"Well, well, well…"

"Yes?" Stephanie asked coyly of her husband.

"Vince, I didn't realize you would be back so soon."

"Stephanie called me," Vince explained.

Chris looked at Stephanie critically and she shrugged as innocently as she could muster at the moment. "I called him when I knew that we had something on Shane, I figured that he would want to be in on anything that had to do with his darling son."

Chris nodded a little, "So, Vince, did Stephanie inform you of what we've found?"

"She has," Vince said, sending his baby girl a small smile. "She's told me that my son hasn't exactly been as trustworthy as I first thought."

"Except you didn't think he was trustworthy to begin with," Chris said, "That's why you sent us on this wild goose chase."

"No, the reason that I sent you on this…mission was to prove to me that you could run the company. With my darling daughter dead, I needed a reason to hand the company over to you instead of my son. I couldn't just pass him over without a good reason."

"And we succeeded, right, Daddy?" Stephanie said. "I think we accomplished what we set out to do."

"You have…if this pans out," he told them. "My understanding is that you're going out with this girl to see if you can extract the information from her."

"That is correct," Chris said. "I didn't think that Stephanie would tell you about that part of the plan, seeing as how you told me yourself that I should never cheat on your daughter, I believe those were your words."

"Well, I can't really consider this cheating, can I?" Vince said.

Stephanie kissed Chris's cheek, "And don't mind anything that he says, Daddy, it was just in the heat of the moment, he would never, ever use such crass language around me, would you, sweetheart?"

"Never," Chris told her, looking at her as sweetly as he could muster at the moment. "I would never compromise your virtuous nature."

"Cut the shit," Vince said. "I know that you two aren't exactly innocent, and I think what you're doing is unscrupulous, manipulative, and right up my alley."

Vince hadn't always seen the ugly side of Stephanie, oh no, he had really thought her the innocent little girl of her youth. He did see her as Daddy's little girl for a long time, so when he found out Stephanie's true nature, it had taken him a while to get used to, but he had gotten used to it just fine, and he realized, in more ways than one, she truly was her father's daughter. They thought alike; they were both cutthroat and willing to do whatever it took to get what they wanted.

He had first found out about the true nature of his daughter after Chris had told her just what Hunter had done to her. Her father would never want to stand for something like that being done to her. No, if Hunter had caused her such pain, then Hunter had to pay. Stephanie had included her father in her plans after that, and not a day went by that he didn't know what Stephanie and Chris were up to.

He had helped her with her little plan of revenge when she set up Torrie as the one who stole her ring, and the same with Brock getting arrested for assault. He hadn't attended Chris and Stephanie's wedding, nobody they knew had, but he had known about it. He had also been in on the biggest plan of all…Stephanie's own death. He had kept up appearances of course, they all had, but you saw the clues here and there that he knew, the way that he had asked Chris to be the one to get a dress for her, all the while having it as a plan to get some of Stephanie's things.

Linda hadn't known about any of it, and for that, some nights, when she was especially mournful over their daughter's demise, he felt the slightest twinge of sadness that he couldn't tell his wife that their daughter was alive and well. Vince had helped them secure their assets after Stephanie's death, working in her name since he was her family. He had welcomed Chris into the company, knowing that by letting him in, he was really letting Stephanie in.

For a long time, Vince had been suspicious of Shane. He knew that his son was shrewd, like he was, and that he would use nefarious means to get what he wanted. Both his kids were like him, but he'd be damned if Shane snatched his company away from right under his nose, or try to steal money from him. Vince had suspected something of Shane, but he had believed that it was something to do with stocks and bribery, never did he suspect that it was embezzlement.

Furthermore, Vince did not know the darker side to Shane. Stephanie had kept true to her word, and Chris was the only one that knew of Shane's treatment to her. She was a proud woman, and she didn't need her father to fight her battles for her, and she knew that if he even got the slightest whiff of the fact that Shane had beaten her up, Shane would be a dead man. He was already living precariously because Chris knew, and at every turn, she knew it was a possibility that Chris would blow up and kick Shane's ass, but her father, well, her father would kill him first and think about the consequences later.

"Well, Vince, we aim to please," Chris said, surreptitiously, rubbing Stephanie's inner thigh as she sat there. Yes, he had no shame whatsoever.

"So does this mean that we get the company, Daddy?" Stephanie asked. "You know how important it is to keep it in the family, so to speak."

"Well, nobody will know that you're actually running it," Vince said. "Though you could always make your triumphant return."

It was tempting, she knew. Just to be back and rub it in everyone's faces, but no, it wasn't meant to be. Chris had to gain everyone's trust, be the boss that was good for the company of there would be mutiny. To tie him in with someone faking their own death would be a death wish. She had to remain who she was, she was prepared for it, it had been a year after all, she knew that it was nothing compared to the power she would have. Her name for the ultimate power, it was a trade she was willing to make.

"As good as that would be, I'm perfectly fine being the puppet-master behind the scenes," she said to her father. "It's what you don't see that you should be most afraid of after all."

