Paris Willow: Life, Love, and Lunacy

Chapter One

For the third time in four days, the generally disliked, eccentric millionaire Aaron Wilshire thought he was going to die. 

Despite his peril, Aaron was still trying to tell himself he was exaggerating the situation and he was simply experiencing a case of nerves brought on by his two previous brushes with death.  He tried to convince himself that he was invincible--a hypothesis he felt was supported by his survival from an assassin's bullet and subsequent escape from three madmen who were holding him hostage.  It stood to reason, Aaron thought, that anyone who could do that could do pretty much anything.   He reasoned that his luck would save him at the last second as it had the first two times, and he'd live to laugh about it all with his poker buddies.  However, as his hands started to slip on the moist nylon rope that was slowly lowering him into a yawning, seemingly bottomless pit, Aaron realized the time for his luck to kick in was nearly up.  He also remembered that he didn't have any poker buddies.

"You appear to be at the end of your rope Wilshire," Dr. Bud chortled from above, his thick frame heaving from the exertion of being chased through the Wind Dawn Valley.  "If I were you, my stomach would be in knots."

Aaron rolled his eyes.  It had come as a shock to him to learn Dr. Bud had been behind everything, from the assassination attempt to the kidnapping to the unnecessary mayhem that had been his life for the past few days.  It had been even more shocking to learn why Dr. Bud had been after him in the first place.  All in all, he would have hated Dr. Bud if he didn't feel a certain kinship with the man and admire his entrepreneurial spirit.

"Look Bud," Aaron said, struggling with the rope.  "How about you pull me out of here and we go laugh about this over some drinks?"  He craned his neck to look up at his tormentor as a cold rain dropped steadily down on him, eroding his grip and blurring his vision.  Chasing Dr. Bud had been more of a workout than he'd had in quite some months and Aaron silently cursed himself, promising that he was going to start a thorough exercise regiment as soon as his life got back to normal.  If Dr. Bud had told him the truth however, he didn't believe his life would ever be normal again.

"Oh I don't know," Dr. Bud said, kicking some dirt and pebbles down on Aaron's head.  "I've actually got a few things I need to do."  He glanced at his watch.  "One of those things is your sister."

Aaron seethed with anger.  "Bud!  You son-of-a…"

"Whoa, whoa," Dr. Bud said with an embarrassed chuckle.  "That didn't come out the way I meant it to.  I wouldn't disrespect her like that."

"Oh I know," Aaron spat up at him.  "I'm sure you've got a plethora of dastardly ways to disrespect her in your demented laboratory."  Aaron doubled up his hands on the rope.  "But I'll die before I let you touch her."  With more strength than he knew he had, Aaron started to slowly shimmy up the rope, one hand over the other.  "When I get out of here Bud, you're going to rue the day." 

Dr. Bud frowned.  He knew Aaron meant every word he said and would stop at nothing to see him behind bars or dead. 

Or worse.