by Newbiel
"Dad, he is telling the truth. Look." Lina said, showing her phone and the youtube account of Nathaniel. Looking at the number of subscribers her father creased his eyebrows in surprise. His daughter had said that he was a singer but this number felt huge to him.
"Okay, what's the catch?" He asked, giving his ID back to Nathaniel.
"Dad please be nice." Lina said to calm him down. She could not even believe that it was him and he was sitting in her living room and her father was talking to him like he was a drug addict. She wanted to dig a hole and hide in it.
"Lina, there is always a catch, especially when dealing with rich people. I just want to know what it is." He said, making Nathaniel laugh. He was starting to like the gruff personality of her father.
"The catch is that you have to move to New York. I need you both there."
"I knew there was a catch! I believe it is the end of our talk. We can't move to the other side of the country. We don't have the means and my wife's doctor is here. This is simply not possible." He said categorically.
"I know that you were going to say that. Look at page four." Nathaniel did not appear surprised by the firm refusal.
Doing what they were being told, the father and daughter pair turned to the fourth page and started to read. Nathaniel did not have to wait long before the both of them turned back to him with surprised expressions on their face.
"Is this real?" Lina said awed.
"Yes, it's totally legit." Nathaniel confirmed.
"But why? Why us?" Her father asked.
"Because of your daughter. She impressed me with her computer skill so I dug into her history. Exceedingly smart, she graduated from high school with a score in the top 100 in the country. Accepted into MIT, she impressed her professors with her programming and coding skills and was one of the top students until she was forced to drop out because of her mothers illness. And then there is you, Michael. You entered the Police department when you were eighteen and you never left after that. You got into problems with your fellow officer and a few detectives when you denounced a couple of them for beating up suspects to extract confessions or taking bribes. Despite all of that you refused a couple of promotions to stay in the street. After your wife got sick and the bills started piling up, many would have chosen to use other illegal means to come up with the money but you did not. You sold your house and you started working in a nightclub to keep your head above water. You are a hard working man with a strong sense of integrity. I need that kind of man in my family company. This is not an offer out of pity." Nathaniel said.
"Well, you really did your homework." Michael say impressed. It was more than that, the incident that involved the detectives and the beating never got to the press and got labelled as a private record. For this kid to find out about it was not a small feat.
"I like to be prepared. So what is your answer?"
"Can we have a few days before giving you an answer? We need to talk about it, this is not an easy decision. I'm sure you understand." He asked.
"Of course you can. Here take this, it's my private number. Once you come to a decision, call me to let me know. Well, it was fun guys but I need to leave, my flight is in an hour."
"Let me walk you to the door." Michael said, getting up.
Chapter 82: :
"YOU DID WHAT?" His grandfather yelled.
Nathaniel was in the office of his grandfather with his moms present as well. After leaving the home of the Campbell family, he had then taken the flight home. To be honest, he had to miss a couple of classes to go to Seattle but he still felt it was worth it. They had yet to call him and give him an answer but it was not surprising. Their whole life was in Seattle and moving to the other side of the country was not an easy decision to make. Even if they could live a better life here.
Once his flight had landed he had gone to the Lyndon building in Manhattan and paid his mother a visit to let her know what he had done. He had not taken into consideration that she could take the news so bad that she practically dragged him to his grandfather's office and forced him to tell him everything that he told her. He took the news even worse than his mother did, which did not surprise him in the slightest.
"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!?" Robert kept yelling incensed.
It was the first time Nathaniel could see his grandfather so angry and looking at his mother, he knew she would not help him in this case. In every confrontation that he had so far with Robert, he always had the support of his mother but now it was the two of them against him with no back up. For the moment he was just staying there and not speaking, the last question was rhetorical.
"So first you put my two bodyguards in the hospital, meddling with affairs that do not concern us and where people died! Died Nathaniel! That could have been you , Amal or Jean! And now you go around offering jobs in the company! Do I need to remind you that you do not hold any responsibility or power here and you have no right whatsoever to offer jobs here! Even worse is that you made that contract so well that even if we try to stop your offer, we could be sued for it! For fu** sake Nathaniel! Do you have any idea how much trouble you put our family company in?" Robert kept on ranting.
"I'm sorry grandpa, I was only acting on hunch. I saw someone with talent and I just wanted to get her to work for us." Nathaniel apologized.
He had not thought enough from his family's perspective and if it turned out to be wrong, it could have consequences for the family business.
"Someone with talent? The girl hacker? Are you kidding me? The only place that girl deserves to be is in jail! Not working in my building!"
"He is right Nathaniel, we can't start employing criminals here." Mary chimed in.
"She is not a criminal. Yes she did hack into my computer to take my album but I looked at her files, she did not share it or sell it. That was only for her personal use. I think she could be a real asset for our family business in terms of security. Her father is the same. Just look at their files." Nathaniel said, taking the files in questions from his bag and putting them on the desk.
