Ch. 226..230: Fatal Kiss Of The Vampire Chapter 226-230

Chapter 226: I Won’t Give You Any Chance To Defeat Me

One of the more level headed shareholders looked around the table and said, “Let’s not all lose our heads now. We are going through a rough spot now. Nothing more. Our captain is not well, but he will recover and take back his rightful place at the table. When that happens, we can send this little puppy back from whence she came. Once we talk to Laurence, I am sure that we can collectively convince him to keep Khloe out of our business. After all, he is a reasonable man, and he knows how to make this business get back on track,”

The man looked at Kylie and said, “Where are we at, at this very moment?”

Kylie smiled and said, “The opening price of Garcia Entertainment today is one dollar and ten cents per share in the stock market. It was gradually decreasing its value. It is lower than it has been in the past twelve months, but let’s not forget that it has dropped down to thirty-eight cents in previous years – but we came back in a big way! If the trend continues to fall and you decide to sell in two months, you will definitely lose money. If you stay on board for the long haul, though, I do believe that we will recover again – in a big way! We still have enough time to cope up everything,”

Hearing this, Khloe was stunned. She had no idea that Kylie was so knowledgeable. She leaned back and whispered in Duncan’s ear: ‘What do you think?”

Duncan whispered back: “She knows her shit. Her advice sounds good. I don’t think any of this will finish in your favor… You should think another way to defeat her,”

Khloe frowned and said, “Even if my plans are foiled if the old man gets better and the company springs back, there is still the chance that I can win her over to my way of thinking…”

Khloe had no choice but to backpedal. She knew that if they took a vote against her today and came back unanimous, their desires would supersede those of her or her father. She looked at the shareholder’s and said, “Kylie’s intel is correct. There is a good chance that the company will spring back. In the meantime, before I make any big decisions, I will try to consult with as many of you as possible,”

“If you do wish to sell your stocks right now, though,” Khloe continued, “I would like to offer to pay 10% higher than the market price. If you guys would analyze it better, this should show you how much I believe in the company. At the right time, Garcia Entertainment will definitely bring us more fortune,”

As soon as Khloe finished talking, one of the older shareholders stood up. He pointed at Khloe, and then at Kylie. He frowned and said, “I don’t trust either of you. You are both kin to Laurence, and yet you both appear to be at odds with each other. Something seems fishy to me about that. It is almost as though the two of you were in cahoots with each other to gain full control of this company… This sounds ridiculous and gives us second thought to give up,”

One of the other shareholders looked at the sisters and said, “I suggest we all step into the next room and discuss this without the ladies,”

One by one, the shareholders nodded and slipped out of the room.

Once they were gone, one of Laurence’s peons looked at Khloe and said, “Miss Flinch, since Laurence handed the company over to you, that means he trusts you. You should trust your instinct and do what you think is right. If you weren’t capable, Laurence wouldn’t have put this responsibility on you. Because Laurence trusted you, we do too. We believe that you could lead Garcia Entertainment to a new higher step.”

Khloe looked at them for their kind words. She pretended to act knowledgeable, in fact, she was lacking knowledge on how to manage the company.

The shareholders returned, and, as soon as they were seated, one of them stood up and said, “We have spoken about this, and there is no doubt in our minds that when Laurence comes back to work, he will be proud of you again. That being said, I need money. My wife is ill. I plan to take her abroad to see a specialist, and that is very expensive. Furthermore, there a number of others who are tapped out for various other reasons.”

“Although I hate to leave the company,” he continued, “I feel that I must take you up on your offer.”

Khloe smiled. Since Kylie had attained a large number of stocks, she knew that the only way to compete with Kylie properly would be to buy up as much as she could.

Kylie smiled sadly and said, “We will definitely be sad to see you go. This group has come to feel like a family to me. That being said, I recognize that you are in a time of need, and I am very happy that I am in a position to help you all out. My lawyer will draw up the papers by the end of the day and fax them to your lawyers. It has been good knowing you.”

