Chapter Seven

In days of old, ladies met for tea and gossiped and discussed intrigue and conspiracy. For some, that tradition lives on. Tradition is seen by some as restraint, by others as an example to follow. In my eyes, the traditions of the Hamptons are stifling and the reason behind the downfall of my Father. Those who patronise such traditions need to be taught a lesson, and I'm going to take them down, one-by-one if necessary. This is my mission, and a commitment within my life. Those who get in my way fall.

._.

"Caroline," Emily greeted, baring her teeth as she stopped down and settled into the high-backed armchair, "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't surprised you asked me to tea." She crossed her legs over and regarded her mother. Her forehead was as tightly stretched as any other socialite mother of the Hamptons – she'd clearly just had her set of Botox injections. Despite the iciness of her forehead, she managed to raise an eyebrow: just.

"When I first called the Hamptons my home, ladies met for afternoon tea," her mother's eyes lanced into Emily's own, "not much has changed."

Emily flagged down a server, "I'll take a pot of mint tea please." The server nodded and disappeared. Emily narrowed her eyes and examined her Mother – she was trying and failing to imitate a mother. She had the warmth in her face, the understanding body language and even asking her daughter to tea. But Emily didn't buy it. She was too smart and had seen too much to believe someone so quickly. "Why am I here? Because I don't believe you want to start a relationship?"

"When we last spoke things were very different, dear," Caroline lifted her cup and sipped at it, "Victoria Grayson was a wealthy but ultimately powerless Hampton socialite. If the media's to be believed, she's now the de facto head of one of the world's largest and most influential business corporations. She's untouchable."

"If you believe that, you're clearly out of touch," Emily reprimanded as her tea arrived, the server poured her a cup and Emily lifted it, sipping the warm and refreshing liquid, "Grayson Global is not the company it once was, and the fact is it's entering a terminal decline, even if Victoria herself isn't already aware of that."

Caroline smiled intuitively, "You have a mole?"

"A mole is a spy – a passive agent," Emily said whimsically, "what I have within Grayson is active and far more dangerous than a spy. Moreover, Victoria isn't the only one who can carry influence. While you were playing dead, I was making friends all over New York. Philanthropy and kindness go a long way in New York society – people are hungry for a good image, and I provided it to them. If that was the only reason I was asked her I'll leave." Emily started rising but her Mother gestured and Emily resettled herself in the armchair. She lifted her tea and sipped at it again, a little intrigued.

"You have to understand, when I was growing up with your Grandparents, all I desired was to be the Queen of the Hamptons," she said, almost whimsically, thinking back to her childhood, "marital politics is as important as it ever was – and my Father, your Grandfather, placed me in sight of one of the Hamptons most desirable bachelors."

"Conrad." Emily murmured. Her mother nodded.

"It was a lengthy courtship – and that was my mistake," Caroline frowned, "Conrad lost interest in me, and found a vivacious and ambitious brunette – a perfect match for his own personality. He foolishly married her, and I in the end married your Father. David was a loving man, but he could never deliver the mighty social graces I aspired to. In the end I decided exotic exile was far more style, and I took it happily." She focused upon Emily again, and this time her daughter was taken in by the piercing stare. "Now that I'm back, I've reassessed by dreams and priorities. I plan on taking the Hamptons crown one way or another – the question is whether or not I can count upon your support Emily."

Emily giggled, uncharacteristically, "You're kidding right? I have no desire to become involved in Victoria's social machinations – or yours for that matter. I have one objective and one alone – taking down the Graysons. I don't care about your plans for the Hamptons – frankly you're welcome to the town, assuming that your plans don't interfere with mine."

"I had a feeling you might not be the most receptive agent, which is why I found someone else," Caroline's eyes twinkled with glee, "I believe you're familiar with Lydia Davis?"

"Victoria's lapdog," Emily dismissed, "if you think you can trust her, you're not as intelligent as I thought you were."

Caroline laughed, "You'd be surprised how much sway affairs of the heart hold, dear."

._.

The atmosphere was tense.

At opposite ends of the table sat simmering personifications of hatred and mutual distaste. Victoria and Daniel stared at one another, their matching dark eyes radiating hatred and their postures both attempting to assert one's power over the other. The Board of Grayson Global looked unsettled by the unspoken power-struggle being conveyed by the eyes of the two Graysons present in the room. Victoria's meteoric rise to power had raised more than a few bushy eyebrows in the boardroom – not that anyone dared say anything. She had a way of making all of them come to heel – and Daniel was clearly furious about it.

