Negotiation

"NO!!!" Eva exclaimed quickly, then smiled stiffly and spoke 'softly' "Mom's not like that..."

"I see..." Christian nodded, then looked down at himself and asked "Why didn't I ever have to wear one?"

"Because... you're still a child" Eva replied awkwardly.

Tapping the woman's head, Sara spoke "You should make him wear them from the age of 10, stupid."

"Why don't you guys use them?" looking at his mother, Christian asked.

"Because... we don't need them" Eva replied with even more discomfort.

"Why not? Don't your breasts fall out if you don't wear a bra?"

"That happens very rarely, it usually happens when you have genetic or hormonal flaws" Sara replied.

Frowning, Christian thought 'I remember reading something similar... women's Womz hormone... also gives their breasts strength?'

"I don't plan to use that" Looking at his mother seriously, Christian spoke.

"Then you're not allowed to go to public beaches or swimming pools with other people" Eva replied quickly, looking at the boy seriously.

Squinting, Christian asked "And if I want to go?"

"I'll force you to use them"

"..." Looking at each other for a few seconds, Christian spoke "If you wear something similar I will too, or I'll sneak to beaches when I grow up."

Frowning, Eva speaks "Women don't wear."

"I've seen in stores that sell them, you just have to buy them."

"I don't like them"

"I don't like wearing those either"

"..." Seeing that the boy doesn't back down, Eva looks at Jayden for a few seconds, then looks carefully at Christian only to sigh and nod "Good... I'll cover up too if we ever get to go to someone else's beach or pool."

Smiling brightly, Christian nodded "Deal."

"..."

"You were tricked" Sara sighed as she patted Eva's shoulder sympathetically "The boy forced you to cover up."

Furrowing her eyebrows, Eva looked at Christian who was happily walking away towards a seat "It's a deception I'll accept... it makes my blood boil to imagine a situation where he's uncovered in front of an audience."

"Christian is no longer a child Eva, he's already started his adolescence and today's young people are showing more and more of themselves"

"Let's eat?" ignoring the conversation, Eva smiled and took the pot full of roast meat, then looked up to the third floor and muttered "They're not here yet?"

"..." Sighing, Sara didn't speak anymore, knowing perfectly well that the woman is hopeless in these cases.

"I'll go get them" Sighing, Eva leaves the pot and walks towards the house.

"Aunt Sara, what's your plan for the trial?" watching his mother walk with a defeated expression, Christian smiled and spoke.

With a serious face, Sara looks at Christian "We have two easy options, the first is to advocate your mental health at that moment, we can talk and consult with psychologists about how stunning that moment is and that you couldn't rationalize... as for the second thing is to advocate self-defense, explain that the man wanted to trick you to take a gun."

"Which one do you think is the best?"

"Both are equally good, you are the only witness and the victim, you have evidence with the recorded 911 call that will always confirm the version of you as a victim"

"You decide the best" Christian nodded, then looked to his side noticing Aria coming quickly towards him "Is something wrong Aria?"

"Yes, my husband agreed, when should I start?"

Smiling, Christian spoke "Can you talk that over with my mother? She knows what days you have to work, the salary will be seen by uncle Jayden, but it will be about half of what you earn for the few days."

Nodding with a smile, Aria spoke "We had that in mind, I'll go talk to the lady, thank you very much young man."

"Don't worry, I needed him" Smiling, Christian nodded, watching as the old lady hurried off towards the house.

"He looks happy"

"I raised his salary"

"Just that?"

"Hire her husband"

"I see" Sara nodded "What do you plan to do now in investments?"

"What I already told you, I want to see those investments, but I also have something in mind..."

"What is it?"

"I want to get the CEO out of Uber."

Raising her eyebrows, Sara asked "Why? She looks like she does a good job."

"She's a pervert, she harasses her workers and has no morals, plus she disdains her workers thinking she's a big deal, she'll get us in trouble and tarnish Uber's name... at this rate we'll have the whole government and foreign institutions getting in wherever they want inside Uber"

"How do you know that?"