Once the business was completed, everybody began to leave until, finally, Khloe was alone with Kylie. She laughed at Kylie and said, “Your defeat is imminent. Why don’t you jump ship while you are able? Today, I will extend the offer that I made to everyone else, to you. Let me know by the end of the day. At 5 PM, though, I will withdraw my offer. You should give up and save your face sister,”

Kylie chuckled and said, “The game has just begun to get interesting. Why would I quit? You know that I am much better than you. Let’s find out who will win at the end. I won’t give you any chance to defeat me, dear sister,”

Chapter 227: We Can Defeat Them

Once Kylie was alone, she called Ethan and asked him if Khloe had enough money to buy out all of the shareholders at an inflated rate. Ethan explained that she didn’t. Even with Alice’s assets attached to her own, their total worth was under five hundred thousand dollars.

He said, “I cannot imagine how she hopes to come up with enough money. Of course, she could sell their home, but where would they live if she did?”

“Do you still have my back? I mean, if things went worse, will you still be giving your support to me?” Kylie wondered.

“Of course I do. I am your husband, and all I wanted is to make you happy,” Ethan replied.

Kylie smiled and said, “That is good. Between you and me, I have no doubt in my mind that we can’t get the best of Laurence and Khloe! I really wanted to take back everything that belongs to me,”

Ethan sighed and said, “Honey, just relax. We can defeat them. I will be your strength and will give you the best things you deserve. Hey, I have a lot of things to settle down here. See you later on,”

“Okay. Ethan, thank you so much for assuring me that you’ll never turn your back on me,”

“Of course! I love you. Bye!”

As Ethan hung up, he turned to Nate and said, “I need you to keep a very close eye on the stock market and do everything in your power to drive the stocks for Garcia Entertainment into the ground.”

“Yes, sir,” Nate replied as he rotated his key ring on his finger. He smiled and stood up. As he was leaving, he turned back and said, “What about you and Kylie…”

Ethan scowled and said, “Get out. You have a job to do.”

Nate hung his head low as he exited Ethan’s office. The elevator opened as he arrived but, before he got on, he looked up to find Matthew standing beside him. He glanced at Nate, scowled, and strode back in the direction of Ethan’s office. Much to his dismay, Matthew followed him. “Hey,” he called, “Wait up!”

Ethan was opening a document when he heard two people quarreling outside of his office. He stopped what he was doing and tried to discern who was fighting. After a moment, he recognized the voices of Matthew and Nate. It seemed that Matthew wanted to get into his office, but Nate was refusing him admission, as he had been instructed to do.

“I need to see him,” Matthew persisted. “It is important.”

“I am sorry,” Nate replied. “Ethan was clear that he didn’t want any visitors.”

“If he knew why I was here,” Matthew hissed, “he would want you to let me in. At the very least, would you let him know that I am here and that I have something important to discuss with him?”

“I am sorry,” Nate replied, “but when Ethan says that he wants to be left alone, he doesn’t even want to see me. Do you understand? Can’t you just give him a phone call or send him an email?”

Matthew sighed, and for a second, Nate thought that he’d accepted defeat. He realized that he was wrong when he pushed him aside, lunged for the door, and opened it a crack. Matthew moved quickly to pull the door closed, but Matthew had been able to shove his foot in between the floor and the door to keep it open.

Ethan looked up and met Matthew’s eyes with his own. He chuckled and called out to Nate: “You may as well let him in.”

Matthew straightened his clothes as he walked into Ethan’s office. “If you really want to keep people out,” he chuckled, “you should lock the door.”

“I will consider your advice in the future,” Laurence replied as pointed to the chair under the window. “Have a seat. Let’s hear what is so important.”

Mathew sat down and said, “It will be old Parker’s 80th birthday in a few days. Do you have any idea of how we should celebrate?”

Ethan ignored the question and asked one of his own: “Seeing how this office was yours once upon a time, it must feel strange to be in it and to see it redecorated to my tastes.”

“I like it,” Matthew lied. “This isn’t uncomfortable for me at all.”

Ethan looked at Matthew and said, “I heard that Aiden wants to hold his wedding at the same time as his father’s birthday. Is that true? I don’t think that I would want to share my marriage ceremony with someone’s birthday. But if this is only a few days away, shouldn’t these details have been dealt with by now?”

“We procrastinated,” Matthew admitted. “Maybe it would be best to keep the two events separate. Do you have any ideas for the birthday party?”

