This chapter is short because typing one hand is a bitch. I had most of the last chapter written before I broke my left hand, so it was easier to finish. This is the first chapter to be completed completely one handed. The only good thing about this situation is that I can't do my job with one hand, so I have a bit more time to put towards writing. Which only slightly makes up for the one hand thing.

Oh, the second reason it's short is because I love writing nasty cliffhangers. Feel free to tell me exactly how cruel I am, hehehe. It will make my day.

True to her word, Mary directed her driver towards the school. She found another reason to be annoyed with Richard Carlisle when Anna called to remind her that Andrew had a play date that afternoon that she'd forgotten about. Mary could think of no reason to avoid returning to the office, so she instructed the driver to turn the car around with a heavy sigh.

Two hours later Anna opened the door to her office without warning. Mary looked up from her work, prepared to complain, until she saw who Anna had admitted to the office. 'Granny! This is a pleasant surprise.' Mary declared as she jumped to her feet.

'On the subject of surprises.' Violet replied as she sat herself down in front of Mary. 'I hear you are selling a board seat to the highest bidder.'

Mary sighed and sat back in her chair. 'Well whatever you have heard, it is patently false I can assure you.'

'So you have not had lunch meetings with both Richard Carlisle and Ian Crowborough?'

'Well, that much is true.' Mary admitted.

'And did you not discuss the possibility of their investing large sums into the Bank, in return for a seat on the board?'

Mary sighed again. 'I can assure you I never offered Carlisle a seat. However I may just have to.'

'Why on earth would you have to do such a thing? Is someone else quitting the board?' Violet demanded, her outrage would have appeared genuine to anyone else, but Mary knew her grandmother well.

'You know that isn't the case.' Mary replied. 'It's Carlisle. He is in possession of information regarding Andrew that I would very much rather remained private.'

'Blackmail.' Violet straightened in her seat as she considered the problem. 'This reminds me of the eighties, they were a much more fascinating time in business.'

'I'm disturbed at how excited you are at the prospect of my impending ruination.'

'Honestly Mary, it's 2009. Try to keep things in perspective.'

'The date changes, but some things never do. If Carlisle knows what I fear he does, and if he were to make it public, it would indeed ruin a great many things. Frankly, any story published in which Andrew is mentioned is something I'd rather avoid, I would like him not to be subjected to any of that.' Mary explained, fighting to keep her tone neutral. Why she didn't know, it wasn't as if her grandmother wasn't aware that Robert had trotted out his wife and kids to any function where their appearance might benefit the Bank. Mary had been a member of polite society before she even knew what it was.

'Well it was always going to prove impossible to hide the truth for long. What we need to do is assess the extent of any potential damage that would arise from Carlisle releasing this information publicly.' Violet decided.

'Well it wouldn't do my reputation much good, and the Bank hardly needs more bad press.'

'I doubt your personal indiscretions from six years ago will stack up against Patrick's fraud.' Violet sniffed, waving a hand to dismiss her first point. Mary opened her mouth to voice her second point, but Violet cut her off with another hand. 'I think we both know that there will only be one significant consequence to this, and we both know what you can do about that. I speak of Matthew.'

'Matthew has nothing to do with this Granny.' Mary denied. It was a natural instinct she had been honing for six years now.

'On the contrary, Mary.' Violet replied, she stood up again. 'Well if that is all that this is about, I see I can rest easy that my granddaughter is in no way obligated to sell out my Bank to a hack such as Richard Carlisle.'

'Granny!'

'Talk to Matthew, explain yourself and you will have mitigated any damage Carlisle may have done.'

'You seem to possess a great deal of faith in his forgiving spirit.' Mary muttered as she walked her grandmother out of her office.

'I have a great deal of faith in his love for you.' Violet countered firmly, silencing Mary. 'I always envisioned you taking over Grantham Bank one day because I believed you to be sensible and level headed, I should hate for you to prove me wrong.'

The days slipped by and Mary still saw nothing of Matthew. Anna confirmed that he had returned to London on Friday night, and had talked with Robert over the phone on Saturday. However Robert had promptly given Matthew a week to visit his mother for her birthday. That weekend the family was ambushed by the news that Sybil had been rushed into work early to cover for the death of another doctor, who had been killed when a convoy was attacked on route to a refugee camp.

Mary found it difficult to adjust to Sybil being essentially out of touch. Even when she had lived in Singapore, they had technology to allow them to talk to each other regularly. Mary knew a lot of people, and many of them considered themselves to be her friend. However there were few people that Mary found she could talk with openly and comfortably, few who truly accepted her true self and liked her for it. With that former closeness she and Matthew used to share shattered six years ago and Sybil off the grid in Sudan and Anna wrapped up in her won secret romantic dramas, Mary found herself with no one to talk to.

Mary needed to talk to someone about Richard Carlisle, who continued to perplex her. She had not heard from him since their lunch meeting, nor had she seen her story leaked to any of his former media outlets. Mary supposed he could have taken her threats seriously, or perhaps he had realised that he really didn't have anything that would really hurt her, given that she and Matthew were already estranged. Perhaps he was biding his time, or maybe he hoped to wait until she had cooled down to renew his bid for a piece of GIB. She didn't really know him well enough to ascertain what he was up to.

Mary was tired, stressed and growing utterly sick of the men in her life and their irritating ways. So when Matthew walked into her office his first day back in London wearing a determined look, Mary wished for a moment that he would just go away.

'We need to talk. I think it is best we not have this conversation in the office.' Matthew announced.

'I have a job to do right now Matthew. Speak with Anna and you can have my next free evening.' Mary replied with a wave of her hand.

'Mary.' Matthew insisted. 'We need to talk about your son.'

Mary's eyes locked onto Matthew's, she stared at him dumbfounded.