person I once knew.

***

Present day...

My partner and great friend since I opened my first company says to me in an almost exalted tone. I don't even raise my head to look at him. My focus and concentration is on the reports of the new acquisitions that require my signature.

Remember where we came from, if there wasn't also someone who bet on me being a miserable apprentice and you being a newly undecided kid about what to do with your life after leaving college, we'd be in deep shit.

"Damn, you're right, I just think I'm still doped up from missing my wife and kids.

I smile and let out a snort.

Anton unlike me is a committed man and a real family man he loves Juliet his wife, they got married 3 years before we were successful in life.I am not the kind of guy who believes in love but I could point to theirs as one, we started from the bottom, although I moved from Kansas city where I was born and raised, to achieve my goals going to Houston, where I started my dream and where it all began. "Oh, come on, Damon, you're just making fun of me because you don't know what this is. If you did, you wouldn't be making this face," Anton sits down in front of me once I've finished signing the paperwork, looking at me sarcastically, leaning back in his chair.

"And I don't care.I assure you I'm much happier having my own company and doing whatever I want""I point at him with the bottom of my pen""I just don't advise you to leave Juliet and come to my world because she's good for you and on the other hand she has her children who are my godchildren.It would be a bastard to pull their father into the world of whoring"".

Anton laughs

One day I'll see you on all fours with a woman," I roll my eyes, "Just write what I'm saying.

He has a hateful smile on his face

I knock on wood three times blessing myself

"God forbid, throw that curse away, I'll pass." Anton laughs and so do I. "When does Juliet arrive with the children?

Talking about his family is the same thing as the sunbeam expanding all over Anton's face.

''Tonight.That's why I'm so tense,although she helped me with the furniture in the house through the pictures and videos I sent her,I'm afraid she won't appreciate it.''He seems really worried about it,as he drags a hand through the strands of his hair.

"Relax.Women love it when they get attention, if you did that you bet you already have Juliet in the palm of your hand. Don't worry about it.

He points at me.''I'm only going to take it into consideration because I know, if there's one guy who knows what a woman needs, it's you.'' I give him a wink as he gives me the middle finger in an amused manner.

***

When I bought this company about 8 months ago-I admit it was more of a cop-out, I needed to start over somewhere else, even though I have other branches in other countries, but I intend to establish the Box Corporation right here in New Orleans as the main headquarters.I gave them enough time to get organized and find another place to come to work, and I wouldn't be such a son of a bitch either.

I have high expectations.The gamer industry without a doubt, is one of the most profitable and growing industries. All over the world the number of gamers is increasing dramatically every day, and this number is expected to hit 4 billion by the end of next year, including a percentage of approximately 45% of the world's population. According to my accountants our company's annual revenue is in the range of 300 billion (in direct conversion, translating - over a trillion dollars).

I will not deny that I am stuffing my pocket. As CEO I earn more than $200,000 per hour. This is of course also due to bonuses for good performance, shares and other kinds of rewards, and I always make sure that my developers come up with impeccable game improvements.

I have been in this business since I was 19 years old, thanks to my drive and hard work. And then at the age of 22, I became one of the biggest game developers in the world. I received numerous investment proposals, but everyone just wanted to benefit at my expense, and then by some miracle, or what I could at least see as one. A famous game developer became interested in my work and put his trust in our algorithm.

So the idea occurred to me to open a course for new apprentices so that I could recruit them according to their good performance on their benefits, they would be guaranteed to stick around, working for me.

I am a visionary man.Computational thinking is one of the skills that should be required for the professionals of the future, and of course I would be the first to make sure that this happens.The ability to deal with algorithms is pointed out as one of the skills that will be as important as being able to express yourself in any other languages.I speak at least 8 languages. And it was with this in mind that I decided to open these openings for new future "gamers" so that they could have their first contact with the area, but specifically with the creation of a video game, something that was a piece of cake for me, not that there weren't difficulties until a key point was reached, but it was something that I could deal with as calmly as possible.

The day was as hectic as I was used to, and if it got out of hand, something was wrong.I like movement and hate things standing still, my new team is highly capable in the way that I programmed it to be.

I looked at my wristwatch realizing that it was already late, it was night and at least I had realized it.When someone knocks on my door.

"Come in." I say turning off my lap top and the computer.

To make sure that everything would be safe, I used to leave everything organized on a flash drive, having copies for my lap top and the computer I worked on. Any hacker invasion or breakdown in the system I would have an extra copy.

"Are you leaving already?" was Anton, his voice is agitated so I look at him.

"Yes. Did something happen?" I ask watching him carefully.

''Man, I forgot to buy the welcome gifts for Juliet and my kids and I need to do it now, before I can't get anything else, and by the time I get back, I'm already screwed, I got stuck at work and missed it, could you pick up Juliet and the kids at the airport please?''

It wasn't exactly in my plans to divert my route somewhere else. I was about to meet up with my evening's bidder, but Anton was my partner and it wouldn't cost me anything to give him a hand.

Anton wipes a bead of sweat and thanks me as he rushes out the door, while I huff and giggle at his euphoria.

The night around here was quite busy, which pleased me, I would have more than one option when it came to women, but the traffic was chaotic.

My elbow was leaning on the car window,while I had my index finger pressed against my mouth,remembering the fabulous body of the beautiful brunette that would go to my bed,in the next hour.When I caught myself braking the car with everything when a crazy woman ran past with the light still open,causing my heart to stop in my mouth.

I got out of the car with wide strides reaching for her, afraid that somehow I had hit her.

"Are you by any chance crazy? My tone is altered, attracting people's attention.The woman still has her hands against her eyes with almost no reaction, I don't need to touch her skin to realize that she is trembling.-How do you drive in front of a car with the traffic lights open!

''Me...I'm sorry sir I....''She removes her hands from her face , her eyes bulging as she stares at me . Once I deliberately wandered my gaze over the entire length of her body even though she was ''overdressed'' noting how beautiful she was even though she looked like a cornered puppy.So I slowed my fury.

Are you all right? Are you hurt?" I wanted to know, really interested.

All I get back is his nod, finding himself unable to speak. It was understandable, if I hadn't been paying a little more attention I would have been run over.

I pull the business card from my pants pocket and hand it to her as I watch her look from my face to my hand with a hesitant, confused look on her face.

"You can call me if you need anything," I know the meaning of my words sounded dubious, but I was turning the fuck on.

She lured me in like an innocent victim before her predator.

With trembling hands she takes the card from my hand, touching my fingers and sending a hungry electricity through the length and breadth of my body as I found myself narrowing my eyes.

Chemistry...I could recognize the feeling, which caused me to take even more interest in her.

"Thank you," her voice is almost inaudible.

"You're welcome. What is your name, Miss?''I sought to know , searching her eyes causing her to blink for a string of times .

"Pamela." I nodded, my eyes locked on her.

"Last name?" That made her suspicious I could read in her expression, however my interest was screaming for more information from her.

"Pamela Carter Harris. Her voice was sweet .

''Have a good night Miss Pamela.And be more careful when crossing traffic''She nods swallowing dryly as I turn on my feet returning to my car,passing her giving her a brief nod as she does the same,still looking scared.

I looked at her still in the rearview mirror, massaging my lower lip with my thumb knowing that as soon as I got my feet home I was going to do a brief survey on who she really was,'' Pamela Carter Harris because I decided I wouldn't settle down until I had her under me on top of my bed in every position I wanted.