"A few days ago I got into his cell phone..." Lied Christian easily, easily remembering the mess left by Uber's CEO in his old world, causing the company to have constant lawsuits and all the time be open to the government and random people for investigations.

Raising her eyebrows, Sara picks up a glass of wine and takes a sip "How do you plan to remove it?"

"Now I would be the third largest shareholder while Kalanick the current CEO is the first largest shareholder? how about talking to the second largest shareholder? With his shares, I would be majority and could remove Kalanick whenever I want."

"That woman with the last name Camp?"

"Yes."

"What gives you confidence that he will sell his shares?"

"She used to be friends with Kalanick, but 7 months ago they had a strong argument and Kalanick kicked her out of the company, now she only has shares, but she doesn't have a position in the company."

"What makes you think she will sell just for a fight?"

"Kalanick insulted her very badly, practically treated her as stupid and cuckolded, saying she slept with her husband."

Almost choking on her wine, Sara opened her eyes and asked "And she slept with the husband?"

"I don't know, I only found out about this because Camp had an argument with her husband via Whatsapp."

"Do you have access to Whatsapp messages?" In disbelief, Sara asked.

"I had, Facebook already deleted my window in the program."

"..." Nodding, Sara thought for a few seconds "Maybe that will motivate her to sell, but I don't think she wants to sell everything, as far as I know, she's not stupid"

"She already has hatred, that will interfere with her mind, besides we don't need her to sell everything, only 26% of her shares, she will still have 3%"

"Why do you want to expel her right now? Isn't it better to wait for a scandal and take her down with more reasons in between?"

"That woman wants to mess with my shares"

"In what way?"

"There's talk around economic forums that that woman is looking for investors, she'll want to increase the number of investments and she'll lower the percentage for all of us if that happens"

"Then it's the best thing to get her out" Sara nodded "But, even if she is not CEO, she can still give you problems, she would still have her 30% of shares and she would have a certain vote"

"After we vote her out we just have to blackmail her" Shrugging, Christian smiles and continues "I don't have proof or anything to convict her, but I'm sure, with her personality, she must have a lot of shit hidden"

"You want to force her to sell you everything?"

"Yes"

"It's a risky move"

"Do you think she'll do anything if we have evidence of her committing any crimes?"

"..." Thinking for a few seconds, Sara nodded "She has a lot to lose, I doubt she'll do anything foolish"

"As far as I know from the messages I read from her on Whastapp, she's into cocaine, I'd have to see if I can find evidence of her carrying or using it"

"Then she's in a lot of trouble" Sara smiled.

"First try to talk to Camp, tell her we will buy everything from her at a fair price and negotiate with her, if she asks the reason, just tell her we don't like the current CEO...once we have that woman out, we blackmail her, she will already be defeated if we take her job, then we just have to kick her with blackmail to get her to sell her shares"

"I'll talk to Camp in a few days, we'll see what happens" With another sip of wine, Sara nodded.

...

May 16, 2012.

09:37 AM.

Walking home with no specific direction, Christian bit his thumb and spoke "I can't get rid of the bad feeling... something is happening and it will affect me, it stresses me out not knowing what's going on..."

"..."

Turning to Leslie, Christian purses his lips and asks "Do you know how to fight?"

"Yes"

"Show me, let's go to the gym" Turning suddenly, Christian changes his course and heads towards the second floor, greeting each cleaning staff on his way.

Arriving at the gym, Christian stood on a square of mat and turned to Leslie and spoke "What shall we start with?"

Looking around the place, Leslie walked over to the punching bag and moved it from the chain towards Christian, then slowed it down with the safety and pointed it "Hit it as hard as you can"

Nodding, Christian unbuttoned the top half of his pajama top and positioned himself, then struck with all his might, swinging the bag slightly.

Raising her eyebrows, Leslie nodded as she moved to Christian's back "You've got a good punch there, but you're positioned wrong"

Moving Christian's leg and adjusting his back, Leslie continued "Your leg has to stay this way, so all the strength of your body will be at your hand"

"Your shoulder is too low" Taking the boy's arm, Leslie began to adjust his whole body little by little "Your fist is at the wrong angle, if you hit like that your wrist will dislocate".

