Chapter 117 - Business Deal

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Samuel glanced at his phone after Lena had left. The only text that he had gotten recently was from his parents asking more questions about the engagement party. J had been oddly quiet for the past two days. He had double checked to make sure that he had answered the last text messages that he had sent, which he did so he wasn't quite sure why he stopped talking when he had been messaging consistently for almost the last two weeks. Some how it made him feel uneasy. 

He wanted to believe that it was perhaps for work reasons but he got the feeling that J wasn't like Lena and didn't mind talking so much around his work schedule or whatever else he had going on. If anything, it seemed like he had been enjoying talking with Samuel. 

He didn't quite think that there was anything serious to worry about. His only concern was that J would stop talking to him because he was really digging for answer to a question that he got and that would mean Samuel wouldn't hear from him what this secret that his mother was hiding was. 

He was determined though to give it another day before messaged J to ask why he hadn't heard from him. If he was just busy, he figured that three days would be a fair enough time to wait before messaging him. Samuel didn't think that he would have time to text on the weekend anyways if Lena was going to make time for them to be in the kitchen with Ryan figuring out what kind of foods they wanted to include for the engagement party. 

For the time being though since he was waiting for Lena to get back from the meeting with this uncle and he didn't have training with Clarice since she was also busy, he decided that he would take some time to text his parents more about the engagement party and what they should expect. After that, he decided that he would see if Jeff was around and if he was free, he roped him into going out riding with him. Now that it was getting closer to fall the weather was slowly cooling off and since it had been a little while he thought that it would be enjoyable to go out for a ride. 

Lena was pleased to find that John was a decent businessman. He hadn't just agreed to the terms that the princess set forth for her taking over his company, he had actually read through everything and came with questions that he wanted to ask before he would agree to it. It raised her level of respect for him quite a bit. 

"No, you wouldn't just be CEO in name only. While I intend to merge your company with this one and have them linked, you would still be CEO and in control of everything that happens there. I may require reports every quarter to make sure that everything is on track and the company is doing well. Most decisions would still be made by you." The princess explained, answering another one of the questions that John had. 

"I saw that you said you would do nothing to change the employees that I work with, would you be hiring anyone else to be a part of the company or is that still under my control to do at the pace I think is right?" He then asked, taking notes of everything that the princess was telling him. 

"Based upon how the company has been running thus far I would say that there's no reason for me to micromanage who you hire. If you find that you don't have any good candidates or you can't choose between a candidate for a specific positions, you can reach out for advice if you wish or I can recommend someone people who work here to transfer over if they match what you're looking for." Lena explained

"Honestly though, I am going to be mostly hands-off with this. The only thing that I am really after in purchasing your company is the benefit that comes from expanding, the ability to have a first good partnership for this business and keeping your company afloat." 

"Is this related to the fact that I am Sam's uncle?" John asked cutting straight to the point after hearing what Lena had to say. This caused a small smirk to appear on her face. He was indeed sharp. 

"Yes and no." Was the answer she gave him. Taking a pause to take a sip of her coffee before she continued speaking. 

"It's because of the fact that you are Sammy-boy's uncle that I was able to find out about you and your company. Now if you're asking if the only reason why I am doing this has to do with the fact that you're his uncle and I'm doing this for those kind of reasons, no. I wouldn't be doing this just for a reason like that." She explained. 

"While I will not deny the fact that I wasn't pleased by the way that your wife talked to your family when they came from for the birthday party which did make me feel the urge to do something in retaliation for that. My honest reason for extending this offer to you is the fact that I think that there is a lot to gain by getting to your company before either lose due to stiff and unfair competition or another company comes along and tries to scoop it up." Since they were going to be in-laws soon she figured that there was no reason to not tell him her real reasons behind what she was doing nor hide how she felt about his wife. 

"I see. My wife never means badly when she talks the way she does. She's just used to coming from a well-to-do family and doesn't really deal well with this whole she sees as not being one the same level." John explained, offering an indirect apology through what he was saying. It wasn't a good enough reason for the princess however. 

"I understand that sometimes people aren't aware of the way their behavior affects other people. We're talking about family here though which to me is something completely different. Levels in terms of wealth or achievements shouldn't matter when it comes to family. If she genuinely cared about them, she would treat them respectfully and show how much she cares about them regardless of their status level in life. It might do you good to tell her that." The princess replied, a sharp edge to her voice as she spoke. 

"However, we should stay on focus as we didn't come here to talk about family matters. If you agree to all of theses terms, we can move forward with getting the paperwork signed and the process started. I did want to add one additional piece of paper to this." She told him as she slide another piece of paper over to him so that he could look over it. 

"What is this?" He asked as he began to read over it. 

"That's an offering that I am extending to you that would allow you to terminate the contract with for at least one year from this date if you determine that our relationship is hurting your businesses or if you or anyone in company feels this one does anything to wrong you or put you in any unfair situation. After the one year mark hits however, the main contract that you'll sign is binding for the next five years with limited reason as to why the contract can be broken with penalties being enacted." She answered. Waiting until he looked up from reading over the information to see what his response would be even though she was fairly certain that he was going to agree to everything. 

"I will give it a shot if you're being as genuine about this as you seem to be. It would almost be too good of an offer to reject such a large sum of money anyways." 

"Ah, even if I wasn't being genuine, it's not like you couldn't reach me by contacting Sam about this matter and having him tell me something is wrong." She pointed out as she sorted through everything and handed him the pieces of paper that he needed to sign off on.

Feeling her phone buzz in her pocket, she saw a message from Jeff. Opening it up she had expected it to be a text message but was surprised to see that he had sent a picture of him and Samuel out in the pasture with the horses. She supposed that it was his way of letting her know to expect them to be out riding if she didn't from Samuel for a while. It seemed like it was a good decision to pair him and Jeff up after all. If it continued to work out well and he proved to be more than reliable, she would make it