Chapter 6

Lauren looked at the woman who was Bos mother. She could see the resemblance although this womans face was much harder than Bos and also full of lines and corners. Her eyes were looking straight at hers and it was evident she didn't like the intruder.

"Oh hello, I am Bos friend, Lauren Lewis" Lauren approached her and offered her hand. The woman didn't react, instead she looked at Laurens hand and then said:

"I know who you are, and I doubt you are my daughter's friend"

Lauren slowly walked back as the woman continued inside the house, checking the kitchen.

"You are cooking?"

"Yes, just finished"

"You are waiting for Bo?"

"Yes" Lauren was getting a bit annoyed herself now, if this woman wanted to play the cold bitch, she could play too just as easy.

"I hope you don't mind if I wait for her with you?"

"No, I don't"

Lauren bypassed her and checked the oven, while continuing to look at the wines.

"May I offer you some suggestions about the wine? I am the one who is keeping the place alive"

"Yes, I know, Bo told me"

The woman looked surprised at Laurens answer. You didn't expect Bo would tell me something like that, she thought to herself. The woman finally approached Lauren close and offered her hand.

"I am Aoife" She simply said. Lauren nodded keeping her distance this time. She was hoping Bo would come back soon, because she was starting to feel uncomfortable under the researching eyes of this woman.

"So, how did you and my daughter become friends again? Last time I checked the news, you were fighting? It was all over the papers?"

"Oh that? Don't believe everything you read" They walked towards the living room and sat on the big couch.

"How come you are here? Bo is usually very secretive about this place, its not her main house"

"Yes I know. I think it would be better if you ask Bo these questions, I don't want to say something she wont be comfortable with"

After that there was a long pause, where nobody was talking. Lauren checked her watch and then her mobile.

"What time did Bo say she would be arriving?"

"I doubt she would be long now"

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Lauren wasn't sure, but she didn't want to let Bos mums know that she was unsure. That woman looked like she hated her for some unknown reason and was looking for reasons to make crude comments. She got up again and walked towards the kitchen, she needed to focus her mind on something else until Bo was there.

Bo was holding the glass of whiskey in her hand, while watching the cars passing throu the bar window. The deal signing ended a couple of hours ago and she was so pleased with herself. Another big win for her. Dyson offered to celebrate with dinner but she quickly turned him down, rather harsh, she couldn't wait to get to Lauren. Yet here she was at the nearby bar, drinking and contemplating to actually go back to Lauren? Lauren.

The blonde doctor was keepon surprising her. She stayed at her home all day, and Bo was so happy about that. She didn't want to know the reason, or even think about how much she liked the fact Lauren was at her rebel home. She informed Trick that she wont be coming back at the house again, and she could imagine him smiling, fully guessing the fact she was going to spend the night with Lauren for second night in a row. Just before she arrived, she stopped the car and stayed there, and then she decided to go grab a drink at the bar, and there she was now, looking at that drink. She was thinking about her plan, and how everything looked to be going great.

She was sure Lauren would agree in the end, she was already playing wifey, Bo thought. For a certain unknown reason that fact made her feel so powerful, so proud of herself. But behind Lauren, Bo could only see the Lewis empire. The acceptance, the recognition, the fact she was going to make everybody eat their words about everything they said and write about her and her family. That was her main goal. That's where she should be focusing on, and Lauren was just a vehicle that was going to take her nearer to that goal, and nothing else. Bo smiled. A bitter smile. She was hungry and she needed to celebrate all of a sudden. She pressed the button on her mobile.

"Hey there stranger"

"Hi"

"Where you've been? You disappeared on me"

"You know you can always call me Amanda, for everything you need, I never disappear on you"

"Yes I know, I am just teasing you silly"

"So I was thinking"

"What baby?"

"Are you up for some celebration?"

"Celebration? Of what kind?"

"Dinner? And then clubbing? I want to go out tonight"

"Well I may need a couple of hours to get ready"

"How about an hour?"

"Ok, Bo?"
"Yes?"

"What happened with blondie?"

"Everything is ok why?"

"Nothing, I just thought that since, you and her started playing around with each other, I wasn't going to see you anymore"

"Why did you think that? That's only business, while you are pleasure" Amanda started laughing at Bos words.

"Be ready in an hour" Bo said and shut the phone. She grabbed her glass and finished her drink.

