Chemistry Ch. 01

Authors Note: This is a story of being in love, falling out, and starting new. There is no BTB, RAAC. All characters are 18 years or older. I'm sure that someone will nail me on insider trading, corporate acquisitions, and the process for researching chemicals, I wanted to keep things simple, so kept the story around these areas simple.

Thank you to Vintage_DM, BumblingFool and Gamblnluck for their feedback.

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Chapter 1: Sometimes chemicals don't mix

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Although I was stepping up to receive my Doctorate in Chemistry, I wouldn't say that my life has always been easy.

My name is Thomas Prentis. I am 31 and am engaged to fellow Chemistry Ph.D. student, Heather Thompson. I am a member of the Prentis family. That is the family that runs and owns most of Prentis Chemicals. Prentis Chemicals was founded by my mother's great-grandfather. When my grandfather passed away, he held 40% of the company. He left 30% to my mother and 10% to me when he passed.

My mother is Dr. Joanne Prentis the controlling CEO of the company. I say "controlling" because she wants to control everything. From what I understand, that was one of the reasons that my father, George Hogan, left when I was 4. Unfortunately, my father died in a car crash shortly after he left us.

Why is my last name Prentis and not Hogan? Well, my mother again. After my father passed. She changed her and my last name to her maiden name so that the family name would continue. During the time I grew up, it was like I never had a father as she had removed all photos and anything else that could be a reminder that he ever existed. She even denied my father's family access to see me.

I was always studious in school, although under my mother's thumb, I wasn't given many options. No sports, very few friends (unless she saw a benefit to them), and unless it was a tour of a lab, we never went on any family vacations. My mother didn't see the need for them thinking that if they weren't Chemistry related, vacations were a waste of time. I graduated at the top of my class in high school and although I was inclined to go into Chemical Engineering, my mother wouldn't have it and forced me to choose Chemistry. "Chemists invent the things that Chemical Engineers just produce." She always said.

Although my heart wasn't 100% into it, I did excel in College, I was in the top 5% of my class and then went on to do my Master's and now my Ph.D.

My mother got her Ph.D. at Harvard, so I am getting my Ph.D. at Harvard. I wanted to go to MIT or Stanford. The one additional advantage of Harvard was that I was on one coast of the country and my mother was on the other in San Francisco. This gave me the distance to grow up and establish myself without her constant controlling presence. You can't get a Master's and a Ph.D. without having some backbone.

Of course, if I hadn't followed my mother's advice, I wouldn't have met my fiancé Heather Thompson. Heather is 32, 5' 4", and cute as a button. Maybe other people don't think so, but I do. We met on the first day of orientation for the Ph.D. program at Harvard. I was planning to ask her out, but my CEO alumni mother, on one of her regular visits to Harvard, met Heather on one of her lab tours and ensured she came to dinner with us.

Heather was star-struck by my mother, so although Heather and I get along famously, sometimes I wonder if she is with me because of my mother. We dated for the first two years in the program, and I proposed shortly after we moved in together. We plan to get married after we are secure in our jobs after graduation.

Once the ceremony was over, Heather, my mother, and Heather's parents went out for a celebratory dinner. We had a great conversation about the future and where we planning to go after graduation. Heather wanted to do research work for a chemical company, I wanted to work at a college doing research and teaching. My mother sat, amused with the conversation. She didn't add or detract from the conversation. I thought it was rather unusual of her not to "control" the conversation, but I knew she was likely up to something.

And then I found out. Once dinner was completed, my mother stood up. She said, "Heather, Thomas, I want to let you know how proud I am of both of you. I also want to let you know that I have secured positions for both of you at Prentis Chemicals. Congratulations."

Heather jumped up and ran to my mother and gave her a big hug. She said "Thank you. I am so excited; I was hoping to get into one of the Chemical companies." Her parents were all smiles and congratulated both of us.

I had a strained smile on my face, knowing that again, my mother was trying to keep me under my thumb. I didn't want to cause a scene, so waited to have a conversation alone with my mother about Heather and my future.

My mother then went on to say, "Heather, I read your dissertation, and the company would benefit greatly to have you move forward with ideas around synthetic clean energy fuels."

"Ah," I thought to myself. "She wants Heather. I am just along for the ride."

Later, Heather took her parents to their hotel, I finally had my alone time with my mother. I had previously expressed some interest in accepting a research position at Harvard.

"Mother, you know that I was leaning towards a research position at Harvard", I told her.

She replied, "Well, how would you and Heather be married if you were at Harvard and she was with me at our research facility in California? You know she will accept the job."

"You could have mentioned it to me before your big announcement," I exclaimed. "Well, I guess I could look at research opportunities at Stanford."

"Nonsense, you need to work for Prentis Chemicals, so eventually you can continue the family name", was her response. "Now there is no need to talk through this further." And she walked out of the room.

Based on past experience, I knew there was no way for me in College research. Even if I were to line something up, she would use her influence to interfere. Best for me to suck it up for now and see how "great" it will be for me to work for my mother.

When Heather got back to the apartment, she was still full of energy. She dragged me to the bedroom and practically ripped my close off. I figured the conversation I wanted could wait until morning as I started to suck on one of her nipples and we fell into the bed.

