Means to an End — Andrew James

Charlie Parker faces a crossroad in life. He stumbles through each day from one technology consulting job to another without much meaning. He is the best at what he does and hired by some of the most prestigious companies in America. Most men would envy his lifestyle traveling from city to city, living in hotels, eating in the finest restaurants, all on his client's dime. But Charlie is unhappy. He needs a woman in his life and craves finding that right person. One day, like two bolts of lightning, he meets two different women with very different agendas. Holly Carrington, a straight laced computer geek, works for the Treasury Department at the height of the 2008 financial crisis. All Holly wants from Charlie is love and affection. April Manning, a stiletto clad beauty with nothing but sex on her mind, wants Charlie as her boy toy. April dilutes his intense love affair with Holly and skews the boundaries of what he thinks is right and wrong. He embraces them both, each for different reasons. Charlie hatches a get rich quick scheme trading stocks using stolen passwords from Holly. Meanwhile, he helps April cook up some shady banking deals. The plot thickens when Charlie realizes he is in love with Holly and betrays her by stealing Treasury Department passwords then using secret email traffic to trade stocks. He struggles to figure out how to undo his dirty deeds and how to regain Holly's trust. April acts as his co-dependent in misfortune and leads Charlie further away from the serious relationship he desires. Charlie tries to justify the means to an end but his web becomes tangled with lies and deceit. Will Charlie run for cover or find true love?