Chapter Photo credits: @ chrisdorney Depositphotos.com 

"Caden. Cade. Yo man, we did it!"

Daniel Caden Maloney smiled. It was bittersweet, but the offer was too good to refuse.

His best friends and business partners stood next to him on the sidewalk. They had just sold their game company to a giant for a fortune. In ten years, he went from creating a class project in his dorm room to having some of the best selling games on the market. Their games required skill, logic and luck. There was nothing to plug in, just grab a friend and open a box. Then deal, spin or shake.

Caden felt lost as he smiled at Joe and Eden. They were his best friends since freshman orientation, and each brought a skill to help make their business a success. Eden was the taskmaster and her business degree kept them from going under in the early days when they set up shop in Joe's basement. By Joe's, Cade meant his parents' home. For a few years, Cade crashed there, because his family was a shit show he couldn't deal with, except his sister. His dad was okay, but he lived in California.

Ironically, Caden was homeless again. He wanted to get out of Boston, so he put his waterfront condo on the market and it sold fast. The problem was he didn't know where he wanted to go. With the sale of CEJ Games, he hadn't had time to think about it.

Cade had enough money to live anywhere and to never work again, but he knew he would. Sitting idle wasn't his thing. He could take all the vacations he hadn't had time for in the past ten years. He thought about moving to San Francisco to be near his dad, but he didn't like earthquakes. There was also Joe and Eden to consider. Did he want to be that far away from his friends? Did he want to leave his sister, Leigh, alone? She was busy climbing the ladder in her firm as a defense attorney.

"What are we going to do to celebrate?" Joe asked.

Eden blushed. "I have a date."

Cade laughed. "Since when do you date?"

Joe nodded. "Where did you meet him? You've been busier than us dealing with the due diligence shit."

As their CFO, a big term for a company with only two dozen employees, Eden had to prove their financials were healthy to the buyer. Caden knew they would have bought them regardless because they saw them as the competition. Families weren't playing the same moldy old games anymore.

She looked at her pointy-toed heels. "I, um, I'm having dinner with Kevin."

Joe and Caden looked at each other wide-eyed. Cade spoke first. "Kevin, the guy you've been fighting with over numbers for months?"

"Not fighting, but passionately discussing."

Joe laughed. "Yeah, me and Renee passionately discuss how I'm never home. Now that I'm unemployed and rich, I'm gonna give her what she wants."

No one had to ask, because Renee made it no secret that she wanted a baby. Caden's head spun. He felt like they had already gone separate ways even though they still stood on the sidewalk with the late March sun on them.

"Eden, isn't he a little old for you?"

"He's thirty-six and divorced. He sees his two kids every other weekend and on Wednesday nights."

"The standard deal." Cade and Leigh did the weekend thing for a while, but as soon as Cade hit eighteen his dad moved to California with his girlfriend. The relationship didn't work, but the move did.

Caden didn't want to think about the divorce because then he would have to think of his mother. Brenda handled the divorce by dating. It was a cycle of falling in love with losers and having her heart broken until Vinnie. Hate wasn't a strong enough word for how he felt about his mother's husband. He was the reason Caden wanted to leave Boston.

Joe patted him on the back. "How about we celebrate on Saturday night? Eden, invite your guy unless he's playing Dad. Cade, buddy, you really need to find a date."

Cade rarely dated. He had been married to the business. The last time he had sex was at the game convention in Denver. It was cliche, but the woman from Mattle hit on him. Although he enjoyed the two nights, he hardly remembered her. Occasionally, he thought about the sex. It was decent, and it beat his hand. He needed to end his drought.

"Renee is waiting for me. We'll text and make a plan."

Cade looked at Eden after Joe stepped into an Uber. She put her arm on his coat sleeve. "Are you okay? CEJ was your baby."

Cade shrugged before nodding. "We did it together. Have fun on your date?"

She stopped. "You are my best friend and always will be, Joe too."

The difference was Joe and Eden had dated back when Cade was inventing his first game. They didn't last as a couple, but Eden risked everything to join them in business. Any residual tension between the former couple was long gone, especially after Joe met Renee. While Cade worked his ass off, Joe found time to date and marry his perfect girl. Renee had the patience of a saint to put up with their hours.

Eden pointed down the street to the red line. Cade nodded but when they reached the entrance, he didn't stop. "I think I'll walk."

