The Corporate Raider part 16

by Denise Mayes

As the Christmas season approached, Alex had pulled out the Zadria file quite a few times, but she never did anything about it. She would look at it, and read over Taylor’s ideas and think about the day she gave the presentation. Alex made a few phone calls to gauge how things were going, and whether or not any other company had made a move to take it over. Other than those types of checks the woman did not pay much attention to it. It hurt to much to think about Taylor and the file reminded Alex of her. Two months before Christmas, the building was buzzing with all the talk of the annual Christmas party. In the midst of it all, Alex was not paying the holiday time any attention. Salina was nagging her about recommending her for the Young Executives Program, and it was getting on her nerves.

"Ma'am, I was just wondering if you have thought about the program?"

"Salina, sit down and let me tell you something right now before I end up getting really pissed off with you. I don’t like being nagged about ANYTHING!! When I am ready to make a decision about this, I will let you know, is that clear?"

"Yes Ma'am."

"Good, now get to work on that report."

"Yes Ma'am." Salina went out to her desk where she served as both Admin and P.A. to the woman. She was upset with Alex, but didn’t want to show it just in case the woman would withhold other things from her.

Meanwhile, down in the lobby, Mr. Wellington came into the building and headed straight for the elevator. He hit the button to the top floor, but didn't hit the express button because he wanted to make sure he had what he wanted to say to the woman straight in his head. When the elevator stopped on the top floor, he stormed out of it and into the outer office.

"Mr. Wellington? May I help you?" Salina asked, as she came to her feet to speak to the angry looking man.

"NO! I want to talk to Her!"

"But sir she’s in a meeting."

"Well now she’ll be in another!" He stormed past the young woman and swung the door open to Alex’s office. This caused the two men in the office to startle, and the woman to stop what she was saying in midsentence

"Charles? What can I do for you?" Alex asked calmly, as she gave an annoyed look at her P.A.

"You can stop trying to take over my company to start! I know you are behind the recent threats to shareholders, and I know you are going buying up the stock, but I will stop you. You aren't going to get your claws on my company,"

"Charles, can we talk about this later?"

"NO! I won’t let you just walk in and take my company! I worked damn hard to build it up, only to have a vulture like you swoop down to see if there’s a dead carcass to ravage yet! Well I’m here to tell you, ME and MY Company are very much alive and I will do whatever I have to, to stop you!" The man then turned and stormed out of the office. He took the stairs to leave, rather than riding the elevator.

Alex watched the man go, and with anger in her own voice she turned to the men who still sat in her office, and hissed at them. " Get out! We’ll continue this later, right now I need to talk to my P.A."

"Yes Ma'am!!" Both men said as they came to their feet and exited the office. Leaving Salina standing in the doorway looking after the rapidly disappearing men. "GET IN HERE!" The woman ordered.

Salina’s head immediately jerked around to look back at her, then swallowing hard she stepped into the office and closed the door. The next few minutes were the hardest of Salina's life. By the time the woman allowed the young P.A. to leave her office, Salina was nearly hysterical. Alex had told her that she was completely dissatisfied with her handling of the man, as well as not calling security in a timely manner. Furthermore she would not be recommending her anytime soon to the Executive’s Program. Salina ran out of the office and down the hall to the bathroom where she cried bitterly.

Meanwhile, Alex stood up and pulled the file on Wellington’s company. She looked through it for a moment and then decided to go and talk with the executive who had been handling the deal. Salina in the interim had composed herself somewhat. She thought of what she could do to get back at Alex, and then remembered the man. "Okay, I’ll make my own fortune without your help." She ran out of the bathroom and down the stairs to see if she could catch the man. "Mr. Wellington? Mr. Wellington, I need to talk to you!" Salina called when she saw the man still in the stairwell.

"Who are you? Oh, it’s you! what do you want?!" The man asked harshly.

"I want to know if you wanted to get her back?"

"What are you talking about?!"

"Well, I figure that you're having a problem holding on to your company because of money right?"

"What about it?"

"Well...how would you like to make the money you need to fight her, with her help?"

What are you talking about?"

"Information."

"Are you suggesting insider trading type information?" The man now whispered, both in concern as well as intrigue.

"Well I guess that would be the technical term, but I would rather look at it as helping a friend? What do you say? Friend."

"I say you're crazy! You know if we’re caught we could be sent to jail for years? Plus I would truly lose my company then. No one will want to invest in a company where the CEO has been convicted of insider trading."

