21 | Eureka

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Kai barely had time to grieve. His father passed the night before, and Kai couldn't let go of his cold hand at the hospital. He couldn't believe he had lost him. He wanted to believe it wasn't true. Torin practically had to drag him away so that they could get the paffairs in order.

He still had a few months until he turned 18, but that wouldn't stop Torin from prepping him to take over the company. With the guidance of Torin and other members of the board, Kai would slowly begin to take over the CEO's duties.

The only silver lining to all of this was that he gained access to much more information about the merger, including the fact that it was set to go into effect on January 1. That left them a month to find a loophole to stop it.

Kai was most distraught to see that he had inadvertently played a part in this decision. His father thought the merger the best way to secure the future of the company, and Kai's. Kai found memos stating that the Blackburn Corporation would beat them in the market without it, which Kai might not be able to compete with.

Kai silently cursed his father's intuition. He knew his father was right about Kai's difficulties. He was no match for Levana, not yet anyway.

But that was why he had Cinder. She was smarter than him, not to mention the heir that could bring it all down. He couldn't do this without her.

Now he needed to share the information he had learned with his partner-in-stopping-crime.

"I feel severely underdressed," Cinder said with a nervous chuckle as she stepped into his new office. Kai was so busy with taking over the role that he couldn't meet at his home right now.

"I think you look just fine," Kai said with a smile.

She blushed slightly before taking a seat across from him. "Kai... I'm sorry about your father."

Kai sighed. "Thanks, Cinder. That means a lot coming from you."

"If all of this is too much for you, I understand. We don't have to keep pushing this."

"No! I meant... I have to do this for my father. I want to prove that I can lead this company he worked so hard to build. It's his legacy."

Cinder breathed deeply and smiled. "Okay. Let's do this, then."

Kai smiled too, but his grin faltered when he remembered what they were here for. "Uh, so, I discovered that my father already agreed to the merger. It will go into effect on January 1."

"January 1?!" Cinder exclaimed. "That's too soon. We don't even know what Levana is planning, let alone how we could stop her."

Kai was afraid she might say something like that. As nervous as he was, too, he was equally hopefully.

"Well... you'll be 17 ten days before that," he stated.

"Uh- I will. How did you...?" Cinder said.

Kai's eyes went wide. "Uh... I might've asked Scarlet," he said, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

Cinder felt her heart beating a little faster at the thought of him seeking out and remembering her birthday. She took herself out of her daze to focus on the other thoughts on her mind.

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