“You know him much better than I do,” Ethan said. “Think of some of the things that he likes to do and arrange the party around at least one of them. You might want to have a theme, maybe: EIGHTY YEARS YOUNG!

“Easier said than done,” Matthew sighed as he pulled a cigarette from his pocket. He looked at Ethan and asked him if he minded him smoking. “Go ahead,” Ethan replied.

Matthew lit the cigarette, took a deep drag on it, and said: “I know that it falls on the eldest son to pay for everything, but business is not going very well at the moment…”

Ethan waved his hand and said, “Never mind. You don’t need to beg. I will help. Consider it my gift to the old man. I will send an e-transfer of half a million dollars into your account as soon as possible.”

Matthew was shocked when he heard the amount of money that Ethan had agreed to send. Finally, he said, “I suppose I should get going. You should know that I’ve arranged for someone to do a field survey for the coastal development project that you are responsible for. If the geology is consistent with our original estimates, then I will definitely support it.”

 

Chapter 228: Matthew’s Advice

Matthew turned back to Ethan on his way out. He said, “Ethan, you’ve looked exhausted lately. Please don’t take on more than you can handle. You aren’t as young as you once were. Save some of your energy to enjoy the more pleasurable things that life has to offer. Go home, occasionally. Make love to your wife, and start a family. If you don’t have an heir, everything you’ve done here would have been for naught. Remember, you have a beautiful wife beside you, and she’s young. Don’t waste your time exerting effort to do unnecessary things,”

Ethan had been having these same thoughts lately and was surprised at having Matthew parrot them back to him. He sighed and said, “I hate to admit it, but you are right. The other day, Kylie gave me a full body massage, and I was sure that she had dirty thoughts running through her mind, but I fell asleep. The next day, I was very embarrassed… Thank you, brother!”

Matthew nodded and left him. Once Matthew was gone, Ethan called Kylie. He explained that someone had challenged his way of thinking and that he thought they should talk about it as soon as an opportunity presented itself. At the time, Kylie had been testing some of the cosmetics that had been sent from the company that Fannie had suggested. When she finished listening to Ethan, though, she put the make-up aside and asked him who would have the audacity to challenge his way of living.

“It doesn’t matter who it was,” Ethan replied. “All that matters is that he was right and, if I want to live a more fulfilling life, I should take his advice seriously. I also thought life is short and I should live to the fullest,”

Kylie frowned and felt curious. This was not a side of Ethan that she was used to knowing. “Is there anything you need from me? If it concerns me and I could give it to you, I will try my best to give it,” she wondered.

“I think I would like to have a baby…” Ethan whispered in a naughty.

“It has always been what I’ve wanted. I told you last time, but it seems you’re too busy with your stuff,” Kylie replied. “You have always known that I wanted to bear our child. I will go off the pill immediately. In the meantime, as we try, you should get your sperm count checked, and I can go to my gynecologist to have the viability of my eggs checked.”

Ethan smiled and said, “I am so excited that we are doing this. I mean, planning to have our family progress to the next level. I still have more to discuss with you later, though; don’t worry, it is all good!”

Kylie found that her thoughts were racing as she hung up the phone. Her heart was beating fast, and a thin veneer of sweat appeared on her arms. When Faith returned with some headshots, she touched Kylie’s forehead and asked her if she had a fever.

“No,” Kylie replied. “I’m fine.” She picked up the headshots, looked them over, and asked Faith if she had any suggestions. Faith shrugged. They were all the same to her. While Kylie was suffering over the photos, Faith pulled out a pamphlet for the cosmetic company that Khloe had used in Hamorna.

“After everything that happened,” Kylie said, “I don’t think that they would want to work with us. Khloe slandered them, and there is no doubt that it had a negative effect on their sales.”

Faith looked at Kylie, who was sitting proudly on the sofa like a queen. She also had some concerns. “Even if they agreed to sign with us,” she said, “we would never feel completely safe. We would have to watch our backs constantly. At any time, they could set a trap for us to fall into.”

“Let me call Fannie,” Kylie sighed. Once she had Fannie on the speakerphone, she asked her if she’d contacted any cosmetic companies today.

