Last month, as a publicity stunt, he had willed a 50 million dollar donation to the city’s youth organization upon his death. A local news team was on the spot to film him signing the new will. The gesture worked great for public relations and his company. The price of company stock raised several dollars per share. Surprisingly, even sales enjoyed an increase.

That was all done last month. Today, he expected a new will in the mail from his attorney. It would reinstate his only son, Donald Arabia, as the rightful heir of his fortune. Of course, the public would never find out about this until he died. This secret was known only to himself, his son and his attorney. He chuckled at the gullibility of the ignorant public.

The intercom buzzed and Max turned around to face his huge oak desk. He pressed the button and answered, “What is it?”

“Mr. Arabia, the mail is here. Would you like me to bring it in?” The voice belonged to his part-time secretary, Mrs. Janice McMann. Max enjoyed watching her wiggle in and out of his office everyday. When the mood struck him, he sometimes ordered her to wiggle out of the tight mini-skirts she wore. Not that ordering her was necessary – Janice enjoyed the bonuses in her check for the extracurricular activities. As an added incentive, he allowed her to work whenever she wanted.

“Yes, Mrs. McMann, please bring it in.”

Moments later, Janice opened the door to his penthouse office and came strolling in with his mail. Max looked forward to receiving the new will from his attorney. He wanted to sign the necessary forms and get them back out by the end of the day.

Janice entered and closed the office door behind her. He noticed that she wore his favorite outfit – a black silk dress cut low on top and high on the bottom. She smiled at him as he admired both her cleavage and her thighs. Judging by her smile, Janice wanted yet another bonus. He’d make her earn every penny of it.

Half an hour later Janice slipped back into her little black dress. She excused herself from his office to use the restroom. She wanted to freshen up. Max wondered if her husband suspected her infidelity.

After zipping up his pants, Max looked at the mail that Janice had lain on his desk. On top of the stack was a box wrapped in plain brown paper. It was addressed to him specifically, but had no return address. It wasn’t very big, just 4” by 4” by 12”.

Max didn’t worry about the box containing anything dangerous. Security ran every package through both an X-ray machine and a metal detector. It never hurt to be cautious.

He sat it to the side momentarily and sorted through the rest of the mail, looking for the letter from his attorney. He found it at the bottom of the pile in a big, yellow envelope labeled: ATTENTION – MAX ARABIA. He tore it open and poured out the contents. He threw away the yellow envelope and inspected the papers. Everything seemed to be in place. All he needed to do now was sign the papers and have Janice mail them back out.

Just as he grabbed his pen, his phone rang. Very few people had access to his private line, so it must be important. He sat pen and papers aside and picked up the phone. “Max Arabia here. This better be important.”

As a reply, he heard gasps of strangled breathing. There were sounds of gasping as though someone was making a titanic struggle to speak. If this was someone’s idea of a joke, he didn’t find it funny. He slammed the phone down and pressed the intercom button for Janice.

“Yes, Mr. Arabia, how can I help you?”

“Janice, do me a favor and find out who just tried to call me. Either the connection went bad or someone is playing games.”

“Just a minute, Sir.”