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Cassadine tng ch 14

6:00am Tai Chi in the park with Uncle Stefan
7:30am Breakfast at home.
9:00am Audition central casting
2pm- 4:30 Classes with Uncle Stefan (Personal finance/investing)
5:30 Premiere Ridley Scott Movie to support Merrill.
9pm After movie thing
Midnight home and asleep.

Tai chi in the park with Uncle Stefan is soooo cancelled. Fancy looks out at the pouring down rain. This kind of gully rusher is the reason why Los Angeles has canals. Couple of days of this and they’d be worrying about houses sliding down the canyons. Since the park is out, which is the only way she likes doing Tai Chi anymore, Fancy heads out to the garage. Frankie has a gym set up there in the deepest part of the garage. His apartment is over, there is a three car garage, and then behind where the cars are is a walled off area that could be a gardening shed or tool room or whatever.... they’d fixed it into a gym. Even Baba gets in here a few times a week to lift weights. Frankie insisted and Baba had agreed after hearing about his grandmother’s hump. All the walking she does is not enough, she needs to be doing weights too.

Frankie had heard the sound of the weights and comes down from his apartment. “You know you shouldn’t be doing this without a spotter.”

“I’m not doing the free weights just the machine.” Fancy points a thumb toward the machine that has about 50 different applications to it. “If it’s going to be raining like this maybe I should be taking a pilates class or something.”

“It’s going to be raining like this for probably the next three months it’s either going to be utterly gorgeous or...” Frankie nods in the direction of the window. “Could be worse. It could be snow up to your... knee like back in Port Charles.”

“Thank you for that reality check.” Fancy laughs. She gets settled in on the machine and takes a breath in and exhales. She starts doing reps. They aren’t particularly heavy. Her goal is for smooth and controlled. She’d been taught that the release is just as much part of the exercise as the lift. “I think that SAG thing yesterday freaked Baba out.”

“Why you think that?” Frankie starts doing arm curls with free weights. He is going for both control and weight. Chicks dig the big guns.

“She was really quiet on the way home. And then last night, when I got home from the party, went into the kitchen and I could tell she and Uncle Stefan had been in the vodka.”

“Yeah.” Frankie nods. “That would be the clue. So what you figure got her freaked about the Orientation. This is a good thing right? It means you’re on your way and making money doing what you want to do.”

“There is that.” Fancy agrees. She finishes up her reps and moves onto the next station. “But she also saw a lot of potential problems just by looking around the room. There were some real brats there. And whoa, some of the parents? Went to the Angela Monroe school of parenting okay?”

Frankie pauses in mid lift to ask, “You heard from her?”

“Not yet. It’ll be when I’m making serious money.” Fancy shakes her head.

“I can understand Baba freaking. Stefan too.” Frankie nods. “They need to be reassured you get it. That you’ve been studying the business of show business for a lot longer than the two years since Baby adopted you. And you know if you start messing up you’re going to have a ton of bricks coming down on you from about 10 different directions and none of those people need to suck up to you for a hand out. You have a strong foundation of people who will call you on your crap. And if you start doing something stupid like using...”

“I’m sure that Baby would find me an inpatient treatment program that does not cater to celebutants.”

“Oh yeah. I bet Dr Cam has a solid dozen in his files at his office. You’re doing your stuff, focused on the goal, taking care of business. You start losing focus and you know there is going to be a sit down and frankly, little girl, it isn’t going to matter if you are over 18 or under.”

“Yeah. I signed on for four years but...” Fancy shakes her head. “I do get it.”

“I know you do. Still no problem with having a refresher now and then. You might want to give Baba one too. I’m sure she’ll feel a lot better once she knows that you know that she will kick your ass if you get out of line.”

Fancy changes the subject. “So Frankie, what charities do you give to?”

“Boys and Girls club. Give straight to the club in my old neighborhood. Hooked up with Mouse to give them some really smoking computers and not break the bank. Mouse set them up as a hotspot so they could work the internet. He put in all the filters though to keep the pervs away. And then last summer, Me and Milo sponsored a breakfast program there. Most the kids get free breakfast when school is in, so figured that would fill the gap, you know?”

“That’s a good one. That’s a really good one, Frankie.”

The morning practice had gone well and the guys are getting dressed to be cut loose for the rest of the day. Edwards gives a yell to get everyone’s attention. “Yo, can I get a couple of minutes?”

The guys swing around on the bench that runs in front of the lockers.

“Now you know I was doing some face time and giving to that charity that does inner city outreach.” Edwards looks around. He really hates doing this but he hadn’t been the only one to give money to this charity and he figures that some of the guys on the team had done it on his say so, because he’d said his accountant had looked into it. “And you guys know I’ve hooked up with Mona and she’s been using me as a guinea pig for trying to get her business going.”

