A/N: Hi readers! Again, no excuse really for the delay...I have the whole story written out, I just wanted to let it sit for a little while in case I wanted to change anything. But here is the next installment! Oh, also, I'm not quite sure what happened last week when I updated but there were some issues with accessing the chapter, so my apologies.

Thank you all again for leaving your comments! Normally, I would thank some of you personally, but I'm in the middle of something better to thank you with than just a quick shoutout (keep your eyes peeled) ;)

Disclaimer: I don't own BTR

"There, you look perfect," Katie said as she straightened out Carlos' tie. She looked up at him, "You remember what to do, right?"

Carlos grinned and gave her a thumbs up. "Yep. Are you ready?"

Katie steeled her shoulders, "Absolutely."

Mags stuck her head into Katie's office. "Did you guys need anything else before they come?"

Katie shook her head, grateful for her friend's willing attitude to join her in any conspiracy. "I think we're okay, Mags, thanks."

"Okay, holler if you need."

Katie looked at the clock before turning back to Carlos. "White should be here at any moment. Do we need to go over anything else?"

Carlos grabbed Katie's shoulders, "Katie-cakes, we've rehearsed this like a thousand times."

Katie let out a breath, nodding, "Right, okay. I'm just going to check to see if the cameras are working one more ti−"

She was interrupted by Magdalene's page. "Ms. Knight? Mr. White is here for your meeting."

Katie looked at Carlos, "Show time." She answered Mags' page, "Let him in, please."

The door to Katie's office opened a few seconds later. Katie put on her most charismatic smile when she saw the dark haired man walk in. She came around her desk and held out her hand.

"Mr. White, it's so nice to finally meet you."

Chris White shook her hand firmly, flashing her a brilliant smile. "Me too. I've heard so much about you from James, it's like we're family," he turned to look at Carlos. "Carlos! What a pleasant surprise."

Katie watched as Carlos grasped the man's hand, smiling pleasantly, "Chris, great to see you, man. It's been too long."

Carlos had mentioned that he had met White a couple of years back, before he jetsetted across the globe, at one of James' parties, his notion of White was vague at most.

"Very true."

"So what do I owe for this meeting?" White asked, as he sat in one of the seats that Katie gestured to.

Katie continued smiling, "Well, I've been James' manager for a couple of weeks now, I felt it was time that I meet his wingman, don't you agree?"

White chuckled, "Yes, of course. But, don't you think that James should be here for this meeting?"

Katie eased the panic that bubbled up inside her quickly, before resuming the conversation. "I tried to get him to leave the studio to meet with us, but you know him! He gets so wrapped up in the recording process once he's in the zone."

Carlos nodded for emphasis.

"Of course, of course. James can be real hardheaded sometimes. And what about Carlos? What are you doing here? I assume it's not to simply reminisce over old times, we should be doing that over a couple of beers, don't you think?" White winked roguishly at Carlos.

Carlos and Katie let out awkward laughs at White's lame attempt at a joke. Carlos cleared his throat.

"Truthfully, Chris, I'm starting up my acting career, soon, and I'm in desperate need of an agent. Katie here is going to manage me, so we we're thinking that you could me out. I mean we are practically family," Carlos added, trying to win White over with his personality.

Katie read the emotions that passed in White's eye and took that as her cue. She abruptly stood up, "Oh, where are my manners? I'm just going to pop out and get you something to drink. My assistant is pretty absentminded when it comes to these things. You two keep on discussing, I'll be right back. Coffee is good, right?"

White nodded, "Yes, thank you."

She looked pointedly at Carlos, before leaving the room. Katie stood outside the door, which she left slightly ajar to hear the conversation. Mags readily joined her. They could see White adjust his posture in his seat.

"So, what do you think, Chris? Are you able to help a buddy out?" Carlos asked, looking sheepish.

White sighed dramatically, "Look, Carlos, it's not that I don't want to help you, but, I'm going to be frank here, my going rate is pretty high right now. I'm just not sure that someone who is starting out in the industry can afford me."

Carlos leaned back, "Try me."

"I take twenty percent of my client's earnings," White immediately answered.

Katie scowled, knowing that White was trying to dupe Carlos just because he was new in the business. Luckily, Carlos was better at hiding his emotions than Katie.

"That seems reasonable. You do find me gigs and stuff, right?"

"Right, right. Yeah, it's just I prefer to take on clients that I know are going to be working full-time, all the time, you know the drill, and with you being so hot off the press, well..." he trailed off. He leaned in, "Look, I like you, Carlos, but realistically you're not doing yourself justice by teaming up with Knight Management."

"What do you mean? James is with this company." Carlos asked, confusion written across his face.

White stood up, causing Katie to lean back against the wall, so that he wouldn't be able to see her shadow by the door. "Listen, I know that Katie is like a little sister to you boys, but I happen to know that this company isn't going to be around much longer." He turned to look at Carlos, hand in his pocket, "If I were you, I'd leave Knight Management, before you go down with it. I personally know a lot of directors who think that a weak management calls for a weak actor. As for James, well he stayed in the industry this whole time, he can bounce back from a scandal like this, no problem."

