Sera's POV

After a long day at school doing exams, I was finally home. I was exhausted from the two exams I sat for. That week we managed to get rid of 6 subjects. There were two more left to go. Natalie and I were lucky enough to be placed in the same class, so after school, she crashed at home in Escala were we compared all the answers. Many of them were close or exact to each other. We both calculated that we scored around 75%, which wasn't bad compared with the assessments.

'Damn it Sera! Will that phone of yours ever stop buzzing?' She asked as she took it from my hands. '… and who's constantly texting you?' She snooped around.

'Natalie!' I reached for my phone as she took it away and read the name.

'Eric? Who's Eric?' She asked me as she handed me my phone back.

'Thanks…' I replied as I quickly texted him. 'He's… um… a friend…'

'A friend?' She asked.

'He happened to be a boy that is a friend…' I tried satisfying her.

'Oh my God! Sera… are you dating?' She asked excitedly.

'Shh…' I replied. 'Yes… I am…'

'Why didn't you tell me? I could have given you some tips!'

'I haven't told anyone except my parents and family as yet…' I replied back as I placed my phone behind me on the couch.

'Soo?' She insisted.

'Shouldn't we continue comparing answers?'

'No… we're ready… besides I want to know about this guy… so who is he? How old is he? What does he do? Where did you meet?' She bombarded me.

'Geez… one question at a time…' I smiled. 'He's Eric… Eric Christenfeld.'

'Wait… Christenfeld as in Christenfeld company limited?'

'Yes… Damn everybody knows about this company!'

'Hey… He's like your father! Only your father is richer…' She smiled. 'So… what else?'

'We met on the plane going to London…'

'…and?'

'…and we were staying at the same hotel… and we kept bumping into each other…' I smiled. '…and finally he asked me out.'

'Did he kiss you?' She asked.

'Yes…' I replied as she kept staring at me.

'What about Grey senior?'

'Well… dad isn't convinced about him…' I replied.

'Why?'

'He thinks there's something about him…'

'Aren't all fathers like that?' She laughed. 'What about your mother?'

'She likes him… but she's cautious as dad is…'

'….and you?'

'I don't know yet how I feel about him…' I replied honestly as I hugged the pillow to me. 'Especially with the contract at hand…' I thought to myself.

'Follow your gut Sera…' She said again as she patted her bump.

'Are you ok?'

'Yeah…' She smiled. 'He just kicked me… Want to feel it?' She asked as she guided my hand to her tummy, and there it was, a very tiny kick, but it was there… I smiled at the feeling.

'Aweee!'

'It's creepy right?'

'No… it's sweet!' I smiled as Taylor knocked on my door and entered.

'Natalie… it's time to go home…' He said as he moved forward.

'Coming dad.' She replied as she grabbed her school bag and stood up. 'I see you on Sunday?' She asked as she hugged me.

'Yeah…' I smiled as I returned the hug.

'Sera, your parent's are waiting for you in the living room…' He continued.

'Thank you Taylor…' I smiled.

'Text me how it goes with Mr. Hotty…' She winked at me as she followed her father suit while I exited my room with them.

'Will do…' I smiled.

They had promised me that we'll be spending time together… and they did keep their promises. I smiled at us. We were finally a picture perfect… the picture perfect we ones were. Back when Jason was young, and I came home from an exam, we used to crash in the living room and watch a movie or two. I enjoyed the fact that we were doing that again, only these days we could afford watching any type of movie, especially those that were PG. Mum and I chose Pretty Woman. Mum and dad watched it over 10 times, but they never got tired of such a good story. It was my first time watching it, and I was enjoying it, but soon my mind was clouded with thoughts of all Eric had told me on our last date.

Dad seemed to pick up the vibes that I was sending through brain waves. I saw him making eye contact with mum and talking through visual acuity, but I could only care less about what was happening. I was already trying to sort my crap out. I had already done all the research and read the contract over three times. There were so many things that I wanted to changed and many things that I wanted to clarify. There was only so little time to do so. I guess tomorrow had to be the day to clarify everything before Sunday.

It was the fifth time that I saw them communication through vision again, and it finally got on my nerves.