“Yeah, he gets it for free, she’s charging me.” Linc Upton cracks. Mona had already called him about the problems with a couple of his charities.

“Mona found a problem with the charity. Four dollars out of ten are going into the pockets of my accountant and the guy managing the charity. That is not what I signed on for.” Edwards says simply. “And it is bull****-- flat out-- but it might also be legal. Wrong but legal. I’m not going to be able to get that money back. I’ll still get the deduction on my taxes but it is not where I wanted my money to go.”

“And Mona found it. The woman who has been getting you dinner reservations on the road.” One of the players comments disbelievingly.

Linc is the one who steps up here. “She had me fill out this huge questionnaire before taking me on as a client. One of sections was charities. I figured she’d be able to hook me up with stuff for my charities in whatever city we were in– you know, if I was at loose ends. Like hooking us up going to visit at that hospital in Boston.” Linc looks around the locker room. There had been more than a few who had benefitted from Mona’s suggestions over the last month or so. “I didn’t figure she’d be looking to see if I was getting top bang for my buck. I wasn’t expecting to get a phone call from her last night.”

“Yours are messed up too?!”

“Not as bad as Edwards. But there are a couple that I’m going to drop. They call me looking for a donation and I’ll tell them why. Basically she did an audit on both me and Edwards and pointed out which of our charities were getting it done and which have really nice offices.”

There are a few winces in the locker room wondering if they are in the same boat. They know enough, if it ever hits the fan their faces are going to be all over it. They’d been high profile donors. “Edwards, what are you going to do, man?”

“Mona found the name of a forensic accounting firm here in town. The guys who work there used to work for the IRS, for the FBI– hardcore bone pickers. She called them because all they do is audits. They aren’t going to be going in there looking to take my business, not that I don’t already know that my guy is as crooked as a hound’s hind leg and that I need a new one. They are going to audit my books for as long as this guy has been my accountant. It could mean refiling taxes, problems with investments...” Edwards shakes his head. “I’m staying out of it.”

“And how the hell are you going to be able to do that?!”

“I’m just going to focus on my game and let me tell you I am so ready to go back out on the road and just play ball. There isn’t a ****ing thing I can do about this mess that Mona hasn’t already gotten started. She’s going to handle all the in the mean time crap and I’ll deal with it when the results are in. I just wanted to let you guys know ASAP in case any of you went with my accountant because I’d said nice things about the guy or went with the charity because you figured I’d done the research. I apologize right now. I didn’t know. Now I do and so do you.” Edwards picks up his duffle and heads for the door.

There is a long moment of silence as he leaves. Then one of the guys says what many are already thinking. “Linc, you have Mona’s phone number?”

About twenty miles up the pacific coast highway in Malibu, Stefan follows the directions that he’s filed into his GPS from a side road, to a long drive way. There is a gate. A very nice gate. He inputs the code that was given to him by the real estate agent and the gate slides smoothly back. He follows the winding drive up to small house that is pretty much up and down. He can tell from the way the windows are facing that it had been built up to get the view of the ocean on the other side of the highway. In the distance he can see a huge barn building that dwarfs the house. The driveway continues with a turn around up by the barn. Pulling out the sheet he’d printed off he examines the details of the property. It’s a two bedroom house, probably, eventually, intended to be servants quarters rather than the focus of the property. There are 35 acres of property some of it is even level. The stables are set up for 6 horses; all that is missing are the equines and their gear.

Stepping out of his car, he makes no effort to avoid the rain that has been falling all day long. It’s actually a pleasant change from the perpetual good weather that had cursed him since moving to California to monitor Faith. At the door to the two bedroom house he again enters a code provided to him by the agent and steps into the house. He removes his jacket and wipes his feet. Then he begins to make his assessment. This would be a retreat not something to draw attention to itself. California is such a tough sell for building choices– brick does not hold up to earthquakes, cedar shingles do not hold up to wildfires. He examines the details of the security system and then the sprinkler system. It had been mentioned in the report. There are sprinklers both for the house and for the stables hooked up to an onsite well. The landscaping had also been carefully selected as far as it’s proximity to the house and it’s height. Stefan walks though the house checking the views from all the windows, the layout of the rooms both on the main floor and the floor above. Kristina would probably have more to say about the kitchen but it is not his focus as he moves on. He is more interested in the stables. Putting his jacket back on he walks up to the stables.

If anything sells him on the property it’s the stables. Here everything is top of the line and designed for the care of very expensive animals. There is a small apartment here as well. It could serve for the stable master or anyone who was staying over to care a sick or injured animal. Stefan refuses to let himself be drawn to the property. It would suit his needs, but there are many other conditions before he would actually consider purchasing it.