Things had been difficult enough when he'd been facing down his Grandfather, now he had to face down his Mother – who he strongly suspected had a hand not only in his Grandfather's early retirement but also in his Father's suicide. Both events had removed the major impediments to Victoria's ascension to power. Daniel felt remorse at his Father's passing – but he was more focused on unseating his Mother: it was exactly what Conrad would want him to do, and Daniel needed to fulfil his Father's wish.

"Well," said Victoria, slicing through the atmosphere with her razor-sharp tongue, "we should confront our most prominent issue. The Amazonian investment has been a complete failure, and that failure is unfortunately two-fold. Not only have we lost nearly $30 Million through the investment but we are being fined by local government for tearing up prime rainforest, to the tune of $170 Million. Good job, Daniel. Not only has the project been a complete failure, it has also regrettably forced me to sell of Grayson Petroleum at a net loss…I won't throw about painfully large figures, but let me be clear that we are talking about having lost not millions but billions of dollars. It's the kind of wound the company cannot weather in this dark time."

Victoria turned to the dark-haired girl half-way down the table and smiled at her, "Thankfully Ashley has managed to lessen the bad publicity – the news leak has been localised to Latin American media, and thanks to some quick investment, Grayson has been able to salvage its reputation in the region by endowing several orphanages and offering free technical support to factories across the continent. We are fortunate indeed to have such an asset sat at this table."

"Perhaps then you should fire the person responsible for the rush to drilling," Daniel suggested, his dark eyes glaring at Victoria, "Charlotte was the one who rushed incomplete information to my office on the subject of the probability of finding oil at the chosen sites. Ashley tasked her to perform thorough background research before she brought the information to me – instead she cut corners and failed to do her job properly. She should be fired – we don't want to be seen to be encouraging special treatment, now, do we?"

Victoria laughed heartily – ridiculing the statement in one gesture.

"We don't need a miracle Daniel, we need divine deliverance, and I can't believe anyone in this boardroom has confidence in you to deliver it." As if to test her theory, Victoria swung her head from side-to-side, surveying all those assembled. None of them met her gaze.

Daniel grinned.

Time to unveil his trump card.

"While Charlotte was busy losing us all that money, Mom, I spent some time looking for a viable alternative to counteract our losses. Having spoken to several people sufficiently high up in the aviation industry, I managed to purchase three-dozen routes across the world. Not only are they the most lucrative air-routes, they're also in high demand. In just a few days, they've already generated $1.5 Billion in leases to commercial airlines to utilise them. We should be able to double that profit within the month – I've looked to the future while my mother and the rest of you have been focused on the past."

The attack had been short and swift, but perfectly timed and worded. Not only had Daniel humiliated Victoria in front of the entire Board Room, but he had also reasserted his business acumen while distancing himself from Victoria. He was his own person and his mother couldn't change that.

._.

"Miss Thorne," the woman said, scrutinising her résumé, "I'd be lying if I said you weren't over-qualified. Why the sudden interest in politics?"

Emily smiled, taking off her sunglasses, "I'm all about helping people and politics seems to be the best way to do that. Besides, I followed your election campaign Senator James – you're really interested in the people that you represent and very involved in local politics, which, for a Senator is fairly extraordinary."

The Senator didn't miss the joke, her green eyes glowing, "You start today Miss Thorne – you're clearly very media savvy and I need someone just like you."

"I can open doors to New York society for you Senator – the people who can fund your campaigns and can elevate your status in Washington," Emily promised sincerely, brushing a stray blonde hair from her face, "and I can make you a household name. But that means I need full disclosure?"

The Senator looked troubled for a moment, "Everything?"

"If I'm going to protect you, I need to know what skeletons you're hiding in your closet," Emily smiled disarmingly, "and I think the first issue is where you got the original funding and backing for your campaign. You've obviously been involved in politics at a local level previously, but it's a little miraculous that a thirty-six year old woman suddenly leaps to being a Senator." The questioning was gentle but probing – exactly the right balance, and the kind of tack Emily needed to take. Of course, she knew exactly, how Rebecca James had ended up Senator.

Her mother was one of Victoria's long-serving ladies in the Hamptons. Rebecca had attended numerous events, but had never made it into the upper echelons. Grayson had groomed her as a political animal since her teenage years, and, Emily suspected that much of the funding had actually come to her campaign via AmeriCon Initiative – and therefore, she offered a gateway for Emily to get intelligence on them.