'What is it?' I asked them as they realized I noticed their communication.

'Is everything ok baby?' Mum asked as she pulled me close to her.

'Mhmm… I'm just thinking…'

'About?'

'Something Eric said…' I replied.

'Eric says a lot of things…' Dad said sternly with no emotion. 'What did he say now?'

'Christian… easy…' Mum tried.

'It's just…' I started. 'Dad… do you expect me to take over your company when you retire?'

'Well… I want my company to stay in family and be passed through generation…' He started. 'Why the sudden interest?'

'It's… Well Eric is already 20 years old, and he's the managing holders of his father's company… he said that you may already have a place for me in your company, and I couldn't help but wonder how idiot and stupid I am when coming to these things. I mean if you ask me anything about your business I wouldn't know how to answer.'

'Well, someday you have to take over when both your mother and I retire…' He replied as mum let go of her embrace and dad took her place.

'…but only when you want…' She added.

'…and how will I know when?' I asked again.

'You have at least 40 years to decided.' Dad chuckled. 'However, I want you to pursue everything your heart wants… I don't want to push you into anything…'

'…but you would prefer if I already am learning the ropes… wouldn't you?'

'I won't lie to you… yes… I'd like to teach you everything…' He replied as he passed his hand through his hair. 'When I was your age, I already knew what kind of empire I wanted to build… and my dream became true through hard work… and I want you to be able to experience that in time.' He explained gently. 'Why did Eric ask you about my company?'

'It's nothing special… he was actually saying how he's still studying and he's managing his family's company with his father… and I felt like letting you down. I'm 17… and I don't know anything…'

'Would you like to learn?' He offered.

'Um…' I started. 'There is no harm in learning is there?'

'Good… let me tell you what… tomorrow I have a meeting, and you could start picking up on things. If you want you can come to work with me whenever you want and you'll see what I do in a day… I'll teach you how to read the files… work through mind games… everything…' He started. 'If you like it we can keep doing this… and if you don't you can tell me and we'll stop for now… What do you say?'

'I like the idea.' I smiled. 'What am I supposed to do in a meeting?'

'Well, for starters, take some notes on what is being said… any ideas you may have you can voice them out which is one advantage you have on being my daughter, also you can disagree and agree or change any kinds of decisions, of course you still have to voice them… you'll be part of the board.'

'I thought you didn't have a board.'

'Oh… I don't have a board to answer to… the board answers to me…' He chuckled.

'Christian you're mixing her up…' Mum smiled.

'Oh man… business is hard!' I sulked.

'It's not baby…' Mum replied. 'Your father dropped out of Harvard… and look where he is now…'

'You dropped out of Harvard? Are you nuts?'

'I was at that time… but I still was highly educated and managed to make a business deal… and here I am…' He smiled.

'What about you mum?'

'At first, when your father gave me SIP, I was sceptical… but now that I've learnt what I'm supposed to do, things changed.' She smiled.

'I bet they did…'

'Sera do you know what a prenup is?' Dad asked.

'Christian…'

'No Ana… she should know about these things…' He replied. 'So… do you know?'

'I've heard many couples that had signed a prenup document. It's about provisional division of property and everything. Isn't it?'

'Yes… it is…' He replied back.

'Why are you asking?'

'Well… when you get married I would ask you to make your partner to sign it. What I give to you will always only be yours… I don't want some asshole robbing you out and leaving you with nothing.'

'…but isn't that lack of trust?'

'No honey…' Mum replied. 'Your father and I both signed one.'

'Didn't you feel lack of trust?'

'Not in the least…' Both replied in unison.

'Ohh…'

'You'll understand more when you'll grow up…' Dad smiled. '…let's start with tomorrow first shall we?'

'Ok…' I smiled. 'What is clothing appropriate?' I asked.

'I'll set out something for you baby girl…' Mum smiled. 'You'll look professional and well adjusted.'

'Do I have to call you Mr Grey?'

'You're my kid… you'll always call me dad…' He smiled.

'Even at work?'

'Even at work…' He smiled again.