"But we won’t be caught. We can meet outside of here, somewhere private if you like?"

"At first yes, but if we’re going to make any money on this, then we will have to find a way to let it leak out so others will buy the stock AFTER we’ve bought as much as we can. Then we’ll sell our shares and make a killing! I like it. But where will you get the information, and it has to be a company that is about to be taken over, or one that "The Raider" has some interest in. Every company she takes over, the investors make millions."

"Okay, I’ll be in touch in a few days with something. I have an idea what company but I’ll let you know."

"Well, this has turned out to be a very...interesting day MS....?"

"Salina Lacy, I’ll be in touch."

"Talk to you soon I hope Ms. Lacy. I better get going."

"All right, bye." Salina turned and headed back up the stairwell, while the man went down.

The plan would have been near perfect if not for one problem, the two conspirators didn’t count on someone overhearing their conversation. When they split up, the listener stepped out of the stairwell on the floor one flight down and caught the elevator up to the top to go and talk to Alex. When the woman made it to the top, Alex was still gone. She heard the P.A. coming into the outer office, so rather than risk questions as to why she was in the woman’s office without an appointment, the person stepped into a cramped storage closet. She figured the girl had no reason to check it. Salina came into the office and called for Alex a few times. After a few moments of not getting an answer she decided to look for the file she had in mind, as well as the one on Mr. Wellington’s company. She thought about pulling it up in the computer, but she knew Alex would have a code on those particular files. So she looked for it in the drawers and cabinets.

"Okay, where did she put that Zadria file?" She looked in the desk parts that were unlocked, then moved on to the file cabinet. Finally, she found what she was looking for, and opened it, scanned over it to make sure it was still active, then ran out of the woman’s office. She immediately copied the file and put it back in the cabinet. Then she looked for the Wellington file, and as luck would have it, she found it on the desk that she had just been searching inside of. Salina chuckled to herself as she scanned through it for a moment. She saw a smaller folder within it that said "Confidential" on it. When she opened it and saw that it was a list of anonymous shareholders, she grinned to herself,and once again took the file, copied it, and then put it back where she had found it.

"Well Mr. Wellington, it looks like we’re going to get rich off of the back of both Alex and her ex-bedwarmer, it couldn’t be more perfect. And now I have the information about what Alex had going on with your company." The conspirator purred to herself, then went out of the office and took the elevator down.

The listener came out of the storage closet and easing around to look out the door to make sure the young woman was gone, then headed for the desk. She went and made copies of the same file, and then pulled the Zadria file out of the same cabinet that Salina had gotten it out of and made a copy of it as well. She put everything back in it’s place and headed for the elevator. Just as one came up, she moved to take it down, but Alex stepped off. "OH, Ms. Madison, I’m glad I caught you, I need to talk to you."

"NO! I’ve had enough of your talking Ms. Sains."

"Ms. Madison, I know I over stepped boundaries earlier, but this is very important."

"I said NO, Ms. Sains. Now I have a lot to do, and I’m sure you do as well." Alex said, as she walked away from Yasmeia. Alex went into her office and once she was inside, cursed at the fact that once again Yasmeia had reminded her of Taylor despite having said nothing about her. The woman went to sit in her chair and after a few minutes she picked up the phone to make a phone call. After she hung up, she turned her chair back around and logged onto her computer to pull up the Zadria file. She had it on disc, paper file, and in her personal file cabinet. Over the next week Alex began thinking more and more about the Zadria deal. She picked up the phone and called her friend D'Angelo. He ended up inviting himself to her home once again since he was planning on visiting the states again for more business and pleasure. He would arrive in the middle of next month.

Meanwhile, Salina called Mr. Wellington and they met at the EnCarte restaurant at 7p.m. "Mr. Wellington, I’m glad you could make it, I think we are going to get very rich, and you will be able to keep your company in the process."

"So what do you have?" The man asked, nervous but excited.

"I have a confidential list of anonymous shareholders in your company. These people each own a minimum of 10,000 shares. I'm sure we could persuade them to sell to us, by offering them more than the market price. We have to acquire 51% of the stock in order for you to be able to keep your company, right?"

