REBORN FOR REVENGE

CHAPTER NINE - THE MASTER PLANNER

Vanessa’s POV

“Carlson?” I spluttered in shock. “What are you doing here?” I asked and his hands rushed to my mouth to silence me while he peeked outside, checking if Mara had already walked past us.

“I should be asking you that question,” he replied, still seeming angry.

“You know why I am here, I had to see my daugh—” my words were cut off as Carlson suddenly placed a hand on my mouth again.

After a short while, his hand dropped from my mouth. “They are gone,” he said calmly and then he walked out.

The car ride back home was silent. I expected Carlson to question me while we were in the car but instead he stayed silent until we arrived at home.

“Why did you go to her school?” he asked as soon as we entered the living room.

I turned to face him, already defensive. “Because today is her birthday, did you really expect me not to see my daughter today of all days?!”

“I don’t have a problem with you wanting to see your daughter but that wasn’t what you did, you were so close to her, I thought you wanted to touch her.”

“How do you even know all that?” I retorted angrily. “Or wait, were you spying on me the whole time, is that how you know I was at the school?”

“I was at the school to stop you because I had a feeling you were going to do somethin impulsive and I was right. Do you even know how close you were to being seen by Mara today?” he asked and I stayed silent, hating the fact that he was right.

“We have invested so much in this Vanessa, are you really going to throw it all away because you can’t control your emotions?” Carlson asked me, his tone sounding more concerned than critical.

“You have no idea how hard this is,” I said, feeling tears drop down my cheeks.

“I loved my family, I loved the company and everything was taken away from me and now I have to stand aside and watch like a stranger while the person that took everything away gets to enjoy everything she stole from me,” my hands were shaking in rage as I remembered how Emma had smiled at Mara, thinking she was her mother.

It was messed up. Infact, my whole life was messed up.

I didn’t even know when I started sobbing. Carlson stepped closer to me and pulled me into his arms, hugging me and rubbing my back while I cried.

“I know this is hard Vanessa,” he said, still rubbing my back. “But the only way you can get back everything that was stolen from you is if we can expose Mara to the world.”

“How are we going to do that when we can’t even get into the company?” I asked him, raising my head from his firm shoulders.

Carlson gave me a small smile as he stepped away, grabbing the remote and turning on the television.

“I am serious Carlson, this is not the time to watch Tv. You barely even tell me what your plans are, am I just supposed to take your word for it when you tell me that everything will be fine?” I said, walking over to block his view of the television.

Instead of Carlson to reply, he increased the volume of the Tv. This was what I disliked about him, how could he expect me not to get desperate to see my family when he barely even told me anything about them.

“Carlson can you at least give me an answer?” I asked him again, feeling my patience running thin.

“Your answer is right behind you Vanessa,” Carlson said with a nonchalant smile.

“What are you talking about? I asked you to tell me how we are going to get into the company now and—”

“That is what I am saying Vanessa, check the news,” Carlson said and I turned to the Tv immediately as the breaking news came on.

“We are now receiving reports that there was an explosion about twenty minutes ago at the Anderson Pharmaceuticals Manufacturing plant and this is estimated to have cost the company millions of dollars in losses. This is happening just a day after the new CEO announced that the company was going private. Does this spell the end for Anderson Corporation?” the reporter asked and I turned back to face Carlson in shock.

“What the hell is that?” I asked him, still trying to process what I had just heard. “Did you do that?”

Carlson gave me an amused smile, “I told you before that we were going to burn Mara where it hurts.

I sat down beside him still in disbelief, “but the company, what if they can’t recover from this? I know that we wanted to hurt Mara, but if the company falls apart, I don’t think my father would recover.”

“Anderson’s stock prices are going to drop,” Carlson said matter of factly. “And when it does, Mara would have no choice but to call her least favorite investor to come to the rescue.”

“Don’t you think she will be suspicious, I mean she tells us she wants to go private and next thing the stock prices are dropping, what if she figures out that you are the one behind the explosion at the plant and she gets another investor, what then?” I asked him tensely.

“There will be no other investor,” Carlson said in a confident tone. “Do you know why? Because I am one crazy enough to invest in Anderson after the losses it has faced today and Mara knows this.”

“But what if—” I was cut off again as Carlson’s phone started to ring.

Carlson brought out his phone from his pocket and paused for a second before looking at me.

“Who is calling?” I asked him, even though I already had an idea who it was.

“It is Mara,” he said with a victorious smile on his lips