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A/N Hey guys so I've been working on this for a while. I hope it's not as crappy as I think but maybe in the future I will get better. But please climb onto my roller coaster ride of Nathan and Maddie. Thanks for giving me a chance. ^o^

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Growing up I always had so many aspirations. I could never pin point just one when I got older. So when I got my scholarship to NYU I was amazed, surprised and also very afraid. But even so, I ended up as undergrad with so much under my belt. I was 22 and had to choose what to finally do after university.

I had a passion for writing so surely that was part of my list, but also social work, and social sciences and just stuff revolving around those subjects. I had history with business due to my father. And yes, I was young and dumb but having my father on your side really helped, yet many people didn't respect me for that. Leading to my surname being changed to my mom's.

I was Madeline Adelaide Bloom. It was a very feminine name and really weird to me but my parents gave it to me and it grew on all of us. My last name use to be Cunningham but when my parents divorced and my mom took back her last name I saw it as my opportunity to not be seen as Clyde Cunningham's little girl.

I had gotten a job at NY Times due to my fathers "connections", but I didn't really enjoy it, since he bought my way into here. I did appreciate his gesture of good will but the fact of not earning it by my own merit constantly loomed over my head. I did boring interviews, nothing really special-the business section.

"Maddie," I heard outside of my day dreaming. I looked over my computer and saw Jesse, my office friend and also my only friend right now.

"Yeah," I dozed back into reality. See even what I wrote made me sleep.

"Sarah gave you another person to interview. It's some guy called," she looked at the file and read it slowly, "His name is Nathan Lane." She looked up, her stunning blue eyes were handing me my fortune in a file.

Opening it I saw that this Nathan man was a CEO and entrepreneur. His "empire" was Lane Enterprises.

He must be soo good that no one ever talks about him or even the fact that I never heard his name before.

"This is it," I asked as if this was a joke.

"Ask Sarah. I doubt though, Google says that he's a fortune 100 guy, he's a billionaire and his LinkedIn is practically non-existent."

"Really," I retaliate, not believing it. I open the file and continue reading.

"Wow," I hear Jesse gasp.

"What," I look up from my reading.

"He's only 24."

"That is a shock."

This guy was big deal but no big broker, CEO, or any other entrepreneur ever spoke of him. Why?

Mr. Lane was beginning to get more interesting. But even my dad never spoke of him, so was this guy even real?

I went in to talk with Sarah after doing some research on this fellow, since I couldn't even fine any sure pictures of him. He was beginning to seem more and more like Bigfoot.

"Come in!"

I walked in and closed the door behind me. Sarah was our chief editor and a mean one. She was in her 50s divorced and had jet black shoulder length hair.

"Yeah, I got this story and I don't know how I'm suppose to do a report on this guy if he doesn't even exist."

"Maddie your dad bought your job for you, I'm sure you can do this without daddy's help. This man is very important right now and he is dominating everyone else in the business. I heard that he was even on Forbes not to long ago so you better cover him, he is very much real."

"His cover on Forbes isn't on here," I say referring back to my research.

"Forbes ended up pulling it when he revealed he didn't want to be on it."

"Then what makes us different? Why would he agree to an interview with us?"

She leaned in on her desk, "He's the type of man to read the Times and Wall Street, and I'm sure his competitors do as well. He's climbing the ranks of New York, I'm sure he'll want exposure so he'd gladly want an interview."

"So what exactly do you want me to do?"

"Your job. Actually no, I want you to go undercover and find out what it's like working for him because if my sources are right you don't want to be in his crossfire. You may not even be safe on his good side."

"All right." Then I dragged myself out of the room. I was excited to go undercover for this, but if what she said was true then I was not sure if I'd get the job. Was she really that serious about him? If dad found out I worked for another company he'd kill me. But I was 22, Madeline Bloom and I had to do my job.

*****

That night I cooked some pasta and sat down on my coach celebrating my demise but also victory. Things were looking up, and down, and maybe if I did this right I could do something more exciting.

"Mom I got a good story," I called from my dumpy building.

"Good job honey," she sound like a tired puppy, "What is it?"

"It's still business but I get to go undercover. They say the guy is mean so I'm going to check him out, but I doubt it. If anything he's arrogant."

I could hear my mom chuckle through the phone, "Your father did the same thing, always acting mean and harsh but I toned him down when I met him. I was the only woman in his life who wasn't afraid of him," my mother reminisced.

"I know, you tell me this all the time and how you guys met in college," I began to laugh along.

"That's good. Because now you know, behind every great man there is a great woman."

"Preach momma bear."

"Well sweetie, it's late and I have to sleep. Call me when you can and don't forget to call your father, it's his birthday in two days."

"I will, I will," I smiled from the end of the line, "I love you, bye."

"Bye Maddie." And she hung up.

My mother always knew how to cheer me up and how to give great advice. The only thing I could ever remember my dad saying was stuff like 'don't take your eyes off the prize' and 'you either win or lose but either way you'll still be a winner in my heart'. He was a bit of a softy and bitter-sweet. My dad wasn't haft bad but my mom and him were so different.

She was a hippie and hugger while my dad was a suit and fighter. Maybe that's why I'm so f"d up. I'm competitive yet I can look on the bright side when I don't win. I guess I'm with or without wood or that I face north, however it goes. Anyways, I love them even through my father never has so much time away from work to see me.

It was fine for me but my mother was alone and I hated seeing her alone. She even cried when I moved away for college. She was my rock and my dad my anchor.

So after the conversation I sent dad a message telling him a happy early birthday and asking him about his plans.

Of course he wouldn't respond within a day so I learned to be patient from that. Man, now that I think about it I'm an all around person.

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A/N The picture above was from my original draft of this book but I started all over to create this one so I just want to give you guys some sort of an easter egg. If you like it so far don't forget to follow/vote/comment or whatever you'd like to do. Thanks for reading my first book. I might or may not talk more depth of what I plan for this book but anyways enjoy ^~^

-Stace

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