The Love of Money II
Copyright© 2025 by MindSketch
Chapter 43: Olive Branch
Fiction Sex Story: Chapter 43: Olive Branch - Marcus and the others are no longer just surviving the world—they’re shaping it. Erin has always known what she wants. Now she’s orchestrating it. Helen is learning that submission isn’t surrender. Bobbi, stripped of her old identity, stands at a crossroads. New women cross his path. Old ones return. Some hand him their heart. Some, a leash. Some, a knife in the back. And then there are the ones waiting for him to stumble. It's hard to rest when you have a target painted on your back.
Caution: This Fiction Sex Story contains strong sexual content, including Ma/Fa Fa/Fa Mult Coercion Consensual NonConsensual Reluctant Romantic Lesbian BiSexual Heterosexual Fiction Rags To Riches BDSM DomSub MaleDom FemaleDom Light Bond Rough Sadistic Spanking Group Sex Harem Orgy Interracial Black Female White Female Oriental Female Indian Female Anal Sex Analingus Cream Pie Exhibitionism Facial Massage Oral Sex Petting Pregnancy Sex Toys Squirting Voyeurism Big Breasts Small Breasts Slow Violence
“Hello, Marcus,” the woman on the other end of the line purred. I could hear the vulpine smile. “It’s good to hear your voice again.”
I whirled in the opposite direction I’d been walking and stalked down the hall, not even knowing why. Everything felt reactionary. “What the fuck are you doing calling from Natalie’s phone?”
“I’m in New York for a visit and ran into your lovely girlfriend,” Astrid said, affecting a hurt tone. “She was kind enough to let me use her phone to call you.”
“If you’ve hurt a single hair on her head...”
“What!? I would never!”
I stopped mid-stride again and spun back around. Chloe was already on the phone, eyeing me as she spoke quietly into the mouthpiece. “Put her on.”
“Marcus—”
“Put her on right now, Astrid.”
I heard her sigh, and then the ambient noise around her shifted; it grew more intense.
“You’re on speakerphone, Marcus,” Astrid said, sounding further away from the phone and more tinny.
“Hi, Marcus!” It was Natalie.
“Nat!” I said, relief beginning to blossom in my chest. “You okay?”
“Yeah!” she said. I just sat down to eat some lunch and bumped into Astrid. She’s really sweet!”
“Nat,” I said. “Please leave.”
There was a pause ... then, “What?”
“Just get up and leave.”
“Marcus!” Astrid interjected, “Please! I just want to talk!”
“You can’t possibly have anything to say that I want to hear,” I snarled.
My hands were already full with Tanaka. The last thing I needed was Astrid showing up, threatening my loved ones, and making my life worse. The bitch was literally too insane to be of any actual use. If anything, she would likely just fuck things up.
“Marcus!?” Natalie said, sounding alarmed.
“Just give me ten minutes,” Astrid said, and I could hear a pleading note in her voice. “Ten minutes, and then I’ll go away.”
I looked at Chloe, who had walked up to me with phone in hand. “They’re at Hilda’s on Sixty-Seventh Street,” she said.
If I told Natalie to leave one more time, she probably would, but apparently, the man Chloe had assigned to Natalie was still with her. With Astrid waiting there for me, I didn’t see any other reason to continue this conversation over the phone.
Much better to make the twenty-minute journey there and get in her face.
“Fine. You get ten minutes,” I growled into the phone. “I’m coming to you.”
“Perfect!” The blonde princess sounded delighted. “What shall we order you?”
“Nothing. Ten minutes isn’t enough time.”
Without waiting for a reply, I hung up the phone. “I want my car out in front immediately.”
“Already on it,” Chloe said, phone to her ear. She followed me as I continued back down the hall toward Chandler’s office.
In a few short moments, I was at his office door. Opening it, I strode in. Helen, Erin, and Charity were gathered with the seasoned businessman. They all looked up at me as I entered, and I could see the strain on Chandler’s face and the weariness in Erin’s eyes. I owed all of them some serious vacation time once this was all over.
“Bad news,” I said. “Astrid’s in town, and she just called me from Natalie’s phone.”
Erin straightened and blinked. “Astrid? As in...”
“Yeah. That Astrid. I gotta go deal with her, so you’ve got about a minute to tell me whatever you need to tell me.”
“It’s gonna take more than a minute, boss, but long story short, they seem to have bought it. Emmanuel wants to order Chinese food and go over some of the initial discrepancies he found. Helen, Chandler, and I were gonna tackle that while Vikram goes back to their office to start reviewing some of the proposal drafts they’re working on.”