"Yes, but that won't be a problem. I already own quite a lot myself, and with this list we'll be able to buy up what we need. Since these are all major stockholders, we can get a lot more shares fairly quickly. When we get close to 51%, we'll put out a "buy" order on the open market. We will get some people who will sell, but it will also cause people to start looking at the stock. When they see we are offering above market price, they will think something is about to happen, and they will buy also. This is what will cause the price and value to go up. That will make Alex's takeover plans null and void because it will be too expensive to pursue. There won't be any profit in it for her. Once we get the 51% we need, I will buy you out and I'll own my company free and clear."

"Okay, that sounds great! But I have more news, there’s a company that Alex is looking at taking over as well, called The Zadria company."

"Aha...Yes, I’ve heard of that company, I actually had thought about that myself, until I discovered Alex breathing down my neck. So what do you want to do about it? Save it?"

"NO! The way this deal was supposed to go down was The Madison companies were supposed to become an umbrella for the Zadria company. That would keep other companies from trying to take it over, and at the same time Alex’s company still makes money as a silent partner."

"Okay....so where do we fit into this?"

"We redraw up the plans tonight, and at first light we have the papers sent to The Zadria company. At the same time we buy stock in that company and once we have what we want, we leak it to the news that the takeover will happen, and you know the Media..."

"Yes, they’ll take it and run like wildfire with the story we want, which will be that "The Raider" has decided to take over that company."

"Right, and as a result, the stock prices rise more, and then we sell, take our money and run with it."

"Right, but you know what will happen?" Salina gave a puzzled look, and the man went on to explain. "The Zadria stock will plummet as a result of our huge sell off. Others will see it and figure something has happened to cause such a large volume of stocks to be sold. They will try to sell theirs, and stock prices will bottom out. It could wind up bankrupting the company, unless someone comes to the company's rescue."

"And your point would be?"

"Well, I’m just wondering why you want to do this so badly when we already have a plan?"

"Let’s just say, it’s payback to a FRIEND for coming between me and my goals."

"Okay, but we have to come up with a dummy corporation so we can buy these stocks and not get caught."

"We can use my mother’s maiden name, Baker."

"Okay, we’ll start the buy up first thing in the morning. In the meantime, I need to go to my legal department and get the paperwork to redraw the Zadria deal."

"Actually, I brought the paperwork with the Madison Company's logo on it, that way everything stays consistent."

"Excellent, let me see it, and I will rework it so that it becomes a takeover bid, rather than a partnership one." Salina handed the forms to the man and for the next few hours they worked on them.

Eventually they finished and with a final grin for each other they shook hands and walked out to their cars. Alex also finished her work and finally went home. She was exhausted, but at the same time pumped up. Over the next month and a half, Salina and Wellington made contact with the shareholders. Many were eager to sell their shares, while a few wanted to think it over. They also had put in a buy order to a broker for any of the Zadria stock that came on the market. They were lucky that the broker was able to find stock on the market when news leaked that "The Raider" was about to take over the company. The stock that Wellington already had in Zadria’s company, would be used to buy Salina out for his own company. The profit that the two would make from the stocks of Zadira’s company would be enormous, and they would sell them while the prices were high of course.

D’Angelo arrived in town, and after getting settled at the hotel, he went to meet Alex at her home. The maid opened the door, and showed the man to the study where the woman sat reading over some files. "Well Rose, what are you so deep in thought about?"

"D’Angelo, I didn’t hear you come in."

"Obviously, what’s going on?"

"D’Angelo, tell me where the Zadria company stands as far as takeover bids?"

"You're asking me? I’m a little surprised, usually you're right on top of companies that you have an interest in, what’s going on?"

"Just answer me, have there been many bids?"

"Plenty, but that Zadria is very feisty. She’s using her resources to fight off any and all. I also saw in the paper that the stock prices for that company are higher.

"Well she’s young and she wants to keep her company. I saw that as well." Alex stated, as she thought about the meaning of those higher numbers. Then she turned back to her desk and picked up the phone.

"I’d like to speak with Ms Zadria." The man’s eyes raised in surprise, then he decided to pull up a chair and listen. She hit the speaker so as to free her hands to read over the file and refer to it when and if she needed to.

"May I ask who’s calling?" A woman’s asked of the caller.

"Tell her a friend of Taylor Young."

"Yes Ma'am."

After a few moments another woman’s voice sounded on the other end. "Hello this is Zadria, who am I speaking with?"

"This is Alexandra Madison, of the Madison company."

"OH! Yes, I know who you are Ms. Madison! You have the nerve to call yourself a friend of Taylor’s! With friends like you, who the hell needs enemies. What do you want, like I don’t already know?"