Katie watched as Carlos studied his hands, before solemnly looking up at White, "What do I have to do? I mean, I love Katie, but if she's not going to survive, well, it's every man for himself, right?"

Katie felt the sting that came with his words, but reminded herself that it was all part of the plan. After calming down and remembering that what Carlos said wasn't true, she wanted to run in and congratulate him on his acting skills, she didn't know that he would be this good at acting.

White chuckled, "You're absolutely right, Carlos. It is every man for himself. Listen, I happen to know some established people at FMA who might be willing to manage a talent such as yourself."

That was Katie's cue. She nodded once to Mags before entering her office again with a stoic look upon her face.

"Katie..." Carlos greeted her with a guilty look, before clearing his throat to smile.

Katie maintained her hardened stare. "Carlos."

White looked questioningly at her empty hands and her expression. "Is there something the matter?"

Katie sat in her seat and took a deep breath. "I'm afraid there is, Mr. White." Katie hoped her tone was convincing in setting a foreboding atmosphere. "I've just heard the announcement about the Ponzi scheme at FMA. The company is in great deficit, to the point of bankruptcy in fact, and Mr. Fulton is nowhere to be found. It's all over the news."

White's face slowly likened to his namesake.

"But, isn't that a good thing for you, Katie? One of your biggest competitors is now−"

Katie interrupted Carlos, "I haven't finished," she let out an audible breath, "Fulton blames everything on Mr. White. The logistics, the recruit of investors, everything."

White widened his eyes, "But, that's impossible. I'm...I'm...I'm not even part of his company!" He stuttered.

Carlos stood up in complete outrage, "You're behind all this? No wonder, you wanted me to join FMA! You dirty son-of-a-bitch!"

Katie shook her head slightly, trying to communicate with Carlos to tone it down. Carlos got the hint and sat down fuming, crossing his arms.

Katie sighed again, "I'm sorry, Mr. White. I have to call the authorities, this is a serious legal matter that I simply can't ignore."

"What?" White stood up, "I'm innocent! This was all Fulton's idea. He paid me to keep silent about the accounting, he's the one who has been manipulating the numbers!"

Katie bit back a grin, and tried to calm White down, "I don't follow, Mr. White, what are you saying? Tell us from the beginning, maybe we can help you."

White shuddered, flopping back into the seat, holding his head. "It was an accident, it was all an accident. James had taken me up to FMA one day to speak to Larry about a project, and Larry asked me to look at his computer. I have a background in Information Technology and he wanted to get rid of a virus without having to wait for the IT guys to come up and fix it for him. In the computer, I had access to the company's mainframe, and I stumbled upon Fulton's accountings. I went home to further study the program because there was something cryptic about it, and I was right. Fulton, or someone, had encrypted the regular accounting program with another program that distorted the accounting figures of the company. After a week or so, I managed to calculate all of the monies that Fulton was manipulating and I copied all the information I had, keeping a backup on my hard drive, and went to confront him about it."

"Why didn't you take it to the police?" Katie asked, curious.

White looked up at her, resting his chin on his knuckles, "I didn't go to the police, because I owe people a lot of money. I thought that this was my opportunity to make some extra cash, and I was right. Fulton had agreed to giving me a percentage of his 'profit' if I remained silent. But, there was one other thing," White swept back his hair with one hand, moving back to sitting up straight. "Fulton only agreed to let me in, if I would do a little something for him."

Katie threw a sideways glance at Carlos before continuing to question White. "Why did he bargain with you if you had the upper hand? That doesn't make sense."

White groaned, "I know, but he said that if I handed him in, he would tell the authorities about my illegal hacking of his files. I figured doing him a favour would keep me out of jail and get me some money, so I agreed. Turns out he wanted me to help him destroy your company."

Katie waited for him to continue.

White looked Katie straight in the eye as he recounted his story. "Look, I really don't have anything against you, but I was desperate...you have to understand. Fulton already knew about the relationship that you had with James, but he didn't know how close you were with him. He wanted me to use James' connection with you to ruin your company, so I did. I had to find a way for Larry to drop James and I knew that one of James' weaknesses was his inability to keep his dick in his pants. Sorry to be vulgar," he added, seeing the distaste on Katie's face at his choice of words. "Larry's wife is infamously known to all about wanting to bed James, all except James and Larry. Up until that night, James had never even met Larry's 'better half.' I purposely spiked James' drink at the party with tequila and nudged the missis into his direction. I later sent Larry after them to catch them redhanded, knowing that he would want to destroy James, so I calmed him down and merely suggested that he drop James as a client. I'm fairly certain he would have exposed James, but Fulton managed to keep him quiet."

Katie prompted him to continue, wanting to catch every detail of the plan. "Why does ruining James' career have anything to do with me?"

"James actually didn't care for a while; he assumed that Kelly would manage him while he was recording, but I told him that he really needed to focus on his acting career and he needed a real manager for that. Fulton made it seem that he couldn't hire anyone from FMA anymore so he was at a dead end. I had to remind James about you, but he was really reluctant to reach out to you, something about him not wanting you to learn about his past. I told him that having someone that he really knows and likes as a manager was probably more effective than having a complete stranger, so in the end, he finally agreed. And well, I think you know the rest."

