More Than Business

Chapter 133

- To Kathandra C. : I wish there was something I could've said or done to convince you how precious your life was, how much your life mattered.. We're sorry if we've ever made you feel less than. I heard your hate and saw your pain, I just wish I'd have known sooner. ~ Nicki & Lydia

Vanessa and Margo both reached out to me. Margo explained she had been being updated by Aubrey and waiting for the right time to contact me. Vanessa said between giving me space, and the twins she was delayed. I told them both they were fine.

The next day, Anita and Rachel were helping me prepare for the appearance on The Real. The bandages on my chest were allowed to come off but not my wrist. I wore a sleeveless bodysuit that revealed all of my chest scars, dress pants, and a blazer that covered my scars. I wore a black silk glove over my hand that had the bandage. Lydia arrived in a body con dress and carrying coffee for the 4 of us.

"Ugh, I'm gonna miss these days." I said as I greeted her.

"Yeah I wish I could stay and hang out everyday. But jobs are important." Anita agreed.

"You guys are all really fun to be around." Rachel added.

The first thing we were asked at the interview was, "What took you guys so long to respond? And why now? Why us?"

"Well, a lot of factors played into our delayed response. We've been working from the inside out." Lydia replied, "I wasn't there when it happened, but I rushed there as soon as I found out. We have lock down protocol in the building for when things are going on, so once I knew Nic, Cole, Rachel and the triplets were all safe.. I actually ended up locking myself in a room with all of our employees and worked on an internal game plan for not only coping with the lost of Kathandra, but taking steps to prevent it from happening."

"Yeah, and I was rushed to the hospital.. and between the trauma of the events that occurred and the news I received from the hospital, I passed out and was unconscious for over 12 hours. When I did wake up, I've been stuck in the house, but luckily with Cole and Rachel and the family. Just trying to get our heads back on straight." I added, "And you know we definitely wanted to meet with Kathandra's family before anything."

"And the four of us kind of worked together to keep Nic's phone from her for about a day or so.. so there's that."

"Wait when was this?" I turned to her.

"We didnt want you to see that the news was blaming you at first." She told me.

"And why us? I'm sure EVERYONE has been contacting you guys." Jeannie Mai redirected.

"We've talked with her family, we talked with our employees, cooperated with the police. The next people on our list are OUR audience. We went through all the emails and we felt like your platform represented our consumers, our audience better than anyone." I answered.

"The news is too local, they can do their homework and watch this interview if they want to report on us. We sell a wide range of clothing, but primarily its womens.. when we became public, women are who took to us immediately, who relate to us, who are inspired by us and who inspire us everyday." Lydia elaborated.

"So what do you want people to know about what happened? Or is it confidential?" Tamera asked.

"The Carson family told us not to keep anything confidential actually. If it were up to them, we'd be letting you guys show the surveillance from Nic's office that day." Lydia replied.

"Unfortunately, I can not sit through watching it.. I haven't seen it and I don't want to. I lived it, and I relive it several times a day in my head." I added.

"Why don't you tell us just the emotions that going through your head this whole time. We've all seen the footage from the outside, you risked your life for her." Adrienne suggested, "How did it start? Did you fire her or something?"