Chapter 1

During our holiday visit to my parents' remote country house, my son, Leo, got a little too carried away with some firecrackers.

He tossed one into an old, unused septic tank access, and the resulting explosion somehow managed to damage five luxury cars parked nearby.

When I told him he needed to apologize to the owners, he just rolled his eyes, utterly annoyed.

"I wish Uncle Julian was my dad! He's so cool, he'd never make me apologize!"

"Uncle Julian" was, of course, my wife Eleanor's first love, the one who got away.

When I called her, Eleanor was at a family gathering with Julian Thorne. Hearing about Leo's antics, she scoffed.

"Marcus Stone, it's just a few scratched up cars, a few thousand bucks. Is it really that big of a deal? It's just because you're broke and useless. Julian said he could handle it, no problem!"

I looked at the five million-dollar luxury cars, their fronts utterly mangled, and let out a cold laugh.

"Well, then you'd better tell him to come handle it!"