"Well despite your opinion, I’m calling about business. Taylor had presented a proposal to me, and I was thinking about it."

"I don’t care what you were thinking about! I know you made Taylor quit, and I also know you're behind the massive buy up of my stock!"

"I don’t know what you're talking about, I haven't made any further moves on your company since Taylor made her presentation months ago."

"I don’t believe you! All I know is many of the other companies that were trying to get my company backed off when they heard you were getting in to take it completely over. I’ve received the paper’s drafted by your company for the takeover, sent by your attorney, and then the next thing I know, my stocks are being grabbed up left and right, because of you."

"Well I’m calling to offer you a deal."

"NO! I will fight you with everything I have even if I have to file bankruptcy to do it. You will not have MY company Ms. Madison! Especially after what you did to Taylor, and all the hard work she did to come up with a feasible option to your trying to take my company. I told her that you would do this, but no, she said you were interested in a good deal. She believed the partnership was a good deal. She believed and trusted in you, I knew she was being foolish, but she didn’t. Well seems like she was wrong, and I was right! She was so pleased with everything, and what did you do? Slapped her in the face and then made her quit! Some Friend!" The woman finished, with contempt in her voice, then slammed the phone down.

CLICK!!

Alex hit the button on her phone to hang it up also. Frustration and anger showing in her eyes.

"Wow! Alex was she talking about the young girl who use to stay here with you?"

"Yes."

"Aha...so that’s why you look so that’s why I haven’t seen her around, or you mention her name, and why your so angry. She must have done something horrible to have you this angry?"

"This isn’t even about her."

"Then why the look of vengeance?"

The woman turned her chair to look the man in the eyes, then said through her teeth. "B.e.c.a.u.s.e...someone is messing with my company, and I plan on finding out who they are."

"Well...I would hate to be the person on the receiving end. What do you plan on doing?"

"Make a few calls." She stated, then picked up the phone and called the Securities and Exchange Commission. I would like to speak to Thomas Rouse...She knew him as one of her agents like Dosman was; an infiltrator into other companies. Rouse moved into a position with the SEC after returning from his three year "vacation", as they called it. Because Alex needed to make sure her company was always clean, and not being maligned or setup without her knowing it. She thought it was a perfect place for one of her spies to be, so that he could watch out for her. What he didn’t realize was he himself was being watched as well, by another spy that she had in that same company as well. Rouse had undergone plastic surgery while he was on...vacation...he no longer had blonde hair, his eyebrows were colored as well, his nose decreased in size, as well as having his lips made fuller and cheek implants. He wore contact brown contact lens.

"This is Mr. Rouse."

"Thomas, this is Alexandra, I’m calling to see if there’s anything going on with my company?"

"Actually, I was just getting ready to call you, it seems that there maybe an investigation of your company, for Insider Trading, coming up within the next few months, if not sooner. If some type of proof isn’t sent here for us to review."

"Well you know I have never engaged in any such dealings, and I will find out who is using my company's name. When I do, I want full charges brought against the person’s who have tried to do this."

"I know Ms. Madison. It seems there are many here who feel that there is some reason for what’s going on and that maybe you didn’t know anything about it. We still will have to investigate if we don’t receive any information to the contrary."

"I understand. How long?"

"Three months. Before the investigation becomes public. You lucked out, they usually only give you a month to come up with anything. They’ve extended it for you by two to just come up with any opposing information."

"Well I appreciate that. Can you tell me the name that is being used to buy the stock?"

"No. We don’t have any names yet."

"All right, well keep watching it, I’ll be in touch soon." Alex said, as she hung up the phone.

"Wow, so someone is buying up stock using your company's name as cover, and it’s the Zadria company they’re doing it to. What’s your next move?"

"I’m not sure yet, but I do know it has to be someone within my company who is doing it, or helping someone do it to me. And their ASS is mine when I find them."

"Hm...well this should be a hell of a show, anything I can do?"

"I’ll let you know."

The two left the study and went to talk over a meal out by the pool. Alex had her detectives working on discovering who it was that was using her company. Yasmeia in the meantime had called Taylor to talk to her about things, and the conversation came up about the company.

"Yasmeia, my Grandmother has been telling me some rumors that Zadria’s company is now being actively pursued by Alex. Is that true? She's taking it, rather than going in on a partnership with her?"

"No, it’s not true, I mean the company appears to be taking over Zadria's company, but It’s not Alex doing it."

