The Love Of Money - S01 E186

Story 3 months ago

The Love Of Money - S01 E186

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 186

"And she isn't interested in meeting? Maybe I can find some way of earning her trust."

"Unlikely. Though you're technically family, she sees you as more of a usurper than anything. Your inheritance of everything bypasses Colin's offspring, including her."

"Still... can you see if you can arrange something? I know I'm standing between her and billions of dollars, and I can't blame her for being mad at me, but I'd like to try."

I'll see what I can do," Chandler said, but his tone didn't sound very confident.

Kelly Maddox was also on the board list. Apparently, she'd been allowed to keep the shares she had received while working for my grandfather, giving her voting rights, but since she only owned three percent, it wasn't much power. I couldn't help but wonder what she was playing at or why so many people had faith in her when the big-bad Gerrard patriarch had so little faith in her near the end of their relationship.

"Hey," I said. "Do you have a picture of Kelly?"

"I believe so," Chandler said, pulling out his phone and scrolling through it. He slid his phone to me face up, and I saw an image of a man in her middle to late thirties. She had short, charcoal, wavy hair and wore glasses. Her lips were painted wine red, and her fingernails were lacquered to match. Her smile was minimal, giving me the impression she was being forced to do it more than anything else. She had a severe look but was undoubtedly hot, she reminded me of Regina-one of the three candidates for Erin's position.

This was good. Now, my enemy had a face and a name, which was always helpful in making them seem less intimidating. Unfortunately, it also quashed the suspicion that she had been trying to get information from me at the warehouse. Damn. I would have bet a million dollars on that one.

"Thanks," I said and pushed the phone back to him. I looked down at Chandler's handout and said, "What is Brantwood Holdings, and why do they own fifteen percent of the company?"

"It's a firm that acts as a single entity to maintain voting rights. They hold their own meetings in advance and act in the interest of their clients."

"And they're firmly behind Maddox?" Helen asked.

"I'm afraid so," Chandler said. "Trying to get them to change their vote is next to impossible. For one thing, it would require convincing too many people. Second, they keep their client list private. I wouldn't know where to begin if I thought there was a chance of convincing them."

Damn. That was a shame. There was only one other besides me that had that many shares.

"Who's Michael Ross?" asked.

"He represents the twins. Your half-siblings. They never show up to these things and have a lawyer on retainer to represent them in all matters pertaining to VistaVision. It's essentially been that way since they were estranged by their grandfather. I would honestly love to have a face-to-face with them, but they haven't returned any of my calls. As your grandfather put it, they're... spoiled."

I hadn't even gotten over the fact that I'd had a wealthy father and that my grandfather had recently died and left me with billions upon billions. Now, I had to face the fact that I had family out there who hated me before I even knew they existed. I wanted to know what it would take to get in touch with then. Surely, Nina could be reasoned with; maybe she was a proverbial foot in the door to meeting the rest of the family. It hardly seemed fair that they all saw me as persona non-grata before getting to know me. Of course, it was hardly fair that inherited more money than I could ever spend either.

I looked at my phone and noticed the time. We'd been here for ten hours.

"It's getting late," I said, looking around the room at partially glazed eyes and plates emptied of food an hour ago. "Chandler, if you can secure a meeting with Wayne and Hiro before Monday, I'd be happy to meet with them and do whatever can to explain that we want their trust."

"It might require meeting with them separately, given the time constraints, but I'll see what I can do," he said as he gathered his stuff. "And I'll let you know if Nina allows me to contact her. However, I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you."

"I'll see Chandler out. I have a couple of other small matters to cover with him," Helen sald

"Sounds good," I said and wished Chandler good luck before they left, leaving me alone with Erin, who was furiously typing away on her phone. She muttered something.

"What?" I asked. She had seemed distracted throughout the meeting and now seemed a little flustered. It was understandable. I had difficulty paying attention every moment, but Erin always seemed impervious to distraction unless she intended it and had always seemed unflappable.

"Oh, nothing," she said. "I've just been working on this thing together for tomorrow night."

"Oh," I said, suddenly understanding why she seemed distracted. "I didn't think-"

"It's no problem. I'm just stretched a little thin today. I have someone to do a lot of the heavy lifting on short notice. I am looking forward to you getting a household manager, though. It'll make my job a lot easier."

"Where are we on that?" asked.

"It's an important position, so I'm being very ***********ive, Erin said. "I'll have a list of final candidates for you to go over next week."

"Sure," said. "Just say the word."

After leaving Erin to take care of the mountain of work I'd given her, I had a few more phone calls to return. I spent some time in my study talking to Natalie, who was relieved to hear from me. She seened a little upset that she had been stone-walled by Helen when she asked for me when I didn't show up on Monday, but I guess I saw it from Helen's point of view. The last thing any of us needed was for it to become public knowledge that I'd been kidnapped. That could seriously upset our plans for VistaVision just before our meeting, and while I trusted Natalie implicitly, Helen didn't. Whether I liked it or not, Natalie wasn't in my inner circle.

I tried to smooth things over with her by telling her a truncated version of the kidnapping story and that Helen had been acting under orders because public opinion could affect important events. She hadn't been happy, but at least she'd been understanding.

It turned out her new boyfriend was better than she had expected, which I wasn't overjoyed to hear. She confided that he had plans to whisk her away soon to his vacation home for an extended weekend. I told her she could take whatever time she needed, but I hated doing it. I had crushed on Natalie for a long time, and it wasn't going to go away overnight.