After an exhausting and pleasurable night, after we sat for breakfast, I brought up the conversation that I knew was likely not going to end up going in my favor. "You know we had discussed plans after graduation. What happened to that job you were considering in Boston and my position at Harvard?"

Heather replied, "Don't be silly. Do you understand the opportunity that your mother is giving us?

"I know. She sees an opportunity around your research, but she also wants to keep me under her thumb." I replied.

"Don't be silly. She isn't doing this to control you. She wants you to be part of this next big discovery so that we will be able to take over the company once she retires." Heather responded. "Just think about it."

I took a few days and thought about the pluses and minuses. The biggest minus was losing Heather, so we moved to San Francisco and started work.

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3 years later, Heather was close to a breakthrough in her work on the new clean energy synthetic fuel. It would reduce plane emissions by 50% with minimal change to plane engines. I was doing a related project to her work, which sometimes required that I get results from her team before my project could move forward.

The only reason why I was able to make any progress on my project was due to one of Heather's assistants, Jennifer Panich. Jennifer had a Master's in chemistry and was working part-time on her MBA. She had this wonderful ability to view projects at 10,000 feet and could see how they worked and their value. Where Heather was really cute, Jennifer was a knockout. Think Brenda Song like knockout.

Her parents were from Thailand and had emigrated to, of all places, Madison, Wisconsin. Jennifer was born there and received her Bachelor of Science from the University of Wisconsin -- Madison in Chemistry. She then received her Master's in Chemistry from the University of San Francisco and then started to work for Heather after her graduation. She started shortly after Heather and I moved to San Francisco.

Jennifer and I had started spending more time with each other. Having lunches together and when Heather would cancel dinner with me to work late or to have a business dinner with my mother. She would actually ask Jennifer to go out to dinner with me. I think that she thought that if I wasn't eating alone, then I wouldn't hassle her about her late hours. That had been an issue early in the project as I had kept complaining to her that she didn't need to work so hard. This project was going to take years and she is going to burn herself out at this pace. Her reply as always that she didn't want to disappoint my mother.

I did get my mother to force Heather to take time off. She got the argument that Heather was going to burn herself out. We had some great vacations and long weekends together. When we had these times together, it was just like when the two of us were at school together. We were a proper couple. The issue was when we came back to work and the third party in our relationship was part of the picture, my mother. It was like a switch turned on in Heather when she returned to the company and my mother. Heather so idolized my mother that I became the third wheel.

We were still living together and still engaged, but she never brought up the subject of getting married and I decided not to pursue it for now. I even suggested that since we were both making good money that we buy a condo or house so we wouldn't keep wasting money on rent. She wasn't interested.

When it came to sex, it all depended on the project. If she was having a day where there was a surge in progress, we would have energetic and satisfying sex. When things weren't going well and she would be extremely frustrated, she would basically use me as a sex toy. Once she got off, she would turn over and fall asleep.

Remember my interest in Chemical Engineering, well, I did manage to audit some Chemical Engineering courses during my Masters and Ph.D. That gave me a few insights into the complexities of turning a discovery into something that can be produced economically. My project was a variation of Heather's fuel. It didn't reduce emissions quite as much as Heather's, but I saw an issue with Heather's fuel. It wouldn't be easy to manufacture. My version would be. Jennifer could see that, so ensured that I got the information that I needed.

Now I had called out potential issues with producing Heather's fuel to her and my mother. My mother stated, "Now keep your head out of Heather's project and keep it on yours. Heather's fuel is a key piece of the company's future."

Heather and I had an argument that night at home where she accused me of trying to undermine her project and put a wedge between her and my mother. I knew that as long as my mother was fully on Heather's project and wouldn't consider my comments, Heather wouldn't open her eyes either. It was a lose-lose for me to argue further, so I decided to keep my mouth shut and play the long game with my project. I apologized to both of them saying that I had made an error in my review of their work. They weren't going to see through their blindness in this area one way or the other.

I knew that Heather had a weekly status meeting with my mother. I knew that they likely would talk about me and my opinion of Heather's project at their next meeting, so I slipped a recording device into Heather's briefcase. I retrieved it that night and listened to it the next day. The low opinion that they both expressed about my abilities shocked me. I hadn't realized how little my mother thought of me at that point and how much Heather's opinions of me had been undermined. My mother even stated that she was going to have to move me into an administrative position and get me away from research.

I knew the pecking order and I needed to get out, but I wanted to complete my research.

Jennifer at lunch one day confided in me that she saw it as well, "I don't get it, her fuel, although great on paper, isn't economically viable."

I replied, "I know, but then my mother is an 'ideas' person. She has always gotten lucky and always had products that went smoothly to production. She won't believe me on this. I had to sleep on the couch for almost a week after I brought that up to Heather and my mother. Don't bring it up with Heather, it will stall your career."

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As Heather got closer to completing her research, there were days that I never heard from her as she was buried in her lab. During these times that I didn't see her, I got curious about my father and his family. One of the pieces of information that I knew about my father was that he and my mother met while doing their bachelor's degree in chemistry.

