Steffy's Breaking Point

Chapter 8

Steffy arrives home to find Ridge coming out of Phoebe's play room. "Hey, welcome home. I just put Phoebe down for her nap."

"Did she give you any trouble?"

"No, I tired her out playing."

"Oh you tired her out?" Steffy smiles playfully with her father, "Do you need to go down for a nap too?" She teases.

Ridge laughs, "If I sit down I may fall asleep."

They both laugh. Steffy continues, "Well you may not want to sit down then." She digs in her purse and pulls out a piece of paper and hands it to Ridge.

"What's this?" He says as he unfolds the paper, his eyes and looks at Steffy in shock, "Is this? Is this what I think it is?"

"Yup, that is the 12.5% shares that Bill Spencer used to own."

Ridge laughs as he grabs Steffy in for a huge hug, "I can't believe you pulled this off!" He gets serious for a moment and grabs Steffy by the shoulders and stares her directly in the eyes, "What did you have to give Spencer in return?"

"Nothing," Steffy says, "He did try to blackmail me into marrying him. But I turned him down."

"Oh thank God!" Ridge sighs in relief.

"Now we have to think about our next game plan carefully," Steffy says turning serious, "Between mine, yours, and Thomas' shares we have 62.5. We need to pull together to take back control of Forrester Creations. It's what grandma would have wanted."

"Your right, we should call your brother. I think it's time he come home and take his place at Forrester Creations."

"I think so too, you call Thomas I'm going to call a realtor. I don't want to stay in this house any more. There are too many bad memories here." Steffy confesses as she looks around the house that she thought she would be spending her life with her family.

"I think that's a great idea. You don't want any connections to Spencer. Either one of them."

They both pick up their phones to make some calls.

Thomas is at home sketching, the front door of his penthouse opens and Douglas comes flying through the door smiling, "Dad! I got an A on my math class." He says as he wraps his arms around his father's neck.

Thomas hugs Douglas back, "That's great! I'm so proud of you." He walks over to a pregnant Caroline and gives her a kiss.

"He's been so excited to tell you the whole car ride home." She says beaming at Thomas.

"I forgot to show you Mommy, I drew this picture in art class for my little sister!" Douglas takes a picture of a stick figure family of four out of his backpack.

"Wow bud, that's great. I think designing is in your future."

"I know little Sophia will love it when she gets here."

"Can we put it in her nursery?" Douglas asks.

"Of course." Caroline says as she smiles down at Douglas.

Before they head to the nursery his phone begins to ring. "You two go ahead, it's my father." Caroline and Douglas head off to the nursery and Thomas answers his phone, "Hey Dad."

"Hey Thomas, how are you and your growing family."

Thomas smiles, "Everyone is fantastic. Is this a social call or business call?"

"Well to be honest, it's a business call. There is a lot happening at Forrester right now."

After a lengthy description on everything that happened between Steffy and Hope and Liam. Eric and Brooke against him, Thomas can't believe what he has been hearing. "Wow, that is quite a story."

"Yeah, and imagine what it's going to be like when the press gets a hold of this scandal."

"That is going to be a disaster, especially after the poor reviews of the HFTF fashion show. The only media outlet that was praising it was Spencer Publication."

"They are going to have a field day with this story. And there is no way of hiding it since Hope is pregnant, they are going to notice."

"So what is your plan?" Thomas inquires.

"Your sister has just acquired Spencer's 12.5% shares of Forrester."

Thomas is stunned, "That's amazing! Now we have 100% of the company in Forrester control."

"Well," Ridge hesitates, "Your grandfather is siding with Hope and Brooke. So technically they have control."

"Seriously," Thomas says frustrated, "To be honest I'm not surprised. Where do I fit in here."

"Son you always fit in where Forrester is concerned. But if I'm being honest we do need you. Between me, you, and your sister we have 62.5% of the company and we will out number your grandfather. Steffy and I would like for you to return to Forrester to help run the company."

Thomas nods, "I'll have to see how Caroline and Douglas are going to feel about moving to California. If we decide to do it then we will have to go quickly before Caroline can no longer fly."

"Ok, let me know. Give everyone a hug and kiss for me."

"Will do, talk to you soon Dad."

Thomas hangs up the phone and tries to process what his father just told him. Thomas feels a hand on his shoulder and turns around to see Caroline smiling at him, "Is everything ok?" Caroline asks.

"Yeah, yeah." Thomas trails off. After explaining the situation to Caroline she takes a deep breathe.

"Wow, that's a lot to take in." Caroline says still shocked, "I can't believe Hope did that to Steffy."

"Yeah, I feel bad for her. Her whole world is crumbling around her."

"Well then," Caroline says turning to look at Thomas, "I think she needs more family."

Thomas and Caroline look at each other and smile, "To California?" Thomas asks.

"To California." Caroline agrees before they go to tell Douglas.