Things happen for a reas.., p.20
Things Happen For a Reason, page 20
“Like Renee and Ebony, I know that daddy really hurt you two. Both of you must find it in your heart to forgive him emotionally and physically. You guys are rich, beautiful, and have careers and lives. Just imagine how God can bless you once you let all that go.”
While Landon was telling everyone what was happening between him and Ben, he warned them what Ben might do and the plan to stop him from behaving like a spoiled CEO bully.
Ben was doing just as Landon predicted; he was getting things in place, rearranging the company, so he could go ahead and fire Nysa and Larry. He would also let Larry’s whole department go after the company got done with Landon’s two projects. Ben wanted to have all this set up before his wedding, which was a couple months away. It would take at least two months for this to get done. Ben had all the paperwork drawn up; he had gotten the people all aligned for Landon, so he could hire people in the places of Larry’s people he would fire.
It had been a month since Ben and Landon had their heated conversation. Ben had been trying to contact Landon and explain things to him on a voice mail, but Landon would reply, “If you didn’t call or text to apologize to me, then we have nothing to say to each other.” This upset Ben, so all the drama really began when the paperwork and departure packages were set up.
Two months after Landon confronted Ben, Nysa was headed to work. While she was on her way in, Landon called her. “Hey, baby.”
“Nysa, why didn’t you let me know that you were leaving for work this morning?” Landon asked.
“Because you looked so peaceful while sleeping, and I didn’t want to wake you,” Nysa said.
“Nysa, are you at the office yet?”
“Yes, sweetie. I just got here; I am heading upstairs now. I will call you when I get to my office.”
“Ok.”
After getting out of bed, Landon called Troy. “Hey, what’s up, bro?”
“Nothing really, just waking up. Ebony and I got back in town about 3 hours ago. The flight from London was long,” Troy said.
“Well, Troy, go back to sleep. I will need you to help me finish writing this code for The Destroyer. We have a little more to do it, before it can be tested.”
“Ok. Give me about five hours to get some sleep. Then I will head over there,” Troy said.
“Ok, Troy. I will see you then.”
After the conversation with Troy, Landon got a call from Nysa.
“Hello,” Landon said.
“Yeah, sweetie, you were right about your father. I just received a letter from HR telling me to come down to the office. They wouldn’t even let me in my office,” Nysa said.
“Ok, Nysa. Don’t trip; just play along. I will meet you down there,” Landon said.
Landon texted Troy and told him that they would have to meet up later. Then he called his lawyer, uncle Larry, Renee, and Ebony, to tell them what was about to happen. Landon’s Lawyer told him to meet them in his office.
After some hours, Larry and Landon met Tony, Landon’s lawyer, at his law firm. Tony drew up a cease-and-desist letter stopping all actions of the CEO of Washington Inc. due to authorization to terminate or dismiss any executive personnel without any proper cause. If most stockholders see fit, they could put the process on hold until a proper investigation has been completed. Landon had the paperwork drawn up, and it was delivered to Ben by a carrier.
Ben received the letter, and when he read it, he became so upset that he smashed his coffee mug and broke his glass door.
Landon had just arrived to meet Nysa in the lobby at Washington Inc. “Well, I am pretty sure that my father is very pissed right now,” Landon said.
“Well, of course, he is. You just blocked his authority in a major way! Landon, you know, he will try and stop you,” Nysa said.
“I know he will, but he won’t be able to since Renee, Ebony, and Uncle Larry sold their shares to me. I now own more shares than my father does. He has no power to fire anybody,” Landon said.
Just as Landon said that, his phone went off; it was a call from Tony. “Hey, Tony. Any word from my father’s lawyer yet,” Landon asked.
“No, not yet. But we did get a very interesting letter from your father. He said he does not care about some damn cease-and-desist letter. He is going ahead with his plan and changes within his own company,” Tony said.
“Tony, I want you to set a meeting up with my father as soon as possible,” Landon said.
“Ok. I will send the message.”
Immediately after the call, Tony sent the message to Ben’s lawyers, eventually conveying it to Ben.
