The Onyx Demon

The Onyx Demon B.J. Irons Spectrum Books Copyright Copyright © by B.J. Irons Artwork: Adobe Stock – © prideneprovskiy, mates, Amphawan, donfiore, Photocreo Bednarek Cover designed by Spectrum Books. All rights reserved. Hardback ISBN: 978-1-915905-19-2 No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author or Spectrum Books, except for brief quotations used for promotion or in reviews. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and events are fictitious. First edition, Spectrum Books, 2023 Discover more LGBTQ+ books at www.spectrum-books.com Contents 1. Ace 2. Maxwell 3. Maxwell 4. Ace 5. Maxwell 6. Ace 7. Maxwell 8. Maxwell 9. Ace 10. Ace 11. Ace 12. Maxwell 13. Maxwell 14. Ace 15. Maxwell 16. Ace 17. Maxwell 18. Ace 19. Maxwell 20. Ace 21. Maxwell 22. Ace 23. Maxwell 24. Ace 25. Maxwell 26. Ace _____________________________________ Thanks very much for choosing this book! Consider joining the Spectrum Books mailing list to get free Kindle books, some fantastic deals and updates on new releases.Join here! _____________________________________ I hope something happens. I’m restless as the devil and have a horror of falling in love and growing domestic. -F. Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise Chapter 1 Ace(Age 16)You should take advantage of being a Bettencourt. Anyone would kill to have that name. Why not make the most of it and do whatever the hell you want? If I had a nickel for every time I heard someone tell me this or something along those lines, I would be able to pay my own tuition here at Amplestone Academy. And believe me, the cost to go to this secondary prep school for even one year is more than the yearly mortgage on some of the luxury condos on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.Only the most privileged of children from the wealthiest families across the country have the opportunity to attend Amplestone. The only prerequisite to be admitted was that your family net worth had to be over fifty million dollars. If you weren’t recognized by Forbes, then you could kiss your chances at getting into Amplestone goodbye. But the school does hold a prestigious reputation for getting every student into an Ivy League school. I’m not sure if that’s because of its academic accolades or because of the money spent to get into here. I highly suspect the latter. Luckily, I had my own boarding room to myself. All the other boys at Amplestone were required to have a roommate, but my father pulled a few strings and, likely, a hefty check for them to make an exception for me, which I was completely grateful for. My persona was that of a lone wolf. It wasn’t difficult for me to make friends, but I just never had a strong motivation to be social or to get involved in sports or have sleepovers and try to sneak some of your parents’ alcohol without it going noticed, as most other boys my age did. However, my adopted brother, Leo, who was two years older than me, was the complete polar opposite. Boys and girls flocked to him. He had that magnetism and charm about him that made everyone drawn in. They wanted to be a part of his world as a Bettencourt, and Leo was never afraid to garner the attention and work a crowd. My brother was never one for just a small circle and tight-knit group of friends. No. It wasn’t enough for him to be a big fish in a little pond. He wanted to be the blue whale in the vast ocean. But I could understand why that was the case for Leo. Growing up, he was never a Bettencourt and, from what I gathered, he slept on the streets with his biological mother, who was a junkie. My father, Magnus, stumbled upon her as he got out of his limo one evening years ago. The woman tugged on the fabric of his coat to get his attention as he approached the door to an exclusive nightclub. She held the hand of her malnourished seven-year-old son as she begged him for cash and cocaine. Instead of giving her exactly what she wanted, my father had an alternative proposition for the desperate woman. It was bad enough that my father was a ruthless businessman and CEO, but to strike up negotiations with a drug addict living on the streets? Magnus Bettencourt knew no bounds. The city was his company playground, and the man loved making a deal. It was practically an art form to him. The world was his blank canvas, and he was its Picasso. And just like Picasso, Magnus Bettencourt turned people ugly and deformed. He was known to get his way and stomped on the faces of all those around him, not caring who he ruined along the way. As for Leo’s biological mother, she too was a victim of my father’s obsession with casting everyone to play Meryl Streep in Sophie’s Choice. “I tell you what, my dear. I’ll give you ten-thousand dollars in cash, but on one condition. You give up the boy to me.“ He knew exactly the end result of this entire situation. The woman’s psychological dependence and withdrawal would triumph in the end. She handed off her child to the megalomaniac, rationalizing that she was doing her moral due diligence in giving her child a better life by handing him off to this tyrannical stranger, one she could never possibly offer it. And so, the junkie disappeared into the foggy night, a small ant in the colossal city that was New York, never to be seen or heard from again.Ever since that night, no one in our family has ever spoken of Leo’s former mother. He was immediately thrown into our family, welcomed with open arms, even by my mother, Vira Bettencourt. He was distant at first, but then came around to the rest of us in a matter of weeks. Such