“It’s not going well,” Fannie admitted. “After everything that’s happened, no one wants to partner with Garcia Entertainment. Do you know who the owner of that indie cosmetics store that we talked about is? They use all-natural products, which people are into these days, and maybe they need us as much as we need them…”

“I am not sure,” Kylie replied, “but if you aren’t able to make any progress, let me know. I may be able to help. Or maybe I can suggest something that we could come up with a good result. I don’t want to lose this company because my grandfather had built this one,”

“Yeah, I know. Thank you so much for your concern, once I get some progress I will let you know,” Fannie replied.

It was very noisy in the background, and Kylie asked Fannie if she was in the subway.

“Yes,” Fannie replied proudly. “I have been scoping out the city and scouting out the best places for advertisements. It was very informative. By the way,” Fannie wondered, “did you chose somebody from the headshots that Faith gave you?”

Kylie smiled and said, “I chose Lily. Faith broke the news to her already, and she is ecstatic. Personally, I think a celebration is in order!”

“Kylie, why here. I mean, she’s Khloe’s assistant,” Fannie sounded panicked.

“Why not her? We can get some information from her about Khloe’s activities,” She said quickly.

“Oh, that sounds interesting,”

“Yeah, and Lucas will also help you also to carry out some of your tasks,”

Lucas nodded and said, “Everything has been so busy lately that we haven’t stopped to breathe, let alone party. Let’s do it. I will contact everyone that we want to invite.”

Fannie was still on the phone, and she said, “Let’s go to the bar on Vista Avenue. I think having a good celebration night party will do a lot,” and everyone agreed that it was a great idea.

“Just don’t invite Khloe,” Kylie said.

“I wouldn’t think of it,” Lucas replied.

 

Chapter 229: Why Are You Here?

When everyone arrived at the bar, they were surprised. They had expected something posh, but this place operated out of a side door in the middle of a dark alley. Faith looked at the door and asked if the place was even safe. Dinah smiled and said, “Don’t worry. Anywhere I go is absolutely safe.”

Faith still looked anxious, though, so Kylie pulled her aside and asked her what was wrong. Faith just shook her head and said, “I can’t explain it, but I have a bad feeling about this place. Can we just find another place, not this one? I feel it wasn’t safe to stay here,”

“Just give it a try,” Kylie said. “If you still don’t like it, we can leave, but I don’t think Fannie would have suggested this place if it wasn’t safe.”

Dinah entered first. Kylie and Faith followed directly behind her.

From what they could tell, the bar had been renovated from an apartment. There were three tables on the main floor, and they were all full. Lucas pointed to the stairs and said, “Fannie knew the boss and was able to reserve the upper level for us.”

“Isn’t it a storeroom?”Faith worried.

“Part of it is,” Lucas admitted, “but the other part is used for private parties. It is clean and safe. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.”

Once everyone was seated, Fannie took the liberty of ordering for everyone and, as if by magic, she ordered exactly what they would have ordered themselves. “How did you do that?”Faith wondered.

“I can’t explain it,” Fannie replied, “but I have a knack for knowing what people will order.”

As they waited for their beverages, Faith happened to hear someone downstairs yelling. She concentrated on it and realized that the voice belonged to Ken, and it was getting closer. When he got to the top of the stairs, he looked at Faith and said, “Hey, Beautiful. Fancy meeting you here.”

Ken pulled a cigarette from his pocket, lit it, and put it in his mouth. He took a drag and began to walk towards Faith. Faith was terribly scared, and she tried to make herself as small as possible. She looked around the table at her friends, but they were so involved in their conversations that they couldn’t see what was going on right before their eyes. Faith felt uncomfortable seeing Ken heading towards her direction.

Ken was smiling when he got close enough to her to touch her. He put his hand on her inner thigh, just inches from her pubic mound, and she flinched away.

“Why are you smiling,” she cried.

Ken touched her face and said, “I thought that we were friends… Aren’t we? Why don’t you introduce me to your friends?”

Faith’s skin crawled at his touch, and he asked her, “Are you nervous? Or should I say you’re scared at me? Don’t be. How can I be your boyfriend if you are afraid of me? Perhaps we should find someplace to go so that we can talk this out?”

Faith shook her head and said, “Ken, I am not your girlfriend. I will never be your girlfriend. I will not go anywhere alone with you. You scare me, and I don’t feel safe around you. If you don’t leave me alone, I will be forced to get a restraining order against you! Please, stop this foolish game of yours,”

Suddenly Lucas noticed them and he shouted, “Faith, is this man bothering you? Should I take him out back and ‘remind him’ to leave you alone?”

