A/N: I am extremely grateful to every one of you for all the views, follow, favorites, reviews and the loving support that you have been showing this story. I would specially like to thank Shirahane Aikawa, silver scropion, Xaori, Reaper2908, Ariel Wild, Adela and FuegosFiyerd for sharing their views about the last chapter. Now without further ado, please have fun reading the chapter! :D

Chapter 34: Amends

(Kate's POV)

I grabbed the handle of the door leading to the conference room, but I couldn't push it open. My heart was really beating fast and how I wished it to be due to the fact that I have to present a totally wild idea in front of the investors. I took a few deep breaths to calm myself down and pushed open the conference room door. The investors who were talking among themselves became all quiet at the sight of me. I wished them morning, moving further inside the room and some of them nodded in acknowledgement and others wished me back.

I took my position on the table and addressed the gathering sharing what had happened in the course of past 3 days, leaving out insignificant details about the friction between Leon and Swartz. As soon as I was finished telling them the whole scenario, with the conclusion that I don't want to associate my company's name with Swartz anymore and that there are no possibilities of reinstatement of deal or any future deals, the whole conference room erupted into an uproar of discussions. The investors became pretty displeased with my decision and wanted to pull their money off the company immediately, unless we have a better solution to the whole issue.

"I suggest that you try to renegotiate with Swartz", one of the investors said and few others agreed with him.
"I am…", I began when the door to conference room opened and we all looked in that direction.
"We are sorry that we were delayed a little", it was Mr. Lawrence and he had Leon with him. They both walked in the conference room and I didn't know what really Leon was trying to do by attending this meeting. He was never interested in business before, "Please continue Ms. Richardson", Mr. Lawrence added taking a seat and Leon took a seat next to him that was right across from me.
"Ah yes… I was saying...", I tore my eyes away from Leon and tried to concentrate on the matter at hand, "That there's no way I would sign a deal with a dishonest man such as Swartz."
"So how else do you expect to return our investments then?", another investor asked me with a smug smile, "It was really a poor judgment to trust you with our money; you are nowhere near your father."

"You're right!", I said to him speaking very seriously, "I am not like my father and I can't handle the things the way he did. But I am well capable of handling things my own way and making profit on your investments like I have been doing for past 5 months", I took a pause and he shot a look of disbelief my way, and I turned my eyes away from him, "I have another plan and it's far better than renegotiating with Swartz."

I took my time and explained all the details about the plan, how can we still make use of our already available assets and put them to use to earn huge profits. Like I had expected none of the investors really wanted to go down that path because the risk factor for this plan was too high, and it was full of many things just falling into the place. They wanted something less risky, which gave Daniel and Vivian the opportunity to present their solutions to the investors and once again the discussion started among every one. They debated which was a better plan among the two, a few people still favoring the idea of renegotiating with Swartz, but none of them even considered to go through my plan.

Vivian looked at me smiling and shrugged, as if challenging me to win against those stubborn investors. I smiled because I knew what I had to do but everything needs a right time, and I was waiting for an apt moment to turn the tide my way. When the discussion got too heated, I called in their attention to calm those men and women down. With a simple raise of their hands I asked them to show their favor for both the plans, and just what I had expected the votes were very much equally divided in the matter with no particular majority.

"With all due respect, I ask you all to just vote in favor to sell the merchandize to small companies so at least we can get some of our money back", one of the investors spoke as politely as he could.
"And I suggest it's better to sell to Cruz", another investor disagreed with the previous one, "It's better in long run for the company, though it might not pay as much as the other option but still we could try and negotiate a little more."
"I still think talking over with Swartz is the best option", another one said with a sigh, "We can threaten to sue him, and I am sure with all the forged documentation he would agree with our demands."

I smiled and looked at Vivian briefly, this was the moment I was waiting, "Well that's what Swartz wants", I told the investors and they looked at me attentively, "He wants to tie down our money in the inventories because that's what will happen if we sue him. Suing him is an option but lawsuits takes time, maybe months or even a year. Are you sure you want the return on your investments that late?", I questioned him and from his expression it was obvious that he was having second thoughts about it, "And those of you who want to get their money back from small companies or Cruz, are you really okay with getting just a part of investment returned, when you can clearly make profit from what I am suggesting?", I questioned, forcing them to consider what I was suggesting.