The following morning, mum was rummaging something suitable for work. She took out a little above knee length pencil skirt and a light blue shirt, with black tights and a blue coat to do the whole look. I had to admit. She had good tastes. I never thought I would look good in something like this. She then helped me prepare a bag with what I may need. She placed my laptop with some other things that I may need, such as papers and the writing 'cutlery' that I needed. She did my make up, and in few minutes I looked like her. Professional yet elegant.

We went downstairs and dad remained staring at me.

Christian's POV

I remained staring at my daughter. She looked exactly like Ana… Exactly like the first time she had fallen into my office. Like mother like daughter. They both were beautiful and both were mine.

'Um… a review would be nice…' She tried, while I smiled at Ana.

'You look professional… I like it…' I smiled as he grabbed his briefcase. 'We're having breakfast with some people I'd like to introduce you to…' I said again as I kissed Ana and she hugged Sera.

'My husband and daughter working together…' She started smiling. 'Who would have told me…' She exclaimed. 'If he gives you any trouble, call me… I'll put him in place…' she winked at Sera.

'Come on… Let's go…' I smiled as she followed me suit.

'That's all you need to know for now about this morning's meeting… Any questions?' I asked as I took the next turn.

'Just one…' She replied as she closed her notebook. 'What does GEH actually does?' She asked while I laughed. I was waiting for that question.

'Grey Enterprises Holdings is a global leader in communications technologies, eco manufacturing, and next generation farming solutions.' I replied.

'So you're working towards energy saving, eco-friendly ways?'

'Yes… you can say that… but I don't only care about those. I want to make a change for the greater good.'

'Quite humble…' She replied.

'There are three subunits that my company takes care off… It's about Systems development, communication technology and sustainable energy. Systems Development includes shipping and logistics, Neural networking and Graphene Engineering. Communication technology includes Satellite infrastructure, Laser speed data, and Smart Memory Bank, and I don't think I need to elaborate on sustainable energy.' I explained as I handed her a file. 'I'd like you to read this and fill yourself in on any details.' I continued. 'You need this for the meeting at 10am… I must tell you… it won't be shorter than 2hrs.'

'I have to learn all of this in…' She started as she looked towards her watch. '3 hours?'

'Not learn… Sera… business isn't something you can work through studying, but through thinking. I'm sure you can do it…' I smiled. 'Can you do it?'

'I can dad…' She smiled as she took a swift look towards it. 'So it's all about technology?'

'No… think about it as chemistry, biology and physics integrated with computing and IT.' I replied back as I parked. 'We're here… any more questions before we go in?'

'Nopes…' She smiled. 'I think I have the basics.'

'Relax peanut… you're going to do great baby girl…' I smiled as I kissed her forehead.

The breakfast meeting went great. She amazed me at how fast she caught up with everything. I took a look at her notebook at it was all logically accurate. Her mind maps and practical paragraphs worked magic. However, it was now soon for the real thing. A board meeting of 15 people – 17 counting myself and Sera wasn't going to be easy… and it wasn't going to be short. I hated them myself… but I couldn't admit it for now. I had to make everything seem interesting. It's how I started after all.

'One last thing dad…' She asked as she came forward with the file that was now filled with notes that she made for herself to understand.

'What is it peanut?' I asked as I signed my last paper.

'What is stock-taking please?'

'It is the physical verification of the quantities and condition of items held in an inventory or warehouse. This may be done to provide an audit of existing stock valuation. It is also the source of stock discrepancy information.' I explained while she remained staring blankly at my face. 'Let me break it down for you. It is the intensive annual check that may be done annually or in cycle counts. It refers to the periodic count where it is usually undertaken for regular, inexpensive items. It is the annual stock count. For every project regarding its priorities, I make it a must to make sure that monthly I know how the project is doing. If I see I'm losing profit, then I'll either find different ways to keep the project happening or else I'll close it… of course, I have to take legal action when it comes to these things.'

'What about for expensive items as these?'

'I prefer shorter period of stock takes. It is a sale with reduced prices to sell off stock from previous season. It makes the task of stock-taking easier. It also helps me in determining Cutoff points – what the stock position of the company or organisation at a specific point in time was.'

'In simple words it's all about profit right?'