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It was getting really late now, and Lauren was starting to realize Bo wasn't coming. It was near 11 at night, and she was flipping throu the Tv Channels. All these hours she only send one text to Bo, asking her if anything happened. Bo didn't answer back. She turned as she heard a sound from the bathroom. Bos mother was still there, silently moving around the house, they exchanged a few more words, but as the time passed and Bo wasn't coming Laurens mood was getting really down. She didn't know what to think and she hated the fact Bo mums was there witnessing this, she got stood up very obviously. She would wait for about ten more minutes and then she was off, Lauren thought.

"I very much doubt Bo is coming" Bo mothers said, and she sounded very pleased.

Lauren slowly got up. She walked towards the bedroom in silence not bothering to answer her back. She got inside and grabbed her coat and bag from the closet, she looked around for a second and walked out. Dinner was ready hours ago and she even made a quick desert.

"Are you leaving?"

Bo mums said again, noticing Lauren holding her things. Lauren turned and looked at her with a thunder look. She slowly wore her coat and raised her head while looking down on the older woman.

"You wont take your dinner with you? It's a shame to go waisted."

"I am sure you can find some stray dog to feed it" Lauren answered. She walked towards the door.

"My daughter will never be friends with your kind, ever. She is going to destroy you people"

Lauren turned around for the last time.

"We will see who is going to be destroyed wont we? Oh And meeting you? it kinds of gives perspective to the way Bo is now. But I do agree with you, we could never be friends. I am a Lewis after all. Goodnight"

Lauren shut the door feeling very sad. Not for her but for this woman and for Bo. Pitiful people, she thought. Their hearts and minds full of hate, even now that they managed to do something with their lives. She dialed Kenzis number as she got out on the street. She squeezed her coat tight, the night breeze making her a bit chilly.

"Hey Doc"

"Hi Kenzi, I am sure you aren't sleeping yet"

"Sleeping? Me? No way, princess, continuing my killing spree"

"Can you get away from your game console and come pick me up?"

"Of course I can, where are you at?"

"I am at the Red Cross facility, ill be waiting for you outside"

"Ok Doc, don't worry ill be there soon, how come you are out there so late?

"Kenzi just come get me, ill explain everything later"

Lauren kept on walking, leaving the dark block street behind, getting on the main side walk and then close to the Red cross station. It was late and everything was closed, she looked around while waiting, few people walking on the sidewalks, noticed the bar Bo had been waiting for her last night.

Bo. The brunette had stood her up. For whatever reason. Lauren could find 100 excuses for the brunette not coming, but deep in her heart she knew the answer. They were going too fast, too strong and were heading to the complete opposite direction to what Bo was planning. She felt it in her skin that Bo wanted to prove something tonight by not coming.

But Lauren wasn't so sure she was ready to play Bos game anymore. Besides, she wasn't the one who needed Bo. She could get the funding money by herself. She was well loved and very much liked and she could start doing what she hated all these years. She could attend parties and functions for money and raise millions for her causes. She could attach herself to companies and other rich people and be on the press daily, promoting her causes. Miss Dennis got it all wrong. It was time she got a glimpse of what being a Lewis meant in this world, and especially, what being Lauren Lewis meant in this world.

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Bo was pretending to hear what Dyson had to say, about the monthly financial numbers, after a surge in cash, there was a small drop at stocks, naturally, the company needed to settle for a bit, they were growing pretty fast and they had to make the merging at least in a manner that wont hurt the mother company.

"Bo, are you listening to what I am saying? Bo I am talking to you"

"Sorry Dyson, I think I am having a headache, didn't sleep well last night"

"Yeah, I saw the pics, maybe you should take it easy with all that partying all of a sudden" Bo turned and looked at Dyson, in a way that was clearly saying, don't dare to ever tell me what to do.

"Are we finished? Because I think I am going to head home early tonight"

"Yes, of course, if that's what you want"

She turned her head dismissing Dysons answer and walked back towards her desk. Dyson hesitated for a second and then walked out of the office. Bo waited until he was out and then checked her mobile again.

It was two weeks after that night, two weeks after the day she stood up Lauren. Since that day, she had started a saga of endless partying and going out every night, making sure the paps were always there to capture her out with the latest woman or man in her hand. Yet she didn't feel right, she didn't feel free, she didn't feel pleased. Maybe because there wasn't a reaction from her.

