Downfall: The Price of Ego

By J. D. Neill

As Billionaire Mark Henderson is on the floor dying, his thoughts go to why and who?

If only he could understand, he would go to his grave in peace. Sure, over the years, he has created enemies. Among them, his arch-rival Roger Bowman and his one-time fiancée, Sulin Wang. Even his daughter from his first marriage hates him and

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lanni LV LLC
• Release date: Jun 8, 2021
• ISBN: 9781735753058

J. D. Neill

J D Neill hated the cold in England-the country of her birth. After a holiday in the sunshine, she spent two years in Italy and traveled on to teach English in the Middle East. The vibrant lifestyle gave no indication that the country was on the brink of civil war. Held hostage, her sense of normality and sanity came through keeping a diary. The written word would become her future. Fleeing civil war, like many before her, she discovered America, the land of her dreams. And, after a lengthy gestation, in 2019, her first novel Disintegration was born. Chameleon, Unraveling, and Loophole followed in 2020. The Shattering Effect, Downfall, The Captive and Thief of Memories in 2021. The Jailbird's Daughter-A Memoir, will both be released in January 2022.

Book preview

ON APRIL 18, 1972, MARK Henderson comes into the world, kicking and screaming. Intuitively, he senses this is the way to get what he wants.

With no clue as to what awaits him, his mother nurses her delightful baby boy, praying her young husband, an army officer, will not be sent into the aftermath of the catastrophe that recently occurred in Northern Ireland—a bloodbath that has made the British military an enemy and a target.

Her prayers are answered, but three months later, the proud father is deployed to the turmoil in Cyprus, leaving mother and child to bond.

As an army brat, constantly farewelling his friends, a sense of family is important. Mark adores his mother. Friends lack permanency, and it becomes more so as he grows older.

From the beginning, there is little argument that Mark is handsome and charming, but his need to find an edge, and his early obsession with having money, turns out to be a poor foundation for a long life and is, perhaps, a harbinger of his fate.

When the family is not with his father on a posting overseas, Mark spends three formative teenage years in London, England’s exciting capital.

In the heart of the city, he tries to imagine a future—once he has made his fortune. But when he is only 16, his father, a dedicated professional military man, seconds himself into the US Army and heads for his new posting, leaving Mark behind with his mother to pack up, lock, stock, and barrel, ready for a move to the land of the free and the home of the brave.

In London, with his eye on the main chance, it has been discovered that Mark has been playing truant. With another boy, Roger Bowman, the school bully, he is suspected of misappropriating school property.

Mark’s dad is not here to hassle him, and he has only two days until they depart. He must have a lucky star looking out for him. He hopes it never fails.

Roger was not so lucky; he had to stay behind and deal with the consequences.

Serves him right, arrogant prick. Mark chuckled.

Roger Bowman is expelled, a source of enormous shame to his father, a teacher at the school. It is a dishonor the older Bowman will never forget, and in consequence, father and son are forever estranged.

It is the first time Mark Henderson has pissed off Roger Bowman, but not the last. A fundamental life altering error.

Mark has no way of knowing the consequence or understanding the significance the loss of his father’s love has on Roger. But Roger neither forgives nor forgets. No matter how long, he vows revenge.

At Easter 1989, busily packing, on the eve of shipping out, Mark and his mother learn the senior Henderson, with the Army Corps of Engineers, will join the US Coast Guard in a massive cleanup effort of 11 million gallons of oil in Alaska’s Prince William Sound—the largest and most damaging oil spill in American history, from the Exxon Valdez tanker. His father will not be there to meet them.

No way I’d want a life like that, Mark tells his mother.

A little army discipline might be just the thing for you.

Seeing Mark’s look of horror, she immediately recants. Of course, I wouldn’t want that for you, Marcus. But, I worry you’re going to end up in serious trouble if you keep going the way you have been.

I’ll be fine, Mum. I had my fortune told at the fair last week. She said I’ll lead a charmed life, and I’ll make my fame and fortune. How about that?

He grins at his mother, sweeps her up in his arms, and twirls her around the kitchen.

Put me down, she laughs. Let’s hope the woman’s right.

When he sets her on the floor, his mother reaches a hand to his cheek. I worry about you, Marcus. What do you want to do with your life?

I’m going to be rich and powerful.

That’s not a career.

It’s the only career for me.

She laughs. Irene Henderson loves her son, but she recognizes that when he is not charming the fillings out of people’s teeth, his competitiveness often causes resentment. She fears, one day, it may cause problems.

Mark grabs the last suitcase and takes a final look around. Come on, we have a plane to catch and a new life waiting for us.

