"You may want to be careful about throwing terms like brother around," Calvin said, "While we do go back to being college roommates, we wouldn't want anyone to get the idea we know each other."
"You worry too much," Shiloh said.
"Someone has to," Calvin said, "With Garrett's supply no longer a viable option, we need to be meticulous in ensuring our donors are happy."
"With you in charge of the Crossing Into Dawn foundation," Shiloh said, "No one will have cause to look our direction. I do have several promising initiates in the meantime that will work for our largest donors."
"Have they been initiated into the trust yet?" Calvin asked.
"Patience, Calvin," Shiloh said, "All in good time." Shiloh hung up.
"Easy for you to say when you're not the one with the donors breathing down your back," Calvin muttered.
Outside the Crossing Into Dawn office's, Kellie kicked the tires on her car.
"What the hell just happened in there, Charles?" Kellie asked.
"A corporate takeover," Charles said, looking at his cell phone, "My meeting with the executive director for tomorrow been canceled."
"I should have never let the board tell me I couldn't be involved with hiring an executive director or that Uncle Lo couldn't be involved in the the background checks," Kellie said, "Every thing about this is wrong."
"Unfortunately, the board and executive director have the authority to do this," Charles said.
"Believe me I know," Kellie said, "I have to make some calls first. But can we meet in an hour at your home office?"
"Is there anything I should start researching in the meantime," Charles asked.
"Setting up a grant administration program," Kellie said, "My casino is the largest donor to the foundation. Straight donations are out of the question under these circumstances."
"I'm on it," Charles said, "Anything else?"
"If you have a copy of the lease that Michael set up with $0 rent paid to the foundation for the office building," Kellie said, "Look through that. If you don't have it, let me know and I'll have Michael get a copy."
"Done," Charles said, opening the door to Kellie's car as Johnny started the vehicle, "I'll see you in bit."
Once Kellie was in the car, Johnny asked where she wanted to go.
"It doesn't make sense to go home right now," Kellie said, "I have calls I need to make. We can't stay here with the car."
"I know where you could go," Johnny said, "But you might not like it."
Kellie waited for Johnny to continue.
"Sonny's restaurant," Johnny said, "We're not that far. I'm sure he'd let you use the back office."
"You're right," Kellie said, "I don't like it but I'm not about to let being at odds with my father keep from doing what I need to do for the foundation."
Kellie texted Sonny asked if she could borrow his office for a bit. Sonny texted his agreement and said he'd let the staff know to let her in. Then she texted Michael and asked him to meet her at Charle's home office to discuss a situation with the Foundation and the lease. She called and left Jason a quick message.
Then she started making calls, starting with Zach Slater, who manages her casino.
"Zach, I need you to put a stop on the monthly donations to the Foundation until further notice," Kellie said.
"Run that by me again," Zach said, "Did you say what I think you said? To stop the donations to the foundation."
"You heard right," Kellie said, "The Executive Director and Rescue Coordinator have been avoiding my calls and when I showed up at the offices this morning, the director let me and Charles know our services were longer needed.
"Ouch," Zach said.
"Without access to the financial information, I'm not comfortable just forking over the donations," Kellie said.
"That will definitely cause some penny pinching," Zach said.
"They should be fine until Charles and I can set up a new arrangement for making the donations," Kellie said.
"And what about public relations," Zach asked.
"We can weather it," Kellie said, "I don't think the foundation will risk a smear campaign, because that's what it would turn into if they go public with firing me. I will tell my side of the story if they force my hand."
"You made sure that everything was transparent and above board," Zach said.
"I had to," Kellie said.
"I'll stop the payments," Zach said, "Let me know what the new arrangement will be. Do you want to inform the foundation yourself?"
"We'll have the appropriate staff at the casino notify them closer to when the next payment is supposed to go through," Kellie said, "Go through the normal channels."
Once in Sonny's office, Kellie's next call was to Larisa, one of the board members.
"I had a feeling I'd be hearing from you," Larisa said, "I take it that you…."
"Were completely kicked out of the foundation I started," Kellie said, "And I'm not entirely sure why. What happened?"
"I don't like how this was railroaded through," Larissa said, "I think that we should have given you an opportunity to explain yourself."
"Explain myself about what?" Kellie asked.
"The Rescue Coordinator claims you threatened him," Larisa said.
"I have spent most of the last week trying to call or get an appointment with the Rescue Coordinator," Kellie said, "To discuss the Esoterra case and investigating a potential associate that is residing here in Port Charles. He never returned my calls and I couldn't get an appointment for more than a month, Larisa. I did tell his receptionist the last time I called that if he didn't returned my call in 24 hours, I would wait at office however long it took to meet with him."
"He made it seem more extreme," Larisa said.