Her.

Lauren Lewis. Since that night she completely disappeared. Bo couldn't trace her, she couldn't find any news about her whereabouts, she had her driver stalk the red cross station and then on Laurens familys company headquarters but she wasn't coming or going to either of those two places. She wasn't staying at her apartment either, nor with her sidekick Kenzi. Her phone started ringing, it was her land line from her house.

"Yes"

"Mam?"

"Yes Trick"

"I have cooked your favourite tonight mam"

"You did?"

"Yes mam, and I hope you will honor it"

"Umm yes, I don't think I have anything else planned for tonight"

"That's good mam"

"You think?"

"Well yes mam, if I may take the courage to say…."

"Yes?"

"Did you check the gossip blogs the last hour?"

"Huh? What for?"

"Nothing mam, I am just mentioning it because it seems your new friend is causing some waves there."

"My new friend?" Bo touched her ipad and started navigating on the internet.

"Yes mam, your new lady friend? Miss Lauren Lewis? Or was I wrong to mention it?"

Here she is Bo thought, front page on the Daily Mail site. She shut the phone without answering back to Trick and focused on reading the article, but most importantly she couldn't take her eyes from the pics. Lauren was pictured in a bikini that covered nothing and was revealing her body in all her glory, she was riding the waves while a short haired brunette was holding her in her arms. The article was naming her as the famous Canadian Tennis star Anna Kasovic who was a well known lesbian and something of a heartthrob in lesbian circles.

The author caled them as the new it couple of the lesbian world and Canada, that they fell for each other quickly and that they were getting very serious. Bo smiled a bitter smile, reading every bit of the said article. There was even a video accompanying it.

The very private Lauren Lewis was all of a sudden captured in a video kissing and frolicking at the sea with another woman. As much as Bo wanted to ignore the rage that was coming up into her mouth, she couldn't help it. Suddenly her phone broke the silence. It was Ciara, I bet to inform me about this. Bo could see these pics hitting every tabloid blog there is in a matter of a couple of hours. She ignored her phone and instead she pressed her screen to find the number of Laurens help, Kenzi whats her name.

"Talk to me" Kenzis answer was typical of her character.

"Tell Lauren that the games are over"

"Huh? Who is this?"

"I am sure she will understand"

Bo shut the phone and called Dyson immediately.

"Yes Bo? I knew you will change your mind about…."

"Dyson, I want us to go full frontal on Lewis. I want to own everything I can from that company by the end of the week"

" But Bo, that will mean to liquid almost every asset.."

"Dyson you think I don't know what its going to take? Just do what I say without doubting my decisions" She shut the phone and went back looking at Laurens pics.

Enjoy your vacations with Miss Lewis, because there are going to be the last ones you take with another woman.

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Bruce looked at his father who was sitting at his office large leather couch, looking rather resigned and confused. It was a horrific week, a daily battle as his dad said when all this started. It was Saturday night when they were informed that the Dennis group was buying current debts and loans of the family business, by giving big amounts of cash to banks and hedge funds. First they thought she couldn't continue to do it for long but apparently she was backed up by a group of London ship owners which she had recently collaborated with. When his father realized she will have the cash to actually buy off almost every debt and monthly obligation the Lewis empire had, he went berseck

Bruce couldn't help but admire that bitchs mind. She couldn't buy off the stocks or the company itself so she was buying off the obligations the company had and the company wont be able to meet them and as everybody was suspecting, she was going to use that in order to make his family sell their stocks so the Lewis empire wont go broke. What remained untouched was Laurens small part of the company that was mainly supplying money for research and her charity interests. Lauren had been informed that something was up and was coming back. Their father tried to contact that Dennis girl as a last resort in order to ask what she wanted, why she was doing this, but she only managed to speak to her close partner Dyson who informed them that Miss Dennis was going to make her goal pretty clear, very soon. The door to the office opened and Bruce watched his mother coming in followed by Tamsin.

"Did you talked to Lauren? Is she back?"

"She will be here in a hour, she must be landing right now"

"What did she say? Does she know anything?"

"Mother I don't know, she will be here and we can all ask her"

Bruce looked at Tamsin, who was looking back at him, while their mother sat next to their father and slipped her hand on his. A very rare show of tenderness infront of others that as children they weren't used to it.