At Lucas’s interjection, Faith began to cry tears of relief.

“Yes,” she replied, “this man has been stalking me, and he won’t leave me alone!”

Lucas looked to Dinah and said, “Would you give me a hand? I want to take out the trash without making too much of a ruckus. We could each take one arm, shoved him down the stairs, and out the door. If he struggles, we can use our free hands to punch him in the gut. Once he is outside, we can take him out behind the dumpster where it’s less visible and kick the shit out of his.”

“Sounds good,” Dinah agreed. “I don’t want to kill him, though, but let’s make damn sure that he isn’t out and about for a very long time.”

As Ken listened to what they were saying, his face turned a pale shade of green, and a wet spot first appeared on the front of his pants and quickly spread. Before they got to him, though, Ken let a shrill feminine scream and ran out of the bar.

Watching him go, everyone – including Faith – broke out into gales of laughter. Lucas looked at Dinah and said, “I think he will think twice before he bothers anyone again.”

The drinks arrived shortly, and with it came joviality that wasn’t previously there. Faith looked at Dinah and said, “Do you really think that Ken will leave me alone now?”

Dinah laughed and said, “I would bet my hat on it! Hey forget about, let’s enjoy the rest of the night,”

Faith looked at her skeptically and said, “You aren’t even wearing a hat!”

Kylie gave Faith a friendly punch in the arm and said, “You don’t always have to be so fucking literal!”

At that, even Faith was forced to laugh. She looked at Lucas and Dinah and said, “Thank you. I really appreciate the two of you standing up for me.”

“It was actually fun,” Dinah replied. “And all in a day’s work…”

Outside, Ken was met by two of his peons. They took one look at Ken, and they were shocked by what they saw. Not only did Ken look like shit, but he had actually pissed himself. They couldn’t help but chuckle. “Boss,” one of them wondered, “what happened?”

“Never mind that,” Ken snarled. “Why are you here?”

“We are here,” one of his peers replied, “because Mr. Blanker sent us to find you, and it sounded urgent…”

 

Chapter 230: They Will Keep Me Saf

Ken stared at his followers and shouted at them: “Get out of my face. Don’t you see that I am busy chatting with these beautiful women?”

One of the men came over. He took one look at Fannie and Dinah, and then he leaned in close to Ken’s left ear.

“Brother,” he whispered, “are you flirting with these three girls? If you are not willing to go when you are summoned, at the very least, could you share one of the ladies with me?”

“Bastard!” Ken snarled as he slapped him across the face and said. “I am a one-girl guy. ”

Ken took a look over his shoulder and grimaced. Dinah looked back at Kylie and raised her left eyebrow as if to say, “What’s the story, Morning Glory?”

Kylie returned the look and said, “Why don’t you go back first? I will return later.”

“No,” Dinah replied. “Lord Ethan asked me to protect you. How can I protect you if we aren’t together? If you go, then I will go with you.”

Kylie gently pinched Dinah and looked in the direction of Ken. “These guys are all here,” she said, “They will keep me safe.”

Ken smiled and took a cigarette from one of his peons. His eyes looked very strange, neither evil nor kind, but blank. He looked at Kylie in a way that suggested that he was waiting for her to sit beside him. When Kylie didn’t respond right away, he turned to Dinah and shrugged.

Kylie looked at Ken and said, “What the hell are you doing?”

She knew that Ken was not going to tell her anything about what had happened twenty years ago, but she couldn’t help but push for answers. So far, it hadn’t gotten her anywhere.

Ken snapped his fingers to get the attention of one of his peons. One man turned quickly and said, “What do you need, boss?”

“The service is terrible here,” he said, “Fetch some beer.”

Before he left, the man took another look at Kylie. He didn’t know why, but he felt like he knew her, or, at least, he felt that he’d seen her somewhere. He couldn’t figure out where, though, so he slipped out the door.

The moment he opened the door, though, smoke billowed into their private room, and Kylie began to cough. She reacted instinctively and covered her nose and mouth, but it was too late.

“This is fucking ridiculous,” Kylie yelled. “We paid for a private room, but we have to smoke everyone’s God damned cigarettes right along with them!”