"Richardson Enterprise has no knowledge on such a field", one of the investors said looking at the others, "You don't have all those resources, just having a head designer and equipments won't work. You need to have more talents on the table to run a fashion house."
"Oh we do have talents", I told him the truth, "Like I told you before my father was planning to do it for a long time and he even had everything setup but due to unforeseen circumstances it couldn't happen, so that's least of our concerns."
"Why do you think, you can do what your father couldn't", the investor who was showing very low confidence in me from the beginning said to me with a sardonic laugh, "It's just too risky, missy."
"Where there's risk there's money", I said to him with a shrug, "Besides all the risky endeavors, have some financial risk coverage associated with it. How about I cover about 80 percent of your investments?", I suggested to the investors and once again they broke into a group discussion.

"Kate, it's a little too much", Uncle Clark hissed from my side.
"Are you planning to go bankrupt or something", Aunt Pamela voiced her concern as well.
"We don't have to worry about it because we'll make profits", I said to them smiling confidently because I was successful in making the investors think about my plan, "So what do you say gentlemen and ladies? If we make profits then obviously you'll have a share and even if we suffer loss, you would still get 80 percent of your money back. It's kind of win-win situation considering the other option, isn't it? You just have to decide whether you would risk your money to make more money or play safe and take whatever you're getting, the choice is yours. Settle for something less or aim for something more. Please, raise your hands and let us know who are in favor of my plan", I added raising my hand.

I looked around at all the people present in the conference room; they all were quiet seemingly thoughtful. I was sure that they were finding it hard to resist the temptation of that extra 10 percent that I was offering as risk coverage, which was making them seriously consider my plan. And that's all what I needed, if they thought about it then it wasn't really that of a wild goose chase and they might come to agree with my plan eventually. However, quite unexpectedly the first hand shot up just as I was finished speaking, and surprisingly it was Leon's.

"Who are you?", one of the investors asked him slightly puzzled and irked tone because Leon's appearance was nowhere near any person, who could be associated with the corporate sector.
"Leon, what do you think you are doing?", I couldn't help but ask him, trying to keep annoyance and confusion out of my tone.
Leon let out a laugh, "Are you forgetting sweetheart that I have a part of your father's shares?", he questioned with a smile, "It means a part of my money is also being used in running this enterprise, including Richardson textiles and hence I am liable to cast a vote in this matter. Isn't that right, Mr. Lawrence?"
"Yes absolutely", Mr. Lawrence agreed with him, "I also agree with your decision, Ms. Richardson", he raised his hand too.

With Mr. Lawrence in the deal it just only made 3 people among the strength of 20 people present in the meeting room. If this thing has to be approved I needed more people on my side, but I had already said enough and I didn't know what else to say to convince the investors. I looked around at the people; it seemed they were still under deep thought processes. It was then that my gaze fell on Leon and he smiled and winked at me flirtatiously. I couldn't help but raise my brows at him, slightly taken aback by such an unprofessional conduct in an important investors' meeting.

I watched him turn his head to look at someone, and I realized he was looking at Vivian. She rolled her eyes at him; it seemed she had caught him in the act. She smiled and raised her hand in support, soon enough Daniel raised his hand as well. Vivian poked her mother and I heard her telling her mother to show some confidence in her daughter, and aunt Pamela raised her hand as well. Uncle Clark let out a decisive sigh and raised his hand too, and a couple of investors followed him as well. My mom too had raised her hand in my support with the brightest smile on her face, and with that we had the majority to go along with this plan.

I felt so glad to have officially come to this decision and it really made me feel relieved. I thanked the investors for their presence and told them that all the legal formalities will be carried forward as soon as possible and with that I adjourned the meeting. People raised themselves off their seats, said goodbyes and went on their ways. My mother was the first one to congratulate me with a warm hug and a beautiful smile. Aunt Pamela followed her by just sending a mere congratulation my way. Uncle Clark both congratulated and warned me about the decision, and I couldn't help but thank him for supporting me even though he found my decision rather risky.

