She just had to answer the damn door.
The evening had been going well it was Tuesday and after a long day at The Beacon nailing down the floors to be blocked and reserved for the upcoming fundraiser. They coordinated the final menu with the kitchen. And they had begun the decoration designs with Greg. Now the girls just wanted to relax.
Olivia couldn't complain though. She had watched Natalia today as she took lead and delegated responsibility. She had some amazing menu and design ideas as well. Olivia loved watching her baby blossom before her very eyes. And to be completely honest; watching Natalia boss her employees around was a huge turn on.
She couldn't wait till bed time.
After they got home the twosome helped Emma with her homework. They had all sat down to a nice family dinner. Emma was fed, read, and off to bed so the girls sat down to cuddle in front of the fire. Things were getting a little hot and heavy between them when the door bell rang. And rang. Oh yeah there was the banging too.
Finally they just decided to answer it before all the racket woke up their sleeping child who had school in the morning.
Now Alan in all his blustering glory was standing smack dab in the middle of their living room. And to make things worse now Natalia was pissed off.
Olivia had recently learned that when her lover was horny and got interrupted or delayed…she got a bit testy. Olivia had come to find this particularly surprising trait adorable. Now though she was more empathetic and equally as pissed.
She could have her face buried in-between her lovers legs by now.
"I've just come to inform you that Phillip will be unavailable to you for a while." His smug face was just begging to be punched.
"And why is that Alan?" Natalia questioned him as she crossed her arms over her chest and rested her weight on her right hip.
Oh yeah…baby was pissed.
"Well it has been of some level of concern to me since his return that my son is not well. So he is currently under evaluation."
Olivia and Natalia looked horrified."You put him in Ravenwood?" Olivia seethed. Yes it was true that when her ex husband had returned she was seconds away from shooting him on a daily basis. But he had proven himself a changed man and had been a good father to their little girl. "Was that voluntary?" She questioned further.
"Why of course." Alan assured her.
Well he had agreed to the three days. Just not the three months. But that was just a technicality.
Alan was out for blood. Jonathan and his destructive new accomplice were going to learn the price for messing with the likes of Alan Spaulding. He would first show them by using Phillip's power of attorney to fight for Emma while he was away on his little vacation. Then he would get Sarah back. The house of Spaulding would continue to build on their shoulders under his guidance. They would be the perfect heirs. Unlike the ungrateful brood he was currently stuck with.
Olivia and Natalia could feel the skeevyness of the situation begin to roll off of Alan in waves. They stood as a united front waiting for Alan to get to the real point of his visit.
"While my son is away getting the help he so desperately needs I am in charge of putting his affairs together" He pulled out a folded up document from his inside jacket pocket. "Here you go." He presented the document to them happily.
Natalia reached forward and quickly snatched the paper from Alan's hand before Olivia could make a move to grab it. Alan looked a little surprised and gave Olivia a questioning glance. Olivia merely shrugged her shoulders at him.
Don't look at me I was on my way to making her EXTREMELY happy before you showed up.
"What the HELL is this!"
Olivia looked worriedly at Natalia after her out burst and looked over to read the document.
Alan the bastard that he was – was using Phillip's POA to take Olivia to court for full custody of Emma. He was sighting that Olivia was an unfit mother and was exposing her daughter to an obscene and derogatory lifestyle.
"Get the fuck out of our house Alan!" Olivia turned on him and ground out.
"Olivia surely you can understand…"
"She said get out!" Natalia shoved the document into Alan's chest. "You will take our daughter over my dead body." She pushed him further towards the door.
Olivia met her there and opened it for him to stumble out of. She slammed the door in his face.
For a moment the two women just stared at each other as they tried to calm down. Finally Natalia just began to cry. Olivia rushed to her and gathered her up in her arms holding her tightly. Natalia just buried her face in Olivia's neck as she began to sob.
"He can't take our baby Olivia. He can't. I'm…I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." She apologized again and again.
Olivia carefully guided them to the sofa and sat down. She rubbed Natalia's back trying to get her to calm down. She pulled back from Natalia and raised her head by way of her chin.
Natalia tried to avoid eye contact.
"Baby please look at me," Olivia begged. She was surprisingly calm considering the situation. But for some reason she was thinking a lot clearer than normal when she was angry.
The role reversal was not lost on Olivia. Normally she was the one panicking and going off all half cocked and Natalia was always there to calm her down and make her see reason. Now though it appeared as though she was the one to be doing the consoling…she could do that.
Natalia looked into Olivia's understanding eyes with her own sad tear filled ones. She sniffed. Olivia smiled at her.