I started to do some research. I engaged a professional genealogist to see if they could track down my father's family. After a few weeks, they returned with a report for me. Turns out that my father's family owns a small chemical company in the Los Angeles area called "Los A Chemicals". So, the chemistry interest ran on both sides of the family.

My father's parents had passed away, but my father had a sister, Susan Hogan. She was the VP of Operations at the company. She was married with 2 kids. She hadn't changed her last name when she was married. Her uncle, my great-uncle, George was President. My father was named after him.

I decided that I needed to reestablish a connection with my father's side, so now that I knew where they were, once Heather had some time I would reach out to them.

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Jennifer came rushing into my office. "Thomas, you need to see this. Heather is getting close and they have started to draft the Patent application. You need to read it."

I started to work through it. Jennifer and I discussed different points throughout the review. And then I saw it. "So, this Patent application covers Heather's work but leaves a gaping hole that keeps the overlapping work that I am doing uncovered. Jennifer, can we keep this to ourselves?" She looked at me with a question on her face.

"I don't really trust my mother at this point, and I am questioning my relationship with Heather as we seem to be moving farther apart. Not having my work covered by the patent leaves me with options."

Jennifer hugged me and told me that I could trust her to keep this a secret.

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Finally, the day arrived and Heather's project was finished. It was Monday afternoon, and my mother held a large party to celebrate Heather's work and had a press release sent out to announce the new fuel.

My mother gave a speech that was full of praise for Heather and how Heather's work would fuel the continued growth of the company. I stood at the back of the room separate from the celebrations. Jennifer came up to me and held my hand.

"Thomas." she said, "You should be up there with them. "

I replied, "If my mother wanted me up there, I would be up there. Besides, my mother asked me to meet her in her office after the celebration. I think I know where this is going, but I am ready."

Later, I arrived at my mother's office for my "audience". As it turns out, Heather was also there.

My mother started, "Thomas, I think you agree that Heather's work is a turning point in the company. As a result, I think we should terminate your project since your fuel won't be as clean as Heather's. Also, I am prompting Heather to the VP of research. I want you to move to the administration part of the company so you learn how the rest of the company works. After you are married, the two of you will then be set to take over the company, when I eventually retire."

Heather then spoke up to say, "Isn't this great? Your mother and I have been making these plans. Once we are married we will be the power couple of the company and have it set for the next generation of the Prentis's."

I had thought through the scenarios. I had guessed that my research would be canceled, but didn't see how far their collusion together without my input had gone. It was my turn, "What if I want to pursue my research further? I could fund it on my own." I had amassed a significant nest egg from the dividends for the 10% of the company I owned. In addition, my finances were something that my mother didn't control or know anything about. I had invested wisely. It was over 100 million at this point. Since I was going to the schools that she insisted on, she had been paying all of my school expenses.

Mother replied, "Thomas, why would you waste money on that, it isn't going anywhere."

"Well, Mother, if it is worthless, then why don't you sign the ownership of my research over to me? Think of it as a gift as part of your plans for the future success of the company."

She stared at me for a minute and then looked at Heather. Heather shrugged back at her, and my mother said "Fine. Have it your way."

"Great I said, here is the paperwork. Sign at the bottom of each copy and we can then move on to our future plans."

She looked stunned, "What do you mean you have the paperwork?"

I tried to keep a smug look off my face. "Well, I figured that since Heather's project was so successful, then there was a high percentage that you would cancel mine, so I want to protect myself. Think of it as a vanity project for myself. I just want to see it through to the end and then once it is done, I know that I accomplished something. Don't worry, I would plug away on it on the side. It wouldn't affect any future work I do here at the company."

My mother looked again at Heather. This wasn't something that they anticipated. However, in their arrogance, they still thought that my research was not going anywhere. She grabbed the paperwork, did a quick review, and signed both copies. A copy for each of us. I had already signed both. I ensured my copy was safely stored in my briefcase as I pulled out the next piece of paperwork.

"Mother, thank you. Now onto the next item of business."

"What is it now?", she said.

I pulled out the recorder that I used to record the meeting between Heather and my mother where they expressed their low opinions of my abilities and played an excerpt from that meeting for them. "Here is my letter of resignation. It is effective immediately. Since you have such a low opinion of my abilities, I don't see any reason to stay here."

They both stared at me open-mouthed. They were shocked. They probably didn't think that I had the brains and background to bug their private conversations.

"And lastly, Heather, here is my key to our apartment. I have changed the lease and utilities over to your name and have already moved my stuff out of the apartment to storage. You can keep the engagement ring. I don't want it."

Heather was stunned. "But why, why are you moving out? We were going to get married."

"Heather, we really haven't had much of a relationship since we moved out here. We have drifted apart and the fact that you and my mother have been secretly planning my future and belittling me in your private conversations shows just how far our relationship has deteriorated. As they say, 'You have been drinking a little too much of my mother's Kool-Aid'."

I went further, "For the last year, we have been living more as roommates instead of as an engaged couple. The only real time we were a couple was when we were on vacation. You even kept assigning Jennifer to "babysit" me. I think it is time that we call it and move on."