Regina had been surprised when she heard the door opening knowing that only Ethan and her brother had a key and Reginald always called before he came over. Seeing the look on his face she knew something was wrong, but before she could question him the doorbell rang.
“That would be your cousin she was sitting on my porch when I pulled into the driveway. I don’t have the patience to be nice so I decided to come here hoping that she’d just take the hint and leave.” Without waiting on a response, he made his way upstairs stripping off his clothes as he went.
She knew that something had happened at the office and that alone was the reason he prevented himself from confronting Tiffany. Heading for the door, she was determined to get rid of her cousin so that she could go and take care of her man.
Tiffany was stunned when her cousin and not the fine ass white boy answered the door, “Oh you’re home?” She said her voice filled with disappointment.
“Well Tiff, you know I do live here, I guess I don’t have to ask what it is you want, but I can tell you that what you can’t have is my man. Now if you’ll excuse me I think I’ll go on up and join him in the shower.” Regina closed and locked the door without giving her cousin a chance to speak. She needed to get upstairs to Ethan because she knew that he needed her.
She found him stretched out across the bed a towel draped around his lean waist and his hair was still wet from his shower. He was lying on his stomach his arms folded beneath his head. She ran her hand through his hair and waited knowing that when he was ready he’d tell her what happened.
“I got the call from my grandfather today requesting that I come and share lunch with him and although Eric and I had talked about it and I knew that the call was coming, I had held out hope that I’d be wrong.”
Regina hated the disappointment she heard in his voice, “Honey maybe it is just what he said, a lunch date with his grandson. You told me how close the two of you were.”
Ethan chuckled, “My grandfather was close to me because he was grooming me to take over the business and once that happened I’d only see him on very rare occasions. As long as the company was growing and making money I didn’t hear from him. I know that if one of his other grandson’s had shown a modicum of interest in the company I’m sure that he would have only spent time with which ever one of us showed the most promise and ability to do what he wanted done. Don’t get me wrong, I know that my grandfather loves me in his own way, but he isn’t a real affectionate person and that is fine.”
“But it still hurts to know that the only reason he’s calling you is because your cousin’s have told him about you seeing me and because of this he’s wanting to have lunch with you just to find out if it is true or not.” Regina stated her anger rising at the pain she heard in his voice.
“Yeah and knowing that once I confirm that we are a couple, he’s going to start making comments about my judgment even though everything I’ve gathered backs up what I’m saying. Not to mention the fact that he knows that neither Jerry nor Frank Jr. have shown any interest in the company nor do they have what it takes to run a business.”
“Do you think that he will try and stop the sell?” She inquired.
“He can try all he wants, but it’s already too late. The money came out of escrow the day after our dinner with Eric and Roz. As soon as the board gave the ok, Eric and I got the ball rolling because we knew that we’d have to have approval from the FCC before the money could go into escrow.”
Regina laughed, “So when you told you’re crazy cousins that it was too late to stop it, you weren’t lying.” Her laughter was infection and he found himself laughing right along with her and the laughter helped to ease some of the pain he’d been feeling after the call from his grandfather.
“I know the fact that your grandfather didn’t prove you or Eric wrong hurts but I want you to know how very proud of you I am and I’m sure that your parents are just as proud. You’ve done more than any one man should have to do for your entire family and if your grandfather can’t see that then that is on him.”
Unable to help himself, Ethan leaned up and captured her mouth with his. She was right and it felt wonderful knowing that she was proud of him and had faith in him. His love for her grew stronger and deeper and he was even more determined to make her his permanently.
Chapter 14
Ethan looked over to where Regina sat with the girls while he stood at the counter waiting on their food. He couldn’t help but smile at the warmth and joy on the girl’s faces and he knew that it was all because of Regina. Again the image of her with the children that they would create filled his head.
“Ethan Thompson, is that you?”
Ethan turned at the sound of his name and was surprised to see the guy that had been his neighbor in college. “Hi David, what’s going on man.” Ethan said offering his hand.
“Nothing’s going on at all just working trying to enjoy life. I hear that you’re finally selling the family business.” David commented. Noticing Ethan’s eyes straying over to a table, where a beautiful black woman along with three little girls sat.
“Yeah you heard right it’s time to get out where we can still make a profit from the sell. You still managing athletes?” Ethan asked trying to keep his eyes from straying to Regina, but was failing miserably.
“Are those your kids and your nanny?” David asked pointing to where Regina and the girls sat.
“No man, those are my nieces and the woman with them is my girlfriend.”
David was shocked and surprised, “What do you mean your girlfriend? What do you know about taking care of a black woman, especially one as fine as she is?”
“What does her race have to do with anything?” Ethan couldn’t help but ask.
“If you have to ask then that just confirms what I’m saying.” At that moment the server handed him their meal and began taking David’s order. With a shake of his head he headed over to the table where Regina sat pushing David’s words to the back of his mind.
