The Love Of Money - S01 E254

Story 11 hours ago

The Love Of Money - S01 E254

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 254

"Hopefully on the same side, next time," I replied.

Her smile grew a little more. "One can only hope."

After saying our goodbyes, I returned to the board room. By this time, Chandler and the CFO-some guy named McClane, I think were the only two left. They both saw me approaching and wrapped up their conversation. The financial officer gave me a smile, muttered congratulations, and left.

Grinning ear-to-ear like a schoolboy, Chandler approached me, placed a hand on either side of my face, and said, "I don't know how you bloody did it, but good job, my boy!"

"Thanks," I said, grinning at him sheepishly, wondering if he was about to kiss me on the mouth. "Talk about luck!"

"That was no luck!" Chandler said as he let me go and started aggressively packing up his briefcase as if he were gathering spoils of war. "That was sheer genius and manipulation the likes | haven't seen in years from your grandfather! My word, he would have been proud! The way you worked out a contingency-oh..."

Chandler had looked up from his bag, and the manic grin he'd been wearing quickly faded as he saw something over my shoulder. Following his gaze, I turned and saw Hiro Tanaka standing in the doorway, watching us. His stare was unblinking as he glanced back and forth between the pair of us, and I suddenly got the Impression he wasn't quite as frail as I initially assumed.

Adjusting his glasses as he stepped the rest of the way into the room, he shut the door behind him. I glanced around the perimeter of the glass wall but couldn't see any sign of Carla. That wasn't good. Tanaka couldn't have done anything drastic to the woman with so many people around; I was more worried she would slip away before I had a chance to confront her. I wouldn't let her slide through my fingers the way Ashlee had. I needed to know where the hell she was!

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and texted Chloe: Do you have Carla? Stay on her. She doesn't leave.

"Why did you make plans with my wife?" Hiro said in his soft- spoken voice, sounding more like a little old Asian man selling bonsai in Chinatown or something. Strangely enough, it only made his stare even more unnerving, and I had to work hard to remember I was in the right, here. Tanaka made a deal with me and had gone behind my back to make one with Maddox, Meanwhile, I'd completely trusted the man and hadn't made any plan to double-cross him. I'd trusted him implicitly. If anyone should be furious, it should be me.

"Why did you vote for Maddox?" I asked. There wasn't nearly as much heat in my voice as I felt there should have been. For some reason, the stare of an old man pushing seventy was making me pull my verbal punches. I consciously tried to make my next words more forceful. "We had a deal, Mr. Tanaka, and you broke it."

"Psh," Hiro sald with a dismissive wave of one liver-spotted hand. "That was just business. I said I wanted twenty percent more of the company. I said I wanted to be CEO. You did not give me those things. Maddox made a better deal."

He glanced at Chandler, then leveled a deadly serious gaze at me. "Conspiring to turn a man's wife against him?" He shook his head at me as if he was more disappointed in my behavior than anything.

"I didn't conspire with your wife," I said, "She came to me."

Tanaka tilted his head to the side in a bird-like fashion. "Carla says otherwise."

"Who are you going to believe?" I asked, "The wife who betrayed you, or me?"

"Hm," Hiro said, "I don't think either of those are good options."

"What do you want?" I asked, feeling a little more brave with each passing moment. Sure, this guy was well-connected and had loads of experience I didn't, but I had more money and wouldn't break a hip if I ran too fast.

"What was promised to me," Hiro said.

I couldn't believe what he was asking and snorted in response. "You mean our deal?"

Hiro gave a single nod.

"Hell no."

I felt Chandler's hand on my shoulder. "Marcus-

"You won the vote," the old Asian man sald. "No harm was done to you, but you have wronged me. Be happy that I am only asking for what you promised."

"Look" I said. "It's not my fault you were stupid enough to give some of your shares to your wife. It's not my fault you lost out on both the deals you made, and it's sure as hell not my fault that you're so bad of a husband that Carla did this."

"I am waming you," Hiro said, and there was a sharp edge to that soft voice.

"No," I said. There was no way in hell I was giving this man another ten percent of my company just because he had marital problems. "You made your own bed. Now go roll around in it."

That last line was delivered with a lot more sass than I'd been able to manage when Hiro first entered the room. He'd come here expecting to intimidate and bully me into giving him whatever he wanted. It reminded me of how I'd let Bobbi and Gina treat me and the other workers all those weeks ago, and it was pissing me off. I hated being reminded of how much of a doormat I'd been willing to be back then just because I was afraid of losing a mediocre job. Now, I didn't need to take their crap. I didn't need to take his, either.

Hiro stared back at me for what felt like minutes, and with each second that ticked by, it was getting harder to hold his gaze. He was, after all, a walking global superpower, and more than one person had alluded to the possibility that he could do real harm with that kind of influence.

"We are done," Hiro said, and without saying another word, he turned, opened the door, and disappeared into the hallway. Fortunately, his exit lost some of its menace as Chandler and I watched him slowly walk down the hall through the meeting room's glass wall. He rounded the corner and continued down the hall in full view of us, unwilling to look in our direction in an awkward way that was almost comical until he finally disappeared.

That was when I heard Chandler groan.

"How bad is it?" I asked, turning my attention to him.

"It's bad," he admitted, the look on his face matching his words.

"Desal mentioned not crossing Hiro. Astrid said something similar. What's he capable of?"

"I'm not sure," Chandler said. "There's no evidence of anything dire, but... there are rumors."

"Rumors of what?"