Katie finally stood up, her ire getting the best of her. She placed both her hands on her desk and spoke calmly, "You mean to tell me, that you were okay with destroying my business, when you don't even know me? Even worse, you were willing to bring down James when he had done absolutely nothing but help you get to where you are now? Do you realize what kind of lowlife that makes you?" She leaned forward, eyes narrowed, and hissed, "You make me sick."

"Look," White trembled, "I didn't want to, it's just Fulton−"

"Fulton didn't hold a gun to your head, did he? You chose to do it, and all for money," Carlos stood up to point out, seething.

White gulped audibly.

Katie looked down to her phone and saw that Mags was paging her. "Hello? Alright, let him in."

Katie sat back down and crossed her legs, waiting for her next guest to make an appearance.

Carlos walked over to the couch and sat down, waiting for the drama to unfold.

Magdalene opened the door and gestured for Fulton to go in. Katie gave a slight nod to Mags before she closed the door behind him.

Fulton surveyed the occupants of the room carefully, before plastering a smile on his face. The second that White saw who entered, he stood up and started to point erratically at Fulton.

"You! It was you! You did this to me! I had nothing to do with your Ponzi scheme, why did you blame me? Why? It was all you! You were manipulating the numbers long before I came around. You asshole! I'll get you for this, Fulton!" White shouted, gasping for breath after he finished ranting.

Katie raised an eyebrow from her seat, unable to believe that White was such a cowardly man, who apparently wasn't very intelligent. She did not anticipate for her plan to work so well, but it seemed that White had little integrity.

Fulton cleared his throat, "Mr. White, I'm afraid I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Bullshit! Bullshit! You know exactly what I'm talking about. I'm telling you now, Fulton," White pointed to himself, huffing through his nose, "I'm not going to take the fall for you. I owe you nothing. If I'm going down, you're going down with me."

Fulton looked over at Katie, "Ms. Knight, your guest seems to be a bit...upset."

"Oh, really? I hadn't noticed." She smiled sweetly at Fulton.

Fulton dropped his smile. "What is the meaning of this, Ms. Knight? I didn't expect to come here and be insulted by a madman's lies for your entertainment."

Katie remained in her seat, collective as ever. She pretended to contemplate for a little while, "You're right. You came here to take my company. I'm sorry to say, today just isn't your lucky day. This 'madman' has just told me a lovely story about how you and he conspired to destroy my company. Oh," Katie feigned remembrance, "and how could I forget all that he told me about your...financial endeavours."

Fulton sat down cooly, across from Katie. White had taken to pacing the floor behind them, shooting Fulton evil glares every few steps.

"Whatever you have planned, Ms. Knight, it's not going to work."

"Oh, but it is." Katie countered, maintaining her strong disposition, "You see, I have cameras installed all around this room, audio and visual, that proves whatever I have to say against you."

Fulton smirked, "You really think that they will believe the words of a lunatic over me? Are you forgetting who I am, Ms. Knight? I'm Paul Fulton. I run half this town, including you and your pathetic excuse of a company."

Katie drew in a breath, "Hmm, that may be true, but I think the Fed's will be really interested to find what's on White's hard drive." She shrugged before adding sarcastically, "Personally, I don't understand why a management corporation needs investors, but then again, I'm just a 'pathetic excuse of a company,' what do I know."

Fulton whipped his head around to look at White. "How is that possible? I took everything from you and you told me you gave me everything."

White opened his arms wide and answered Fulton with a maniacal look in his eyes, "I lied! I kept an external hard drive in a safety deposit box."

Katie could hear Carlos stifling giggles from the couch.

Fulton turned back around, Katie watched quietly as he calculated his current dilemma. He raised his gaze to hers. "You think you've won, Ms. Knight, but there's no proof that it was me."

Katie nodded, "True, but you're forgetting that this happened all under your precious FMA. Even if I didn't manage to place you behind everything, I did manage to catch your company." Katie heard voices coming from the lobby. "Oh," she stood up and grinned down at Fulton, "perfect timing."

Mags opened the door and in walked a small group of officers, ready to detain Fulton and White.

"Thank you, gentlemen, I believe that this has been a most productive meeting," Katie smirked.

Carlos laughed, standing up to join her.

Fulton was dragged up and cuffed. "I'll get you back for this. One day."

Katie scoffed, "Please, you'll be in prison for a good hundred and fifty years. I think I'll be okay."

Katie, Mags and Carlos stood in the office, waving to an outraged Fulton and a struggling White when they were escorted out of her office.

Well, that's that! Also, I realize that this is yet another chapter without James, but don't worry, there will be oodles of fluff yet to come very soon, I promise!

As always, please leave a review and tell me what you think!

To those who celebrate Easter, Happy Easter!

Much love,

D

Fun Fact: Originally, White was not a villain, but after rereading the story, I realized that I wrote him out to be one, so here we are.

P.S. Who's excited for Season 3? I know I am!