'Yes… you can say that for now…' I smiled as I checked the time while Samantha came knocking on my office.

'Mr. Grey, the board is waiting for you.'

'Thank you Samantha. We'll be right there.' I replied sternly as I dismissed her.

'Besides the papers and file, do I need anything else?' She asked me again.

'Your laptop…' I replied as I grabbed mine and held the door open for her. 'After you.'

We entered the meeting room, with Sera behind me. I could see she was intimated with the whole lot of people, but this was a necessary thing to do. All of them stood up as they saw us. I guided her to the chair beside me as the edge of the long table. She sat everything politely and quickly switched on her laptop. I gave her a second to have everything in order before I started to talk.

'Ready peanut?' I asked her gently as she gave me a little nod as she opened her file. 'Good…' I smiled back. 'Today I have a guest attending everything.' I started. 'Everybody this is my daughter Sera E. Grey. She will be taking over once I retire, so I suggest you show her respect.' I started sternly as I sat down and everybody followed. 'So can we start?' I continued as I took a sip from the glass of water.

'Mr. Grey…' Thompson started. 'On account of recent stock taking, we all agreed that Project 521 isn't going as successful as we thought it would. The machinery we all established had been providing a lot of troubles till it was developed into the right amount of stability.'

'How bad are we talking?'

'5.67% under Sir…' He continued as I rested my back to my chair and took in the presented charts the projector.

'Thompson, explain this to me. The sales are higher than ever. How come are we still under?' I asked calmly yet quietly.

'Sir, it's not really about the sales. The Government agencies introduced the high tech security system ages ago.' Gere continued as he presented a new charting. 'Not only government agencies, but also high tech companies.' He explained. 'It's the time consuming that it was taken for the technology to be precise, and we're still not there…'

'…not to mention Mr. Grey.' Portman continued. '... the merging company of bio-engineering is making more profit than ever. We all think that the wise thing is to invest more into bio-engineering.'

'…and close down Project 521?' I stood up intimidating everyone.

'Maybe not close it sir… but the numbers are speaking alone.' Thompson stated again.

'I have 15 people in here, is it possible that none of you thought of anything else?'

'Sir…' Brosnan continued. 'We had already tried many other things. We tried cutting down materials… reducing gross…'

'…and nothing worked…' Wilson continued.

'What do you suggest?' I asked again as I sat back down and rubbed my chin as I took a look at my daughter that was in deep thought taking each and every note.

'Sir, we suggest that…' Smith started.

'That we either cut down 26% of the employees that will generate back the loss of 5.67%.' Jones continued.

'…or?' I challenged.

'We leave the project at hand, which will cause the loss of 650 employees.' Williams finished.

'So that means that 169 people will lose their jobs?' Sera finally spoke up.

'Yes Ms. Grey…' Thompson added as he sat down.

'Sera, do you have any view on this?' I asked her.

'Well… It's not fair for these 169 people to lose their jobs. They probably all have a family to keep.'

'Unfortunately Ms. Grey business doesn't work like this. We're not some charity case…' Thompson jumped on her again.

'What do you think we should do?' I asked her again ignoring him completely.

'Can I?' She asked me as she pointed for the marker.

'Sure…' I replied as I moved from the edge of the table leaving her space to write on the board. I was curious about what she was going to suggest.

'Ok… so… We have two projects at hand right? And both are directed towards a better way of living.' She started as she quickly copied a rough sketch of both graphs and numbers. '…and both are in different facilities. So my idea is… what if we have everything in the middle. You'll have one facility with many sub divisions which will actually put an affect to modern technology itself.'

'I don't follow…' Jones said feeling him interested.

'Ok… so I've read the file, and you're working on generating new bio 3D printers by having live cells in ink itself right?'

'Yes…' I replied still following.

'Ok… and you're using magnesium alloy right?'

'Yes… it's easier to use it because it's a galvanising agent.'

'Ok… however, what if you start working with positrons?'

'Ms. Grey… with all due respect… you know nothing about business… this is just sheer waste of time…' Thompson cut her off, while she let her gaze and enthusiasm drop down.

'Thompson… please leave the room.'

