"Me too. Mommie, who is she?" TJ asked, peeking at the stranger her
mommie was talking to.
Brooke looked down and saw a boy, about four
years of age. So many expressions ran on her face from shock, anger and
finally happy. She noticed the blond locks and then gasped, her eyes again
wide. Cari gave her a warning look, she went out and
called Geena.
"Hey Geens, Conference room two is finished right?"
okay?"
"Nah, I'll take care of it. I haven't given my godson four
bithday presents and four Christmas presents anyway. I'll see you later okay?
And don't kill Nick." she joked as she went out of the room.
Cari
grimaced, trying to collect her wits for time was ticking in an extra fast
motion.
An Hour
later...
Cari was inside Conference Room #1, waiting for the
meeting go underway. She was already fidgeting with her fingers. She had just
come in from Conference Room #2 to check if TJ and Brooke had already gone to
Disney. They wouldn't be back by about eight at night with the travel time
and all. She had aready envisioned the meeting from brutal to peaceful. And
all of those visions seem to make Cari more nervous than ever. According to
Eric, Nick did not know that she would be present at the negotiations. He
just told her that it would be Fisher and him present. At first he was reluctant
because he didn't want to do anything about the stocks, he had them and he
was happy about it. He made it clear to them that he wouldn't sell the stocks
back to them. But with Fisher talking him into going, he finally agreed.
Cari was seated at the head chair of the huge square oak table and
was lost in her thoughts when the glass door of the room opened. She jumped
when she heard the men's voices. Eric, then Marc Fisher then Nick came into the
room in single file. She acknowledge Eric and Marc with a nod and stood up.
Nick was thinking about something that he did not notice that Cari was there. Her heart was beating at an absurd rate that she had to breath in
huge amounts of air to calm her frayed nerves. The meeting hadn't even
started, her nerves were already frayed. She finally cleared her
throat to get Nick's attention. He snapped his head up and saw the girl he
thought he would never ever see again. His initial reaction was his intake of
breath then his eyes got huge. In simple terms, he was dead shocked. Cari
looked at him, like she was daring him to say anything. Nick regained his
composure and a malicious smile was then plastered in his face. Eric began to speak as Nick took his seat across Cari with Fisher and Eric on the
other ends. "Mr. Carter, this is Carissa Cari lifted her
right eyebrow conveying annoyance, "Mr. Carter let's keep this meeting
business-like. Keep our personal lives away from this." she said
sharply.
Nick shrugged, Eric continued. "We are here to ask you again to let us buy the LIMPA shares that you bought. I did not realize that
Ms. Sanders wanted to keep LIMPA a private company. We are willing to buy them
back to you with 25% interest." Eric proposed.
"You
wouldn't dare," Cari said furiously.
"Brian guess who I saw in the meeting today?" he asked
with a heavy note in his voice. He really didn't
Sanders, CEO of LIMPA. She has recieved word about your huge purchase of half of LIMPA's stocks while she was
in Paris. She thought that this was an important matter so she left Paris to
be in this meeting." he explained.
Nick looked at her insolently,
"Oh really, I thought there was another matter,"
"That's too bad,
because I won't. Not even all the money in this world would make me let you buy
back my shares. Technically, I own half of LIMPA now." he said calmly which
irritated the hell out of Cari.
"Mr. Carter," Cari
started.
"Oh, it's Mr. Carter now, it used to My Nicky," he said mimicking Cari's letter.
Cari flamed in anger, "Didn't you hear what
I just told you less than a minute ago? Maybe your deaf." she
said.
"Touchy, careful Cari. I own half of LIMPA, I can do anything
I want with it." he said, with malevolence in his eyes.
Nick just lifted his eyebrow in
response.
"Mr. Carter we are trying to negotiate something here. We
are trying to accomplish something by the end of the meeting. You,
selling
the shares back to us and us buying it from you with 25% interest." Marc said
with an exasperated voice.
Cari, finally calming down a bit, tried
to act civil.
"I bought LIMPA's share with a 50 percent increase. I
don't think that would be fair if you buy it back from me with only
a 25%
increase," Nick snapped.<p>
Cari's eyes popped open, she did a quick
mental math, then gasped. They would need $67,500,000 to buy the shares back
from
him. "We can't give him that amount of money," she said
uneasily.
"That's right sweetheart, you can't. I think this meeting
is over. You can't buy it back from me cause I won't even sell it
for a mere
50% increase." he said as he stood up and went out of the room leaving a stunned
Cari. She stood up and decided to
go after him to plead.
She saw
him entering the elevator, "Nick, wait!" she said as she caught up with
him.
"Now it's Nick, I though it was Mr. Carter," he
mocked.
"LIMPA's counting on you Cari, beg if you have
to!"
"Nick please, I need LIMPA and LIMPA needs me. You know that!
You can't just go on buying my stocks!" she said.
Nick looked at
her, "I'm not going to let you buy them back, I don't care if you buy them with
a million percent increase."
"Why are you doing this? You know that
LIMPA is my life! Are you diliberately trying to kill me?" she asked
miserably.
"Yes I am, just like what you did to me four years ago. I
wouldn't buy LIMPA if it didn't mean that much to you," he said
honestly.
"Is there anything, absolutely anything you want for me to
do for me to get back my stocks? LIMPA is my life Nick, I need
it!" she
pleaded.
"There's nothing you can do about it. You took a part of me
when you left Cari, it is only fair that I take a part of you,
LIMPA." he
said finally, then he went inside the elevator leaving a crushed
Cari.
At
Brian's...
expect her to be there.
After four years, it hurt just look at her. The pain and suffering he went
through wasn't going to
be gone in a flicker of a hand. He almost drowned in
the pain, luckily BJ and Brian were there to save him.
Brain let
him in the house, when they were at the living room, he answered Nick's
question, "Cari."
Nick snapped his head towards his best friend.
"How did you know?" he asked suspiciously.
"I saw her," BJ said as
she entered the room with Leighanne.
"When?"
"Just this
morning when she entered the elevator. I don't think she saw me though." she
said nonchalantly.
"Oh,"
Silence.<p>
"So what
happened Frack?" Brian asked. Even after four years, they still call each other their special nicknames. He was married to Leighanne already.
Nick told them what happened. BJ, Brian and Leighanne's faces
conveyed almost every expression while he was telling
his ordeal.
"So she finally had the guts to see you," Leighanne
said softly.
"But Frack, don't you ever intend to sell the stocks
back to her?" Brian asked, curious.
Nick scowled, "No, definitely
not."
"Why not?" BJ asked puzzled.
"It's my business,
don't but in." Nick warned his sister.
"Frack that's not fair, you
know that that's the hurt speaking again." Brian said.
"I don't care if it is." he retorted.
"Nick, you still haven't forgiven her yet,
have you?" Leighanne asked.
"Honestly speaking? I don't think I'll
ever will."
"But-" BJ began.
"But nothing, I need to go
out. This is really one surprising day," Nick said as he went out of the
house.
When BJ, Brian and Leighanne were all alone in the living
room, they started to talk again about who BJ saw at LIMPA that day: Cari
with a blond baby boy.
