Hostile Takeover Ch. 01

"It feels kind of empty in there now," she said sadly. "Do you have anything you can fill it up with?"

Amanda did ask me to do one thing with the business, early in my marriage to Charlotte. She wanted me to interview Annalise for a job. I did, and we found a position for her. We scheduled her hours so her time in Dialysis wouldn't be a factor and neither would the hours she'd need to recover from the exhausting treatments.

I saw Anna often at work, and she was still the bright and cheerful person I'd come to know at the hospital. After a while she ended up moving into my outer office with Myrna and the two of them got along well. Charlotte never realized that Anna was working with us for a long time. I'm not even sure that she was aware that I knew Anna, since she always referred to her as my Mom's girlfriend.

Nothing lasts forever though and my life had to come back to Earth sometime. After a while Charlotte started to come home later than I did. Then it got worse and she started coming home with liquor on her breath. When I asked her about it, we had our first big argument. She stormed out of the house and didn't come home until early the next morning. She crawled into bed and tried to cuddle up with me. I rolled away from her and went into another bedroom. She finished up her night crying and sobbing.

When I woke up and got ready for work the next morning, she was very apologetic, and wanted to make up. "Charlotte next time you go out and stay out all night, don't bother coming home," I told her. Then I left.

I had lunch with Amanda that morning. I made it a point to have lunch with her at least twice a week and enjoyed it immensely. This time there was something going on, I saw it as soon as she sat down. She looked at me and said, "I take it that you know?"

"I'm surprised that you know," I said. "Don't worry it's just a silly argument, it's not that serious."

"Press, what do you think we're talking about?" she asked.

"Charlotte and I had a tiff yesterday and she went out and got drunk and didn't come home until almost three in the morning," I said.

"Preston, Charlotte spent all of the income from her stock for the entire fiscal year and is trying to borrow more money against the stock. If the silly bitch blows through the loan money and can't make the payments she could possibly lose her stock. That would open up the possibility that someone else might be able to purchase her stock and we could lose control of the company in a hostile takeover," said Amanda.

"Amanda, that's not possible," I said. "I pay our mortgage and most of the bills. I pretty much just use my salary, I've never had to touch my dividend income, so why would she need to blow through hers."

"We need to talk to her," said Amanda. "The thing I'm the most curious about though is what the hell she could spend so much money on and have nothing to show for it."

"I'll ask her," I said quietly.

Things between Charlotte and me went further downhill. It got to the point where she was always ready to start an argument.

"You don't love me anymore," she screamed. It was only 4 in the afternoon and she was already drunk. I knew that I needed to get her some help. I decided to bring the subject up to Amanda at our lunch the next day. That lunch was the beginning of the end. Amanda again trumped my news with information of her own.

"Preston, you owe me 150,000 dollars," said Amanda sitting down.

"Okay, I'll write you a check," I said smiling.

"Aren't you going to ask me what it's for?" she asked.

"I just figured you were charging me for having lunch with me," I said. "It's definitely worth it."

Amanda just smiled back at me for a second and then shook her head. "Your silly wife sold some of her stock yesterday, and I bought it back in your name," said Amanda. "The other news I have isn't as good, and is going to hurt you badly."

She placed a large envelope on the table in front of me. "Here's where her money is going."

I looked inside the envelope and a report and several pictures fell out. "I didn't do this," said Amanda. "Ever since she had that fling with the salesman, Sam had Charlotte under surveillance. I just never stopped it. Every week I got a report on her actions and whereabouts. When the money started disappearing, I started reading the reports."

It was the same guy, I'd busted in the mouth the last time, and his friends. Charlotte had apparently bought him and his friends, lots of expensive toys, including cars, boats and bikes. She was also paying for the condo he lived in. The report also included pictures of my wife having sex with him and others.

I packed everything back into the envelope, and looked at Amanda. "What are you going to do Preston?" she asked. "I see two avenues of interest for us here, the personal aspect, and the business side. On the business side, I love my daughter but I will not allow her to put the company my husband started, and poured his life's blood into, at risk for some kind of takeover. On the personal side I just don't see how she could do this to you. She obviously needs help."