"We have to talk to this girl, why is she attacking us that way?"

The intercom interrupted the older Dennis words, when his secretary announced.

"Mr Lewis, Miss Bo Dennis is here to see you sir"

"Dad I can kick her out…"

"Shh Bruce. Let her in, in five minutes"

The elder Lewis said. He got up and stretched his jacket, placing his hand on his hair straightening them.

"I want everybody to treat her with respect" he said looking towards his wife mainly.

There was a soft knock on the door and then his secretary walked in followed by a tall man who was clearly Dyson and behind him Bo Dennis.

"Mr Lewis" Dyson said offering his hand. The elder Lewis was sitting back on his office, he got up slowly and offered his hand nodding. Bruce watched as his mother made a disgusting gesture with her mouth.

"Miss Dennis, we finally meet again"

"Mr Lewis" Bo said without offering her hand. She looked around nodding towards Laurens brother and sister.

"Sit down please" Bruce said to her.

"No thank you, as you may well can understand, this visit isn't a social one." She gestured towards Dyson who then opened his suitcase and left a bulk of papers and a laptop on the office table.

"Ah Miss Dennis, finally you are opening your cards"

"They were never closed sir"

"And may I ask what do they contain? You should know we will fight you…."

"Sir please. Lets not say something you will regret later. My offer is purely a business one."

"I am not giving up my company"

"I understand that sir, unfortunately that's not for you to decide anymore. I will allow you and your family to remain part of the Lewis group, keeping half of it under one condition"

There was silence again in the room, until Bruce walked towards Bo, making Dyson to get in front of him.

"Bruce back off" his father said.

"Can we hear this offer then?"

"The only way for your family to remain part of this firm is for your daughter Lauren Lewis to marry me. If this doesn't .."

"When hell freezes!" Laurens mum almost jumped from the couch and turned to her husband who raised his hand and silenced her.

"You understand that cant happen"

"Then I am sorry sir but you have two days starting tonight to leave this building. On Monday your company wont be able to meet any obligation and you are going bankrupt. You understand the results after this and what it will mean for your family"

"Oh please you are too small and too blind from the gutter you are coming from to even dare to threaten us, my children and all well taken care of and if you think"

"Mam, I know pretty well where I come from, and I can assure you, your family isn't that clean cut as you think especially in the way you made your money in the first place" Bo turned to the elder Lewis again.

"This is my offer sir. Its strictly a business one and will allow you to remain part of the empire you and your family created. In those papers there are details about everything, what part you are going to keep and in the laptop every asset that will remain in your family."

"Can you answer me what exactly you want from Lauren? A heir?" Tamsin asked.

"Among other things"

"You don't deserve to be in the same city as my daughter, and now you think you can be in the same bed?"

"Sorry to disappoint you Mam but I have already been in yours daughters bed"

"You are disgusting"

"Mother" Bruce stopped his mum.

"If my sister does agree with this monstrosity, I would expect you to leave her and my family alone, after you get your heir I mean?"

"Actually and I detail everything at the papers, your sister cannot divorce me and if she does try to, there are going to be results for her I have no problem leaving you all alone, but as you understand you will have to isolate yourselves from your daughter since where I will go Lauren will go too"

Bo looked at Dyson, making it clear it was time to go.

"As I understand Lauren is coming back from her little love trip? Please make it clear to her that I want an answer as soon as possible, she knows where to find me"

She turned back and left, Dyson walking behind her. Bruce walked towards the papers that were left on his fathers desk.

"There is no way I will allow Lauren to marry this, this, I don't know how to call her"

"And you are willing to see our family destroyed? Because that's what this woman is going to do"

Bruce looked at his parents arguing but wasn't really listening. He started reading Bos offer, its was down to every small detail, from the companys to Laurens obligations as a wife. She turned to Tamsin who was baffled.

"Did really Lauren had a relationship with her?"

"I don't know, we all know about the kiss and the flowers and obviously they slept together but relationship?"

"Kenzi will know"

"Get her here" The elder Lewis said while grabbing his desk phone.

"Get my daughter Lauren on the phone"

"That wont be necessary" Everybody turned towards the door.

Lauren was there, looking glorious as usual Tamsin thought. Sun tanned and smiling, unaware of the catastrophe surrounding her family but she wasn't alone, next to her holding her hand was another woman.

Oh boy Bruce thought.