“Hey what is going through that beautiful mind of yours?” Regina asked softly running her fingers through Ethan’s hair as he drove them home. The girls were sound asleep in the back having had an exhausting day.
He hadn’t planned on telling her what David had said, but knew that it would have been wrong keeping it from her. “I ran into a guy that was me and Reg’s neighbor when we were in college. He saw you and the girls and assumed that they were my kids and that you were their nanny. When I told him that they are my nieces and you are my girlfriend he stated that I didn’t know how to take care of a black woman.”
“He said what?” Regina snapped, hoping that she’d heard him wrong, but when he repeated it her blood began to boil. “Now I see why Reg disliked him so much. Sweetheart please don’t let what he said worry you.” She said reaching over to lace her fingers with his.
“I know that David has no idea of what he’s talking about, it’s just that it pissed me off that he could be so narrow minded.”
“Love, there are many people that think just like David does in this world, but we won’t allow them or any one else dictate our relationship.”
At the stop light, he leaned over and kissed her deeply and thoroughly until the blast of a horn forced him to pull away and focus on driving.
*******
Ethan stood on the steps waiting for his grandparent’s maid to open the door as his mind wondered to the weekend they’d spent spoiling the girls and each other. He smiled down at Ms. Howe the woman had been employed for as long as he could remember. “Hi Ms. Howe, how are you doing?”
“I’m doing well Ethan. Come on in your grandfather is in the dining room waiting.”
Ethan thought he saw a flicker of something in her eyes, but it happened so fast he wasn’t sure if he’d actually seen it or imagined it. He followed her into the dining room, which turned out to be the formal dining room another piece of proof that this wasn’t a casual lunch as his grandfather had wanted him to believe
.
“Hello Ethan it’s been a long time since we’ve had lunch together.” Pierson commented as his grandson took his seat.
“Yeah, grandpa, it has been a very long time. If I remember correctly, the last time we had lunch was just after my second record year of running Thompson Investments and if I’m not mistaken you stated that we no longer had to have these lunch dates since I’d proven that I was the right person at the helm.”
Pierson had wanted to gradually get into the real reason for this meeting, but since his grandson was more like him than he thought, it was no longer time to beat around the bush. “Well I’ve been hearing some disturbing news concerning your personal life that has me concerned about your judgment.”
Ethan chuckled, tossing his napkin onto the table near his plate of uneaten food. “Let me guess, Jerry came to you about the woman that I’m seeing and just because the woman is black, you now want to question my judgment.”
“What happened with you and Karen?” His grandfather asked instead of denying the accusation.
“Why don’t you ask Frank Jr., it appears that he has her believing that he’s going to be the next one running Thompson Investments and Karen being the woman that she is, has formed an alliance with him.”
“Can’t you work it out with her?” Pierson demanded.
“No I can’t especially knowing that she’s screwing my cousin.”
Pierson waved that away, “I’m sure that it meant nothing to her the two of you can get past that.”
Ethan could only stare at his grandfather’s words not believing what he was hearing, “So you are saying that I should just forgive and forget that Karen fucked my cousin just because she thought he was to be the next one in charge of the family business. Hell even if I could forgive that but I don’t love her, hell I don’t even like her so why in the hell would I saddle myself with someone that I can’t trust.”
Pierson had tried to be diplomatic about it, but now he would have to dictate what was going to happen. “If you don’t drop this scandalous relationship with this black woman, I’ll have no choice but to stop the sell of the company and put one of your cousins in charge.”
The threat only served to piss Ethan off and he knew that the ice had filled his eyes. “You would honestly go as far as putting one of them in charge when you yourself stated that neither of them knew how to run a business giving no regard to the family as a whole, just because the woman that I’m seeing is black.”
“One has to do what they have to do.” Pierson stated.
“You’re right granddad and that is why as soon as I got the approval from the board I put the wheels in motion months ago. The sell is complete and the money has been released from escrow so there is nothing you or anyone else can do to stop it because the deal is complete. Now if you’ll excuse me I seem to have lost my appetite.” Ethan rose and walked out passing his father’s maid on the way out. He ignored the sound of his grandfather calling his name and without a backwards glance he left.
Pierson stormed out of the dining room and into his office to call the man that had always handled the financial transactions for Thompson Investments. “Why in the hell didn’t you tell me that the money had been set up in escrow for the sell of my family business?” He demanded as soon as the line was answered.
“Considering the fact that the board members approved the sell, you included I didn’t feel that there was a need to inform you or anyone else for that matter that the deal was going through. Your grandson handled everything beautifully and you should be damn proud of him. Hell I wish I had him working for me.”
Pierson sat behind his desk wondering what he could use as leverage, he wasn’t about to allow Ethan to upset his plans for getting his hands on Harper’s Development, which Karen’s family owned. He needed to get control of that company and the only way to do that was to have Ethan marry that little slut. It was time that he called the board together to put a little pressure on his grandson to get what he wanted. He called his middle son Frank and had him set up the meeting as he knew Frank thought that he was about to get what he wanted for his worthless ass sons, which he would continue to dangle that carrot before him to get him to do his bidding.