They are at the auditions and Baba had come along as moral support and as the family member since she’d been at the SAG thing the day before. In Russian, Fancy keeps her voice low. This is going to be a private conversation even if they have no privacy. “I’m not like the kids we saw last night, Baba. They don’t have what I have. And I know it. I’m not the rock holding the family together or the meal ticket. I have a rock, a family, to hold me together. You, Uncle Stefan, Baby... none of you has ever tried to be my best friend– BFF.” Fancy rolls her eyes. “I have always known that if I was messing up no matter how big a bitch I’m being that you guys will call me on it and intervene.”

“What brings this up?”

“Frankie and I talked when we were working out this morning. Yesterday was a good reminder of the way things could be rather than the way things are. You guys have always tried to make sure I had all the tools I need to succeed, it’s going to be in acting but even I decided to do something else... I have a good base. And it’s smart to worry, I guess about what happens when you have more dollars than sense. But for the last two years I’ve been around people who have dollars and sense.”

“Except for your Grandpa Edward.” Baba shrugs.

“Well most of the time he’s fine.” Fancy shrugs too. “I don’t need to borrow trouble by doing something stupid like...” Her voice drops even lower just in case anyone speaks Russian. “...drugs. My birth mother is out there ready to for me to make it; to drop on my life. So if you think I’m messing up, you see signs. You just let me know. I still have Dr Cam on speed dial. Bruno would take apart anyone that was leading me down the wrong path or trying to make me feel ****ty about myself to take advantage.”

“Dah, this is true.” Baba is already feeling better and she gives Fancy’s hand a pat.

“So there is no reason to stay up all night, eat all the cheese and rye bread and get drunk with Uncle Stefan. Unless that is what you want to do.”

“Mind your tongue.”

“Dah, Baba.”

Baba gives her hand another pat.

“Edwards must have said something.” Mona mutters. She’s now had phone calls from about ten different people, including one phone call where she swears the phone had just been handed around. It wasn’t just Lakers, Clippers or Kings; it was wives, girlfriends and family of Lakers, Clippers and Kings. It’s like that old shampoo commercial. And they’ll tell two friends, and they’ll tell two friends and so on and so on. She’d finally broken down by calling the admins over at the training facilities asking for a huge favor complete with bribes. The admins each received the PDF file of the questionnaire, down loaded it and made fifteen copies. They’d handed out the questionnaire to the players who had requested them and kept back a few copies for their files. This was definitely going to come up again.

The top sheet of questionnaire was the instructions on filling it out and not calling her until it was completed and they’d signed the contract including dumb ass clause. That clause is actually going to give her some breathing room. Cause there are more than a few guys who are going to balk at putting their name on that. She’d gone from no phone calls to like 10 in that half hour. It can’t keep up like that. That’s for damn sure. She gets on the IM and pings Mouse to see if he is on.

It takes a few seconds for a text to be entered into a new window. “What’s up?”

“One of Edwards’ charities was screwing him and the people he was trying to help. I found out about it and he’s broadcasting far and wide. I just went from waiting for a CSMC phone call to busy as all hell.”

“You found out the charity was screwing him?”

“One of the unexpected benefits of you having Stefan Cassadine checking the encryption. He and Fancy found it but then he taught me how to find it too. Probably just building a better rat because embarrassingly enough it wasn’t that hard once he showed me where to look. I think it’s criminal what that guy did. But there is no way of really knowing until the forensic accountants get done.”

“And Stefan helped you find them too.”

“Oh no. I found them on my own. I am good at finding things, Mouse. Gimme a call if you ever lose your keys.”

“Looks like you just added Charity check and key finder to your list of services.”

“Yeah, Mr Cassadine reminded me I don’t need to be able to do a layup to do this. I’m not being hired for their skills but for mine.”

“He has been a pain in the ass hasn’t he?” Mouse LOLs.

“Should I be charging separately for this?”

“Nah, part of the service. Don’t give them their reports until their checks clear.”

“No kidding.”

“If this takes off the guys are going to want you to start checking on their dates see if they are out for a paycheck or have psycho boyfriends in their history.”

“What do I do then?”

“Tell the guy to tie a knot in it. It’s going to take at least 72 hours to get the report back and then file with SI- Scorpio Investigations. Daylight hours you’re going to want Georgie Jones, night time hours you’re looking at Lucky Spencer. You might as well call them now and get a fax number. Give them all the info on that accountant of Edwards. As soon as that guy gets a whiff of what is coming his direction he’s going to be bugging out with a lot of client cash.”

“Oh hell! I should have done that first right?”

