Gossip Girl (Book Five)

Twenty-Two

I walked out of Chuck's room, putting on my jacket and I saw Nate standing in the living room. "Nate, are my ears playing tricks on me, or did I hear you on the phone with a young lady earlier? Please tell me she's around your age this time." I stated and Nate looked over at me.

"No, not exactly. Um, Diana called to talk to me." Nate stated.

"Well, I'm not sure which one of us this is more awkward for." I heard Chuck say walking out of his bedroom.

"Neither am I." Nate stated. "Between my history with Diana and now yours, it's just too weird to even be in business with her. I would love to find some funding and possibly buy her out for good. Either of you interested?"

"Something tells my dad isn't going to be fond of me doing that." I stated.

"As for me, I'm still trying to decide what kind of relationship I want with her. Which means I'm not ready to put her out of business just yet."

"Basically, you screwed Diana enough for the both of you." I smirked.

"Oh, by the way, I hope you don't mind. I called Andrew in to figure out where Diana's getting her money. She needed my grandfather last time. Someone must be bankrolling her now." Nate explained.

"And when you find out who it is?" Chuck asked.

"I'll try and convince the investor to bet on me alone."

"Do what you have to do, but I am respectfully staying out of it." Chuck stated, taking my hand and we both walked out of the penthouse, passing Andrew on our way to the elevator.

After brunch, I went to meet with my dad. He said he had something very important to talk to me about. Honestly, it made me so nervous that I didn't eat much. Because of that, Chuck said, "Lena, you not eating brunch is giving me a lot of anxiety. I don't think I have ever seen you not eat." It didn't get better. The fact that me being nervous made him nervous just made me even more nervous. He drove me to my dad's office, kissed me goodbye, and I went up to the top floor. His secretary Danielle had this weird smile on her face, asking me to wait. She talked with my dad for a moment before leaving the office and smiling at me again.

"You can go in." Danielle said, motioning for me to walk in.

"Danielle, your smile is really freaking me out. Should I be scared?" I asked and she giggled, shaking her head.

"Just step inside."

I took a deep breath in, walking into the office. My dad was sitting in one of his chairs by the couch. He smiled at me, standing up. "Hi, daddy." I said hugging him and he kissed my cheek. He motioned for me to sit down on the couch across from him. "I don't wanna. I'm scared." I said, looking at him.

My dad chuckled, insisting that I sit. I let out a deep breath, taking my seat. "I have to talk to you about something." I just nodded. "When your mom and I first got engaged, we said that we were going to travel the world for a couple of years before we had kids. But then we got married and your mom got pregnant with Alanna soon after that, then came you and Sebastian, and then the divorce. But we have a second chance and we wanted to do things right."

"You called me here to tell me you and mom are going to go on some trips?" I asked confused.

"No, I called you here to tell you that I'm retiring and you are going to take my place." I think that my jaw touched the floor. "Now, you are going to be overseen by the board carefully for the first couple of years and Bryn is going to be here to help you out." I wanted to say something, but nothing came out. "I know we already planned on you taking over, but I did think there would have been more of a translation. So I understand if this is a lot to handle."

"I'll do it anyways." I finally said. "It's what I wanted before Louis and that's what I want now."

"Good because it's going to be a lot of work."

I nodded. "I wouldn't have it any other way." My first stop after called Serena and Blair on my way down was to tell Chuck. This was going to be my future. The future I planned and worked for a year to get just to throw it away for Louis. I knew what I wanted before Louis and I know what I want now. I want to run my family business and spend the rest of my life with Chuck. Nothing is standing in my way now. Everything is falling into place.

After a romantic dinner together, we both went back to the penthouse where Nate was. I might start to get worried he spends too much time up here alone. I might have to fix that. "Oh, hey. How was your day?" Nate asked and I smiled.

"Amazing. For both of us, not just me." I stated.

"Lena is officially running the family business."

"Really? That's amazing." Nate said and I got so excited again.

"And I've decided to delete certain disturbing images of my mother's past from my mind and attempt a relationship with her." Chuck stated.

"Well, before you two start bonding and having spa weekends together, maybe you should see this." Nate said, picking a photo up off the coffee table and handing it over to chuck. I looked at the photo as I took off my jacket. It was a pregnant Elizabeth with a man's arm touching her stomach. "Elizabeth fisher e-mailed me that picture a few minutes ago. Take a look at the date in the corner. It's right before you were born."

"But Diana said Elizabeth couldn't get pregnant." I stated.

"Well, I guess she lied. Jack probably put her up to it." Nate said and we both looked at him confused.

"Jack? What does he have to do with this?" Chuck asked.

"Turns out he's the one funding Diana. He could have paid her to tell you whatever you wanted to hear. And had her pretend Elizabeth's donated blood was really hers."

"But if Elizabeth really is my mother, then why would she deny being the donor?" Chuck asked, but no one had an answer for him. "Something still doesn't add up." Nate walked out of the room and Chuck set the photo down on the coffee table.

"Why don't you get some champagne and I will meet you in the bedroom in ten minutes." I said and Chuck smiled. I kissed him before going back to the bedroom.

~~~

When I said ten minutes, I meant ten minutes. But here I was almost twenty minutes later and.....nothing. I left him alone with that photo and it got me nothing.

Chuck was going through his photos like he was on some sort of mission I didn't know about. I was sitting on the couch in my nightie. I had plans of celebrating that are just circling the drain right now. What was supposed to take ten seconds was ruining my night. I heard footsteps, turning around to see Nate. "This is your fault." I glared at him.

"Everything okay?" Nate asked.

"The only thing that Diana and Elizabeth have in common is my Uncle Jack." Chuck stated and Nate walked over to him. "Take a look at this photo again. You see the tattoo on the guy's arm?" Chuck asked, showing up the phone. I took it getting a better look at the tattoo.

"Yeah. So?" Nate asked.

"So I know that tattoo." Chuck grabbed another photo showing it to us. "Check it out." Bart didn't have the tattoo. "The man in that photo is not my dad. It's Jack. What if all this subterfuge over my mother's identity was actually disguising the real question?" Nate and I both looked shocked looking at each other before back at Chuck. "It's not who's my mom. It's who's my dad. I think Jack Bass is my father."

"Oh, honey, your family is so screwed up." I stated, setting the photos on the coffee table.