She nodded and disappeared. Caden took out his phone and sent the same text to three people.

The sale is complete.

Dan Maloney replied first. Proud of you, son. Come visit.

Maybe I will, he replied. Although he was named after his father, he always went by his middle name. On the first day of school when the teachers did attendance, he always had to tell them to call him Caden. A few teachers didn't, and he struggled to like them.

Leigh sent a thumbs up emoji, but that was typical. It was in the middle of the workday and her firm evaluated her by how many hours she billed.

His phone rang, and he answered reluctantly. "Hi Ma."

"Cade, honey, you must be so happy."

"It's great!"

It felt like his only child had gone off to college with her controlling boyfriend. All his thoughts and ideas were suddenly irrelevant. One clause in the agreement was a non-compete which meant he was out of the game design business. If he created a new concept, he could only sell it to the new owner of his games. The eight figures in his bank account should make up for it.

"Come over. You've worked so hard I haven't seen you in months."

"Ma, I don't know."

"Vinnie's not here. He won't be home until later."

"Um, okay. I'll come by, but can't stay long." He could but didn't want to.

He turned back and walked into the station Eden had disappeared into. Both could afford an Uber, but old habits were hard to break. His mother lived in an apartment in the North End. Vinnie owned the building. The problem with Vinnie Pacheco wasn't what he owned.

Brenda greeted her son with a hug. "You're so handsome, even if you look like your father." She made a sour face.

"Ma, just because you two couldn't stay married, he's a good man and father."

"Drink?"

"No, I'm good. How are you?"

She didn't look like his mother who had cuddled him when he skinned his knee. Ironically, she looked younger with her face painted and clothes to emphasize her surgically altered figure. Growing up, she wore jeans and tee shirts and Sketchers. She wore high heel slippers in her apartment and dressed like she was going to an expensive restaurant.

"You know. Vin and I are great. He loves me. He bought me this." Her long painted nails held up an emerald necklace.

Cade knew it was genuine, but how had he obtained it. Leigh would pose questions to trap her, but Cade didn't bother. Except he tried to highlight another truth. "How about we go out for a cappuccino over at Caffe Vittoria?"

She looked away from his face before she answered. "I told Vin I'd stay home today. Talk about yourself. I can make you a cappuccino."

"No, Ma, I'm good. It's just nice for you to get out sometimes."

"I get out plenty. We go to dinner and I go to the beauty parlor."

No doubt with the thug that was standing downstairs who gave Caden the once over when he went up the steps. Caden froze when he heard the rattle at the door. He stayed too long. Brenda ran over to greet her husband. Caden looked away so he wouldn't see the obscene affection the couple enjoyed. Even as an adult, a boy didn't need to see a hand on his mother's ass or a tongue down her throat. If he dated a girl, he would never do those things in front of his mother.

"If it isn't Daniel."

Caden ignored the fact he called him by his real name, his father's name. "Vinnie. I was just leaving."

"Don't run off. Your mother missed you." He waved his hand with the gold pinky ring. Vinnie didn't wear a wedding band, but that would make it harder to exploit young women. "You still living at the waterfront."

"No, I'm between places. I'm staying over at the Copley. Not ideal, but I'm thinking of looking outside of the city." Across the country.

"Your mother likes you nearby."

"He sold his business."

Vinnie looked at him. "Why'd you do that?"

He didn't trust the guy. "Demand was down. We dumped it."

Vinnie didn't read newspapers and probably thought Google was a dance. "Good for you. Need a job, just ask."

"I'm good. I'm an artist." His degree was in graphic design, all the games had his artistic vision. He looked at his watch. "Look at the time. I have to get going."

His watch had a missed call from Leigh. It was after five and she was still at work, but once the partners cleared out, she made calls occasionally.

Caden waited until he was out of the North End before he called his sister.

"You did it, little brother!"

"Yes, but why am I so dumb?"

She laughed. "You're almost as smart as me."

Caden laughed. "I went to see Ma."

"You are an idiot. Was he there?" Leigh let out one long sigh.

"He showed up. I hate him."

"Keep in mind, you are a better son than I am a daughter."

Vinnie showed up before Brenda could ask about Leigh. His sister refused to have any contact with the wife of Vinnie Pacheco. Cade had a soft spot, so he kept her in his life. Maybe if he moved away, but the thought of starting over depressed him. Joe. Eden. Leigh. He loved them.

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