“No red flags?” I asked, hardly believing what I was hearing.
“I told you this would go well,” Helen said. “The next stage will be the real test.”
“I’m still counting this as a win,” I said.
“Oh, it’s still a win,” Chandler said. “Don’t let Mrs. VanCamp’s dismissive tone fool you, my boy. We’ve accomplished in a week what other teams would take months to achieve.”
“That’s the spirit,” I said. “Don’t sell ourselves short.”
“You want me to come with you, instead?” Erin asked.
“No,” I said quickly, my protectiveness kicking in. “I don’t want you anywhere near that witch.”
Erin and Helen glanced at each other.
“I’ve got to go,” I said before I could get any pushback. “Keep me informed if anything changes.”
And then I was out the door, heading toward the elevators.
“I don’t suppose we can take a helicopter?” I asked Chloe.
Chloe shook her head. “No access at the restaurant. We drive.”
“Fuck.”
“Chuck said there were no signs of danger. He didn’t know who she was, but she never touched Natalie, and she’s been nothing but pleasant. Should be fine.”
“Hope so,” I said as we closed in on the elevators. I pressed the button to call it and eyed the number over the door as it changed. “There’s really no telling with her, though.”
Wednesday, October 9th, 1:41 pm
My driver probably broke several laws of physics to get me there so quickly ... not that I would have noticed. I’d been too preoccupied by thoughts of what Astrid could possibly want to pay attention to the impossible feats used to reach Hilda’s as quickly as I wanted.
Coming to a halt in front of the restaurant, he pulled up to the curb amid several angry honks. Chloe opened the door, climbed out, and held it open for me. John emerged from the front passenger’s side and stepped onto the curb beside Chloe, fastening one of his coat buttons as the SUV sped off into traffic behind us.
I spotted Natalie in the courtyard of a lovely boutique deli, giving me a broad smile and waving. Across from her sat a slender woman wearing a brimmed hat the color of burnt umber, and as she looked over her shoulder in the direction Natalie was waving, she pulled her sunglasses down the bridge of her nose to peer at me over the tops.
Then she flashed a blinding white smile. Soft dimples at the corner of her mouth clashed with her sharp, angular features. Astrid was stunning in an ethereal way, and I had a collection of photos to prove it.
In person, though, it was different, and any fool who found him or herself on the receiving end of one of those sweet smiles would have normally counted themselves very lucky.
As long as they didn’t know what she was really like.
Approaching the entrance to the outside seating area, a woman standing beside a podium beamed at me. “Welcome to Hilda’s! How many?”
“I’m with those two,” I said, pointing to the ladies and giving her an ingratiating smile.
John posted outside the waist-high fence, keeping a watchful eye while Chloe followed me toward the others. I spotted two other men dressed fashionably nearby, but carrying themselves in a way that my experienced eye spotted as dangerous—they had to be Chuck and whoever Astrid’s bodyguard was.
Natalie stood up as soon as I got close enough and hugged me, wrapping one arm around my waist while another snaked around my neck. She kissed me just next to my ear and whispered, “Is everything okay?”
Despite the situation, her soft lips next to my ear gave me chills, and I did my best to ignore the feeling. “Just bail as soon as you can. I’ll explain later.”
I slipped free from her grasp and turned to see that Astrid had stood and was reaching to hug me. Not wanting to make a scene, I embraced her.
Where Natalie had curves for days, contrasting her slender waist, Astrid was willow-thin, like a lingerie model. Pulling her close made her small frame more apparent—I felt like I could actually snap her in two.
As I hugged her, her hands slid up my arms, fingertips pressing into the meat of my shoulders as she whispered into my ear. “You look good, Marcus. I can tell you’ve filled out a little more.”
“What are you doing here, Astrid?” I growled next to her ear.
“You kept ignoring my calls and texts, dear.”
She pulled away before I had a chance to tell her that wasn’t an answer to my question and sat back down in her chair, returning to her salad as I joined them.
“Well, this was an unexpected treat!” Natalie said, reaching out to grasp my hand. She squeezed it, but I didn’t miss the slight tremble in her fingers. “I haven’t seen this guy since Saturday.”
“Aw ... just like a man.” Astrid leveled her gaze at me. “You mustn’t neglect a woman this stunning, Marcus. You don’t want her to start wondering if she can do better.”