A guy who had been following Ken recognized Kylie. He hurriedly got up and moved a chair over to Ken, and then he ran to the window and pushed it open. Slowly, the smoke in the room dissipated. The air was much better after that, and Kylie was able to bring her hand down from her mouth.

Ken took up his glass and said, “Guys, everyone, let’s welcome our new friend. Cheers.”

Kylie looked over, and she was shocked to see who was sitting next to Ken. It was Tom. He wore a delicate white shirt with a luxurious gold watch on his wrist. He was smoking an expensive cigar. The two looked like they were thicker than thieves.

For the life of her, Kylie couldn’t imagine what they would be doing together. Tom turned to look at her, and then he looked back at Ken. Ken smiled, took a large drink from his beer bottle, and he said, “I am in a good mood today. Drinks are on me.”

Ken’s peons saw their boss drinking, and they took it as permission for them to drink. There was some tension between Tom and Kylie, but the mood remained festive. One of the men raised his glass, and he said, “Let’s have a toast to Kylie.”

Another man raised his glass in support of the first. “A toast for Kylie!”

Tom spoke to Kylie then, for the first time that evening. “Kylie,” he wondered, “are you hungry? What would you like to eat?”

“You don’t need to worry about that,” Ken interrupted. “If she is hungry, I will take care of her needs. I am still in the probation period of our relationship. If you take care of her physical needs and leave me, where will you find such a beautiful girl for me?”

Kylie scowled and stepped hard on Ken’s foot, and he cried out. She didn’t care that she’d hurt him. She didn’t like it when men got it into their heads that they owned her. She turned to Tom and said, “Sorry about that…”

Tom squinted, and the smile on his lips made Kylie wish that she hadn’t apologized. She still didn’t know why Tom was here, or if Ken knew about Tom’s relationship with Dora. If Ken did know, she didn’t know what to make of this seemingly spontaneous meet-up. She was completely confused.

Suddenly, Kylie heard a noisy sound outside the window, followed by the heavy sound of footsteps racing up the stairs. It wasn’t until everyone had put down their glasses that the door was finally opened.

Dinah first came with Ethan. She pointed at Ken and said, “Lord Ethan. It’s him.”

Dinah had worried that Kylie might be in danger, so she contacted Ethan right away. Of course, she didn’t expect that Ethan would be able to come so fast. As soon as he entered the room, he cleared his throat, and everything became quiet – and an inexplicable chill came upon them.

His eyes were as sharp as an eagle, and he looked in each one of their eyes. Finally, he faced Kylie. He held out his hand to her and, “Come here.”

Kylie was about to stand up, but Ken pulled her back down. “You promised me that you would accompany me today,” he whined.

“Let me go,” Kylie growled. She wanted him to let go, but she hadn’t shaken his hand off yet. Suddenly Tom grabbed an empty bottle and threw it at the back of Ken’s head. “How dare you go against Lord Ethan?” He hissed.

Incredibly, the bottle bounced off of Ken’s head and shattered on the floor – but Ken seemed unaffected. He jumped to his feet, pointed at Tom, and shouted, “You goddamned no good yellow belly piece of – ”

Before Ken could finish his rant, Tom stepped forward, grabbed his finger, and snapped it backward. The sound was deafening. Tom smirked and said, “I don’t like people pointing at me!”

Seeing that their boss had been hurt, Ken’s peons began to flip tables and pull out weapons. Seeing this, Tom pulled out two guns from the back of his jeans. Ken’s men hadn’t expected this, so Tom had a draw on them. “Put those fucking things down,” Tom ordered.

The men began to sulk, but they did as they were told.

Not knowing what else to do, but wanting to defuse the situation, Kylie said, “I am starting to get hungry…”

She got up, walked over to Ethan, and took his hand. He looked down and said, “Alright, let’s go somewhere else.”

***

As Ethan and Kylie left the bar, they happened to see Fannie, who was standing at the entrance. Ethan got her attention and said, “Don’t come here anymore. It’s not safe.”

Fannie frowned, and as she followed them out, she said, “I’m sorry, Lord Ethan, but I don’t know what you mean…”

“Just come,” Kylie sighed, “It won’t take long to explain.”