CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

Adam looked at his sister and he sighed. Ivy wasn't one to let go of things so easily. She held on to things longer than she should but that was who she was, how she was and Adam wasn't about to tell her who she ought to be. He had to admit to himself that Ivy had been running this company when he couldn't and she was doing a good job at it. If she didn't want Isabelle to be a part of the company, he was going to o have to agree with her but Ivy had no say in the part where Isabelle was going to be a part of his life. It was his life and he was free to live it the way he wanted to live it.

"Did you get to talk to Liz yet?" Ivy asked, breaking the silence

"I would talk to her when I can, I promise. I just have a lot to do right now" Adam said to his sister

"A lot to do? You are staring at your phone, doing nothing. You should give her a call and apologize to her" Ivy said to him.

Her phone rang and she looked at him.

"I am not done with you! Don't you dare stand up from your seat!" she said to her brother, giving him a stern look

"Yes ma" Adam said back to he, wondering who was older.

"I am serious" she said to him, raising the phone to her ear

After a while, she hung up and turned to look at her brother. He was so focused on whatever he was doing on his laptop that he didn't realize that she had ended the call.

"Are you good?" she asked him to get his attention.

"Yeah, I am. I am just trying to read through this contract with one of our shareholders and something doesn't quite add up" He said to her, not looking up from his laptop

"I mean, I could take a look at it if you need an extra pair of eyes" she said to him.

"Yeah, that might me necessary and also, you might need to call our lawyer on this one. Who was that on the phone earlier?" he asked her.

"Oh, it's just Liam. He is calling to make sure that I didn't cancel lunch plans with him" Ivy said to her brother.

"Were you planning on canceling?" he asked her.

"I mean, anything can come up" she said to him and she signed.

"Don't cancel lunch with your boyfriend for any reason. It pisses men off. I think that it would be a nice idea if we rescheduled lunch with me. I can get to meet him another time" Adam said to her.

"No way in hell would I let you do that. We would have lunch today and I think you would call Liz over" Ivy said to him.

"Call her over? She is coming over herself and you know this. I just hope that there would be no emergencies because that would mean that I would have to cancel on her" Adam said.

And just had he predicted, something did come up. Lunch came by fast and Liam arrived before lunch. He and Adam started to get familiar with each other and things were going on fine. Liz came in a little later than Liam did but she wasn't so late. Immediately she walked in, Ivy's phone rang. She excused herself to pick it up. Adam saw Liz walk into his office and he looked at her. She looked as beautiful as she did the first time they met. He smiled at her and walked up to her when Ivy walked into the office again.

"Adam, something has come up" she said with panic in her voice.

"What's wrong?" he asked her.

"The stock market. Our shared just dropped by two hundred percent" she said to him.

"I have to go" Adam said as he picked up his jacket

"Adam, you can stay. I would take care of it" Ivy said to her brother

"No, stay for your lunch.Liz and I would have lunch together some other time. I really have to go. Take care of the both of them" Adam said to Liam as he headed out of the office.

Ivy sighed. She looked at Liz who was trying her best not to show that she was totally broken by this. She had come here to have lunch with him and maybe fix things up with him and he ran out on her. Fine, it was work and it was important but she thought that she was more important to him than his work was. She rubbed her temples and grabbed her bag.

"I just remembered that I have some unfinished business to take care of at the office. I would see you at home" Liz said to Ivy as she got up from where she was sitting.

"Liz, he is sorry" Ivy said on behalf of her brother

"I know. Have fun with lunch" Liz said with a smile

Ivy nodded at her and sighed. Liz headed out the door. Liam who wasn't ready to interfere eventually spoke up

"Is there something I should know, babe?" Liam said to her.

"She stood him up two days ago and now she thinks that is what Adam is doing too" Ivy said to him.

"Does she work here? I can swear that I have seen her with some other company" Liam said to Ivy

"That is because she works with some other company. she works with Caleb, your elder brother. The one that you decided not to have anything to do with anymore" Ivy said as she turned around, backing him.

"Hold on, your brothers girlfriend works with someone that I increasingly despise, someone that has tried to ruin my life countless of times and you didn't think it was important to let me know?" Liam asked, confused and getting upset.

"I didn't know he was the same person until recently. He doesn't exactly use your name. I saw his picture in your parent's living room the other day and I saw it last week on Liz's phone. I knew he was the one when I saw it" Ivy said to him.

"You have known for a week! One week, Ivy. When exactly where you planning on telling me?" he asked her.

"What is there to tell, Liam? You have moved on with your life. Why is this information so important to you?" Ivy asked him, losing her patience

"Did I forget to mention that he tried to kill me? Are you missing that part?" he said to her

"He is your brother no matter what and you both have separate lives! Why wouldn't you let go of a couple of mistakes? Besides, it is not like you have any evidence that he tried to kill you. You basically heard it from someone else and you decided to hate your brother for it! That is not how family works!" she said to him.

"And you want to tell me how family works? Let me remind you that your family turned their backs on you because they felt that you could never meet up with their standards!" he said to her.

"Yes, maybe they did but you don't see me cutting them off or hating them for it because they might as well just ruined my life with what they did but I don't hate them!" she said to him, raising her voice.

"You know what, I think I have a meeting to attend to. I would call you later at night!" he said to her

"Don't bother!" she said as she walked to the door and opened it for him.

He scoffed and told his eyes before shaking his head. He walked out the door and she closed it behind him. She took a deep breath and let it out. She grabbed her mug and threw it at the door. It broke immediately it came in contact with the door. She decided to stay in the office and look for other companies to invest their shares in. She knew that if this one crashed by 200% then the company was going to be facing maximum loss. Her brother came in later in the evening. He dropped on his chair, tired and drained

"How did it go?" Ivy asked him nervously

"They said that it is a temporary crash and they would get it resolved in Seventy two hours" he said to his sister

"And if they don't? What is the back up plan here? This could wreck the company!" Ivy said to her brother

"I know and I don't need you to tell me this. I would have to do personal investment if it comes to that!" Adam said to her.

"Personal investment is not the way to run a company! What the hell is wrong with you! This is not even your company but dad's. Why would you want to put your own financial health as a person on the line?" she asked him .

"Because I am the CEO. I run this place. What the hell has come over you?" he said back to her

"I'm sorry. You're right" she said as she dropped on the chair.