“Who in the hell does Larry think he is?” Ben said.
“Sir, Mr. Washington, this is not from your brother but your son Landon!” Ben’s lawyer said.
“Really! Ok, set up the meeting!”
Ben and his lawyer set the meeting for 3 months out; this would give him enough time and a chance to prove to the board that Larry and Nysa have been doing a horrible job and should be fired.
While Ben was trying to stir up some mess, Landon was never worried. Over that period, Landon took Nysa out to dinner and a Broadway show. They went out on a pre-honeymoon; this was the first time they had been out since they married 5 months ago. Landon and Nysa were having a good time enjoying each other’s company, laughing, and playing with each other, doing what newlyweds do. While they were sitting in this restaurant, Nysa started asking some questions about Ben!
“Landon, what do you think your father will do after you present him with your proposal?” Nysa said.
“I think he will become really angry. He is not used to anybody telling him what he can and cannot do. He has been running the company for a long time, so this will be very interesting. Let’s not talk about my father or this mess. Let’s just enjoy the rest of the night together.”
Chapter 28
Three months later, Landon got up early to get all of his information ready, and Nysa got a chance to stay in bed and relax. Since her job was in limbo right now, she would take it easy for a while.
“So, Mrs. Washington, what do you have planned for the rest of the day?” Landon asked, smiling.
“I will lounge around, maybe do a little shopping, hold that thought for a minute!” Nysa said and suddenly ran into the restroom.
“Babe, are you ok?” Landon said.
“Yes. I’m fine. I think I ate something last night that didn’t agree with me.”
“Nysa, are you sure you are, ok?”
“Yes, Landon. I’m ok. Stop worrying about me, ok!” Nysa said as she pulled Landon close to her and gave him a kiss.
“Alright. I was just worrying!”Landon said.
“Anyways, big head, to answer your question from earlier, I will am going to Mama before you, Uncle Larry, and everybody else kills me,” Nysa said, rolling her eyes. “Landon, please call me when you are done with your meeting. I really want to know what happens.”
“Ok, sweetie. I will call you and let you know what happens,” Landon said. He then got in the car and called Larry.
“Hey, Uncle Larry. Do you want me to come and pick you up?”
“No, Landon, I will meet you there. As a matter of fact, I am right around the corner!”
In about 10 minutes, Landon met his uncle Larry and his lawyer there in the lobby. Tony went over the details, prepared them, and let them know that this could be a long process.
“My father needs to be taught a lesson. I really didn’t want to do this. I told him not to provoke me. But he just would not listen; he is very hardheaded and stubborn,” Landon said.
“Landon, you can be stubborn sometimes,” Larry said, laughing. “But in this case, your father needs to be taught a lesson, so let’s go and see if he will back down.”
Landon, Larry, and Tony all headed up to the conference room to meet Ben and his lawyers. To Landon’s and Larry’s surprise, Ben had the entire broad in the conference room. “Well, come right in, gentlemen and have a seat so we can get this over as quickly as possible,” Ben said.
“Daddy, this was supposed to be a private meeting!” Landon said.
“Well, son, your letter said the majority shareholder. Everyone knows that the majority shareholder is me. Besides, I wanted the board to be at this meeting to show how a poor management job my brother has been doing, so I can have a legit reason to let him go.”
“Daddy, we were trying to keep all of this hush-hush. But since you made it a point to include the board, what is about to happen is not our fault. Daddy, you are not the majority shareholder. I am now!”
“Landon, what are you talking about? Everybody knows I own 45 percent of the company’s stock.” Landon handed Ben the paperwork that proved that he now owned 55 percent of the company. On seeing this, Ben’s mouth dropped.
“Now that we got that cleared up and got it out of the way, let’s get down to business, shall we? As the majority shareholder of the company, it has come to my attention that the CEO has started termination procedures and is also trying to restructure the company. The company is doing very well. We are on the verge of making more money this year than ever. I don’t see the need to restructure the company at all. Also, this is a violation of our company policy and conduct.