Rebecca was an attractive young brunette, with sparkling emerald eyes and a personality that seemed amicable and endearing – two qualities foreign to the normal Grayson proxies. That warmth had evaporated after Emily's questioning – although she doubted that it meant she was about to be dismissed. She clearly knew too much. Rebecca was running scared, and that played into Emily's hands.

"I had some friends in high places, friends who have some…unsavoury pastimes," she admitted, guarded, "but they're so high up they're practically…untouchable."

Emily smiled sympathetically, "In my experience, those who believe they're untouchable, are the ones who always end up being found out. Perhaps if you gave me a desk and a computer, I can begin to look for trouble-spots and start pre-emptively fire-fighting."

Rebecca nodded receptively and stood up, leading Emily out of her private office and into the main office beyond it. She led Emily to a vacant desk and allowed her to get settled in a desk chair. Emily swung around to face Rebecca, "Give me a half an hour and I should have a better picture of things."

Rebecca nodded again, "Of course…I'll leave you alone then."

Emily smiled sweetly and turned around, suddenly determinedly focused on the screen before her. She flexed her hands over the mouse and keyboard and went to work surfing through the files. She waited a few moments before turning to her hand-bag and pulled out a slim, metallic pen-drive and immediately inserted into the computer. In a few moments the program was running, indicated by a newly arrived icon on the screen that flashed one and then dissolved into nothingness on the screen. Thought it could never be traced, if someone, somehow, could trace what was occurring within the hard-drive, one would find out that the entire data was being remotely streamed and copied to NolCorp's tech-team. Emily relaxed back in her chair, before lunging into an entirely ineffectual bout of furious typing – she always had to keep appearances up.

._.

"…that was all it took? Surprising how little it takes people to buckle these days." Nolan closed off his phone-call and surveyed the bar. It looked as if a few bombs had gone off. Chairs were strewn about the place, cutlery was wildly hurled across table and there were a few smashed glasses in need of sweeping up. The Stowaway had actually performed a true, chaotic lunch service and Nolan was quite pleased with himself. In only four days, he had either persuaded surrounding business owners to pack up and leave, or crushed their business through pulling a few strings and driving them into the ground.

"Look, Nolan, I'm sorry but I need to close up so I can clean," Jack said, strolling around the bar to begin sweeping up some shattered pieces from a broken glass, "hey, billionaire boy, I said I need to clean up?"

Nolan swung his head around and smiled at Jack, "Sorry," he clutched up his laptop, "I'll get out of your way now." He stopped as the bell rang, and the door opened, admitting Charlotte Grayson. Her long, brunette curls, swung over one shoulder and her outfit, a nude playsuit, was coupled with a mint-coloured leather jacket and a pair of wedges. She looked enviable, but her style showed a definite shift – if she didn't yet completely resemble her mother, she was well on the way to it.

Charlotte crossed the bar and settled opposite Nolan, "Could you leave us alone, it'll just take a minute."

Jack offered her a furious look, but then rolled his eyes, "Five minutes." He turned and left them to their own devices.

"Running Mother's errands?" Nolan enquired, "I wonder how long it'll be before you're jumping, and she's telling how high."

"I wonder," said Charlotte, her voice low and menacing, "how the Porter's would feel if they knew that you were manipulating the local community in order to see the Stowaway prosper." Nolan grinned, a little impressed, "You aren't the only genius around here Nolan – I might have made mistakes in the past, but, I'm smarter now and self-preservation is my main goal."

"What is it you want? You're not playing for Team Grayson anymore?" his eyes narrowed in interest.

"Stop meddling in Grayson affairs Nolan, if you play with fire, you end up getting burned."

Nolan laughed, "Forgive me for not being threatened, but the sun has set on the Grayson Empire. It's crumbling all around you, and the earthquake is gaining speed – it won't be long before your entire inheritance has disappeared Charlotte. Take some advice from a successful businessman – get out while the going is good." He paused, and decided it was best to probe her emotions further. "What happened to the girl who fell in love with Declan Porter? Where is she, beneath the emotionless armour-plate your Mom welded on to you?"

"She moved on and found better. She's growing and she's ready for more – Declan's beneath me now."

._.

"How are you holding up?" Emily enquired, touching at his hand comfortingly. Stroking the light-hair on it and trying to relax it, although she made no dent in the considerable tension.

