The Love Of Money - S01 E252

Story 17 hours ago

The Love Of Money - S01 E252

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 252

Another text from Astrid: Done. I'll back you, but I'm trusting you.

I replied: You can trust me.

"...so I'm afraid I'm going to have to vote for Kelly Maddox on this one. I'm sure you understand."

Maddox and Rajesh made it forty-eight, and I was on the edge of my seat, watching Astrid with keen interest as I waited for her to commit her vote since she was up next.

"Astrid Håkansson, Chandler said, defeated. I stared back and forth between Astrid and Chandler, hoping one would keep up her end of the deal we'd made while hoping I could catch the look on the other's face when he received his eleventh-hour surprise.

"Kelly Maddox," Astrid said.

My gaze snapped to Astrid, and I once more felt a sense of disappointed betrayal from someone I thought was an ally. Why? Why had we just gone through all that back-and-forth to vote against me? Had done something to offend her in the break room, inspiring her to play with me like that? looked back at Hiro -the first man who betrayed me, and saw him watching Astrid. Were they working together to gaslight the shit out of me? What kind of fucked up people had I fallen in with? I was so confused.

"Very well," Chandler said.

That brought the count to fifty-one versus my forty-seven.

I sat back in my seat and tried to find out where I'd miscalculated. Where had I gone so wrong as to misjudge two people so completely? Astrid and Hiro had both seemed like people I could depend on. Hiro, with his soft-spoken, fatherly manner but shrewd business sense... I thought he'd been happy with the deal I'd given him. Had Kelly made him a better offer behind my back?

Astrid had also seemed above board and honest. I thought we'd clicked, and I'd been looking forward to enjoying a victory over some drinks... now, I didn't think I'd be able to share a meal with her without wanting to lunge across the table and choke her out.

I'd lost. I didn't know what that precisely meant. I wasn't even sure why I was so invested in this.

No... I knew why. Roger had mentioned profiteering; Helen and Chandler had hinted at shady business dealings within the Chandler had hinted at shady business dealings within the company-companies, rather. I wanted to do what I could to make sure those things if they were happening-didn't continue. I didn't want to be responsible for atrocities that wasn't aware of. Let me be damned for the mistakes I made on purpose, but wasn't going to be held accountable for things that weren't my choice.

"And last," Chandler said, "Miss Tanaka."

My head shot up to look at Chandler, who looked expectantly at Carla Tanaka. I looked at Erin, who was looking back at me, confused. Then I looked at Carla.

She stared directly at me and said, "Chandler Grayson."

Immediately, everyone began to stir, murmuring to each other as they processed the final vote. I heard Hiro spit something under his breath in Japanese that I didn't need to understand to know it was a curse.

Chandler blinked, opened his mouth, closed it again, then said, "I'm sorry?"

"Chandler Grayson," Carla said, looking at the temporary CEO with a smug little smile.

Chandler scribbled something quickly in his notes, glanced up at Carla, then back down at his notes again. "Yes... I uh..."

"What's the count?" Rajesh Desai asked impatiently.

"It's um," Chandler said. "It's a tie. Forty-nine to forty-nine."

"What does that mean?" Nina demanded.

"In the event of a tie," Chandler said, "The current CEO casts the deciding vote."

"Bullshit!" Kelly said, half standing out of her chair. She pressed her hands to the dark wood of the table's surface and leaned. forward. I couldn't help noticing the V where the collars of her jacket crossed framed a lovely display of cleavage. Despite being a total bitch, she was a gorgeous woman in a boss-bitch sort of way.

"Check the company guidelines," Wayne said over the intercom, sounding positively delighted. "Says so. Plain as day."

"That's correct," Karl sald. "Grayson gets the deciding vote."

The room fell silent as everyone looked toward Chandler as if they weren't well aware of what he would decide.

He looked at me in utter shock, then scanned the rest of the room as he said, "Chandler Grayson."

I could feel the tension release like a drawstring on a crossbow, everyone collapsed back in their seats or deflated as they exhaled the breaths they'd been unconsciously holding. Carla looked like the cat who ate the canary as she stared at me, and I recognized the look of triumph, satisfaction... and hunger. Next to her, Astrid looked just as surprised as everyone else. But if Astrid hadn't...

Then it hit me... the breakroom. I recalled the recent memory:

"Ooh! She's pretty!" Carla said.

I glanced over to see her scrolling through my phone. "Hey!" said, trying to snatch it back from her.

Carla moved the phone out of my reach, flashing the screen at me so I could see the image. She'd been looking at the picture of Danni I'd received a few hours ago, lying on her bed fully nude.

Then, a few minutes later...

"Your girlfriend's seriously pretty," Carla said, offering me my phone after Rajesh had left.

I did some quick arithmetic.

That crazy trophy wife must have snagged my phone number while she was looking through my pictures! On top of that, she somehow had two of Hiro's seven percent!

I looked back at Carla, who grinned at me as if she could see the gears in my head working. I hazarded a quick glance at Hiro, who looked livid as he stared at his wife from across the table, and I realized something else. Before this moment, Hiro had simply been a guy who probably double-crossed me for a better deal. It had been a simple matter of 'It's just business, but as I watched how he stared at his wife, I realized that we hadn't just crossed over into 'now, it's personal. I'd unwittingly made Hiro Tanaka-one of the most powerful men in Japan-into an enemy.

I'd won, but at what cost?

how he stared at his wife, I realized that we hadn't just crossed over into 'now, it's personal. I'd unwittingly made Hiro Tanaka-one of the most powerful men in Japan-into an enemy.

I'd won, but at what cost?

To Be Continued...