CHAPTER 47

The Russians apparently installed it onto a non-networked workstation and when it worked perfectly proceeded to add it to virtually every computer in the Kremlin and were in the process of adding it to every computer under their control in the country. Exactly thirty days later all of the hard drives were erased. Of course, that never made the news, but I and all of my techs knew what had happened. Even worse, all attempts to reload files proved fruitless and entirely new hard drives had to be purchased , formatted, and programs restored before they could be of any use. There had never been another attempt to steal my firewall again.

Telling you about Daisy will take a bit longer. I hadn't seen or heard from her since the phone call where she accused me of stealing her mother's money. However, Sara did run into her at a WalMart near the hospital where she had worked until she married me. She had taken Brianna who was two and Celia who was three months old to the hospital to show them to her friends there. Needing some diapers and other supplies, she stopped at a WalMart on the way home where she encountered Daisy at the checkout and without anywhere near enough money for her purchases. Sara is a kind woman. You're about to find out how kind. She paid for Daisy's meager purchases, telling me about it that evening as I hugged Brianna and rocked Celia in my arms.

"I ran into Daisy at the WalMart in East Islip today. She looked terrible and she didn't have enough money to buy food that would last us even a single day."

"Good…that's exactly what she deserves," was my terse reply.

"John Michael Gotti!"

Shit! She only called me when I was in trouble, which, fortunately, was a rare occurrence. "You need several new clerks and she needs money. I want you to hire her for one of the jobs." I would have made some witty wiseass retort, but I knew that would be suicidal. I closed my eyes and nodded. Sara just kissed me, and when my eyes opened I knew that I had just been convinced to do something I thought I was going to regret. I phoned Daisy's cell the following morning, during the day when as a child I had realized that I had total recall—a photographic memory.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Daisy."

"John? I can't believe it."

"Yeah, well—me neither and I wouldn't be calling if not for my wife. She ran into you at WalMart a few days ago. She's the woman who gave you money and who has suggested that I give you a job. What happened to selling real estate?"

"I lost my license when I pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine. I'm working in a sleazy office for some cheap lawyer and I can barely pay my bills."

"What are you making now?"

"I'll do twenty if I let him fuck me on a regular basis."

"You can come to work for me and I'll pay you thirty-five plus benefits, but don't get the wrong idea. Your immediate supervisor will be my mother-in-law and her boss is my sister-in-law. You'll be working for me and that's all. You can start in a week."

Well, she did start in a week and the tension in my otherwise smoothly running office was so thick you couldn't cut it with an ax. I thought that things would get better with time, but I was wrong. A month later Cara and Natalie walked into my office and closed the door, the expressions on their faces telling me all I needed to know. "She's got to go, John. She's bad-mouthing you—telling everyone how you stole from her mother and ruined their lives--every hour of every day. The clerical staff is sick of it and the techs would like to kill her. Her attitude is like a cancer that has to be stamped out."

"Okay…Cara, you're the office manager. Manage the office. Write a memo to payroll giving her a month's salary and benefits as severance and a promise of a positive reference and kick her to the curb as soon as the check is drawn. Oh…one other thing—you get to inform your sister as soon as it's done."

Cara and Natalie grinned for the first time since entering the office. "Chicken," they said with a laugh.

"Not chicken, but not an idiot either," I replied. "Get it done and be sure she knows why. From what I've heard her work has been good so I won't have a problem with the reference." I shooed them out of the office and an hour later Daisy was history—driven away once again, just like when I drove her and her asshole boss through Kings Park. Hell…as I looked back on that I realized that it had been the most fun I'd had in ages. Then I'd met Sara and I'd had nothing but fun since.

I took a call from an accountant about ten days later asking about Daisy. "She was my fiancée a few years ago and when she was hired here about two months ago she had to work with my mother-in-law and my wife's identical twin. Her work was good, but there was a lot of tension between them so I had to let her go." That was close enough to the truth that I didn't consider it an ethical problem.

"She comes across as being kind of sexy."

"Good choice of words—'comes across.' She told me herself that she fucked her previous boss regularly. I'm sure you can even have her ass whenever you want it. Could be a win-win for you. Her work really was excellent." Okay, that was a slight exaggeration, but I wasn't overstating the sex part. Daisy always did love it up the ass. We chatted for a few minutes and then ended the call. Daisy got the job and that was the very last I'd seen or heard of her.

Like every other person on Earth I have good days and bad. There is one constant, though. I know that when I go home I'll be greeted by two tail-wagging dogs, hugged and kissed by my four young girls and loved incredibly by my wife. Sara must have learned a lot in the Army because she has our family organized like nothing you've ever seen before. Our girls take responsibility for their rooms when they become four. That's right—four! Of course, they need help, but they get an allowance that they have to earn. We may be rich, but that doesn't mean that our children will be spoiled.

I've never doubted that Sara worked much harder than I ever did, even with the cleaners and the yard service every week. However, that never stopped her from showing her love once the girls were in bed. Even after ten years we make love at least once each and every day, taking breaks only when ordered by her doctor near the end of her pregnancies. She really is a special woman. She is and has been my rock ever since we first met.

I'll be stepping down as CEO at the first meeting of the Board of Directors, but I will stay on as Chairman of the Board, a job that should only take me thirty to forty hours a month instead of the sixty hours a week I have been working for the past ten-plus years. I plan to spend all of my time with my incredible family and my even more incredible wife. I've tried to show her every day how much I love her. Now I'll be able to do it even more often. I realize just how blessed I am every time I look into Sara's loving eyes and every time I feel her embrace. And they say nice guys always finish last. Yeah…good luck with that!

THE END