Daniel shrugged, "My Mother's determined to make things difficult at Grayson – I could have predicted it but I didn't realise she was so…committed to seeing me thrown out of the company."

"You're good at defending yourself," she raised her hand and touched at his cheek, stroking his hair on the back of his head, "and I've got no doubt your Mother isn't going to be too much for you to handle. She's got a strong spirit but yours is stronger," Emily pecked Daniel lightly on the lips and pulled back, he was smiling at her, "and together we can do this."

"Did you see the news?"

Emily rocked her head disinterestedly, "They're just vultures Daniel. Any rumblings of trouble and they start baying for blood – your company has a lot of enemies, and a lot of those enemies have some sway with the world media. You'll right the ship…you just need a little time to do that. You have great business acumen – you just haven't had the time to implement it yet." And you never will, she thought.

"You know, I'm convinced she had something to do with Dad's death," Emily feigned shock, "it's exactly the kind of thing she'd do – anything to get into the position of power. It's too convenient…Grandpa's retirement and then Dad's death."

Emily looked at Daniel straight, and placed a little distance between them. She looked out to the city beyond them, "They say you don't really know a story if you only know the end – to understand it, you have to go back to the start."

"You want me to look into my Mom's history?"

Emily swung her head from side-to-side, "I don't want you to do anything. I think, if you want something to take her down for good, you can't look for anything recently – she's too wise now. In her past is where you'll find her mistakes – Daniel I'd never go to prison today, but when I was younger, I wound up in a juvenile detention centre. Just think about it."

Studying Daniel's handsome face, Emily instantly knew that the seed she'd planted had already taken root. Daniel had the bit between his teeth now, and there was no way he wasn't going to look into his Mother's shady dealings.

._.

"You're fired." Ashley said simply, not even offering Charlotte the luxury of eye-contact.

"I'm sorry?" Charlotte demanded, "Fired? I work late on a school night, and all you have to say to me is that I'm fired? You can't be serious – I'll talk to my Mother! She runs this company now, and she'll send you back to wherever you started out on your pitiful rise."

Ashley laughed a little, "Spoken just like your Mother, you really are becoming the image of her. Protest all you want Charlotte, but the fact remains you're fired. You'll be paid for next month as a courtesy, but you need to hand your pass in at the security desk and consider your career here terminated. You cost the company a lot of money with your failure – you should have looked through things more thoroughly."

Charlotte started at Ashley, and in the supremely confident eyes, she found recognition – Ashley had been behind everything. She had given Charlotte the information, knowing exactly what she would do with it – and Charlotte had fallen for it. If she'd listened closely to her Mother's lessons, she would have picked up on the signs, but she had fallen for it. She'd allowed overconfidence to take over her – and now she was paying for it. Her own Mother was rebuking her for the mistake. Understandable, but hurtful.

"I spoke to your Principal and he'll be happy for you to pick up extra classes to ensure you're kept busy," Ashley smiled at her, "that will be all." Charlotte smiled politely, hoping to catch Ashley off-guard, but the older-girl was well prepared for it. Ashley smiled and went back to focusing on her computer screen, as Charlotte left, holding her head high against all odds. After a few minutes had passed, Ashley pulled out her cell and dialled Emily's number, pretending to be absolutely entranced in what was going on, on the computer screen.

"It's all going like we planned, she just left."

._.

The thoroughly disinteresting memo from Grayson contacts at one of the rubber refineries outside Kuala Lumpar was seeping through Victoria's eyes and into a part of her mind she would never consult again. Daniel's speech, annoying as it had been, had a point – they needed to look to the future and that meant finding sustainable alternatives. Her head bolted upward as the door to her office opened, admitting Caroline and Lydia into her office. The two woman who had attended her luncheon only a few days earlier, now arriving at her office in the dead of night.

"To what do I owe the pleasure, ladies?"

"We need to talk about David Clark."

._.

The navigation lights were shining brightly in her eyes now, and the air was being wildly kicked up as the helicopter dropped toward her. It finally touched down on the pad and the engine cut out, the air instantly dying around her. Charlotte grinned as the door slid open, and he stepped out. He was truly a handsome human-being. Inviting cheek-bones, perfectly coiffed hair and piercing blue eyes common to his family.

"Nice to see you again." He greeted, stooping and kissing her, and then drawing back to regard her.

"We've got work to do. Things have changed."

._.

Hope you liked Chapter 7,

FINAL chapter coming soon,

Reviews and responses as always welcome,

Acrobat

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