Arriving in the USA, with his father absent, the months slip by. Literally up to his armpits, Major Henderson has little time or inclination to hear reports of Mark’s past misdeeds, which suits Mark well.

His mother struggles to influence and direct her son’s choices and behavior. In turn, Mark comforts his mother.

Returning home for just a short while, his father soon announces, I may not be here for the holidays this year. Tensions have heightened in Panama.

Although accustomed to army life, Irene now frets constantly about the absence of her husband. She fears Mark lacks discipline.

Mark doesn’t care about Panama or some foreign president, but it crosses his mind he may get short-shrift on gifts this Christmas. So, just a week before the holiday, he takes matters into his own hands and decides to go Christmas shopping.

It will be a long while before Major Henderson learns that his son, at the age of 17, along with his new-found friends, have been charged with breaking, entering, and stealing. Luckily for Mark, his father shipped out the previous day.

On Christmas Eve, Mark’s father calls home. US forces hold most of the country. We reinstated the President, so it may not be a long deployment.

Mark still doesn’t care about a country he will never visit, but he holds his breath, praying his mother says nothing of his adventure. She does not, and the Henderson duo waits in vain for Major Henderson’s return.

Optimistic and mistaken, Mark’s father does not return stateside for a couple of years—a vital two years in a developing boy’s life.

Not yet eighteen, Mark announces, I’m leaving school. I’m going to paint houses.

You could be so much more, Mark. You are smart and quick. But seeing the determined set of her son’s jaw, Irene Henderson resigns herself. What should she do? She has been left to raise him alone, and she long since accepted that Mark, unlike his dad, has no interest in school or the military.

Ah well, at least you found a job.

Mark does not mention that painting people’s houses is the stepping stone to bigger plans—an inside track to scouting what they have and ascertaining how he can purloin the most valuable and disposable items for himself.

When Mark is hauled in for attempted burglary, it is his first offense in the US. He is a juvenile, and the local sheriff lets him off with a warning—his mother is still pretty and, with her soft English accent, rather appealing. If only her husband could help. Mark is a challenge.

Irene Henderson relaxes as Mark seems to thrive. She has no reason to suspect that the access his job offers to affluent homes is simply too tempting for Mark.

One Thursday, as dusk settles, Mark is recognized by one of the people whose house he just painted. He is roaming around after hours, dressed in utility company overalls, lugging tools. In the Beverly Hills Flats, the wealthy streets between Santa Monica and Sunset Boulevards, he stands out.

The man calls the police. I don’t want to create a problem for the kid; he seems nice enough. But why would our house painter now be garbed in a gas company uniform? He is a painter, and he finished more than an hour ago.

Mark is detained, and in early 1990, just before he is 18, he admits to planning a robbery. Once again, fortune favors him. He gets rapped on the knuckles, a little community service, and it is done.

But by now, Mark has a sense of the area, and he has an idea that could offer an inside track on robberies, using other people to gain access.

He floods the area with flyers. The homes, cars in parking lots, and office buildings, and in record time, he starts a house and office cleaning company. To his astonishment, it takes off and grows exponentially.

There is just no time for thieving.

Before he knows it, Mark is making real money from a bonafide industry. He hires and fires, and all the while, he grows, becoming the predominant cleaning service in the area.

Thrilled and proud, his mother tells him, I knew you were born for greater things. Maybe that gypsy fortune teller was right.

In a move reminiscent of the past, Mark picks up his tiny mother and swings her around. Sit back, have a cup of tea, and read a book, Mum, he says. You’ll never have to sweep or scrub ever again.

Conscious she has always tried her best to care for him, Mark adores his mother and loves to make her happy. His crew cleans, and his company grows. Only in the USA, he thinks.

Incredibly, in late 1992, he receives an offer to sell his company for a whopping profit.

He has been running it for three years, has discovered the innate skill he has for business, and $1,000,000 is too tempting a number for a boy who is only 21.

In January 1993, he sells.

MELISSA BURNS’ FATHER IS PRESIDENT of a small, privately held, local bank. A gymnast and an Olympic contender, when she is not practicing, she works for her father for pocket money. Tiny, fit, and with an athlete’s figure, Melissa is prettier and smarter than most of the girls Mark meets, and she helps cement his friendly relationship at the bank, where, over the months, Mark has become a valued customer. Now, with the influx of cash from the deal, he is considered a VIP.

When he plucks up the courage to ask her out, Melissa doesn’t hesitate to accept the invitation to be wined and dined by this gorgeous, smart, and successful young man.

Her father, Poppa Joe, encourages the relationship. They make a delightful couple.

After six months, he can see the boy has moxie, and, if he is serious about his darling Melissa, as seems to be the case, why not give him a helping hand—a push up the financial ladder. He remembers his early struggles and wants to help.