With severe expressions on their faces, the father and daughter pair looked long and hard at him for a moment then turned to each other and picked a file each. Reading through it, they exchanged files and started looking at the other. Once they were done they put the files back on the desk and Nathaniel gathered them back and put them back in his backpack. There was information in there that they were not supposed to know.
"I can agree to hire Michael Campbell, he indeed has a good resume but I'm still not convinced for the girl. She represents a risk that I'm not sure we should take." His grandfather said, sitting back down.
"The contract still needs to be modified, the clause that you put in page four is too much. We are running a business here Nathaniel, we can't go around and proposed to take their medical bills. I know that you are nice and kind and I love you for it but this has no place in business. Even if the illness of madam Campbell is sad, this is not our responsibility." Mary said.
"I know mom but I'm convinced that the father and daughter will make it worth our while. This is a simple gambit and I'm willing to take responsibilities for it. I will pay their salary and the mother's medical bills with my own money if that is what it takes to prove to you that I'm right in this matter." Nathaniel said, resolute.
"You are talking about the money I give you. It will not last long if you scander it like that." His grandfather scoffed.
"No, I'm talking about the money I earn with my movie and in December when my album and film will air. I will win much more, all on my own." Nathaniel said crossly.
"He is telling the truth father, of the five millions you gave him as a signing bonus, he barely touched any of it so far and the little that he used was to pay his agent. No other expenses. If anything, he is more wealthy now than when you gave him the money." Mary said in his defense.
Since Nathaniel was still a minor, his mother had authority to see what he was doing with his money and could stop him if
it was needed. Even if the two of them trusted him, Mary and Karine still monitored his expenses closely to make sure nothing unfortunate happened.
"Ok, let it be your first investment grandson. If everything goes like you expect, I will abide by the contract and pay for their wife medical bills. If it does not, you will be responsible to fire them. I give your little project a month to show its worth. Not a day more." Robert stated.
"Alright, you will not regret this grandpa, I'm sure of it." Nathaniel smiled.
"I regret this already. Now that this is settled I have work to do so." He sighed, making a hand motion to encourage Mary and him to leave his office.
They were leaving the CEO office when Nathaniel's phone started to ring. Looking at the caller ID, he could only smile.
"Hello?"
"Mister Lyndon? This is Michael Campbell on the line."
"I know, I recognize your voice Michael and please call me Nathaniel. My grandfather is Mister Lyndon. Do you have any good news for me?" He said, seeing his mother smile at that.
"Indeed I do. We chose to accept your proposition but there is a problem. We do not have the means to move right now, can you give us a month to gather the money that we need?" He asked hesitantly.
"I'm sorry but no, I can't do that. I need you both working here in five days top. I will take charge of the fee of moving myself. You have two days to pack before a moving truck arrives in front of your house. I already found you a nice apartment in the city with the rent paid for a month. If you want to move after that, you can do so at any time. I will send you all the information by text."
"What? Wait! This is not what we talked about, this is too much! I will not accept it!" He protests.
"You do not have a choice in this instance Michael, it was me who came to offer you a job on the other side of the country so let me help you move with less strain on your finances as possible. I need to go Michael, call me if you have any problem, I will solve them for you." Nathaniel said before hanging up.
Putting his phone back in his pocket, he could see his mom shaking her head.
"What?" He asked.
"Paying them the fee of moving and finding them an apartment in the city? This is too much sweetie, I just hope you will not regret it." She sighed.
"Mom, I saw the number of programs that she had in her computer and some of them are revolutionary. If not for the fact that she dropped out of MIT in her first semester, the NSA or the CIA would have tried to recruit her and that's only if she had the patriot fiber. In the private sector, she would have been snatched away by silicon valley with a starting salary between five and six hundred thousand dollars a year."
"What! Really?" She said surprised.
"Yes and I just signed her for our company for fifty thousand dollar a year." He smiled wolfishly.
"Why did you not say anything to your grandfather? That conversation would have gone way better with that information."
"I really want to see the expression on his face when he is going to say that I was right." Nathaniel laughed.
"Sometimes I think you are worse than him." She shakes her head, trying to hide the smile that was threatening to show itself.
Chapter 83: :
New York. 21/10/2012. 23:00.
Nathaniel was spread on Madison's bed, his hand on his neck and eyes closed. With his improvised trip to Seattle he had accumulated a decent amount of school work he needed to do and with the promotion of the movie in the last five days he had barely managed to get twenty hours of sleep in total. And since they had planned to go out tonight, he wanted to close his eyes a little.
"Why did you have to go to Seattle by the way?" Madison asked while putting makeup on her face, looking at him in the reflection of the mirror.
"Work." He answered simply without even opening his eyes.
"Really?"
"No, I was busy messing around with another girl behind your back." He said sarcastically.
"You don't need to go to Seattle for that, I have more than a couple of sisters who have the hot for you, you know." She laughed.