Natalie looked stricken. “Oh, he’s not neglecting me! We’ve both just been really busy.”
“That’s right! You were just telling me about finding a new job! That must be so exciting, starting a new chapter of your life!” She looked back at me. “And what about you? What’s your excuse?”
I shrugged. “A few different business ventures. Trying to differentiate myself from my grandfather and the rest of the Gerrards.”
Astrid nodded. “Start your own legacy ... how noble!”
“Thanks,” I said. I sat back in my chair, entwining Natalie’s fingers with mine. “So, how did you two bump into each other?”
“I had just sat down for a late lunch when Astrid showed up and asked if she could join my table.”
Glancing around, I had to admit that the place did look almost full.
“We started talking, and she mentioned being a major stockholder for VistaVision. I said that you were, too!”
Astrid interjected, “And when she told me her boyfriend was you, I couldn’t believe it!” She leaned in and slid her fingers over my free hand, her thumb caressing my knuckles. “New York is so big! What are the odds that I would run into your girlfriend!?”
I glanced at Natalie and saw her staring at Astrid’s hand on mine. Her smile suddenly became brittle, and I could see the heat in her eyes as that little streak of jealousy surfaced.
“What are the chances?” I agreed, slipping my hand free from Astrid’s grasp. “What are you doing in New York? Something to do with VistaVision?”
“Yes,” Astrid said, seemingly unfazed when I pulled away from her. “I hear there might be a significant change of stock ownership, and as a stakeholder, I wanted the particulars.”
“Well,” Natalie said as she gathered her purse, “as much as I enjoy discussing company ownership buyouts, I’m afraid I need to get back to the office.
“What?” Astrid asked. “No! I didn’t mean to chase you away!”
“It’s okay! I really need to get going.” Natalie stood up and slung her purse over her shoulder. “I’ll let you two talk. It was nice meeting you, though, Astrid.”
Astrid stood as well. “But your boyfriend just got here!”
“It’s okay. We’ll see each other tonight.”
We hadn’t had any plans for tonight, but after this, you could bet your ass that Natalie would be staying at my place for the next several nights. Since the start of negotiations, the danger of having someone assassinate me or my people had reduced significantly, and security had allowed Natalie to return to her own house as long as she had a bodyguard with her. Though I suspected that she missed staying at my house.
Her staying at her apartment by herself while Astrid was in town sounded like a bad idea.
I stood up, hugged Natalie, and said, “See you tonight, sweetie.”
Saying her final goodbyes, Natalie left Astrid and me alone. The willowy blonde sat back down and sighed, “She seems sweet.”
“She is,” I said, joining her back at the table. “What the fuck were you doing with her?”
Astrid pouted as she played with her salad. “That’s uncalled for, Mr. Upton. I just happened to be in the neighborhood and—”
“I’m two seconds from your ten minutes being over, Astrid.”
She huffed and dropped her fork. “Fine. I had Natalie followed and ambushed her just so I could get your attention.”
“How did you know I was dating Natalie?”
“I hired a private investigator.”
That set off alarm bells, and I glanced up at Chloe, who had found a small table nearby and was browsing a menu.
“Oh, don’t blame her,” Astrid said. “Your security team did a remarkable job at keeping my man at bay. They nearly caught him once, but I think they assumed it was one of Hiro’s mercenaries.”
“And what do you want?” I asked. “I told you we were through.”
She lifted her coffee and took a sip, peering at me from over the rim. “Did you like my pictures?”
Truth be told, I did. In fact, I’d missed them over the last few days since she’d gone silent and had started to wonder if she’d gotten bored with me. Losing that daily hit of erotica had been a bit of a downer.
Of course, I’d never admit that to her.
“I don’t know,” I said. “I deleted them as soon as I got them.”
She put her coffee cup back down daintily, the corners of her lips curling in amusement. “Liar.”
“Now, who’s being rude?”
“Each one was marked ‘received’ within the hour. If you truly wished not to see them, you would have blocked my number ... not kept looking.”
Unable to mount a good defense against that, I broke eye contact, preferring to watch the people inside the deli than see the triumph in her eyes.
“It’s alright, Marcus,” she said, her head cocked as she smiled at me. “No one can blame you. We are animals, after all.”
I felt toes brush my shin, drawing my attention back to her.
“I’m flattered ... and I promise not to tell your girlfriend.”
I withdrew my leg until I felt her touch disappear. “Did you seriously fly all the way to New York to call me out for looking at your selfies?”
“Yes.”
I snorted in derision.