Melissa is also 21, and her uncle is a prominent Catholic congressman. When she discovers she is one month pregnant, he makes it clear to Mark that scandal is not an option. In early summer 1993, naive and with little regret at spending his life with this pretty and sweet girl, Mark asks Melissa to marry him.

He converts to Catholicism for the marriage, and everyone is happy. The future looks bright, and before the wedding, the bank arranges an introduction to one of their clients.

In failing health, the man needs a bailout. His soft drink company has seen better days. The equipment is still in good order, but without keeping in contact, he has lost customers. With his surrounding three thousand acres of land—over three square miles—he optimistically planted grapes, but the man has grown old, and with no children to inherit, his interest has waned in recent years.

The plant and various winery buildings can be had for cents on the dollar. Perhaps a little out of the way in the Inland Empire, but it is available at a steal. As a wedding gift, Poppa Joe arranges the mortgages.

Mark has married into a family of note, the wedding is covered by the local press, and he is thrilled to find their photos on the printed page.

After all, people are married every week; we are not the only ones being photographed, Melissa laughs.

It is not the first time there have been stories covering Melissa, with all her previous gymnastic achievements, and she doesn’t understand why it is so fascinating to Mark.

But for him, it is a first. It is thrilling to see oneself in print—a sense of validation somehow, and a degree of status. He takes a clipping and puts it in the drawer, excited by the possibilities he imagines ahead.

In the early days before the baby is born, they have fun together, enjoying the comfortable life Mark’s business acumen allows, and soon after the birth of a little girl they name Simone, Melissa becomes convinced that she could still be a contender for the next Olympic Games, if she gets back into serious training.

With their busy schedules, they have little spare time together. To Melissa, they seem to have grown into a comfortable family lifestyle.

From July 19 to August 4, 1996, the Centennial Olympic Games are to be held in Atlanta. Melissa squeaks in. She has been training hard since having the baby. It seemed doubtful for a while, but her tenacity paid off.

Leaving their little one with her parents, Mark and Melissa head to Georgia. Swept up in the excitement of the moment, Mark sits back to watch his accomplished young wife among the slew of world-class athletes. He considers how far he has come, via a couple of military bases and a small street in London to settle on California’s golden coast.

Celine Dion sings ‘The Power of the Dream," accompanied by composer David Foster on the piano and backed by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, with the Centennial Choir. It is the stuff of Mark’s dreams.

As the husband of a well-connected woman and a successful entrepreneur in his own right, he celebrates that doors are opening for him.

This is just the beginning; Mark feels it. The one thing he is learning is that with every little taste of victory, he wants more.

He tries to imagine where he will be five and ten years from now.

He has plans, big plans, and for sure, he will make his mark.

Gladys Knight’s voice calls him back to the moment, performing the state’s official song Georgia on My Mind. Setting his dreams aside, he looks down. Without him noticing, she has finished.

Before the applause dies down, cheerleaders and marching bands fill the arena, Muhammad Ali lights the cauldron, and the games begin. By the end of the event, Melissa has won a medal. She carries it with them back to California and to a huge welcoming crowd.

With her own mini, if short-lived, celebrity status, Melissa is careful to always have her interviews at the factory or the vineyard and always—always—with a proud and smiling husband, ready to help successfully promote their new brews and emerging wines.

In less than a year, with Melissa’s help, Mark has revived the company he bought. They have begun micro brewing and are developing Henderson Vineyards for a future vintage. He can almost taste the success.

Demand has grown, cash is plentiful, and the real estate market beckons. With Simone’s third birthday approaching, Melissa hires a manager for the brewing operation, and Mark turns his attention back to the field that always appealed to him—property.

It is a booming industry. Buying land on borrowed money, Mark quickly subdivides it into plots, lays in the utilities, and sells each one at a handsome profit.

By the time he is twenty-five, he has formed his first real estate corporation and has laid the foundation of his empire—buying and selling. Prices continue upward, and he brokers ever-larger deals. Moving into commercial and industrial ventures, he always takes a piece, leaving the commissions he earns in the deals as investments.

Mark’s parents retire and move to Florida. Mark and Melissa wave goodbye to his folks, just a few months before she announces a second pregnancy. Another child is not what he wants.

Although Mark is loving and understanding throughout the first weeks of pregnancy, soon, business meetings seem to become more frequent, often lasting long into the night. Swept up in preparations for their child, Melissa is exhausted by each evening, and soon after dinner, she turns in. She hardly notices Mark’s habit of leaving most evenings.

Enjoying his fortune, Mark drives a flashy car. He wears hand-tailored, designer clothing, and suddenly he is attractive to women who would not have looked at him a few years ago.