'Sir… she's just a kid…'

'…and she happens to be my kid…' I replied back. 'Please leave the room… now… and I don't want you in any meeting until further notice.' I sternly ordered as he grabbed his stuff and moved out. 'Anybody wants to join him?' I asked while everybody stood there quiet. 'Good… Please continue Sera…'

'Um…' She started as she took the marker back hesitantly. This was her weakness… she couldn't control who gets under her skin. For now I can protect her… but later… 'So… magnesium is a good conductor of electricity because it has two free electrons in its outer shell right? Which makes it easier for energy to be conducted. However… what if you replace magnesium with aluminium? Not only it's cheaper… but it also has three electrons in its outer shell which will make electricity easier to be conducted. Aluminium is also a good thermal and electrical conductor, having 59% the conductivity of copper, both thermal and electrical, while having only 30% of copper's density. Aluminium is capable of being a superconductor, with a superconducting critical temperature of 1.2 Kelvin and a critical magnetic field of about 100 gauss, which all recounts to the fact you won't only reduce in raw material price, but you'll also be able to increase profit.' She explained.

'What about the in between?' Lewis asked her.

'Now that's the catch…' She explained. 'If you introduce and merge both projects, you won't only be using less material, as they'll be in the same facility, but you'll also decrease lighting costs and other machinery costs from having two separate companies.'

'Yes… and merging the companies will actually provide one sale at the cost of two…' I reasoned.

'Yes dad…' She replied. '…not to mention…' She turned back facing the board and working some mathematical equation. 'You'll not only gain the 5.67% profit back each month, but you'll also be gaining 7.556% from the merge, not to mention that you'll be providing around 150 more jobs.'

'That's a good idea.' Wilson agreed.

'The calculations are there…' Gere continued while she took a seat back.

'Sir… should we proceed with this?' Smith asked.

'Yes…' I replied back. 'I want both projects to stop for now till both projects are merged. Once the moving and everything will be set, I want another meeting.' I replied as I signed the documented paper of today's meeting. 'How long do you think it will take to make this all in vita?'

'Not more than three months sir…' Wilson replied.

'Good…' I added as I stood up. 'I want full-detailed progress on this. For now meeting is dismissed.' I finished as everybody exited while my daughter and I remained in the room. She started fixing everything into place and saving all materials that she had typed. 'You did great today…' I smiled at her as I moved forward and took her from her shoulders.

'You think?' She asked in doubt.

'I don't think! I know so peanut…' I smiled. 'You managed to give me a 1.886% Profit which is around $2000-$2500 per hour.'

'Per hour?' She exclaimed.

'Yeah…' I smiled as I overheard some talking from Thompson and Gere. 'Sera… please go and wait for me in my office. We're ready for the day…' I smiled as I followed the voices and kept listening.

'I can't believe it. She has Daddy Damned Warbuck's wrapped around her little damned finger…'

'Thompson you were out of line… you know she's his daughter… and you know he'll pass the company down to her…'

'Yeah… like she'll be good… I bet you this will go down in matter of days… she'll destroy an empire…'

'I don't agree Thompson… she actually gave us a total profit of 7.556% from her calculations…'

'Great… that's what we need to seem such nincompoop.' He replied back as I entered the room.

'Thompson, is there anything you would like to tell me?' I confronted sternly.

'Sir…'

'Don't sir me Thompson. Now tell me… why would this company go down as you put it?'

'Well… um… she's just a kid… and we both know that women are not that good in business… She's what… 15, 16?'

'17 Thompson…' I crossed my arms glaring at him.

'Exactly… she wouldn't know how to manage all of this…'

'Thompson… I suggest you mind your language… I pay you to do your work, and you work for me, and you couldn't come up with a brilliant idea as this. It makes me wonder if the loss came from the lack of work you have been doing Thompson. Also, my wife happened to run a very successful company… and so will my daughter…' I replied. 'Now… I'd suggest you go back to your office and clear your desk…'

'What? Why?'

'Thompson you're fired… and don't expect any recommendation from me. Ask Samantha for that.'

'Please Sir… I need this job…'

'Too late… it's going downhill in my daughter's hands.' I replied coyly as I went out.

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