Daniel also moved to congratulate me with a slight smile on his face, and took the initiative to share the responsibilities of Vivian, so she can give her best while working on her designs. I gave him a nod agreeing to it, and thanked him for his support as well. Mr. Lawrence was next in line to congratulate me and he informed me that he would do his best to fast track the legal formalities of the project, before he left the meeting room with the others.

I looked at Vivian, who was talking to Leon with a wide smile on her face, and I felt a little uncomfortable seeing that. I collected the few papers that were on the table and then I felt their presence close to me. Vivian gave me a bright smile and I thanked her for voting in my favor. It was probably her vote that brought in Daniel's and Aunt Pamela's vote, which in turn led Uncle Clark to vote for me and the investors that trusted his decisions followed in as well. She just crossed her hands and smiled at me, as if trying to read me.

"I hope you remember our little deal", Vivian said with a smile.
"I do", I replied with a nod, "I hope you remember my words correctly, if you keep up your part of the bargain then I'll keep mine."
"You don't have to worry about that", she said to me, "And I guess I'll start working right away, there might not be enough time if things were delayed too much."
"Yeah go on ahead, Daniel said he'd handle some of your responsibilities of creative head and I'll handle the rest", I told her with a nod.
"It would take me half a day though to get a few things sorted in the creative department", Vivian told me smiling happily, "And then I'll head to lead the project, do you want to tag along?"

Vivian's offer took me by surprise and I couldn't reply to her immediately. This was the first time that she had asked me to accompany her on anything after she came to know about Aiden and my wedding, "Yeah sure, if it's not a bother", I agreed to her invite.
"Okay so I'll get you when I am done with things here", she said with a smile and I gave her a nod, "Oh and congratulations!", she held out her hand to me.
"Thank you", I shook hands with her.
"Now I'll get going", she said to me, "I have a lot to do and there is someone else waiting to congratulate you as well", she looked back at Leon.

Vivian looked from him to me and smiled, before heading her own way. With her leaving the conference room there was no one else left in the room besides Leon and me. He stepped up to me with a smile on his face and I lifted up my face to look at him. The moment our eyes met, I felt a wave of electricity run through my entire body and I was reminded of the moment just before the meeting. The memory was more than enough to make my heart beat faster. I shouldn't have acted so concerned towards him; after all it was just a bruise. The way I treated him in those few moments before the meeting might have sent some misleading signals, which I couldn't afford to deal with at the moment.

I couldn't help but regret that moment of false judgment, and I didn't know what words could explain why acted out in such a manner. I didn't even know what took me over; it was just that I couldn't stand the sight of seeing him hurt anymore. I was unable to think of a reason to explain my actions and thinking about it was extremely annoying and frustrating. My head was always a mess when Leon was involved. I couldn't think straight and I acted impulsively, and that was the one of the reasons I wanted him to leave.

"Congratulations!", Leon finally spoke with a handsome smile on his face.
I tried to keep my expressions rigid, "Don't think that just because you helped me out a bit today, I will change my mind", I told him speaking in a very clear and strict tone, "Because you're the root of all this."
"I know", he agreed with a nod but didn't stop to smile; "I just thought I could help you a little this way, so I did."
"I don't want your explanations", I said to him with a shake of my head.
"Then what do you want?", he asked leaning close to my face.
"You already know what I want", I said pushing him back, speaking in a very serious tone, "And please I don't want to hear your reasons anymore. I can't really make you leave, so if you want to stay then stay but I don't really want to deal with you anymore, so please stay away from me."

Leon didn't say anything and kept looking at me, his eyes were still filled with warmth and concern towards me, "I am sorry", he apologized to me once again, "I can't do that", he shook his head slowly, still looking at me, "I don't understand why you are pushing me away but I can't just…", he shrugged slightly, "… forget you and act like you're nothing to me. But I don't want to force my company on you either, so I'll try not to bother you and stay out of your way."