"Have I ever once threatened anyone at the foundation?" Kellie asked.
"No," Larisa said, "As I said, I thought we should have spoken to you about the situation. Given the situation you'd just been through, I could understand why you'd be impatient to talk to the coordinator."
"Then why exactly did the board vote this through with out talking to me," Kellie asked.
"Your situation with your father and husband is becoming problematic," Larisa said.
"You and the rest of the board have always known who my father is," Kellie said, "That's never been an issue. You and board were certainly willing to overlook my marriage to Jason especially with the concessions I made stepping away from being the executive director."
"We've heard that you're pregnant," Larisa said, "Is that true?"
"Yes," Kellie said.
"And the child is Jason Morgan's?" Larisa asked.
"Yes," Kellie said.
Larisa let out a deep sigh.
"There have been a lot of rumors about your marriage to Morgan," Larisa said, "But you turning up pregnant with his child gives credence to the fact that you are more deeply involved in criminal activities even if it's not actually the case. If the marriage to Morgan became unnecessary for your safety, you don't have the ability to walk away as easily with a child now involved. There's too much risk of bad press. That I can't over look."
"How many of the board members voted against me?" Kellie asked.
"Five of us did," Larisa said, "Two abstained."
"Thank you, Larisa," Kellie said, "The only I'm going to tell you is I'd watch my back if I were you. I don't believe you were directly involved in this. But this took planning regardless of how railroaded this seems. I just hope that whoever planned this doesn't put the foundation at risk with whatever their agenda is. I hope you and the other board members step back and ask yourselves why someone wanted me out."
Kellie hung up and made her next call.
"Director Vance," Kellie said, "Do you know anything about one of your people instructing the foundation not to investigate Garrett or Shiloh any further?"
"No," Leon said, "We don't tell your people what investigations they can or can't pursue unless we have an active investigation ourselves. Since our investigation is not active, we wouldn't be telling you not do your own investigating. Who told you NCIS was instructing you not to look further into this?"
"The executive director," Kellie said, "After letting me know the board had fired me and my father-in-law."
"The board did what?" Leon asked. Kellie explained the events that had happened.
"That's a shame for you and the foundation," Leon said, "And I was really hoping you would be able to put to rest my misgivings about Garrett's connection to Shiloh."
"Who says I won't?" Kellie asked. "Obviously I know you can't provide me much information and support given the directives you've been given. Could you tell me who has been telling you Shiloh can't be investigated?"
"It's a directive from someone above me that works for several people it could have come from," Leon said, "Unfortunately, I can't make more direct inquiries. However, I wouldn't rule out that whoever it is may have something to do with stopping that investigation on your end."
"I don't think it's a coincidence," Kellie said, "Anyway, I have more calls to make."
"I imagine so," Leon said, "Look if you run across anything actionable, let me know."
"Of course," Kellie said.
Kellie's next call was to Gibbs.
"What now?" Gibbs asked, "Please don't tell me you or one of your kids has been kidnapped again."
"I just got fired by my own foundation," Kellie said, "Who also kiboshed investigating Esoterra's associates further without ever talking to me."
"Who'd you piss off?" Gibbs asked, "Enought to oust you from your own foundation."
"Or they want me out of the foundation to keep me from investigating Shiloh," Kellie said.
"Then you have your work cut out for you," Gibbs said, "I'm not sure how much I can help you."
"Before you yell at me or someone tells you not to talk to me," Kellie said, "I have a question about the Esoterra case."
"I'll see what I can do," Gibbs said, "I'm not sure I can be much help."
"I have one question," Kellie asked, "About the navy petty officers Garrett used to transport people. Did you or anyone from NCIS question them about Garrett's connection to Shiloh or did anything ever come up there?"
"We were never able to question them," Gibbs said, "All the known petty officers involved are dead. Garrett killed every single one of them. Once they completed the transport they turned up dead."
"Damn." Kellie said, grabbed a glass sitting on the desk and throwing it at the wall. She just missed hitting Sonny as he entered the office, startling. him.
"You alright, Corinthos," Gibbs asked.
"I just knocked a glass over," Kellie said.
"Over or across the room," Gibbs replied.
"If you or your team think of anything useful that can help me," Kellie said, "Pass it along."
"Just keep your hitman husband with you for any escapades you might get yourself into," Gibbs said, before hanging up, "If something catches my attention, I'll let you know Corinthos."
"I knew you were mad at me," Sonny said, "But throwing glassware."
"That wasn't meant to hit anyone," Kellie said, "What I really need right now is a punching bag. I have too much damage control to do right now."
"What's going on?" Sonny asked, "I'm wondering why you would ask to use my offices?"
Before Kellie could answer Jason entered the office and noticed the shattered glass on the floor.