After about 15 minutes of explanation, Christian focused completely on the bag and started punching repeatedly, feeling the typical pain in his knuckles from hitting the bag without gloves or protection on his hands.

But regardless, Christian continued to punch steadily, as sweat began to run down his face.

Looking at the boy who understood everything with a few simple words, Leslie nodded as he muttered "I expected nothing less..."

Time passed quickly for Christian, all his concentration was focused on the bag and at some point the pain in his knuckles ceased to exist.

40 minutes later, Christian's upper muscles felt numb and his breathing was agitated, sweat dripped down his face and onto his bare chest, while the bag seemed to move more and more violently, causing Christian to repeatedly adjust his posture and move from his initial position.

Another 10 minutes later, Christian couldn't take it anymore and collapses onto the mats, breathing heavily as he smiled.

"*Huff* *Sniff*" Trying to calm his breathing, Christian turned his reddened gaze to Leslie and smiled "That was entertaining..."

"You did well" Leslie nodded.

"What time is it?"

"13:27 PM"

"I see...I should be going to lunch in a few minutes."

"Do you have any thoughts on what you're doing today?"

"Mmmm" Holding his hand to his chin, Christian nodded "I'll work on Discord with Emily for a while, I also have to keep an eye out for a call from Uncle Jayden and Aunt Sara, they should be negotiating to buy Twitch...after that I'll paint to pass the time"

...

10:49 PM.

Looking at the painting in front of him, Christian bit his lips and nodded, then marked his signature in the bottom corner, along with the painting's title

"The Lockdown Virus."

The painting showed Time Square, the place looked almost devoid of people, and all the people who were, wore masks over their mouths. The advertising on the screens showed the image of the virus and sad faces with masks underneath, but it has certain clues inside, for example, if someone looks closely at the sun, you will notice that it has small stripes that resemble the continents, something that Christian added to make understand that this virus will be all over the world.

"With this I have drawn all the big natural disasters that we will have until 2020.... flood in philippines 2012, typhoon in philippines 2013, earthquake Nepal 2015, Earthquake ecuador 2016, the worst drought in Somalia in 2017, cyclone in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi.... those are the main ones, but also draw the extreme droughts that should appear later this month in Mexico, united states, Honduras and Guatemala... storm Sandy, India 2013 floods, Afghanistan avalanche, Japan volcano eruption, Amazon fire in 2019.... *sigh* many people will die from these events"

Staring at his drawings for a few seconds, Christian nodded and left the room, meeting Leslie at the exit.

"Sara's texting you, they bought Twitch."

"Oh, that was quick... what was the price?"

"120 million dollars."

"120 million..." Christian murmured, then nodded and spoke "Tell her they did well, have Uncle Jayden give his people a bonus of $5,000 each and Aunt Sara to hand out bonuses to the lawyers who helped her with the same amount.... also tell uncle Jayden that I want Twitch to take the same course of video game transmissions, to look for more people and a bigger venue for the project to be maintained, when people are more used to it, I want a change of design since the current one is very old fashioned... the new design I will send it by mail tomorrow at the latest.... I want them to look for better servers and facilitate everything already done, better payment facilities, better streaming capacity, I want a total remodeling... when all that is ready, I want them to get famous people in video games from YouTube and offer them contracts with juicy benefits, we have to take the platform before competitors arrive... make sure to remark that I don't want only people that speak our language, I want people from all possible languages, French, Spanish, Russian, German... I want them to cover all possible zones, so they will have to investigate Youtube and video game celebrities".

"Understood" Leslie nodded, typing quickly on Christian's cell phone.

Yawning, Christian looked down at his pajamas all stained with paint and sighed, then turned to Leslie and spoke "Leslie, it's my bedtime, are you settled in your new room yet?"

Since Leslie became Christian's direct employee, she was forced by the boy to sleep in a spare master bedroom, leaving the woman only a few feet away from him at all times.