“The CEO was sent a cease-and-desist by the majority shareholder. But the CEO chose to ignore this request. Therefore, I am asking that CEO be removed from his position on the grounds of illegal actions such as this. The CEO has been dealing with illegal deals and stock trades, also bids and so on….”
“Hold It! Hold it!” Landon was cut off by Ben’s Lawyer. “Will the members of the board please step out? Ben, I need to speak to you for a couple of minutes,” Keith said.
Ben was at the other end of the room, looking surprised and stunned. Keith talked to Ben and tried to figure out what was going on, and they came back to the table.
“Okay, so what are your terms?” Ben asked.
“It is simple, daddy; you need to step down as CEO of Washington Inc. If you don’t step down, this will be sent to the prosecutor, and your reputation will be ruined. You will be facing at least 30 years in jail for this. Daddy, you thought I was joking. I told you that if you tried to fire Uncle Larry and my wife, this would happen. I even gave you a chance to save your job, being stubborn like I know you are. But you ignored it like I knew you would,” Landon said.
“SO NOW YOU EXPECT ME TO STEP DOWN AS CEO OF A COMPANY THAT I BUILT?” Ben yelled.
“No, Daddy, you just took over the company after grandpa stepped down. Grandpa was the one who built this company,” Landon said.
“LANDON, ARE YOU REALLY DOING THIS TO YOUR OWN FATHER?”
“Yes, daddy, I am. You know why I am doing this. Even when you didn’t apologize for insulting Sarah or Nysa. This could have all been avoided; all you had to do was back down. When we sent you the cease-and-dismiss letter, you wanted to go ahead and show how much power you have. So yes, daddy, you have 48 hours to step down from being CEO. You will be given a package of 45 billion dollars. If you don’t step down any time soon, I will send the prosecutor this file with everything you have done over the past 45 years,” Landon said as he walked out of the room.
“Larry! Larry! You put Landon up to this, didn’t you?” Ben said.
“I didn’t put Landon up to anything. Ben, I told you that you were going to go too far one day. Why, Ben? Why did you have to go and break Landon and Sarah up?” Larry asked.
“I was trying to stop him from making the biggest mistake of his life. Then he went to make another one!”
“Are you talking about Nysa?” Larry asked.
“No wonder Landon hit you. I would have hit you too. I love you, big brother. I really do. You need to let all of that hate go. I really feel sorry for you,” Larry said as he walked out of the conference room.
Landon reached for his phone and dialed Nysa’s number. “Hey, baby!”
“Hey, honey. How did it go?” Nysa asked.
“Well, daddy has 48 hours to step down. So, all we can do now is wait and see what my father tries to do to stop it.”
“Good. I am getting ready to leave my mother’s house. Do you want to go out for dinner tonight or stay in?” Nysa said.
“How about we stay in and have the chef cook us something special to eat tonight?” Landon said.
“What If I cooked us something special tonight! I really enjoyed helping Joy with the cooking when we were over there,” Nysa said.
“Ok, it’s a date.”
“Cool. I will get started!” Nysa said.
Meanwhile, back at the office, Ben and Keith were trying to figure out how to keep Ben from losing his job and going to jail.
“Ben, I don’t see any other way around this,” Keith said.
“They have some concrete evidence on you and me. Keith, I thought you said nobody could find out about this,” Ben said, looking down.
“Look, Ben. I had those documents on a secure server, which was very well hidden. I don’t know how Landon got his hands on them. I don’t see any other options; you will have to take this deal. Half of the board heard what Landon was saying about you. If this gets out, you will be ruined, the company’s name will be ruined, and the stock will plummet. That 45 billion is a really good deal,” Keith said.
“45 BILLION? I AM WORTH THREE TIMES THAT. I AM NOT SETTLING FOR 45 BILLION DOLLARS,” Ben said.
“Ben, if you try to fight this, not only will you lose, but you ALSO will be lucky to walk away with 1 million dollars. That’s if you don’t go to jail. Take the deal,” Keith said.
“Really?” Ben softly said.
