Second Chance Addison

When Chance finally opened his eyes, the sky had already darkened again.

He was still slumped over in the armchair but someone had covered him with a quilt.

"Good morning, Mr. Addison." Fait was sitting off to the side reading a book.

Chance slowly sat up and stretched.

"I didn't know you cared." He gestured to the blanket. "And I thought we agreed that you would stop calling me Mr. Addison."

"Firstly, Mr. Addison, if I did not care I would not be here and neither would you." She closed her book and gave him her full attention.

"Secondly, you decided I would stop referring to you as Mr. Addison. I never agreed."

"Yeah, sure, whatever," he murmured.

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, nothing. Could you at least drop the 'Mr.'?" He blushed a little as he sheepishly added, "It makes me feel old."

Fait's eyebrows crinkled as she seriously thought it over. Finally she seem to have reached a conclusion and nodded.

"I suppose that is a fair compromise."

"Thanks."

"Well then, Addison, are you ready to get down to business?"

His face once again turned pink.

"Actually, is there a restroom on this floor?"

Without missing a beat she started giving directions that would be near impossible for anyone to follow.

"So wait... that was three stacks north then seven stacks west... no east... then how many south?" Chance was getting more confused by the second.

"Just follow the signs."

Sure enough, as soon as he left the study area, there was a series of well placed signs that led him straight to the restroom.

After he had relieved himself, he stepped over to the sink to wash his hands and nearly jumped out of his skin.

He studied his reflection in the mirror and had trouble reconciling the face he saw with his usual clean cut appearance.

'No wonder she had looked so disgusted.'

Having seen himself in such a horrid state, he instantly forgave Fait for her words and attitude.

To put it lightly, he was a mess. Factor in the alcohol he had consumed last night and he wouldn't have wanted to take himself seriously either.

He turned his attention back to the sink and started to clean himself up.

Chance washed his face, rinsed his mouth, and ran his fingers through his hair to try to tame it.

'That's a bit more... civilized?' He thought as he straightened his shirt collar.

He still could use a shower and a shave but at least he felt a little be bit more like himself.

Chance carefully made his way back to the study. He didn't want to get lost and have to wait for Fait to come find him.

She was now seated at a table with various doc.u.ments scattered in front of her.

Without looking up from the papers, she pointed to the chair across from her.

Once he was seated, she looked up at him. Her clear grey eyes seemed to be searching for something in him.

"Are you aware Addison, that the people that destroyed you are not finished yet?"

"What?" He had nothing left. "What else could they want?"

For the first time in the few hours they'd been together, she hesitated.

"They want your life, Addison."

He started to laugh. He knew it probably was not the appropriate response but he couldn't seem to stop himself.

"This is not a joke. They sent someone to wait for you last night. If you had left the building, it would have been game over. They planned to knock you out and stage a fatal car accident. Once you'd been found and autopsied the toxicology report would show the alcohol in your system. Given your company just went under they would say you became depressed and recklessly drove drunk. Your case would be closed in less than a week without any additional investigation."

Chance continued to laugh and shook his head.

"What could you possibly find funny in this situation?"

He took a deep breath and answered with a wide smile.

"I didn't know that I was so valuable."

"You have no idea do you?"

"About what?"

"Do you remember Mack Lovewell?"

"Yeah, nice guy. He tried to sell his company to me a few months ago. It is some kind of publishing company."

Mack wasn't a greedy man, quite the opposite. The terms for selling his company were very generous and would ultimately be the most beneficial to Addison Enterprises.

"Unfortunately, the acquisition by Addison Enterprises was never approved by the board." Chance remember how pleasant the old man was to work with and how disappointed Mack was when the sale fell through.

"How is Mack related all to this?"

Fait took a deep breath and decide she should say it gently.

"Mack passed away three weeks ago..."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Chance's expression turned solemn.

"... and he left you everything he owned. Including the Lovewell Publishing Company."

Chance stayed silent for a minute and tried to draw some connections between Mack's death and himself.

Why would Mack leave him anything? Also, no matter how hard he thought about it, he couldn't quite figure out how that had put a lethal target on his back.

"What is so amazing about a small publishing company? I mean, yeah, it was doing well when he was trying to sell it but it wasn't worth near as much as my own company. Hardly something worth dying for? Right?"

It still wasn't adding up.

"Correct. The publishing company is not what they are after. His shipping conglomerate and his fortune on the other hand are worth quite a bit more."