"You take the business side, I'll handle the personal side," I said. She nodded and we left.

I took the report with me. I called Pete Standish, our head of security. I had him send me three of our biggest, ugliest security guards. I had them meet me at Charlotte's lover's condo. I sent Pete himself on a different errand. I knocked on the door loudly and waited for lover boy to open it. He opened the door a crack, but had the security chain in place. As the door opened, I kicked the door so hard that it snapped the cheap chain and the door slammed into his face opening a deep cut.

"You obviously didn't learn last time asshole," I screamed at him. He looked at me as if he didn't recognize me. He was drunk or high on something already.

"Why'd you hit me," he asked drunkenly. It took all of the venom out of me. This guy was pathetic. Pounding the piss out of him, not only wouldn't make me feel any better, but it would just be a waste of time. Another guy came from the back room. He took one look at me and tried to bail. He ran out the back door. I looked around at the squalor of the place. There were beer cans and liquor bottles all over the condo. The whole place smelled like piss and bad weed. There was a 60 inch plasma TV with a beer bottle sticking out of the screen. I turned when I heard a female voice screaming "Keep it quiet out there, or you're not getting any."

I opened the door and almost vomited as I watched the last of the three plunging his dick to the hilt, in Charlotte's ass. Charlotte just seemed to be letting him do it. She wasn't fucking him back. She was just not stopping him. Neither of them even reacted as I walked into the room. I don't think he cared, and she was so drunk she didn't recognize me. I pulled out my iPhone and recorded a few seconds of video.

"You can go next," Charlotte slurred. "But you got fuck my shitter, only my shitter. I promised my husband he's the only one who gets any pussy from me. I don't know why I keep my promise. He doesn't keep his. He promised to love, honor and obey me, and the only thing he cares about is that stupid fucking company. It killed my dad, and now it's taking my Press away from me. That fucking company and my stick up her ass Mom, are ruining my fucking life." I pulled the guy off of Charlotte and noticed the popping sound it made as his dick came free. I guess I should have felt something but I was just numb.

I had the security men take him out with the first guy, Ray. Pete showed up at about that time with Ray's wife. Charlotte had simply fallen asleep on the bed. I let Pete handle the wives and the explanations. He took them outside and closed the door behind them. All three guys realized once they sobered up that the gravy train was over. Besides their own divorces, I named them all in mine. I pulled up a chair and waited for Charlotte to awaken.

It took more than three hours for her to wake up. The daylight was fading and she sat up and started to try and cover her breasts. There was a line of dried cum leading from her ass to one knee. She looked around for her clothes and noticed me.

"Frank?" she asked.

"Whichever one of them that Frank was, he's sleeping it off somewhere," I said quietly. "All three of them will probably be able to come back here and visit you later. They're all going to be divorced very soon."

"Oh God, no, Preston, it's not what it looks like," she said. "I was drunk and they forced me. You have to believe me. They had some pictures and they said they were going to show them to you if I didn't. They said you'd never forgive me again."

"Charlotte save it," I said. "I was here long enough to hear you screaming that whoever was making all of that noise wasn't going to get any. I was also here long enough to see you letting one of them fuck you in the ass. You didn't even care when I came into the room. You just thought I was another guy, it didn't even matter who. You just told me I could go next, and that I couldn't fuck your pussy, only your ass."

Charlotte started crying then.

"Charlotte, you can let them have all of the pussy they want from now on. I don't care anymore." I told her.

"Press, I'll go straight home and wash all this off of me. I'll get so clean that you won't even know that I was ever here. From now on I'll be a prisoner. I won't ever leave the house. You can post a guard outside our house, to make sure." She whined. "I love you Press. I was just angry. Please just give me one more chance, for my father's sake. You know he wanted us to be together."

"Charlotte don't come back to the house, this is your home now. I'd suggest that you get someone to clean it up though."