"Yasmeia, how do you know it’s not her?"

"I know, and it’s not her, it’s Salina."

"Salina? Yasmeia what are you saying?"

"I’m saying Salina has gone into insider trading with someone."

"Can you prove that?"

"Not yet, I have to figure out a way to put the pieces together, maybe you can help me? I mean if it’s not too painful for you to have anything to do with helping Alex?"

"No, I don’t want anything to happen to her or her companies. What can I do?"

"There’s that heart I knew would always shine through. I just need you to help me research some things."

"Okay, then do you want me to send whatever I find to you?"

"No, aren’t you coming up here to visit me?"

"Oh, actually, I was going to call you to tell you I wouldn’t be able to, my grandmother has not been feeling well the last few days."

"Is she all right?"

"The doctors don’t know, and Grammy won’t stay in the hospital. She says she’s just tired, and if it is time for her to go, then she’s ready, because she’s had a good and blessed life. Yasmeia I don’t know what I would do if anything happened to her."

"Well I’ll come there if you don’t mind a visit? Have you talked to your mother’s family about your grandmother’s health?"

"Of course I don’t mind, that would be wonderful, and yes I have, but they don’t care, they don’t even call. Grammy told me not to waste my time telling them anything, but I thought they should know that she wasn’t feeling well. Maybe they should come to the house to visit, just in case, but they just told me that if she goes, she goes, she’s old. They make me so mad, they always want, but never want to give anything, they're just users."

"Well your grandmother’s lucky to have you in her life. I’ll be there by tomorrow okay?"

"Okay, thanks Yasmeia."

"Anytime Taylor. See you tomorrow."

"Okay, bye."

Yasmeia hung up the phone and thought about calling Alex to tell her about the girl’s grandmother, but then decided to see for herself how ill her grandmother was first. Yasmeia had planned to take a few days that month anyway, so she decided to put in for the 3 days off tomorrow. Yasmeia arrived in town and was driven to the grandmother’s house. The car pulled up at the house a few hours later and Taylor met her friend at the door. "Yasmeia, oh, I’ve missed seeing you. Come on in, Grammy’s upstairs lying down. I have the intercom on, although there is an aide with her right now just in case she needs something."

"How is she?"

"There’s been no change really, I mean one minute it seems as though she is getting better, but then she begins to wheeze and things. We just have to keep an eye on her. Anyway, you must be tired, let me show you where you can get cleaned up and where your room is. That way you can rest."

"Actually, I do want to get cleaned up, but I’m not tired. I want to get to work on what’s going on at the company, if you don’t mind?"

"No, of course not." Taylor led the woman to her room and showed her the guest bathroom, then left her to get changed. Yasmeia came down a short while later and Taylor met her in the family room. "Feel better Yasmeia?"

"Yes, much. Thank you."

"You're welcome. Here’s some tea for you. Now, have a seat and tell me what's going on?"

"Actually , I’m a little curious?"

"About what?"

"What type of relationship you and Alex had?"

"Yasmeia, we were just friends." Taylor said, trying to be convincing.

"Friends? Hmm...that’s not what I saw."

"What are you talking about?"

"I told Alex what I thought, and she didn’t deny it. Tell me honestly, were you two lovers?"

The light caramel toned, young woman blushed, but lucky for her Yasmeia was focused on her eyes.

"Well?"

Taylor licked her lips, and then gave a look of uncertainty, as her friend answered for her.

"I thought so. I saw how the two of you looked at each other." Yasmeia said knowingly.

"Yasmeia, she didn’t put me in those positions because of that relationship. She did that because she was making sure I didn’t slip back out of her view, and because she wanted my position to match my abilities. We didn’t go into a relationship until afterwards, I give you my word."

"I believe you Taylor, so what happened to cause you to quit?"

"It was ALL my fault for the most part, the other bit was because of Salina."

"I’m sure Alex must have had some part in it?"

"Only after I pulled away from her without telling her the reason. I started avoiding her and I came up with excuses to avoid being intimate with her, only because of my insecurities about such a relationship. I used the excuse of needing to work late or go in early to the office because there she told me we were to be about business only. So I felt I wouldn't have to deal with our private life."

"You mean between two women?"

"Yes, I was raised to believe love is love, but also that, that love was supposed to be between the opposite sexes. I couldn't handle the idea of people looking at me as being strange or something. You know I'm a very...well..."

"Shy?"