"This is not you're fault baby. We knew that our relationship would face some problems and this is one of them. But we'll get through it just like EVERYTHING else we do TOGETHER." Natalia nodded gratefully as Olivia gently wiped away her tears with the pads of her thumbs. "We'll talk to Doris and see what she can do about making sure we get a judge that Alan hasn't flipped. This town is filled with people willing to testify against Alan's ability to raise a happy and well adjusted child. And those same people who know us will testify that we are the BEST option for Emma. "
"You're right." Natalia sniffed again and straightened her back; superhero cape picked up from the floor and placed firmly back on her shoulders. "He's probably just pissed Phoenix blew up his favorite car." Natalia allowed herself a small smile.
Olivia snorted.
"Figured that one out did ya?"
"Who else would have been able to pull that off?"
A list of names began to filter through Olivia's mind. Not surprisingly she and Dinah the little fire starter were at the top of that list.
"Without getting caught," Natalia added.
"Good point."
Olivia was happy to see that car go. When she and Alan were married he treated it like it was his baby and always harassed her about everything she did in it while sitting in the passenger seat. Now the damn thing was gone. Score one for the good guys.
"You think this counts as another strike against him?" Olivia asked smiling.
When they had gone into work this morning a small package had been left on Olivia's desk; in it was a DVD. She and Natalia had watched it on her computer. Alan's torment was filmed live and in living color for them to see. It took them both a while to stop laughing about that one before getting down to work. Olivia had put that DVD in her secret safe. She'd watch it whenever she needed a pick me up.
"Probably." Natalia smiled back.
"We should invite her to dinner sometime," Olivia added.
Alan sat in his secret study smiling up at the black scroll tacked to his door.
After his precious car had been destroyed he'd come home pissed off and frazzled only to realize that one of the boxes had already been checked off in gold ink.
That damn dragon had been back in his home.
Now though he would learn. They all would.
The next day the girls found themselves over at Company for their lunch break. They knew this was the time Frank was to be at his actual job over at the police station so they didn't worry about running into him.
Buzz greeted them with the same enthusiasm he did just about everyone and took their order. As they sat talking Jeffery walked in.
"Hello ladies." He smiled at them.
They greeted him and began some small talk about Reva and the baby.
"I swear that kid is getting bigger right before my eyes." He smiled at the thought of his son.
"So Jeffery what's up?" Olivia questioned him stroking Natalia's hand under the table.
Natalia was trying her best to not let the arousal from such a simple touch show on her face. She cleared her throat and took a long drink of her iced tea. Olivia smiled.
"Well I just wanted to let you know that although this Edmund situation seems to be under control for now I've been called in by the FBI to help coordinate the search efforts. I know his M.O better than most other agents so I'll be out of town for a few months."
"That's a long time Jeffery. What about Reva and Collin?" Natalia questioned sounding a little worried.
"They're the main reason I'm doing this. I want my family safe."
The girls nodded their hands in understanding.
"I'm just letting you know that I'll be unreachable during that time. So if Ava needs anything…" He trailed off looking at Olivia.
"Got it." She understood.
"Well I have to run and finish up these few errands before I go. You ladies have a good day."
"Bye."
"Later Jeffery."
Phoenix charged around the corner of the shadowed alley like a flagged bull. Her nostrils flared as the growls she couldn't contain rumbled up from her knotted stomach and slipped passed her grit teeth.
THAT GODDAMN SMELL!
She ran full steam towards it tracking the repugnant scent. She stepped out from the alley behind the post office and the scent vanished.
She stepped back into the shadows breath labored and furious.
"FUCK!" She turned and punched the overflowing dumpster sending it skidding feet away from her. She paced angrily for a few moments with her hands on her hips still trying to slow her breathing. "AHHH!" she yelled and kicked a hole in the dumpster.
The demon had gotten away.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
"Turn off the alarm it's too early too get up," Olivia grumbled at around five A.M.
Natalia snuggled in closer to her.
"It's not on...go back to sleep Princess," she mumbled into her girlfriends shoulder.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
"Stop!" Olivia whined.
"Shh," Natalia hushed her.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
"Son-of-a-bitch!" Olivia hopped up quicker than normal for such an early hour jostling Natalia awake and looked around the room for the offending noise.
She was going to kill it and kill it good.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
They both looked at each other eyebrows furrowed and moved toward the window.
Outside in the breaking of dawn they could clearly see rows and rows of delivery trucks backing up towards the house and driving towards different directions on their land.
"WHAT THE FUCK!" Olivia questioned and turned to grab her robe. Natalia followed suit.
They got down the stairs as quickly as possible without waking Emma and burst out of the door only to notice more chaos around them.
Men were barking orders at one another as large pieces of machinery were unloaded along with all kinds of other construction equipment. The Farmhouse property was crawling with construction workers.
Josh walked up to them.
"Good morning ladies."
"What the hell are you doing Josh?" Olivia angrily questioned him.
"What are all these people doing here?" Natalia questioned him a little worried.
Josh looked at them confused. "Well we're here as was ordered to put up the gate, shrubbery, and make those changes to the house you requested."
"I didn't request shit Josh let alone for it to be delivered at the ass crack of dawn!" Olivia protested.