“If you don’t take this deal, I am done with you. I will have to go and cut a deal for myself. I can’t do things like we have been doing for the past 45 years. If you don’t take this deal, Ben, I will do what I have to do to protect myself.”
“I never thought after all these years that the one person that would ruin Ben Washington and make him speechless would be his own son. Ben, don’t overthink it or try to come up with any loopholes. Just take the deal, or you will go to jail,” Keith said as he walked out of Ben’s office.
Right after Keith left the office, Ben quickly reached for his phone to call Lisa.
“Hey, sweetie,” Lisa said.
“Hey, Lisa,” said Ben said, sounding somewhat gloomy.
“What’s wrong? How did the meeting go?”
“Not so good. I thought Larry was behind this but came to find out my own son arranged the whole thing.”
“I am so sorry, baby. Are you going to be okay?”
“Yes, I will be.”
“Well, I know what would make you feel better,” Lisa said, wearing a faint smile.
“What’s that?” Ben asked, sounding interested.
“Me in my wedding dress.”
On hearing this, Ben burst into laughing.
“Sweetie, don’t worry about Landon. He will come around eventually!”
“Lisa, don’t tell me anything about my son. I know what he will and won’t do!” Ben said, and Lisa angrily hung up the phone. “Damn it!” Ben added, slapping his office desk.
After some minutes, Ben was on his way to the store where Lisa was trying on wedding dresses. While he was over there, he wondered how things would have turned out if he had handled them differently. What would the outcome be? While Ben was lost in his thoughts, Lisa sighted him and quickly turned away from him.
“Lisa! Lisa! Wait! I am sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you. I really am sorry,” said Ben, holding Lisa’s hand.
“Ben, I know you had a bad day, but that does not give you the right to yell and take out on me.”
“You’re right, and I am truly sorry.”
Sitting on a couch at the store, Ben told Lisa everything, not just what happened at the meeting but all he had done over the last 45 years.
“Honey, I think you should take the deal. 45 billion is a very good deal. I know how much you love your son. Take the deal and step down from being CEO of the company. Try to fix things with your son,” advised Lisa.
“Ok! I will take the deal,” said Ben, pushing for a kiss.
Landon had taken a couple of days off, and Nysa was waiting to see when she could return to work. Since Nysa’s return to work all rested on Ben stepping down, she still had a little free time. So, she and Landon went to Boston to see Lori.
As Landon and Nysa pulled up in Frank’s driveway, you could hear Lori calling their names. “Daddy! Mommy!” she shouted, running with her arms stretched out. Frank and Joy came out to hug Landon and Nysa and helped with their bags.
“Hey sweetie, why don’t you go play with mommy and grandma? Daddy has to talk to grandpa about something, ok?” Landon said, gently placing Lori on the floor as he planted a kiss on her forehead.
“Ok, Daddy,” Lori said in her tiny voice as she ran toward Nysa and Joy.
“So, how are things going with your father,” asked Frank.
“We should have his answer by tomorrow morning,” Landon answered. “I also want to thank you and Joy for being patient with Nysa and me. I love my daughter, and I wanted her to feel comfortable when she is with Nysa and me.”
“You don’t have to thank me. Take as much time as you need. By the way, I love spending time with my granddaughter; it gives me an excuse to leave work early,” said Frank, chuckling.
“What is this rumor that I keep hearing? Are you and Nysa already married?” Frank added, raising his brows.
“I am going to kill Gary!” Landon said as he laughed.
“It wasn’t Gary that told me. It was your uncle, Larry. I thought that you guys were going to wait.”
“Well, the wedding is still on.”
“Landon, I am so proud and happy for you.”
“Thank you, Frank. Can you and Joy keep Lori for a little while longer? We will be moving in after the wedding! My father might make all of this very difficult. I don’t want Lori in the middle of any of this.”
“Sure. Just let me know if you need my help,” said Frank. He and Landon then joined Nysa and Joy in the living room, where they were playing with Lori. As Landon tried to reach for Lori, his phone rang. Shocked as to who might be calling him at such an hour, Landon quickly reached for his phone to find out it was a call from his lawyer, Tony.
