Dark Scam

By Shakeel A. Rasheed

Twenty-three-year-old Larry Singleton is tiredtired of looking for work, the right girl, and loyal friends. Dyslexic, physically scarred, and lonely, Larry spends most of his time in his room in his grandmothers house, surfing the Internet. One day, Larry opens an e-mail from a man named William Paris, who claims to be touched by the personal story Larry posted on a website and who wants to give him over a million dollars. As Larry readily hands over his bank information, he has no idea that Paris is not who he says he is.

As Larry daydreams about a better life, Stanley Paris, recipient of a multibillion dollar inheritance from his late father, William, is busy proving that he is not at all like his kindly father. Larry has fallen for his scheme. Meanwhile, after Larrys secret becomes common knowledge, he discovers William Paris is dead. Suddenly, happiness transforms into tragedy as a desperate Larry takes matters into his own hands. Now it is his grandmother who seeks revenge.

In this novella, the wealthy and the less fortunate collide amid a dark scam that teaches all of them that vengeance is never predictable.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: May 8, 2014
• ISBN: 9781491732519

Shakeel A. Rasheed

Shakeel A. Rasheed is a jack of many trades who is dedicated to sharing goodness with his community and the world beyond. Born and raised in a large family in Long Island, New York, Shakeel is a former songwriter who now manages a homecare business assisting the elderly and disabled. He currently lives in Florida.

Book preview

Copyright © 2014 . Shakeel A. Rasheed.

Cover illustration by the author.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

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ISBN: 978-1-4917-3252-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4917-3251-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014908181

iUniverse rev. date: 5/7/2014

Contents

Good News

The Perfect Life

False Paradise

Beyond a Nightmare

An Eclipse of Horror and Luxury

New Lives

Acknowledgement

I want to give thanks first to the Almighty and my lovely, dedicated wife who inspired me.

Chapter 1

Good News

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Hey, baby, I didn’t even see you come in. You don’t know how to say hi or let me know you’re here? says Delores, a sixty-eight-year-old grandmother whose husband and daughter drowned in the New Orleans flood while coming back from a doctor’s appointment for a sonogram, as the daughter was seven months pregnant.

Sorry, Grandma, I’m just tired of this life, Larry says.

What’s wrong, baby? Delores asks.

Grandma, I’m tired of looking for job after job, having those people smile in my face, telling me they’re gonna review my application and give me a call. I can tell by the looks on their faces that they don’t have any intention of considering me for a job! Larry replies.

Look, baby, I know it’s hard, but the lord will help you! He tests us to see how faithful we are to him in moments of hardship and the easy times.

Larry replies, Yeah, but Grandma, how long is he going to test me? I’m getting up every morning, looking on Craigslist, going to interview after interview; it seems like for no reason! How will I ever move forward? I can’t find a job, I have no money, and I can’t even find a girl that likes me.

Tears start to well up in Larry’s eyes while mentioning a girl because he’s overweight and was burned when he was three years old by pulling down a pot of boiling oil that melted the front half of his scalp. He has bald spots on half of his head, and his skin is melted and scarred near his left eye, left cheek, and lips, which keeps some of his teeth slightly exposed.

I know, baby, I know it can get hard, Delores says as she hugs her only grandchild, rubs his back, and kisses his forehead, knowing that he may never be able to find a girl to see past his appearance and love him for his kind heart. Larry is twenty-three years old, out of high school for just three years now because he was held back