“Well at least before Edwards opened his big mouth. It turns out he was doing more than kickbacks and the accountants find out how much... then we’ll negotiate how much it will be worth to them for me to get that money back.”

“You can do that?!”

“How do you think the Michaelsons got paid.”

“And you can teach me how to do that?”

“Oh no. The trick is to not leave footprints. You start needing money information more than a credit check... contact me or Lucky.”

“What’s this?” Fancy asks as she takes a weighty ledger from him and opens it.

“The monthly budget for this house.” Stefan nods. “I am assuming since you like this house you will need to know exactly what it takes to maintain a house this size in Los Angeles. Mrs Koslov prefers a ledger style format. This includes everything. The house itself is paid for-- so taxes, insurance, estimated maintenance costs. Gardners, security, maid service, pool service, utilities, vehicles including insurance and maintenance. Kristina, as your mother, deposits this amount of money in a household account for you. Josef pays a like amount to cover his grandmother’s expenses. Frankie’s salary comes out of the house hold expenses but his insurance is covered by CSMC.” Stefan explains the different entries into the ledger.

“I have got to remember to turn off the lights.” Fancy mutters. She remembers her original intention to get a rattrap apartment and rough it in LA. If this is what it costs to run this house then she’d be back to that soon enough.

“That would be prudent.”

“This is what you’re putting in the kitty.” Fancy sees an additional credit.

“Correct.”

“Wow.” Fancy knew it was spendy to have this very nice house in LA but it’s steep. Adding in Frankie’s salary, it’s 5 figures monthly. “No way I can afford this.”

“Not on your current salary.” Stefan says wryly. “And acting while I’m sure creatively fulfilling very rarely provides steady employment. That is why it is so important to have a source of a steady income– investments.”

It’s a tangent but she feels like there is a lot of information coming from all over. “What about the Laker Tickets?”

“Purchased by CSMC. They are not included in the household budget. Pay attention please.” Stefan opens up a laptop. “Since you actually know how to use a computer. Here is the information on your trusts.”

“Trusts. I have one? I have MORE than one?” So far all the financial information they’d torn apart had been the cost of movies or contracts, not her stuff.

“The first was set up by Kristina the day your adoption was finalized. There were contributions from members of your extended family: Tasha, Zander, Cameron, Ned, Edward, Tracy, Nikolas, myself. Please note the amount of income generated from the trust.”

“It’s enough to cover monthly expenses. Holy ****-- that’s a lot of money.”

“Language please.” Stefan counters. “The only expenses coming out of the monthly amount are your personal expenses: clothing, your credit card everything else is reinvested because you will need more than this amount monthly to maintain this lifestyle in the months and years to come. You will take over responsibility for this house’s maintenance when you turn 18 but you will not have access to the principal of the trust until you are 24, the ten year anniversary of your adoption.”

“My general credit card, not my book card.” Fancy knows she puts a ton of money on the book card and very rarely used her general credit card. It was for like gas money and eating out.

“Correct. Your educational expenses are Cassadine’s.” Stefan agrees.

“You’re saying I’m set for life if I don’t start playing the ponies or snorting coke.”

Stefan doesn’t quite answer the question. “Colorful. The second trust is monies earned from working on the movie and on the television show. All of your earned income will go into this trust.”

“Oh now wait a freaking minute, if that is money I’ve earned I should be able to have it.”

“You have no need for it. So that money will be invested in your name. Kristina pays all your expenses and will until you are 18. You have the allowance set by Kristina and Mouse based on your reasonable expenses.” Stefan’s tone does not allow for any talking back. “However, you need to know how to maintain and grow income. For that reason an amount exactly matching what you have earned will be placed in a working account. This will be the money you use for your charitable contributions, for calculations of your expenses including guild dues. This will be your... real life.”

“This is because of that young actor requirement thing where things are put in trust and the parents have to have an accounting of every penny so that everyone is sure that the kid isn’t being bled dry?”

“Yes and no, but it is a good rule. Mrs Koslov was not impressed with a few of the adults at yesterday’s orientation.” Stefan hesitates but then continues. “Kristina’s occupation is... fraught with potential government interference. Setting up these trusts for you that are separate and untouched protects you not only from overspending and impulsive investing but also from overzealous agents of a variety of federal government agencies. This is particularly true of the first trust. Dara Jensen set it up and verified that every nickel of the principal was of well documented sources. Because she did, she will be the first one in the fray if someone attempts to freeze those assets.”

“Same with the house?”

“Yes, Dillon followed the same protocols when making the purchase.”

“So this can be like the dacha you’re going to get. It’s a safe place for Baby and Josef.”

“That should not be your concern.”

“The hell it’s not.” Fancy retorts. “Baby saved my ass when it needed saving. If the tables are ever turned you know I’m going to be there.”