Then I motioned for the men from the rehab clinic that I had signed Charlotte into came in and took her.

The next morning when I went in to work, I was depressed. I checked the floor to make sure everything was running as it should be, then I went into the office. Myra and Annalise were talking very animatedly about something, when I walked in. They both smiled at me when I looked at them.

"What's wrong?" Myra asked her soft, yet insistent, tone showed her concern. "What did that bitch do to you now?"

"Myra Charlotte doesn't cause all of the problems in my life," I told her.

"Press, whenever you're this down, it usually involves her," she said sadly. "But you're right. Perhaps I spoke too soon. I was just angry because you're like family to me and I don't want to see you hurt. So what's wrong?" I noticed that Annalise was definitely paying attention as well.

"Well you may as well know," I said. "It's probably going to be public knowledge soon anyway."

"What's going on, Preston?" asked Annalise.

"Charlotte has been screwing around on me again," I said. "She got mixed up with those same guys I caught her with before we got engaged. They're all older than us and have wives and kids. She's so messed up on alcohol and drugs that she blew through all of her money and was beginning to sell off her stock to pay her debts. She's apparently been fucking all three of them and probably more guys as well. For now we've got her in a rehab program. I won't know the full extent of what she's done until she sobers up."

"My God," said Annalise. "Is Amanda Okay? This must be devastating for her, as well as for you. You have to do whatever you can to get Charlotte well."

"Fuck her!" snapped Myra. "Press, I've hated that bitch since Jump Street. From the first time she walked into this office, and didn't know how to use the intercom, she's been nothing but trouble. This is the first time I've let you know what I've felt about her because I know that you love that silly cow, but she isn't any good for you."

"Do you remember when you caught her in that bar with those guys? After a few days you took her back, and I thought that you were nuts. Once a cheater always a cheater, if you take them back, they always cheat again. The only difference is that they learn how to cover it up better. The first time she was so brazen about it that she was doing it in public, this time she covered it up so it took you longer to find out. If you take her back again, she'll cheat again. It's time for you to cut your losses and kick that bitch to the curb. There are plenty of available young women out there who are better for you."

"Press, remember her first tirade here in the office. I was giving you a shoulder massage and she went postal. You explained to her that I was married and had kids. Do you remember what she said? She said something like "So what?" Obviously no form of commitment means anything to her, so she assumed that my marriage means nothing to me. Your marriage probably doesn't mean anything to her. You need someone better. Forget about that woman and get over her before it's too late and you get hurt worse." Myra was so upset that she just stormed into my office and closed the door.

"Good Morning Anna," I said cheerfully to Annalise. "What were you two so happy about, before I wrecked things?"

"Preston, you didn't wreck anything," she smiled. Anna was the only person I could think of who didn't call me Press. Her voice was always so cheerful, and she always had that little smile. She was also always concerned with how everyone else was feeling even though I could tell sometimes that her kidneys gave her a lot of pain and discomfort. I loved the way she said my name. It was so clipped and perfect sounding. Press...Ton, almost as if it was two words.

"Myra and I had finally figured out how things need to work around here. She's going to handle all of the office and business side of things for you. I'm going to handle all of the technical and manufacturing side of things. That way we'll be more efficient and not step on each other's toes." she said.

"So I'm going to be following you around more now," she said happily.

"Anna you don't have to worry about Amanda," I said. "She was the one who gave me the heads up about Charlotte. Although I don't think she knows the extent of it. I'm having lunch with her today, if you'd like to come."

"I would love to," she said.

I called Amanda, and told her that Anna would be going to lunch with us. I told her my end of how things had gone the previous day with Charlotte. She laughed, which I thought was odd.

"What's funny Amanda?" I asked her.

"Press this makes things easier for us," she said. "Yesterday I found out that my idiot daughter has made a deal to sell off some more of her stock. If you've put her into rehab that gives you, as her husband, her power of attorney while she's committed, so you can block the sale. I don't want to get into a bidding war for control of the company, because Charlotte can't get her head out of her ass. I've also been able to determine that someone on the board had been trying to buy Charlotte's shares. The stock I bought in your name the other day was supposed to go to him. I don't know who it is, but I' trying to find out." She seemed relieved that Charlotte was in rehab.

