All Goodbyes Aren't Gone

Gregory Clayton Alexander, tagged “Alexander the Great” by the sports and news media, has announced his retirement from professional basketball.  No one, except his family, understands why he wants to quit at the top of his superlative career.  Still, he’s been playing the game for more than half of his life.  After winning Olympic Gold twice, three NBA championship rings, and seven years playing more than eighty games a season, he’s ready to trade his NBA highlights to being using the MBA he worked to achieve.  He and his friends have formed Compliant Trading and Investment, a Wall Street brokerage house, banking institution, and member of the New York stock exchange.  Yet, though highly successful, he has no one special in his life.            Angelique Teresa Menendez-Gaza is the toast of the beauty and fashion industry and has enjoyed an active acting career as much as she has her modeling.  At nearly twenty-one, she’s ready to take on another challenge and open Angelique’s, an upscale restaurant in the heart of New York City, one of the toughest markets for new eateries.  She spent several years between modeling and acting gigs studying at Le Cordon Blue perfecting her new craft.  Now she has the money and is making the time to share her passion for cooking with the world as she did her modeling career.            Gregory and Angelique are long-time platonic friends.  She has long been in love with him, but, for Gregory, the age difference between them always stood in the way.  That is until he accidentally discovers her life and safety are at risk.  He puts everything on the line to protect her and risks losing his heart to this woman in the process. process.