After the first trimester, Melissa prefers to entertain and await her baby at their new mansion in the Beverly Hills Flats. Her family is thrilled with the anticipated birth, and with their frequent visits, she no longer wants to run around with Mark.

There is still a long while to go, but she already feels the slight curve if she rests her hand on her belly. Glancing in the mirror, she smiles. She is sure she is starting to show a little.

Melissa senses that Mark is less thrilled than during the first pregnancy. Still, for a brief period after their daughter was born, he was a proud father. She hopes it will be the same this time. Maybe as the family grows, he will spend more time with them.

She is completely out of touch with Mark’s thinking, because he says nothing.

How did it come to this? he wonders.

For a while, at the start, they seemed to have everything to look forward to. It wasn’t long, admittedly, since Melissa was already pregnant before they started. He wants to live life like he is young, not middle-aged. What can he do about the increasing responsibility that another child will mean? Mark has slowly realized that marriage and family life are not for him. If it were not for the children, he could have called it quits.

He feels trapped and does not see himself as a family man. Mark has no illusions as to why so many women are suddenly interested. He knows the game, and he plays it for his own satisfaction. But his profile is higher now. He is photographed one too many times with a model or an upcoming actress.

At Christmas, his mother visits Mark’s small family in their large home. His father died two months earlier in a car accident, and missing her husband, Irene Henderson has a hard time recovering.

We had hoped for more time together, after he retired, she says. You must never take things for granted, Mark. Enjoy every moment.

She would be surprised to know the message he takes from this is far from the one she intended.

In her familiar gesture, his mother lifts her hand to Mark’s face. "I’m amazed at what you have achieved, my love. My little scoundrel is now an entrepreneur. I read about you in magazines and newspapers.

I know you didn’t see much of your dad lately, but you should know how proud he was of you and your success.

It pleases Mark that his father lived to learn of his achievements, but in truth, he and his father never had a strong bond. His father’s life and values were different from his, and it prevented them from being closer.

While his mother is in town, out of respect for her, he curtails his adventures. After all, it is Christmas.

Melissa’s folks come to stay. The two families share gifts, eat good food, and everyone seems happy. But inside, Mark is empty.

After a family dinner one Sunday evening before his mother leaves, Mark sits on the soft upholstered couch beside his young wife. In the glow of the candles she has lit around the home, he cannot deny she is even prettier than when he first met her.

But he has changed, and she has not.

His mother kisses the tops of their heads. She catches Melissa’s eye and smiles. Mark is so lucky he found a lovely girl.

I’ll say goodnight to you two lovebirds, she whispers. In all the years raising Mark, she never imagined he would settle down and become as successful as he has. It is a source of great comfort.

As the door closes, Mark touches Melissa’s face and her hair. She smiles. The exact response he expected.

He knows her, understands her, and there are no longer any surprises.

Awareness that he needs the adrenalin the new life offers is almost overwhelming. He wants the challenge of conquering a new woman, even though, in reality, it is not a challenge. With an eye on his wealth, there is little question that each and every one will succumb.

That night he makes love to Melissa, gently, in the manner she likes.

She moans quietly, and her breathing grows faster. For some men, it would be enough. She is all he once thought he needed—sweet and languorous, but for Mark, it is now cloying, sucking him into a life he no longer wants. Soon after Melissa gasps in satisfaction, he climbs from the bed, aware this may be the last time for him.

When Melissa wakes in the night with abdominal pains, Mark’s mother is the first to hear her cry. Mark is not there. In a flurry of activity, she is rushed to the hospital—too late.

With the loss of the baby, a deep, inescapable sadness fills Melissa. Her little Simone watches and offers comfort, but the gnawing loneliness grows.

Mark moves to sleep in another bedroom. Simone moves in with her mother. Why doesn’t daddy love us anymore? the child asks.

Embarrassed and with regret, soon after his mother leaves, Melissa confronts him. "This is becoming too difficult, Mark. I hate that everyone pities me. I’ve lost the baby, and I seem to have lost you. The family all read about your dalliances reported weekly.

I miss the way we were when we were starting out. It was only a short while ago.

He holds her close. I’m so sorry, baby. I never want to hurt you.

But you do.

She breaks free and picks up Simone who has wandered in.

We need you to make changes, Mark. This is not the life we imagined. She waits for an answer, an apology—something. Nothing comes.

If you can’t be here for us, maybe you should consider leaving. Her words surprise her, but once they are out, she knows she means the ultimatum. She cannot live like this any longer. She needs him to change.

For a few months, Mark tries hard to be the husband Melissa wants, but he has developed a taste for excitement, adventure, and variety.

"I love you, Lissa. I think you’re amazing, but I don’t think I