Subject: Chapter 13 |
Author:
Mary
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Date Posted: Wednesday, August 31, 05:47:57pm
In reply to:
Mary
's message, "The Healing Touch II Chapter 8 +" on Monday, August 15, 08:09:01pm
Chapter 13
Michael sat looking at her as she ran her fingers through her long blonde hair in frustration, her eyes were slightly glassy and grayish in hue instead of the normal bright blue. They had been in her apartment going over the financial documents of Marcali for hours now.
“Nikita, we’ve done enough.”
“But right now based on what I see I have no other choice but to continue with the takeover. There just has to be something here.”
Her voice held frustration and it tore at his heart to hear it. He knew that the Powers That Be at Section and Center had set this up too well for there to be something left to chance. No the takeover would have to continue. All he could do is hope to protect Nikita throughout what they had to face. “There’s not. It’s time for you to get some rest. I have to get back to Hungary, before I am missed.”
Her face fell at the thought of him leaving, he watched as she tried to cover it up but he had seen the dismay in her eyes, and the droop of her small shoulders. “I’m sorry Kita. But I can’t stay. I have to be in Nikolai’s office by noon tomorrow. That doesn’t leave me much time.”
“No I understand Michael.” She immediately began picking up papers and stacking them, putting her laptop away, anything to not have to look at him. She was shutting down, pulling away from him, so that she could bear to let him go. He watched her and she was so fragile right now, like a strong wind could blow her over, and he just became that strong wind.
He reached over and took her busy hands in his instantly stilling her, “I don’t want to leave you. Please believe me. I just want to stay here and hold you and make love to you. But I can’t. I have to deal with this situation, keep you safe, and then find a way for us to be together.”
He watched as tears welled in her eyes at his words and traveled down her cheeks, “It’s impossible Michael. Look I have money, access to lots of money. Why can’t we run? Just disappear.”
She was clutching at scenarios in her desperation and he needed to calm her down, somehow. He was used to dealing with impossible situations, she was not. “Nikita, look at me.” He framed her face with his hands and made her look directly into his eyes, “We cannot run from these people. There is no where that we could hide that they couldn’t find us. You will have to trust me. I will find another way. In the meantime we continue to do our jobs. Can you do that?”
He waited while she looked into his eyes and saw the raw honesty that they reflected, “I can try.”
“That’s all I ask.” He pulled her back against him and held her for a while. They were precious moments that he didn’t really have to spare and yet she needed to feel him, to know that he was real and that they would get through this. Once again he felt completely torn in two – he had to get back to Hungary before Cecelia got too curious about his location, yet he was also needed right here holding the precious woman that he loved more than anything who was terrified of what was happening around her.
He watched as she closed her eyes and felt her stiffen as she was gathering her strength within herself. When she looked back up at him she seemed more focused and somewhat stronger, “You should go.”
“Will you be all right?”
“Yes. I think I will. Will we keep in touch with the PDA?”
“Yes, don’t go anywhere without it. I can find you anywhere as long as you have that PDA with you.”
“All right.”
He released her and gathered his things, putting on his coat. She straightened his coat lapels and brushed off an invisible piece of lint, “You be careful.”
He took her in a hug and lay her head on his shoulder, “I will, I promise. You too. Just do your job like you normally would. I’ll take care of everything else.”
“Do you know when we will see each other again?”
“Most likely it will be during the negotiations for the merger.”
“God, that will be so hard, seeing you that way.”
“You can do this Nikita. I know you can.”
“I will Michael, for you, for us.”
He kissed her deeply, drinking from her, taking her scent and taste to memory so that he could pull it up from his subconscious whenever he needed it. Leaving her was tearing him apart and he had to somehow know that she was still there, still loved him, was still Nikita.
*****
Grey Wellman did not like what he was about to do but he really had little choice. He had no doubt that his life was on the line and she would order his cancellation if he did not get Nikita to Hungary on time.
Mick knocked on the door and entered the opulent office with a typical smile. “I got your call. What is it that Mick can do for you today?”
Grey wasted no time on pleasantries. He didn’t have the time for them. In a clipped voice he informed Mick with a sneer, “Sit down. I want Nikita in Hungary at a meeting with Marcali Industries and you are going to help me.”
Realizing quickly that Grey was now in operative mode, Mick made the switch, “What’s the profile?”
“She’ll be told this morning by me that the meeting will take place in two days and you will make all the arrangements for her to leave tomorrow night. There can be no backing out of this. She has been stalling for some reason and it has to stop.”
“Stalling? Nikita?”
“Yes. This merger must happen on schedule. We are three days behind and Alexandria is not happy.”
“Alexandria?” Mick barely managed to squeak out her name. She terrified him in every way imaginable.
“Yes Alexandria. You know what that means.”
Mick was clearly flustered by this news, “Yes. Yes, I do.”
Grey had been up most of the night, he was impatient and irritable this morning and Mick was a perfect target. “Then get it done, and get it done fast. And you are going with her.”
“To Hungary? Me?”
He could care less about Mick’s outrage, “Yes - you.”
“Why? Travel was never mentioned as part of this assignment. I don’t think…”
“There were lots of things that were never mentioned as part of your assignment, and I don’t care about what you think. Now we have a job to do and that job is to get that bitch to Hungary in two days. I don’t care what it takes. You know the penalty if we don’t pull this off.”
“Yeah. Yeah I know. Let’s not pull out the threats and such again.”
“Then do the fucking job. She won’t tolerate a mistake at this stage.”
*****
At the same time Nikolai Marcali sat in his office and pondered the options placed before him by his trusted advisers. He had been fully briefed on Nikita Wirth, heiress to the Wolfe fortune that was interested in his company. He knew that the company was vulnerable to a potential takeover threat but he hadn’t anticipated a move by someone as large as Wolfe. The last thing we wanted was anyone getting into his company business.
He had a lot of very dangerous people that he supplied and he made a lot of money doing it. Not that he necessarily believed in their causes, for in reality he could care less, but he did enjoy the power that he held and the money that he made. He had been taught since childhood that money and power were equals and he intended to obtain as much of both as he possibly could.
So this takeover attempt could not be allowed.
He pulled up the file on his laptop of the analysis done by the very reputable Michael Samuelle that had been brought in to consult as an expert in corporate takeovers. Nikolai was not pleased with the final analysis done by his consultant. While he agreed that the work was excellent, it failed to take in the full picture of the Marcali organization. He had studied Mr. Samuelle’s credentials very carefully before he ever allowed him into his company. His references and work history were impeccable. They showed a driven man, and Nikolai liked driven men. He realized that he needed to do two things. First, he needed to make Mr. Samuelle understand that his company was much more than it appeared on the surface and that if he did as instructed he would be a very wealthy man.
The second thing he would need to do would be to deter Ms. Nikita Wirth in her endeavors to do business with his company. If she could not be deterred, then she would be eliminated.
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