Taylor smiled timidly, and then nodded her head as she watched Yasmeia's reaction. "Taylor did you love her?"

"Yes, very much, I still do." She admitted, as tears formed in her eyes at the thought of just how much.

"And I can see that."

"Yes. But she won’t even talk to me. I treated her so...badly, and she hadn’t done ANYTHING wrong, she just wanted to love me. I hurt her, and I won’t ever forgive myself for that, she didn’t deserve it." Taylor said through her tears, as she buried her head in her hands and cried.

Yasmeia moved over to where the girl sat on the sofa, wrapped her arms around her friend's shoulders and hugged her to herself. "It will be all right, I’m sure we can figure something out."

"No!" Taylor said, as she pulled out of Yasmeia’s arms.

"What do you mean?"

"Yasmeia, she won’t talk to me, that’s why I quit, she was giving back to me what I did to her, in spades. She wouldn’t talk to me about the Zadria deal and she made sure I couldn’t get to her, by having Salina screen all calls and visits from me. When I saw her at the house, she avoided me or told me straight out that she didn't want to talk to me. She said there was nothing to say. I had shown her all she needed to see."

"She was hurting, so she was being cold and distant with you."

"I know, and that’s what hurt. I did it because I was being blackmailed by Salina. She did it because she was angry."

"Maybe partly, but I would say it was mainly because she was hurting. A woman like Alexandra isn’t used to giving her heart, and when she does, she doesn’t expect for it to be thrown back in her face." Yasmeia stated as a fact.

Taylor flinched at the truth in Yasmeia’s words. "I know, but she was still wrong to be mean about it, she’s just pouting." Taylor said, with a pout of her own.

"Taylor; you and her are a lot alike. Neither one of you wanted to admit the relationship, albeit for different reasons, and yet you both love each other so very much. Hm...if I were you I would go and tell Alexandra Madison about her behavior. But that’s only me. Anyway, let's talk about Salina and what I know.

Yasmeia began filling her in on what was happening and the girl quickly filed Yasmeia’s suggestion away to think about later, as she now switched her thoughts to those of what she was now being told about Alex’s company. Taylor made the logical assumption that the SEC would soon be getting involved if they suspected Insider Trading. She knew that could be costly to Alex’s companies and it’s stocks, therefore it was unacceptable to her despite what they were just talking about.

"So Salina and Mr. Wellington were heard by you, telling each other that they were going to save his company? And make their money off of Zadria's?"

"Yes, and that they both wanted to get Alex back, and you, what better way?"

"Yes, you're right. What better way than to have the SEC breathing down your neck, while the perpetrators make off scott free. Well, it’s not going to happen. Come on, my grandmother has a computer. We can look up some information on the market, mainly the two stocks to see if either have gone public yet, or if just Zadria’s is still being bought up. We can also see if there are any similarities in the way they are being bought, if both are on the open market."

They sat down at the computer and Taylor pulled up the stock reports. After scanning to find the stock reports she wanted, she and Yasmeia printed out the reports and then looked over them. They saw Zadria’s stock prices had risen, but The Wellington Company’s Stocks were pretty much unchanged from what they had been, if anything they were slowly decreasing in value. "Well Yasmeia, if Salina and Mr. Wellington are doing anything with his company stock, it must be by way of the shareholders."

"Yes, that makes sense. If they haven’t gone public with the announcement to buy stocks, then they're probably using the anonymous list of shareholders to get large blocks of stock first."

"Right, to get as close to the 51% that they would need to save his company from takeover. Hmm...so right now we have to figure out a way to find out if they have contacted any of the shareholders with offers to buy their stocks. If they have, I would think they probably would sell all too fast, especially with the loss of value of the stock." Taylor reasoned.

"Right, because it’s obviously not public knowledge yet that "The Raider" is taking over his company?"

"Exactly, and that would explain why the stock prices on his company have not gone up yet. That would also explain the purpose of the list of shareholders being used, to get as much stock as possible in a short amount of time. By the time they have to go public, they will have most of the 51% of shares they need, and therefore with an open bid for shares, the prices go up. Wellington causes the prices to be so high that Alex will not want to take it over, due to the expense, so he not only saves his company by keeping Alex from wanting it, but also by obtaining the shares needed to save it as well."

