Free Corporate A$$ by Sandi Lynn Page B

I stood up and held out my hand.
    “You can call me Ken.” He looked over at Nathan. “Mr. Carter. It’s nice to meet you.” He held his hand out to him.
    “The pleasure is mine, Ken. And please call me Nathan.”
    “Do the two of you know each other?” I arched my brow.
    “No.” Ken smiled. “I know of Nathan. Please step into my office.”
    “You stay!” I spoke through gritted teeth at Nathan as I pointed at him.
    The corners of his mouth curved up into a sexy smile. “I’m not a dog, Fiona, and I don’t take commands from others. Let’s not keep Mr. Raines waiting.” He placed his hand on the small of my back.
    I stiffened as my heels clanked against the tile in a fury of madness.
    “I’m sorry to hear about your father. I know his passing was sudden.”
    “Thank you,” I spoke as I took a seat across from Ken’s desk and Nathan took the seat beside me.
    “Now what brings you here?” He folded his hands.
    “I would like to know what’s going on with the grapes.”
    “You know we’re in the middle of a drought and we had to raise our prices in order to maintain the grapes’ qualities, which included hiring additional staff and putting in new systems.”
    “I understand that. But I was told that the quality of the grapes had significantly dropped, which in turn was causing delays in the production of our wine.”
    His eyebrows furrowed at me as he leaned back in his chair.
    “The quality of our grapes is the same if not better since using our new system. The reason there’s been a delay in the production of your wine is because your company is in debt with us for over two million dollars.”
    “What?!” I exclaimed.
    “You didn’t know that?”
    “No. I didn’t.”
    “Your father hasn’t paid us in a long time. He would come in here begging for extensions, and after doing business with him for twenty-five years, I gave him what he asked, thinking that he was just going through a dry spell and he’d have the money to pay us. But he never did, so we had to cut him off. I even put him on a payment plan, but he failed to make those payments. In fact, we’re in the process of suing Winslow Wines, and Christopher was aware of this right before his death. I’ll be honest with you, Fiona, your father was a changed man the past couple of years and not in a good way.”
    “If the debt was repaid immediately, would you begin shipping out the grapes to the winery facility?” Nathan asked.
    “Of course. We’re a company as well and we just can’t carry our clients. We had no choice.”
    “Can you give me a second? I need to make a phone call.” I politely smiled as I walked out of his office.
    Pulling my phone from my purse, I dialed Uncle Robbie.
    “Hello.”
    “It’s me!” I spoke in anger. “I’m in Paso Robles right now meeting with Ken Raines. Why didn’t you tell me that Winslow Wines was in debt with them for over two million dollars?”
    “I didn’t know we were.”
    “How could you not! You’re the financial manager!” I shouted as the redhead stared at me.
    “Fiona, your father told me that he had personally taken care of it and not to record it in the company books.”
    “And you believed him?”
    “Of course I did. I had no reason not to.”
    “Ugh. Well, he lied. We need to pay Tobias if we want our grapes back.”
    “We can’t right now. We’re barely making payroll.”
    “Then you better find a way! We can’t run a wine business without the grapes to make the wine!” I continued to shout.
    “You saw the books, Fiona. What the hell do you want me to do? This is why we need Nathan Carter on board. He can supply us with the funds we need to get this company back on track.”
    “Goodbye, Uncle Robbie.” Click .
    I stood there for a moment, took in a couple deep breaths, and walked back into Ken’s office.
    “Everything okay?” Nathan asked.
    “Yes.”
    “I’m sorry, but there’s nothing left to discuss. Pay us the money your company owes and