“ ... and also to talk to you about your sale of VistaVision. I wasn’t lying.”
“What about it? Nothing in the bylaws says I have to get approval before I sell everything. Hiro wants a change of leadership after the sale, but you’ll get to vote on that.”
“I don’t have a problem with you selling the company, Marcus. I want in.”
My mind went numb. “Come again?”
“I want to buy your shares.”
“Sorry,” I said. “Hiro has dibs. We’re right in the middle of negotiations.”
“Have you signed a contract?”
“No.”
“Then you’re not locked into anything.” She said, giving me a dazzling smile. “I’ll outbid him. Sell to me.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “You don’t know how much he’s purchasing them for!”
“How much is he purchasing them for?” she purred.
“I’m ... not going to tell you that.”
Astrid looked genuinely perplexed. “Whyever not?”
“Because,” I glanced around the courtyard as if I’d be able to find the perfect answer just lying around. “I’m not selling to you.”
She studied me—all pretense of playful flirtation gone, and I did my best to meet her gaze.
If Astrid went too far down this line of questioning without me giving her solid answers, she could become suspicious and dig deeper. The last thing I needed was someone as smart, resourceful, and motivated as Astrid realizing that I was selling unholy water.
So I told the truth ... as much of it as I could. “I’m selling them to Hiro for fifty-four dollars per share.”
Understandably, Astrid’s eyes popped.
I was selling my shares for roughly half their current value. They’d been even more valuable a few weeks ago, but Hiro’s interference had caused the price to drop. Good for him, I guess.
“This is a bid for peace,” she finally said. God, she was insightful.
I shook my head. “It’s not just that. I want to be done with this company. It’s got my grandfather’s name written all over it, and it feels like I can’t escape his shadow.”
“But you’re throwing billions of dollars away and enriching your greatest enemy!” she said.
“I’ll still have billions, Astrid, and if I sell to him, he won’t be my enemy.”
She fixed me with a cool stare. “Will that be in writing?”
“Yes.”
Astrid straightened in her chair, disapproval written all over her face. No ... not disapproval—disgust.
“I thought you were better than this.”
“What?” I said. “You just want me to let this war continue? Do you know how many people’s lives have been ruined by this?”
Astrid’s head tilted. “Dickens said it best—’Decrease the surplus population.’”
“Fuck.” I stood up.
She blinked up at me. “What?”
“That’s just heartless.”
“I still want in on VistaVision,” she said, not missing a beat.
I slid my chair back under the table. “We all want things.”
“Marcus,” Astrid said, reaching for my wrist. Movement flickered in the corner of my eye as Chloe stood from her spot, and I raised my other hand to stall her. Astrid’s bodyguard, who had been standing inside the fence of the courtyard, stopped looking like a statue and resembled more of a coiled tiger ... all without moving a muscle.
“I’ve seen who you are,” she went on. “In those moments in the wreckage when there was no one around but me to see it...”
She bit her lip. “In my room, just before you left.”
I’d threatened her—more than once.
“Let me help you,” she urged.
I glanced down at her hand and slowly removed my wrist from her grasp. “No thanks.”
She shook her head and huffed. “I knew this was futile. You’re really going to walk away and not accept help?”
“Sorry. Nearly getting me killed is kind of difficult to get over.”
Sighing, she nodded. “That’s why I didn’t come empty-handed.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I brought a gift. An apology for my ... rash actions. It should have been delivered to your building by now.”
I balked. “I’m sorry... what?”
“Marcus, just promise me one thing,” she said. “Open your gift. If you like it and want to keep it, just give me a chance. If you don’t, you may return it, and you won’t hear from me again.”
My phone was already out of my pocket and in my hand. “I’m not going to make you any promises—”
“It’s not a difficult request, Marcus.”
I found Psalter’s name and selected it. “What is it?”
Astrid gave me a mysterious smile. “Now, what’s the fun in giving away the surprise?”
I whirled away from her, the phone against my ear. Chloe fell in step next to me.
“I hope to hear from you soon!” Astrid called out as I brushed past the hostess and headed away from the deli.
“Mr. Upton!?” came the voice across the line. In the background, I could hear machines ... like grinding wheels cutting through metal.
“Where are you?” I asked him, and then said to Chloe, “Tell the car to meet us on the corner of the block.”
Chloe nodded as Psalter said, “I’m in South Jersey!”
“Can you get away?”
“I can!” he said, having to raise his voice to make sure he was heard, yet still sounding bored as he did it.