"Exactly, and with The Zadria company they had to go public with open bids to buy, because there was no anonymous list to use. All they want to do is try to get as much stock bought up before everyone else figures this out and jumps in to start buying as well. Then the price goes up, and with Salina and Mr. Wellington having a lot of stock in the company, they sell what they have for a huge profit. Once people realize again that there’s been a change, they will now sell because of the selloff that they see happening, thereby insuring that Salina and Mr. Wellington get rich. Zadria's company goes belly up, and Alex’s company goes through an investigation that Wellington and Salina caused, but Alex pays. It’s a good plan, but there is only one problem..."

"What’s that?" Yasmeia asked, impressed by Taylor’s reasoning.

"They weren’t counting on someone having overheard, and us coming up with a plan to stop them, and turn it around on them."

"Hahaha, your absolutely right, and you know what’s even better than that?"

"What?"

"The fact that Alex is going to find out that a certain ex-shy lover will have been instrumental in fixing things. I would think she would have to be pretty....grateful for such help?" Yasmeia said with a wry smirk.

"She’ll be thankful, but that will be about it." Taylor said somberly.

"Okay, so what do we do now?"

"Let me call Marcus. He may be able to help us."

"Okay."

Taylor picked up the phone and called Marcus Shearer’s office.

"Hello, may I speak with Mr. Shearer? This is Taylor Young."

"Oh, hold on Taylor."

"Okay."

A few minutes later Marcus picked up the phone. "Taylor! How are you doing, I really miss you being here with us, especially coming by with that sweet smile and your kind words." Marcus gushed, as he felt the joy of hearing his friend's voice again after so many months.

"I miss you too Marcus, but I think you miss me because you don’t have me to do your reports for you anymore?" Taylor teased. Marcus laughed.

"It is good to hear your voice. What can I do for you? Or is this purely a social call?"

"It’s business, I need your help."

"What can I do?"

Taylor went into what she and Yasmeia were doing and what they needed. She told him about the list of names, going through them until she got to a Mrs. N. Funchess. She was known as a very dynamic woman who seemed to have great foresight into the needs of people around her. Especially for children who were being warehoused in hospitals just waiting to die from whatever their illnesses were. She took these infants in and provided the love they needed. To the amazement of even the doctors, the children were now thriving, and in school and learning, just because of the love that was provided to them.

"Wait...I know her, she’s a friend of mine." Marcus said, stopping the girl. "I can make a call to her to see if she’s been approached by anyone offering to buy her stock in The Wellington company."

"Great! Give her a call and let me know what you find out. That will tell me if what I suspect is happening."

"Okay, I’ll call you as soon as I talk to her. Give me the number to your grandmother’s again so I can call you right back."

Taylor gave the number, then hung up the phone and told Yasmeia what was happening. The two then waited for Marcus to call them back. Marcus, in the meantime, pulled up his phone list and dialed the woman’s number. "Hello?" Came a woman’s voice on the other end.

"Ms. Funchess? It’s me, Marcus Shearer."

"Oh, yes Marcus, how are you doing?"

"Fine, thank you for asking."

"So Mr. Shearer, what can I do for you?"

"Well first of all, do you still hold shares in The Wellington Company?"

"Yes, why?"

"Well I have a client who is interested in acquiring stock, and I told her I would look around to see if anyone had any they wanted to sell."

"Marcus you know you're the second person to call me asking me about my stock and if I was interested in selling?"

"Really, who else called you?"

"Some woman name Baker. She wanted to buy all of my stock in that company. She even offered me 10% above market price."

"And..."

"And of course my red flags went up. So...tell me why all the sudden interest in that stock, is your boss going after it?"

"I haven’t heard anything like that. A friend just asked me to find stock for her, so I told her I would make some calls. I take it you haven’t sold your shares to that other person?"

"Right, and I think I will hold on to it for the time being, just to see what develops."

"Well that’s fine, I don’t have a problem with that, but thanks for the conversation, tell your family I said hello"?"

"I will Marcus, talk to you later."

"so long Marcus." Marcus then hung up the phone and nodded his head in satisfaction. He picked up the phone again and dialed Taylor at her grandmother’s.

"Hello?"

"Taylor?"

"Yes, Marcus! What did you find out?"

"Well it seems that some woman going by the last name of Baker, called Mrs. Funchess, offering to buy her shares at a higher price then what the current market is. So I would have to say that it is Salina and Mr. Wellington, and they are indeed buying up the shares from the shareholders first before they go public with their offer to buy."

"Yes, that’s it. Thanks Marcus, I’ll be in touch okay?