(Leon's POV)

Kate looked at me for one long minute, before humming in response and giving me a couple of nods in agreement. She averted her gaze to avoid making any eye contact with me, and hurried out of the meeting room. I let out a sigh, as I watched her leave. I knew for sure that she needed me and therefore I couldn't just leave her, but at the same time I didn't want to stress her out with my presence either. I know she'd feel much better if she shared her thoughts and feelings with me, like she used to but I couldn't just force her to do that.

If I try to forcefully close the distance between us, then she'd just try more and more to push me away. I didn't want to reach a stage where she makes herself completely isolated to avoid me. I still wanted to keep her within my reach and be within her reach as well, so I could be there for her when the need be. I just have to be patient and reach out to her a little at a time, and maybe if I wait long enough then she might come back to me on her own.

I walked out of the conference room and made my way to Kate's office. When I pushed open the door, I realized that she wasn't there. Although I wanted to go look for her but since I just assured her that I won't bother her, so I just walked inside the cabin, and took my usual corner to work on my pending reports. Kate walked back after some time but she didn't bother to look at me, as she covered the distance from the door to the desk. Our eyes only met once as she took a seat on the chair behind the desk, and then she busied herself with whatever work she had. I let out a sigh and got back to my work as well.

(Kate's POV)

I looked at the time on my cell phone, it was a little over 8:30 PM. With all the issue with Swartz, all my usual work got pushed back and I had to stay here a little longer than usual. I dumped my stuff in my bag and grabbed my coat. If I hurry up a bit then I might be able to go see Vivian's work place before they close up. Earlier when she came to take me along, I had so much work on my hands that I couldn't go with her, but I promised to check it out later sometime. She wanted me to come with her but she didn't press on it too much. She also invited Leon but he too declined saying that he had some pending work from his agency, and that he'd visit sometime later as well.

I called her cell phone to let her know that I'm leaving the office and that I'll be there in some 20 minutes or so. She said that she'll wait for me and with that I disconnected the call. My gaze traveled to Leon briefly and he too lifted himself off the couch. I didn't wait to address him and just left my office, heading straight for the elevator. I swiped my card and waited for the elevator to get on my floor. As the elevator's door parted, I felt Leon's presence just behind me but I didn't turn to confirm.

I stepped inside the elevator and Leon followed me inside as well. I pushed the ground floor button, and Leon pushed the button for the basement parking. The elevator started to descend downwards, and we shared the awkward silence between us. It wasn't really the first time that we were together and weren't talking because I have been ignoring Leon for some five days now, but now that Leon wasn't trying to talk me either, the silence seemed even lonelier. I let out a discreet sigh, I couldn't really complain because this is what I wished for.

"Do you want me to give you a ride?", Leon asked me in a monotone, just when we were about to reach the ground floor. My car had some major problem so it had to be taken to the garage for repairs, so currently I was without a ride.
"I asked the driver to get me another car", I lied to him, in fact I had forgotten to mention such a thing to my driver and he wasn't the wiser either.
"When?", Leon caught on my lie and I closed my eyes cursing my stupidity. He had been there with me all the time and even though it didn't look like it but he might have been aware of all the conversations I had on the phone today.
"You don't have to worry", I said not looking at him, "I'll manage, I can take a cab."
"Alright", he said and the elevator doors parted at the ground floor.

I pulled on my coat as I walked out of the administrative building and it seemed like a long walk to get out of the main gates of the premises. I covered my head with a scarf since I didn't want too much attention at the moment. It was no trouble getting a taxi this time and fortunately the driver didn't recognize me either or didn't bother to talk to me if he did recognize me. I gave him the address and he drove towards the destination.

The drive was silent and I kept looking out of the window. I had so much on my mind about everything going on about my life that I didn't even notice when we reached our destination. It was only when the driver informed me about it; I realized that I was outside Vivian's boutique. I thanked the driver and paid for his service, before getting out of the cab. I looked at the building with a smile; Dad really wanted Vivian to work towards her dream and I knew my father would have been a little proud of me for having been achieved just that.

I walked inside the building and the receptionist at the desk greeted me. I asked her about the whereabouts of Vivian and she told me that she might be on the second floor, where they store as well as tailor all the clothes, because the merchandise from our mills were being organized there at the moment. I thanked her for her information and straightaway made my way to the second floor. When the elevator's door parted, I could see that there was a lot of activity going on there.

