Second Chance Addison

Fait's ears slowly turned red.

"No... I... You aren't mad?" She wasn't expecting him to get all mushy. If anything she thought he would have been angry.

"Why would I be?" Chance couldn't believe she was blaming herself. She had simply delegated a responsibility to a subordinate employee that she had trusted.

"If I had come to find you from the beginning, Addison Enterprises might still be yours." She was confident that she would have been able to at least keep the business in his name. That would've given him an opportunity to revive it later.

"Did you conspire to bankrupt my company?"

"Well, no."

"Did you impersonate me to take out loans in my name?"

"Did not."

"Did you intentionally default on those loans?"

"Nope."

"Did you convince the board to kick me out?"

"I had nothing to do with it."

"Then why should I be mad at you? Because you saved my life?"

'Because I might have been able to save more than that.' Her mouth twitched as she held back those words. She had to remember that she was just an assistant. She was qualified for nothing more and nothing less.

She cleared her throat and decided to steer the discussion back to Mack's will and the transfer doc.u.ments.

"So back to the matter at hand." She passed the doc.u.ments, along with a pen, to Chance and stood up to leave. "Please read through these and write down any questions you have. I will return in a short while."

"Where are you going?"

"Aren't you hungry?"

"Yes but..."

"Read." That had definitely been an order. He didn't get to say anything else before she was gone once again.

'She really needs to stop doing that.' He had wanted to ask how much longer he would have to stay there. While he didn't think he was necessarily emitting an unbearable odor, he was fairly certain that he smelled rather unpleasant.

Putting his discomfort aside, he started reading the will. He figured it would most likely sum up Mack's intentions and conditions for the transfer. He was half right in his assumptions.

While all of the conditions were indeed listed, there was still no explanation of why.

Fait had given him a simple reason but 'he liked you' was really hard for Chance to swallow.

'There has got to be more to it than that.' Fait had also said that the prior deal was a test but how did Mack single out Chance as someone who should be tested?

There were still too many unanswered questions.

Chance focused on the list of conditions.

First and foremost, the transfer doc.u.ments had to be signed in front of Mack's lawyer within a twenty-eight day window that began the day Mack died.

Twenty-four days had already passed so he needed to act fast. This condition also explained why someone was so eager to get rid of him.

The second condition was that Chance could not change the way the businesses operated for at least eighteen months. Employees could only be let go if they committed an egregious act that harmed others or the company.

The third and final condition was simply to retain a certain Miss Fait Mae Foster as his assistant. She could not be fired, transferred, replaced, or demoted.

If he violated any of the conditions then he would forfeit his right to inherit to Miss Foster and would have to pay reparations of as much as one percent of the combined value of all the businesses and assets. Reparations must be paid out of his own pocket.

One percent may sound small but the Lovewell businesses were worth an astronomical amount. Also Chance was at that moment entirely and utterly broke.

Mack hadn't actually given him any say in the matter.

If he didn't sign the papers he would be pushed into an impossible debt. If he signed, he would basically inherit the world and a capable assistant.

While a lot of things still didn't make sense, he could certainly sign the transfer agreement and ask questions later.

Once he had settled all of the change overs and had access to Mack's assets he could begin his own investigation into the real reason Mack gave him everything. He could also take a closer look at how Fait played into all of this. Clearly she was of great importance to Mack as she was written in as a part of the deal.

Chance started to think about the last twenty-four hours. Based on their conversations, Fait knew way more about him than he knew about her. He wouldn't be surprised if she knew every last thing about him.

All he knew so far was her name and where she worked. And that she could be very obstinate.

Just as he was wondering if she would answer questions about herself, she walked through the door holding a bag full of carryout containers. He looked behind her and noticed there was someone following closely behind her.