"You sorority girls are wild." He smiled.
"We indeed have that reputation.���
"It's a well deserved one and they don't know even half of it."
"It's better that way, like that we can keep a part of a mystery for ourselves. Nath?"
"Yes, Madie?"
"I'm in front of you, putting makeup on wearing only sexy black lingerie and you are not even looking. Can you please give a girl some attention." Nathaniel could even hear the pout on her face and his smile broadened.
"I do it for self preservation."
"Self preservation, hein?" She giggled.
"Yes, we need to go soon so I will not fall for any of your tricks little devil."
"Really?" She asked.
Nathaniel could hear that her voice was closer than when she talked previously, that's why he was not overly surprised when a body suddenly fell on him and luscious lips started kissing him. Kissing her back Nathaniel put his hands on her hips and could feel that she was not wearing anything beside underwear.
"Come on Nath, open your eyes." She said somewhat huskily after the kiss.
"No, I said it. I will not fall for your tricks." Nathaniel said defiantly, his hands roaming on her back.
"We will see about that." She answered challengingly.
After that, the temperature in the room started to rise as Nathaniel and Madison wrestled with each other. As they were kissing Madison tried everything that she could think of, even biting him but nothing succeeded in making Nathaniel open his eyes. That's when she decided that this time he would not win, she would be the one coming out on top. Nathaniel was already shirtless with a few hickeys showing on his neck and chest, that's why she decided to up the stakes a little, putting her right hand inside his pants.
"That's not fair Madie." Nathaniel said breathlessly.
"I'm a little devil, I do not fight fair, especially against you." She responded in a heated voice.
Nathaniel chose not to respond and used the same exact means to continue the game. Since Madison decided to not play fair he would not either. The game continued until it became so heated that they totally forgot about it and just enjoyed each other. Clothes were taken off and thrown everywhere in the room and quiet moans started to echo from Madisons bedroom.
*****
The next morning, after a shower together, they finally exited Madisons room. They had enjoyed each other quite a few times in the evening, in the middle of the night and in the morning when they woke up. What happened last night was not that surprising considering their mutual attraction and the fact that they were playing with it for the last two weeks.
Walking to the ground floor where the living room was located, there were already four girls there talking and eating their breakfast still wearing their pajamas. Seeing them come down the smirk was evidently followed by a couple of resentful stares which surprised him quite a bit.
"Morning sisters." Madison greeted with a joyful voice.
"Yeah yeah, we know you got laid please don't be so loud, I'm hungover." One of the girls groaned, her head between her hands.
"Sorry Alicia." Madison smiled, taking a glass of orange juice in the fridge and giving one to Nathaniel.
"So, how was it? Based on what we all heard, pretty good." One of the girls said, smirking.
Hearing that question, Nathaniel almost choked on his orange juice making the girls laugh. It was true that at the start they were quiet but the more they did it, the louder Madison was. The two times this morning were a perfect example of that. He had made the discovery that the stamina that his soul provided was applied during sex as well and he could go longer than what the memories of Marc said.
"It was unbelievable." Madison said dreamily.
"You know I'm standing right here, right?" Nathaniel rhetorically asked with a bitter smile. The five women just ignored him and kept talking like he wasn't even here.
"It's huuuuuuge."
"It's really not." Nathaniel objected dryly.
"Nath, hush. Let me boast a little please." Madison frowned prettily.
"Alright, I need to go home to change and after that I have classes. Be nice Madie." He said kissing her goodbye and putting his empty glass on the table.
"Wait! Madie? She let you call her that? Madison hates nicknames, it is well known." Alicia said, surprised.
"Really?"
"Yeah, I usually don't like it but coming from you I don't mind." She responded almost shyly, her cheeks turning pink.
Seeing her react like that Nathaniel decided to not dwell into this, especially since they were not alone. He would another time. For now, he just kissed her again.
"Okay, I'm off. Please, don't talk too much about me after I leave the house."
The answer he received did not inspire him any confidence.
Chapter 84: :
New York. 22/10/2012. 08:30.
"Nice walk of shame sweetie." Mary said laughing when Nathaniel opened the front door.
"Oh come on mom, you can do better than that. Since I'm not hungover, smelling sex or wearing torn off clothes, it barely qualified. I expected something more like 'Did you use protection' or 'I'm going to be a grandma soon'. I'm a little disappointed to be honest." Nathaniel answered, taking his shoes off.
"I just woke up, I need my coffee in the morning to be 100% operational." She said indignantly. "Wait, you did use protection right?" She continued concerned.
"Yes mom I did, don't worry. Even if that was an expected question, it still makes me uncomfortable to talk about this with you." He said, shaking his head.
"That's normal, even if you are not a normal teenager by any means you are still my son. No son, wants to talk about sex with their mother. To be honest I do not want to either, I just wanted to make sure you thought about protecting yourself."
