The Art of the Hustle 2 (Complete)

Chapter Thirteen

Trevor had been down and out before, but nothing on this level. He recalled the time before the money and fame when he split with his roommate and business partner. He recalled the time when he woke up in a dingy apartment and looked out at the back alley. After seeing a homeless man digging through the dumpster, he wondered if that was his destiny as well. Crying for hours on a cold and bare mattress, he had analyzed his life and all the mistakes he had made and vowed to never repeat them.

Now waking up in a posh presidential suite with an amazing view of the water and mountains, he couldn't help but draw upon the parallel. But this situation was vastly different. Through no fault of his own, his beloved wife was gone and nothing he could do would ever bring her back.

The process he used to shift his spirits the first time he experienced a major setback was to change his environment. He had done that. The second step was to analyzed his mistakes and learn from them. That didn't seem to apply in his current situation. The third thing was to get outside and go for a long walk. That he could do. Trevor had been making this his nightly routine.

As always, he waited until nightfall before heading out. The elevator brought him down to the main floor and he walked through the lobby. The automatic doors slid open and allowed Trevor to breathe in the fresh air for the first time in days.

Heading down to the seawall in Coal Harbour, Trevor walked all the way out to the Lion's Gate Bridge and back. By the time he got home, he was exhausted. He ran a bubble bath and ordered room service.

At around 10:00 p.m. there was a knock on his door. Answering the door in a robe, Trevor was pleased to see Tami.

"Hey, boss," she said.

"I hate it when you call me that."

"You smell nice," she said, entering the suite. "Oh, and I see you have eaten already," she said, looking at the dirty dishes in the sink. "I wasn't sure so I brought you some meals. Home cooked." She set the glass containers on the kitchen counter. "I brought you some clothes too. I wasn't sure what you needed so I just filled two suitcases with a bit of everything."

"Tami, you're amazing," Trevor said.

"That's what I'm here for."

"You know, as a general rule in business, they say never hire your friends, but I hired all my friends and I couldn't be happier with the outcome. You cannot buy this kind of loyalty. I really appreciate it."

"You've done just as much for me," she said. "This is the least I can do. So what have you been up to?"

"You know, just wallowing and walking."

"Yeah? Are you getting proper diet, rest, and exercise?"

"I guess so."

"That's good."

"Being away from home has really helped me. In a weird way, I can just pretend I'm on vacation, staying in some hotel by myself, which I've done a thousand times. It's a way for me to not face the reality."

"Well, whatever works for you I suppose is a good thing. Have you still been going to therapy?"

"Yes."

"That's good."

"Tami, can I ask you a question?" Trevor said sincerely.

"Sure."

"Do you believe when a person achieves great success in one area, another area suffers?"

"No, I don't. Do you?"

"I don't know. That's something I've been wrestling with lately. I mean, what if I made some deal with the devil when I was young and broke, before I met Ashley. The deal was to have ungodly sums of money, but in turn I had to give up something I loved."

"That doesn't sound like a deal you would make."

"It might be. Who knows what I may have agreed to when I was desperate. And then the devil wiped my memory."

"The devil?"

"I don't know, call it some evil force."

"I'm not buying it. I think stuff happens and humans confer good and bad to it. As messed up as it sounds, we don't know how this will all play out. This tragedy sucks for you now, but it could lead to the greatest of all blessings."

"You really believe that?"

"I do. Who knows, maybe you meet some woman, fall madly in love with her, have a child that one day cures cancer. Sacrifice one, save a billion. Or perhaps many generations later, say a hundred years from now, your great great great granddaughter may save the planet from extinction."

"Why does it have to be my great great great grand daughter?"

"You know, girl power."

"Okay, carry on."

"I'm just saying. If it wasn't for something bad happening in your life, you wouldn't be a multibillionaire. And maybe without this tragedy you don't discover time travel, or something else doesn't happen."

"Time travel, huh? That sounds cool."

"Food for thought."