The Love Of Money - Episode 209
31-07-25 (07:19)
"Okay," I said, "what if you pitched him the idea?"
'I've already given him the basics, Chandler said, his
tone clipped. "Tanaka isn't much for small talk, so we've
been discussing some of the details, but he wants to
hear from you since you're the architect of this
scheme."
I was so frustrated that I wanted to chew my arm off.
On one hand, this plan had been in the works for
nearly as long as I'd been a billionaire. On the other
hand, I'd been waiting to get my hands on Ashlee since
I woke up back in my house."Ashlee's here. She had
something to do with my kidnapping, and I need to talk
to her."
"That can't wait half an hour? What is she going to do?
Evaporate?"
I will fucking end you, you fucking Harry Potter cartoon
character!
Fuck. Chandler didn't deserve that, even if I was just
thinking that.
"Fine," I growled through gritted teeth. "Give me two
minutes."
"Very good, Chandler said and hung up.
I whirled to face the two ladies. "I have something I
need to take care of. I pointed at Ashlee and said, "You!
Don't you dare move from that spot. Ashlee tugged on
the collar of her shirt and pulled it over her nose as she
blinked at me through tearful eyes. She nodded
hesitantly in response.
I pointed at Erin, "You! Make sure she doesn't leave that
spot."
"Uh..." Erin said.
I had already turned toward the door and ripped it
open. Chloe was standing beside the door, leaning on
the wall. "Good. If Ashlee steps one toe out this door,
shoot her."
"Got it," was all Chloe said, and I stalked away, moving
down the hall and toward my study as quickly as
possible. I arrived in just under two minutes, as
promised.
Chandler hadn't exaggerated. Hiro Tanaka was polite
enough, but I could tell he was annoyed when I
entered the room after making him wait for more than
twenty minutes. It took me a good ten minutes to ease
the tension from him. I wanted to fling Kwan and Carla
out of a window for driving me to call Hiro down early
- especially considering I had a hysterical Ashlee
waiting in another room while my house was filled
with party guests. Of course, I couldn't forget that one
of those guests was Roger VanCamp. How would he
react if he found out Ashlee was in my house about to
spill the beans? Maybe he didn't have anything to do
with this whole thing. After all, if Ashlee hadn't returned
to her house as soon as she got back into town, there
was a chance Roger hadn't been involved, but I wasn't
ready to put money on it.
There was only one thing to do-get through this
conference with Hiro as quickly as possible.
The plan for Monday was simple. There would be a
new vote for an official CEO for VistaVision, and almost
everyone who held voting power wanted Maddox to
take over the position. According to Chandler, Wayne
Pruden held five percent of the company and didn't like
Kelly. If I recalled Wayne's exact words as reported by
Chandler, he would rather suffocate in a bag of his ex-
wife's queefs than vote Kelly back into a position of
leadership in any company he was invested in.
Wayne and Chandler gave me forty-seven percent of
the vote, which wasn't quite enough. Since ninety-eight
percent of the shares were held by investors with
voting power, I needed forty- nine percent to make it a
tie, which triggered the tiebreaker-the sitting CEO got
the final say
Hiro Tanaka owned another seven percent of the
company, which got me to the forty-nine percent
without Wayne, but he didn't have the same hatred for
Kelly that Wayne and Chandler shared. I had to buy his
votes. Paying attention to the conversation was difficult
as I gnawed at the mystery sitting in Erin's office. I was
almost willing to give the Japanese man anything to
make the deal quick so I could get back to Ashlee.
Who was supposed to call her back? Roger? That
couldn't have been right, or she wouldn't have stayed
away from him all week. No, it had to be Cartwright.
She'd been meeting with him, after all. I hadn't
considered the possibility that he'd been in Vegas, but it
made sense. Had he been the mystery man beating on
me? I remember hearing him speak, but everything
that happened during that time was fuzzy, and when I
tried to recall it, the memory of his voice was strained
and distorted as if he'd been speaking through pool
water. Besides, Cartwright had only said two words to
me, and I'd been beaten unconscious since. I barely
remembered what he sounded like.
As much as wanted to return to Ashlee, though, Hiro's
demands increasingly pulled me out of my reverie. He
started the negotiations by asking for another ten
percent of my shares and the CEO position. Wayne,
who had called from Texas, and Chandler were both
ready to go to war with him over the CEO position, and
I wasn't prepared to let go of a quarter of my shares in
VistaVision... not when I barely knew what I'd be
giving up. As good a teacher as Chandler was, I could
barely wrap my head around what VistaVision
encompassed or how much income it brought me.
Chandler almost seemed offended by the amount of
my shares Tanaka asked for.
During the negotiations, I got a text from Chloe that
simply said, 911. Hardly one for drama, I knew she
wouldn't text something like that unless it was
important.
"Excuse me for one second. I need to take this," I said,
throwing the pair of them an apologetic look.
Chandler looked like he wanted to protest but held
back. Hiro simply frowned.
"Look here," Wayne drawled in his Texas accent over
the intercom, "I get wantin' your plece, but this ain't it.
You..."
I approached the door to my study and stepped just
outside. Three people were playing pool and looked at
me as I exited the office and dialed Chloe. Two more
looked like they were coming from down a hallway
where' the dungeon was, and I hoped Erin had secured
all the rooms didn't want anyone to enter. The idea of
my parents or Richle seeing that room horrified me.
"Hey," Chloe said, and I could detect the stress in her
voice.
"What's up?"
"I don't know how, but VanCamp knows his daughter's
here and is demanding that he take her and go."
"Shit. Is he in there?"
"No, but he really wants to be," Chloe said.
"Is that Marcus?" I heard Roger from the other end of
the line.
"Marcus, you had better let me collect my daughter, or
I'm about to make a scene!"
"Put me on speakerphone," said.
A moment later, Chloe said, "Kay." Don't forget to leave a Comment 