The whole floor had just two big rooms, one where all the raw materials which were sheets of clothes were kept and the other where designers ripped, cut and sewed them into beautiful dresses. The moment I stepped into the tailoring room, it felt as if I had walked into a big closet. There were just clothes and clothes everywhere; the only difference was that they weren't finished and were still un-wearable. I could see that some of the merchandise that Swartz had rejected were already delivered here, and Vivian was busy organizing stuff.

When Vivian and her staff noticed me, I really received a warm welcome. The thing that surprised me the most was when I spotted Allen among others. He hugged me tight, out of sheer joy when he saw me. He was working for Cruz, so his presence really astonished me. He told me that the moment he came to know that Vivian was back on the field, there was no way he could keep working with Cruz and so he decided to quit there and come work with his best friend. If it was someone else I would have been a little worried but Allen was very trustworthy, so I was really glad that he was here to support Vivian.

After that, Vivian offered to give me a tour of the place even though I was already familiar with this place, but I still agreed to it. So both Vivian and Allen spent some 5-10 minutes walking me around four floor building and showing me things, telling me all about their little plans, which even included future expansion plans, and then ask me about my take on the issue. I knew that Vivian had the potential to make all her dreams come true and I didn't hold myself back from showing my support to her plans because I had already given her my word earlier.

"And this is my personal office, where I make my designs", Vivian said finally leading me to her office, "I was so surprised to get back here. This office they kept it the way I left it, three years ago. It was really a great feeling to get back here. I really didn't think this place was still functional."
"Oh it was", I told her with a nod, "Dad kind of put this place into hibernation, or so what he called it. He cut the staff to minimum, so the place could be managed and gave them the freedom to make their own designs but of course not sell it under our name or any other. He knew that one day you would return, so he wanted to keep this place functional."
"That's definitely something only Uncle Keith could do", Vivian stated in an obvious tone, "He was always a bit of crazy but of course he can't hold a candle to you; you're definitely crazier", I couldn't help but let out a slight laugh, "I mean trusting me run this place…", she seemed to be a little overwhelmed by her emotions, "I am really grateful."
"It's my pleasure!", I said sincerely with a smile, "Because by helping you, I am definitely going to destroy Swartz", I added in a somewhat monotone and Vivian raised her brows at me, "And of course Cruz as well."
Vivian and Allen exchanged puzzled looks, "Well I guess that won't be too much of a problem", she spoke quite confidently, "The designers here are really brilliant they have some really good designs and they don't mind putting it under our banner either."
"Oh that's really good to hear", I said to her with a smile.

Vivian showed me some of her old designs and then we headed back to the tailoring floor, where she introduced me to some of her assistant designers and they shared their designs with me as well. They all seemed to have a really great energy going on and I was really relieved to know that my plan was going smoothly so far. And not only that, Vivian seemed to be very happy about all this as well. I guess this was the happiest I had seen her in the past some time now. I knew if she could keep up her confidence then, she could definitely do the company well.

We talked a little bit about the old times and current times, with Allen making some jokes about Cruz, when she'd realize that Vivian has returned. It was really a nice atmosphere and everything was just about perfect but still I felt something was missing, and even though I knew what it was I couldn't really do anything about it. It was then that my phone rang and I saw that mom was calling me. I took her call immediately but since I couldn't hear her very well, I let the others know that I am stepping outside to get a better reception.

A/N: Thanks a lot for reading the chapter and I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. I apologize for any typos or grammatical mistakes; I hope they weren't too confusing. Let me know what you think of the events unfolding in the chapter. What do you think about Kate's way of handling business meeting? About Leon trying to fix things in his own way, and the little deal he made with Kate at the end of the meeting? Or maybe anything in respects to the flip change in Vivian? Just feel free to comment about anything in the chapter or the story; I am always delighted to hear your thoughts about the chapters or story. I'll see you all again with the next chapter, till then take care and have a great time (maybe watching Resident Evil: Vendetta)! :D