"Spoken like a true McMahon," Vince said, "So what are your plans for the evening, Chris?"

"Yes, Chris, what are your plans for the evening?" Stephanie's repetition of the question was far more inquisitive than Vince's, which had been borne of true curiosity. He knew without asking her that she was making sure that he wasn't planning on getting the information out of this girl by sticking his dick anywhere in her.

"My plans are to take this girl out for dinner, charm her pants off, not literally of course," he said, giving Stephanie a little squeeze on the ass, "and trying to extract the information out of her. It's amazing what my charm can do."

"Oh yes, you're so charming," Stephanie said, rolling her eyes at him.

"Got you, didn't I?"

"In my desperation," she flirted, toying with the collar of his shirt.

"Okay you two, get the hell out of my office, we'll speak tomorrow if you find anything," Vince said, not wanting to see his son-in-law pawing at his daughter.

Chris pushed Stephanie off of him, and she grabbed him by the hand to lead him out of the office. She slipped her sunglasses over her eyes as they went down the hallway, Stephanie leading him out by the hand the entire time. They took the elevator down a couple levels to where Chris's real office was, and when the door opened, they were greeted with a sight they'd rather not see.

"Shane," Chris said through gritted teeth, "I didn't know that you were back too."

"Well, my dad said that he needed me back as soon as possible," Shane shrugged, "The old man is losing it, that's why he needs me around as well."

"You think that your father is losing it?" Stephanie drawled, "Well isn't that a downright mean thing to say, where I'm from, you better respect your daddy."

"Well I'm not where you're from," Shane said with a sneer and she was so ready to slap him. If she hadn't been holding Chris's hand (where his grip had significantly tightened) she would've stepped forward and kicked him in the balls…hard. Just to make sure that he never spawned anything…human or otherwise.

"Well that's too bad."

"Sure, whatever," he said dismissingly, wondering why Chris would marry a ditz of epic proportions. She wasn't even that pretty, not to him at least (thank God). "But it's good that I'm back because you guys need me."

"Like a hole in the head," Stephanie muttered.

"What?" Shane asked.

"I didn't say nothing, honey, I'm just a simple country girl, we don't do much thinking, we're out in the cotton fields all day…without much time to get that thing called an education," Stephanie said in her best ditzy, yet sarcastic voice. She wanted to strangle her brother. "Do you fancy that you're going to take over here?"

"Do I fancy?" he scoffed, "Honey, you see all of this?" She nodded and he smirked, "Sooner, rather than later, it'll be all mine…don't worry about your husband though, I like him, I'll keep him around. And that's the truth, Chris, you and I, we think alike, they'll definitely be a place for you here."

Chris sucked at his teeth a little. Just a little while longer he had to act like this guy was his friend. Just a little while longer. He wanted to kick Shane's ass though, just one punch. Chris would never forgive Shane for what he had done to Stephanie. Shane could fucking save his life and he would still hold a vendetta for him. His eyes narrowed slightly as he visualized beating Shane into a pulp. He would leave him unrecognizable, yeah, nobody would even be able to tell who he was and Shane himself wouldn't even remember his own name.

"Good," Chris said. "But I think I'd have a place anyways…even if someone else were to be in charge."

"Like who? I'm Vince's only remaining child since the devil herself died," Shane chuckled.

Chris felt Stephanie about to step forward and he turned to her, "Mary, sweetie, why don't you go wait in my office."

"Sure thing, sugar lumps," Stephanie said with sickening sweetness. She brushed past Shane, hitting him hard in the shoulder as she passed, "Oops, excuse me, I'm such a little klutz."

Stephanie glared at him as he turned back to Chris, resisting the urge to push him down an elevator shaft and hear the sickening crunch at the end. Shane glanced back at her, but only saw her back before turning to Chris, "What the hell do you see in her?"

"I love her," he said wistfully.

"I do not know why when you can get as much pussy as you want to…tell me, please tell me that you're hitting some ass on the side, I mean, you can have any pussy you want to, you can't just stick to one chick."

"I do because she's my wife," Chris said, not liking where this was going.

"And when was the lobotomy?" Shane chuckled. "Last year?"

"She's not stupid," Chris said, his jaw set and tight.

"Yeah, right, you're probably blinded by her tits or something," Shane responded. "Either that or she's a wildcat in bed or something, that has to be the only explanation."

"I wouldn't underestimate her intelligence," Chris said, getting a smug look on his face, one side of his mouth turning up slightly. "She's actually really, really smart."

"You think so?" Shane said, giving him an incredulous look, "Wait, this is a joke right, you're saying she gives good head, so she's smart, yeah, okay, I got you."

While Stephanie did give good head, that wasn't what this was about. "No, she's intelligent, I wouldn't doubt that if I were you, Shane."

"Why the hell not?" Chris gave him the biggest grin he could muster in that moment, his smile going from ear to ear as he gave Shane the once over. He shrugged though and pushed past the older McMahon child, throwing something over his shoulder.

"Just because."