Natalia reached over and rubbed soothing circles on Olivia's arm with one hand and entwined their fingers with the other.
Josh raised an eyebrow at the move.
Natalia stared him straight back in the eye.
He smiled.
"Well it says right here that – that's exactly what you did. Or at least someone did." He handed over the construction order to them.
Olivia took it and read it over with Natalia peeking over.
"Umm…" Natalia was getting more and more confused.
Olivia flipped the page over.
"What the…"
The construction order called for a large but tasteful security gate to be put up around the entirety of The Farmhouse property to keep out intruders and unwanted guests. A state of the art security system was to be hooked up that connected the controls of the gate to the house along with the intruder alarm. The view of the gate would be blocked from The Farmhouse by tall thick evergreens as to take away from the closed off and cold filling the gate would provide. The attic was to over go an interesting amount of changes as well.
"We're not paying for this Josh we didn't order it. So pack up all this shit and go away so I can go back to sleep." Olivia was whining towards the end.
"Well I can't do that for a few reasons. I was given explicit orders to have all of this done by the end of the day. Which is why there are so many men here. Plus it's already been paid for…in full."
They just stared at him.
Olivia could hear her cell phone ringing inside of the house. She went in and retrieved it coming back outside to Natalia and Josh. The caller I.D. read unavailable.
"Olivia Spencer." She made her own name sound like a question.
"What are you and the little woman doing today?" the obviously smiling voice questioned on the other line.
"Phoenix?"
Natalia came over to listen.
Josh perked up.
"Tell her I said hi. My muscles are still sore from that game." He laughed. "We have to get together to play again sometime."
Olivia and Natalia looked at him strangely.
"I heard him," Phoenix responded. "I'll ask again. What are you and the little woman doing today?"
"You mean besides trying to figure out why the hell this construction crew and all these damn trucks are at our house?"
Phoenix chuckled. "That would be me. Believe me you'll be thanking me for it later. You're going to need it."
"And why is that?" Olivia asked as she and Natalia exchanged a worried glance.
"Why don't you skip work today, leave the men to do their jobs, and come out to play?"
"I'm listening."
What came next put a huge smile on both women's faces.
Alan was pissed.
How dare his board call a meeting without his permission?
He stalked the halls of Spaulding Enterprise to the board room. As he went the faces of different employees greeted him. Some of them looked smug. Some smiled at him to eagerly on his passing. Others were down right giddy to see him.
He slammed into the board room and was confused at what he saw.
Lizzie, Bill, Phillip, Beth, Olivia, and Natalia were all seated around the table along with the rest of the board. They all turned and smiled at him in greeting.
"What is the meaning of this?" he thundered.
Timothy the head of the board stood and greeted Alan with a smile. Timothy hated Alan.
Smug old bastard was about to get what was coming to him.
"Why don't you have a seat Alan so we can discuss the recent events?" He gestured towards Alan's usual seat at the head of the table.
Alan plopped down in his chair beginning to feel worried.
Timothy began to speak.
What wasn't known was that the non members of the board that were present were no longer major share holders in the company. They had sold all of their stock to someone else. That same someone had been buying up shares and buying out other holders as well.
He really should have bought out Lizzie when she had begged him to.
"You Alan…are no longer majority share holder of Spaulding Enterprise." Timothy told him happy to be the one to hold this honor.
Alan felt his stomach drop.
"Our new owner will be making a few changes to the company. The first order of business I am told will be the systematic selling of different divisions to the highest bidder…our employees will be allowed to keep their jobs in these new deals. Also all of Spaulding's share holders are being bought out as we speak. The new owner whishes to take the company private."
Alan knew that only meant one thing. There could be no coup to return back to power as he had done countless times before. Once the company was taken private what was done was done. And the new owner would hold all the power…forever.
Bill whistled. "That move is going to cost a lot of money."
Timothy nodded his head and picked up a piece of paper from the table. "Roughly 85 billion dollars," he informed them.
He turned back to Alan. "Oh you can leave now Alan…security will escort you from the premises."
Alan's face turned red as all the traitors looked on at him and smiled.
Security came in and removed him from his seat…the power seat. And walked him towards the door. He went silently not being able to believe any of this was happening.
He heard Phillip ask Timothy a question on his exit from the board room.
"Do you know what direction the new owner is thinking of taking the company?"
"Well it appears that he is interested in the hotel business."
Olivia and Natalia smiled.
Alan found himself unceremoniously dumped out on to the proverbial curb outside of the building.
His cell phone chimed with a new text message.
The thing Alan Spaulding loves second most in this world is his empire.
It now lies in ashes at his feet - conquered by an opposing empire and sworn enemy. Napoleon didn't do you any favors did he?
Strike two Mr. Spaulding.
Can you bear to lose the thing you love the most?
Take a look in the mirror. Let me know what you decide.
Once again the text was from an anonymous source. And like the first the text message disappeared from his phone.
He had lost…and he knew it.