"Preston, how are you feeling today?" she asked. "Finding out what she's been doing and actually seeing what you saw must be devastating for you. I hope you're okay."

"I've been through this before with her, if you remember," I said. "It still hurts like hell but this time, it's over. I'm looking for a divorce lawyer as we speak."

"Preston," said Amanda slowly and quietly. "I know that you're hurt. But you can't do that. I know that you just want to be done with her and I can't blame you for it, but you just can't do that right now."

"Amanda, I know you're her mother and you want me to forgive her, but she tore my heart out, twice. I can't let her do that to me a third time." Tough guy or not I was almost in tears.

"Preston, I'll have this figured out before I see you at lunch. But you can't divorce her yet. This isn't me siding with Charlotte because I'm her mother. This is about me siding with my Husband's company. If you remember the terms of the will, you have voting control over Charlotte's stock, but only for as long as you're married to her. If you divorce her, as fragile as her mental state and finances are, we could lose control of the company. Even with the stock we recently bought from Charlotte you and I together, do not have a majority of the stock. We need to work out a way to either buy her out entirely, or gain at least permanent control over her stock."

"God I wish my husband hadn't loved his daughter so much," she said. "Preston I'll see you and Anna at lunch."

The rest of the morning my head spun. I had to keep forcing myself to answer Anna's questions about the machines and the types of reports I needed to assure the smooth flow of information across our operations. On the other hand I constantly found myself wondering where I'd gone wrong. Why wasn't I enough for Charlotte? We'd been married for less than a year and she had already cheated on me. The sight of that guy fucking Charlotte's ass was permanently etched on the inside of my retinas. I could still see it, and still hear that obscene popping sound it made when he disconnected from her. The worst part was seeing my beautiful wife, with all of that red hair just bent over and slurring to me that I could fuck her ass next. She didn't even realize who I was, so basically anyone could have just come in and fucked her and she wouldn't have cared. As long as they stayed away from her pussy, anyone could fuck her. Charlotte could easily have given me a disease. I needed to get away from her for my own sanity.

I was roused from my thoughts again. This time it wasn't Anna, it was my iPhone. I had a call from the clinic that Charlotte was checked into.

"Mr. Collins, I'm Dr. Thomas from the clinic where your wife is being treated for her alcohol and drug problems. She awoke this morning and is fairly lucid. She would like to speak to you. Is it possible for you to come and visit her today?" he said.

The last thing I wanted to do was to look at Charlotte today. "Dr. Thomas, I was told that I wouldn't be able to speak to Charlotte while she was being treated," I told him. "It was something about how the person with the addiction needed to develop the ability to stand on their own two feet, and deal with their issues during the first part of the treatment. After making it through that stage they would then regain contact with their loved ones and try to deal with their family and personal issues that either caused or resulted from their addictions."

"That is the way we normally do things," he said. "But she was only brought in yesterday, so we didn't think that speaking to you before she began treatment would hurt anything. In fact it might help. Let me level with you. Your wife has a very strong personality. She is adamant about speaking to you before she will do anything. She believes that it is your intention to divorce her. I believe that if she has no reassurances from you that she has at least a chance of repairing your marriage, that the treatment will be unsuccessful, and she'll leave. You are aware that, now that she's conscious, she has the right to sign herself out if she so desires?"

"Doctor, tell Charlotte that I'll be over to see her, right after lunch," I said. Then I hung up.

The lunch with Amanda and Annalise, was wonderful. Amanda and I refrained from discussing the company and kept the conversation light and fun. The only time any hint of sadness intruded was when we talked about Sam. I found myself looking at Anna in a different light. She really was a very special woman. I wish that I had met her before I met Charlotte. My life could have been very different.

After lunch, I drove Anna back to the plant. Then I went over to the clinic for my meeting with Charlotte.