Chapter 15
Madeline smiled at the surprised look on her grandfather’s face when he saw her walking into his office along with her mother and father. She had a feeling why the old man had called the emergency meeting. Regina had told her all about it when they had brought the girls home Sunday afternoon. She guessed Ethan had told his grandfather that the sell was complete so the old man couldn’t use the company as leverage against her baby brother, now he wanted to try another tactic and she couldn’t wait to find out what the old man was up to now.
“Okay father, everyone is here can we get this meeting over with.” Anderson addressed his father.
“I was going over the information Ethan had compiled when he’d come to the board about selling the company and I’m finding a few discrepancies.”
Anderson was about to dispute what his father was saying, but the gentle squeeze on his thigh from his wife kept him quiet. He glanced at his brothers and they were all frowning except for Frank. It dawned on him what was going on, the old man was going to try and use the company as leverage against his son and Frank, being the dumbass that he was, thought the old man was going to give him and his sons what they wanted. The damn fool didn’t know the sell was complete, but the old man apparently didn’t know that the rest of them knew everything had been finalized.
“I’m suggesting to the board that we postpone this sell until we can take another look at the information Ethan has compiled. Maybe even have an independent company review everything.”
“I knew there was something off about that information he’d given us.” Frank snapped.
Madeline started laughing drawing attention to herself, “Grandfather what ever it is you want from Ethan must be pretty big considering the fact that you had a hand in molding my baby brother into the business man he is today. And the fact that when the information was given to everyone including you, you gave the go ahead because you agreed wholeheartedly with the information he provided and now you are saying that you didn’t review the information or that your judgment and interpretation was incorrect then.”
Pierson glared at his granddaughter trying to intimidate her into being silent, but when she laughed again he knew it hadn’t work. “I think we all just accepted Ethan’s word without going over the information.” He responded.
“I don’t know about you, father, but Jonas, Michael and I reviewed everything and all of us agreed with Ethan’s findings and I for one see no reason why we should waste our time going over this information again. I’m like Madeline, why all of a sudden are you bringing this all up?” Anderson questioned.
“I’ll tell you why, if that son of yours thinks it’s okay to date a black woman, then I think we need to question his judgment.” Frank snapped earning a glare from his father.
“Ah so that is what this is all about. You have a problem with my brother’s girlfriend and when you called him here yesterday to force him to end the relationship, he walked out on you and now you are trying to come up with something else to use as leverage.” Shaking her head Madeline rose and walked over to the coffee table for the television remote switching the television on then she sat back and watched.
*****
Ethan stood behind the curtain nervously waiting for the conference to begin. He wanted to get it over and done with so he could take Regina home and make love to her. Ethan smiled remembering how she’d threatened to go over to his grandfather’s house and kick his ass after he’d showed up at her place after walking out on his grandfather.
“Are you ready to get this over with?” Eric asked coming to stand beside him.
“Hell yeah, let’s get this circus started and get it over with.” Eric nodded and they walked out to the podium together.
*****
Madeline tu
rned up the volume and took a seat smiling as she watched her baby brother and his best friend walk out to the podium to address the waiting reporters.
“What in the hell is going on?” Frank demanded.
“Watch and listen Uncle Frank.” Madeline suggested.
“First off we want to thank each and every one of you for coming today and as I’m sure that most of you know the reason for this conference is to announce the sell of Thompson Investments to Latham Holdings. We wanted to publicly announce the sell was completed as of last Thursday.”
*****
Ethan glanced around the room looking for her knowing she was there, but he needed to see her. He gave the room another slow scan and stopped when he spotted her standing at the back of the room with a reassuring smile on her face and just like that the nervousness he felt evaporated instantly, which turned out to be good timing considering Eric had opened the floor for questioning and the first question was his.
“You guys were able to keep this transaction so tightly under wraps. So I’m wondering as I’m sure that a lot of other people are as to whether or not the employees of Thompson Investments knew about the sell of the company.” The first reporter asked.
Ethan stepped up to the podium, “I can assure you that each and every employee at Thompson Investments knew about the sell from beginning to end.”
“So you are saying that your employees knew about the sell and no one was tempted to leak the information out to the press?” The same reporter asked.
“I think you already have the answer to that, considering the press had no idea of the transaction until now.” Ethan responded gaining chuckles around the room.
“With the way the job market is right now, what is to be done with the over fifteen hundred Thompson Investments employees?” A female reporter asked.
“Each and every employee with Thompson Investments will become an employee of Latham Holdings and will continue to receive the same benefits they had with Thompson Investments. Also the customers of Thompson Investments will continue to deal with the same people that they’ve dealt with in the past this transition will be seamless to our clients.”
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