Chapter 257

• Ashraf Khaleel was a very successful businessman. He had the drive and charisma to succeed in the bloodthirsty environment of a Financial Market Investment house. He owed everything to his parents who'd immigrated to the US just before he was born. They wanted nothing but the best for their son and ensured he had the best education and lavished love, attention, and money on the boy as he grew to manhood. Had they lavished him with lessons in humility and compassion for the less fortunate maybe he would have had a more well-rounded personality instead of being the self centered prick he'd turned out to be.
• His dark, handsome looks, his intelligence, and his confidence were a potent mix and he typically got what he wanted. He was 5' 8" and slim but he kept his body in peak condition through a disciplined regimen of exercise. He'd even done a little modelling in University as a lark. A woman he'd been after asked him to pose for some magazine spreads. He'd enjoyed the attention and had taken his pleasure from her when the shoot was done but dropped her the next day as he realized that modeling didn't hold his interest.
• He'd met and pursued Catherine McGovern in University as well. She was two inches taller than Ashraf, with straight white blond hair. She was also strong and svelte from being on the swim team. She would have been the perfect trophy wife except for her annoying tendency of opening her mouth and showing her intelligence. Luckily for Ashraf she had a blind spot for him and didn't realize just how self-focused he was until after the birth of their first child, a girl she named Sophie. He wanted a boy and let his disappointment show. After the second daughter, Rachel, and the third, Megan, he blamed his wife for not providing him with a son. He wouldn't listen to the 'scientific mumbo jumbo' that indicated it was the man's contribution that provided the deciding factor for male children.