"I got your message," Jason said, "What do you mean you and Charles were fired from the foundation?"
"The Foundation what?" Sonny said, "They can't do that."
"Actually they can," Kellie said.
"What reason did they give?" Jason asked.
"For Charles, because his biological father is Raphael Giambetti," Kellie said, "The Rescue Coordinator claims I threatened him."
"So they fired you with out talking to you," Jason said, "That doesn't even make sense."
"You'd have a case for wrongful termination," Sonny said, "Is Charles working on that?"
"It's more than that," Kellie said, "The entire board either voted against me or abstained."
"What else prompted the board to cut you out of your own foundation?" Jason asked.
"It's not important," Kellie said.
"If they used Charles's father as cause for him," Jason said, "Then it's not a stretch to assume that board was no longer comfortable with your connections to Sonny and I."
"Yeah," Kellie said, "They could no longer ignore the rumors about the seriousness of our relationship and what that might mean about my involvement in your activities."
"The board had no concerns with all of this when you moved back to Port Charles and married Jason?" Sonny asked, "Now all of a sudden they've changed their minds without a reason."
"They think they have a reason," Kellie said.
"What is it?" Jason asked.
"It doesn't matter," Kellie said, "They probably would have eventually found some other reason. I'm supposed to meet Charles and Michael shortly to discuss ELQ's lease and the donations from the Casino, so I should get going."
"Let's go," Sonny said, "I'm coming with you and we can work on getting the Board to see reason."
"You can't fix this," Kellie said, "You getting involved won't help anything."
"I can at least ask Charles why the board has issues with you being my daughter and Jason's wife when they didn't before," Sonny said, "I'm assuming he was with you when this happened."
"Just leave it alone," Kellie said, "Besides, this kind of takeover takes planning. The one board member I talked to indicated this was railroaded through. Someone was waiting for whatever excuse they could twist to their advantage to push this through. With Lorenzo and Charles and I all otherwise occupied the last couple weeks, they had the perfect opportunity to force me out."
"Alcazar was fired too?" Sonny asked.
"Not yet," Kellie said, "But after an appropriate amount of time, I'm sure the foundation will fill his position. Uncle Lo's out indefinitely with rehab. Before I forget, Jason, could you talk to Spinelli and have him see what he can find on the executive director Calvin Harris and the rescue coordinator, Jeremy Owens. And have him dig into the backgrounds of all the board members. See if there's any connections to Garrett or Shiloh."
"I'll have him get right on it," Jason said, "Is there anything NCIS can pass along to you that might help us. I know they're not investigating the case, but…."
"They don't, I was just on the phone with Vance and Gibbs," Kellie said.
"They're the reason you were throwing bar ware," Sonny said.
"The kicker to all this is the executive director claims someone from NCIS told him there was no reason to investigate Shiloh," Kellie said, "Director Vance says that's not the case."
"Any chance its whichever of Director Vance's superiors that closed NCIS's investigation?" Jason asked.
"I'd say the odds are high," Kellie said.
"You know Shiloh contracted with the Navy. Couldn't some of the Navy Petty Officer who helped Garrett possibly know Shiloh and indicate if he was involved?" Jason asked.
"Garrett didn't leave any witnesses behind," Kellie said, "According to NCIS, every single one of them are dead."
"He killed all of them," Jason said, "So as not to have witnesses, but didn't cover his tracks and the cops know he did it."
"Apparently he's not a very good hitman," Kellie said, "That's beside the point, the other thing I want to do is meet with Sam and Drew to discuss the situation with Shiloh in light of all this new information."
"I want in on that discussion," Sonny said, "With him in your and Kristina's orbit."
"Fine," Kellie said, "See if you can arrange something for later tonight. And I'm going to be late if don't leave now."
"Were you still planning on picking the kids up from school today?" Jason said, "if not, I'll let the guards know not to expect you."
"Shoot," Kellie said, "I have no idea how long things are going to take."
"You know what," Sonny said, "I'm sure Avery would love it if Alyssa and boys came over after school. The kids will be occupied while you're doing what you need to do. By the time you're ready to meet with Drew and Sam, Carly and Joss will be around too."
"Okay, fine," Kellie said, heading out the door, "Thank you."
Sonny touched Kellie's shoulder, stopping her, "You need to breath. You've got this. You're going to figure it out.
"Dad, I don't have time," Kellie said.
"And if I know my daughter," Sonny continued, "you'll make the people that did this wish they'd never heard of you. I know you're upset and frustrated that you had everything you worked so hard to build's been ripped out from under you completely. But you can't let it stress you out so much. It's not good…"
"Don't you dare say what I think," Kellie said.
"for you or the baby," Sonny finished.
Kellie groaned, "I'm definitely leaving now."