BLOODLINES, BLOOD MONEY & BLOODSHED (Episode 1: A Family Apart)

Chapter 5: Parrish Kincaid

Twenty eight year old Parrish Kincaid; half Asian, half black, was dressed in a black Armani suit. Handsome, his hair was cut close to the scalp. His frame was chiseled.

Around Parrish, his staff buzzed as they made the final preparations for his presentation, a presentation that was going to bring Kincaid Enterprises, already successful, an additional hundreds of millions of dollars per year. Heading the presentation, Parrish stood in conference room among his staff calm but excited.

Parrish had been meeting with the representatives of Brackland Industries for over several months now courting a merger between them and one of Kincaid Enterprises' companies. He was now sure the merger would go through after today's meeting. All the signs were leading to it. He had no doubts.

David Garrison, a rep for Brackland, entered the conference room with several of his assistants. He and each of his team members were dressed in suits and loafers. Shaking hands with Parrish and exchanging pleasantries, they sat down at the long conference table to get down to business.

A large flat screen television came on.

Parrish said while standing next to the television, "Ladies and gentlemen, a merger between Brackland Industries and...

"Mr. Kincaid," David said.

"Yes?" Parrish answered.

"For the past several months you have extended yourself to us personally, whether in meetings, phone calls or any other form of communication between your camp and ours. That's greatly appreciated. So because of that, we felt you deserved the news of our decision face to face, rather than in a phone call."

"So, you've decided to merge with us?"

"Actually, no."

Parrish was thrown off.

"We've decided to merge Brackland with someone else."

"Who?" Parrish asked.

"Millennium International."

Parrish felt like he'd been punched in the stomach. Of all the companies to merge with, not Millennium. Keeping his composure, though, he said, "Mr. Garrison, I assure you that a merger with us would be much more beneficial to Brackland. In fact, if you just let me go through this final presentation-

"That won't be necessary. The heads at Brackland have already made their decision. I'm sorry Mr. Kincaid."

With that said, David and his team stood and headed for the door.

Parrish looked sunken. He'd been absolutely sure he had done everything to make the merger a success, including millions of dollars of Kincaid Enterprises' money, an act he had assured his father would pay off with heavy interest.

He was wrong.

Parrish's team was silent.

Moments passed.

Turning to a window and looking out over downtown Miami, he said to his team, "Get out."

Everyone stood, grabbed their cell phones, tablets and bottled waters, and left the conference room. Now alone, Parrish placed his hands into his pockets and stared out over the city thinking about what his father had said in the meeting a few days ago...

"Kincaid Enterprises always gets what it wants."

Parrish knew that slogan very well. He knew exactly what it meant. With his father's words in his mind, Parrish knew heads could roll over the loss of this deal...

Including his own.

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