"I won’t Taylor, take care."

"I will, oh, and Marcus, please don’t say anything to anyone about this, especially Ms. Madison. it could mess everything up?"

"Now Taylor, I’m surprised you even had to say that."

"I know I didn’t, I was just making sure it still went?"

"It does, we’re friends, and I’m always here for you."

"Thank you Marcus. I’ll talk to you soon."

"Okay, and I will let you know if I hear anything around here, mainly from your FRIEND."

"Great! And don’t insult yourself by calling her a friend of mine. That reflects on all of you as my friends, and diminishes the quality of my true friends." Taylor said, with a lightness in her tone.

"All right Taylor." The man said, catching the hint."

Taylor laughed, and once again thanked her friend, before saying goodbye to him and hanging up. Then she turned to Yasmeia.

"Okay, it’s what we were thinking. They are buying up the stocks from the shareholders on the list. Now we just have to keep getting more proof, but maybe you can talk to Alex?"

"I don’t know, she doesn’t want to talk to me either."

"Why is that Yasmeia?"

"Because I told her what I thought about the two of you. From that point on she has not so much as spoken to me except to tell me that she didn't have time, and she’s had enough of my talking."

"Hmm...well I can’t imagine why she wouldn’t won’t to hear this?" But she is excellent at shutting out people isn’t she?"

"I’m sure she would, but right now she’s hurting and anything, coming from anyone, that knows you, they are put out, and yes, she is very good at shutting people out when she chooses to do that."

"Okay, well we’ll have to think of something else." The two stayed up late two nights in a row trying to figure out how to get to Alex, without being intercepted by Salina. They even tried calling Alex, but Salina picked up and when Yasmeia asked to speak to the woman, she was told that she was in a meeting and could not be disturbed. So they decided they would have to try something else.

"Okay, since we can’t reach her by phone, maybe we should go and talk to her in person?"

"Do you really want to be on the receiving end of her temper, if we basically bum rush her?"

"No, I guess not. We will have to try to get the information into the right hands. Besides, it may be better that we didn’t get through?"

"Taylor?"

"No, I mean, if Alex knew that Salina was messing with her companies, she would probably wipe the floor with her...literally?"

"Hmm.....you're right, who knows what power she has and how she would use it against someone messing with her company's good name."

"Okay, so, what shall we do?"

"I’m not sure." Yasmeia admitted.

"Hmmm...I know!! Why don’t we just contact the SEC ourselves and give them the information that we have. That way maybe they can start an investigation?"

"Investigation? Taylor I thought we were trying to stop an investigation?" Yasmeia asked with concern at the girl’s suggestion.

"We are."

"Then I’m lost?"

"Okay, here’s what I’m thinking. We will tell the SEC what we have, and tell them that Alex had nothing to do with this. That two people are trying to get revenge against her for her trying to takeover Mr. Wellington's company, and Salina is just doing it out of greed and spitefulness."

"Okay..."

"Then they will launch an investigation of Salina and Mr. Wellington, without them knowing about it. Also the SEC will not have to release Alex’s company's name to the media, because it will no longer be a business that is dealing in insider trading, but two private citizens who happen to be in the business community?"

"OH!! All right, right, the SEC can only keep the name of the company confidential for so long. With this information, Alex's companies are no longer the focus. In fact, Mr.

Wellington's company becomes the focus, because he is the owner of his company. I love it Taylor! It’s brilliant. I always knew you were smart, and I know Alex knows it as well, otherwise she would have not kept you as her Personal Assistant, no matter how cute you are." Yasmeia said with a smile.

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"Being my friend and Alex’s."

"She’s my boss, I like my job, plus I get excellent benefits." Yasmeia finished with a humorous smirk.

"Oh so you do like her?"

"I admire her success...and yes, I do like her. I’ve known her for a while, but I never really saw the other side of her, until you happened into her life. Then I saw a soft, caring side that really suits her."

"I think so too." Taylor said, with a longing tone in her voice.

"I know it’s hard to think about someone you love, but not be able to be there with them. But...look at it this way, this may be a way to get her attention. You don’t think you have the courage to face her in person, which I’m not criticizing, I know first hand how intimidating she is, and I know it’s worse for someone like you who isn’t used to it. Although I would think you are a little more used to it now?"

"Maybe a little. Anyway, it’s late, let’s get something to eat and then I can go check on my grandmother, before I turn in for the night.

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