"Passions in The Dark Series"

Christian Del Franco grew up, in a small rural area just outside of Phoenix, Arizona. Just after high school, he was accepted into one of the local universities in Phoenix, where he received his Bachelor’s Degree, his studies were odd at best to his parents, but they were both happy and proud to see their son excel at everything he put his mind to. After four years of courses and training in the studies of import and export trades, with honors holding a Bachelor’s degree in international import-export. After his graduation he sat down with his folks, as told them that he was heading out to see the world, and to make his mark as an entrepreneur in the imports and exports of fine arts and antiquities. Christian held titles such as a certified ITAR professional, as well as a certified U.S. Export Compliance Officer. His outlook on life was wide open, and was going to get his pearl, if he had to buy and sell to find that one oyster that would give just the treasure he longed for. Packing up all his belongings, save a few things, so his parents would know his heart was still home with them. He headed east to New York, to get a taste of the big apple. With all his savings and earnings, from his years of work back in Arizona. He found himself a loft style flat in the lower east side of Manhattan, where he started his future business, as an entrepreneur in the imports and exports, of fine art and antiquities, giving it the name, Del Franco’s Exotic Imports and Exports. Now Del Franco, having put a few years under his belt, became well known in the world, where the finer things in life are no less than a commodity to be bought and sold to fill the desires of the more rich and well to do. The business he owned and operated, in lower Manhattan, grew giving him an almost worldwide clientele. Life had become good, he had finally grabbed that golden ring, and he no longer was searching for that pearl, for his life had become just that. Christian Del Franco had made his mark, and had become a gentleman of discerning tastes. Jennifer Stowfield had always wondered how he saw her, the way he would look into her eyes, if he was seeing her, or was she just another of his ladies. Just another woman with beautiful eyes, someone he admired. Did he secretly worship her, the way she did of him. Did he see her for who she truly was, when her heart was racing, did he notice when she stood so close to him? Was Jennifer just someone he worked with, someone he admired for her strength and her courage, a woman able to face any adversity and overcome it? Was his resistance to her charms which lay just below the surface unnoticed by him, in this world he was so caught up in? Going on four long years she stood by him, she had become so completely intertwined in his life, there seemed to be no part of his life she did not know. Was Jennifer single-handedly the only one that truly knew this man, her boss, in a society still dominated by men? A world where women still gave way to the endless siege of masculinity, where women were still no more than decoration on their arm, no more than an accessory? Jennifer now just a few months after arriving in this world within a city, New York City never seemed to fall into a silent state of sleep; it only came to life when the sun went down. She knew in a society, in which men had the upper hand, when the sun was high in the sky. She needed to find a way of escape before, she felt threatened that she would be engulfed and destroy her own identity. There was a determination in her, an air of confidence, that proclaimed to everyone what she had always sensed in herself. She was proud that in her world she had the upper hand that anyone should see her as the woman they would bow to her desires her needs. She knew she was in full command of herself and her situation. Yet there was, as well a private knowledge, an intimate side beneath the surface of this woman that few would understand. Jennifer knew that between the two of them, which after course of four plus years, the resources of her character on which she drew to achieve that command. For the first time he became conscious of the depth of her love for him, and although she had always known that she had loved him, he had to be shown; she had the confidence that her own emotions were as strong as his own. Like her, he required no declaration; her bearing was declaration enough. But this is where life can be funny; this is where life can play tricks on ones reality. Where the secrets thought to be hidden, can come to the surface. Until he meets this woman who turns the tables on him, when he learns quickly, one woman can change everything, revealing a secret world to him, a world that would show him just how much he had been under her control all along. But sadly he learns this fact a little too late, when his life is hanging by a thread. Did she belong to him, or was he hers completely? In the end of this tale he will be faced with his worse fear, he will have wakened to his worst nightmare. Will he survive to tell anyone?