Chapter Thirty-Four (Part One)

At the Goth residence, Dina did the only thing she could do. She dialed Malcolm.
"Malcolm," Dina cried, her voice quavering as she spoke, "Malcolm, I need your help."
Malcolm heaved a deep sigh. "What's happening?"
"My husband passed away tonight."
"I'm sorry."
"Not as sorry as I am. His bratty daughter showed up tonight and tossed me and my son out onto the street. She kept railing on and on about how my son isn't a Goth baby --"
"He's not, he's a Landgraab."
"That's not the point! The point is, he was born in this house, he was born as a Goth, and therefore should be entitled to at least a piece of the estate."
"Look, Dina," Malcolm said, turning off his radio, "I'm on my way over there as soon as I can."

A half hour later, Malcolm drove from Bluewater Village over to the Goth mansion in Pleasantview. Dina emerged from the house in the fur coat Checo Ramirez had bought her and met Malcolm outside, planting a passionate kiss on his lips. "I am so glad to see you," she finally whispered, wiping her tears long enough to sound sincere.
After leading Malcolm into the house, Dina got him a glass of Mortimer's perfectly aged wine while she disappeared upstairs. When she returned, her young son, Manuel, with lungs the size of a furnace bellows and a voice that could crack glass, screamed for his favorite toy -- a tattered teddy bear that had belonged to Alexander.
Malcolm looked up in disbelief as Dina, saying nothing and holding a bottle, handed the toddler over to him. "So," he said, looking at the glowing bottle, "what do you want me do then?"
"Feed him," came the curt reply.
"What? With THAT stuff? I don't think so."
"It's fine, he's had no problems with it at all."
"It's glowing green, do you have any idea where that's been?"
"SO? It's not hurting him."
Malcolm shook his head and gazed down at the now, extremely quiet boy, snuggled contentedly in his arms. He stroked the fine blond hair and smiled gently. His heart soared when Manuel beamed a big toothy grin right back.
"We're going to get you some REAL food young man," Malcolm crooned, "Not this potentially radioactive crap she's been feeding you."

"Mom!" Harmony squealed, "look at this letter they passed around in school. I wanna sign up for ballet!"
"Ballet, really?" Wanda smiled as she took the note and read through it. "How nice for you."
Meanwhile, Melody rolled her eyes in obvious disapproval. My god, can she be any more annoying? she thought.
"I'm going to take Harmony to sign up, be back soon-ish," Wanda said as she kissed Melody on her forehead. "Be right back."
Melody walked out to the mailbox to get the mail, and one envelope caught her eye. It was addressed to "the Tinker family" in calligraphy, and sealed with a gold seal with the letters "MLIV."
With hands trembling from rage, Melody carefully pulled the seal open to reveal a beautifully filigreed invitation to the forthcoming nuptials of Mr. Malcolm Charles Landgraab IV and Mrs. Dina Rosalia Goth, nee Caliente.
Melody seethed. After all he'd done to the family, the nerve of him to let drop that he was marrying! She also did a double take when she saw the name Dina Goth. Her husband's grave was not yet cold and already she'd moved on. She'd also known that Dina had also been responsible for the breakup of the Ramirez marriage. In her mind, they were two of a kind. They deserved each other.

The first meeting of the shareholders of Tinker Toys since Stephen's death was held in one of the back employee rooms at Inner Child Toys and Gifts. Wanda had never been to one of these board meetings -- Stephen usually went -- but she decided to come today in support of her daughter. She held Melody's hand tight as they walked in together. "The last time I held your hand, you were starting your first day of school," reminisced Wanda. "You were so shy, you held on to my leg as it was time for me to let you go."
Melody simply smiled serenely, although her nerves were literally rattling her teeth in her skull. She felt a gentle squeeze and looked at her mother, who smiled warmly. "You go get 'em," she whispered, before letting go and giving her daughter a gentle, guiding push. 'I have faith in you,' she continued, "Show 'em what you're made of."
The night before, Wanda had blown-dry Melody's naturally curly hair and roller-set it to look professional. Melody was looking particularly sharp, wearing a black pantsuit with a satiny maroon top, accented with a heart-shaped necklace that belonged to her grandmother.
The grizzled gentlemen sitting around the table waiting for Melody's arrival were astonished to see her. Melody herself could not believe she was in the position she was in. Here she was facing her father's shareholders for the first time. The realization gave her a rush of both dread and excitement.
But then she happened upon -- him. Malcolm Landgraab himself. What was HE doing here? He didn't own any part of Tinker Toys -- did he? Besides, he had his finger in every pie in town, quite literally. Melody knew he had bilked the Jacquets out of their own family bakery. She also knew -- from Chester -- that he had stolen the Giekes' electronics store from underneath them and was working on the former Ramirez furniture store as well.
By this time, though, Melody was seething. But Malcolm was undaunted. "There she is," he said with his slick-sounding voice, his words slipping like oil off his tongue as he walked towards her, pretending to 'present' her to the men. "Your president and CEO. Would you really want a sexual deviant representing you, dear shareholders?"
Melody hoisted her shoulders up and strode boldly to the center of the boardroom, where she felt several pairs of eyes scrutinizing everything about her. Turning sharply towards Malcolm, she pulled herself up to her full magnificent height and stared him straight in the face.
Their eyes locked, and had it not been for the bad atmosphere between them, you could have sworn that the air in that room crackled with sexual tension.
This was the first time Malcolm had laid eyes on Melody in all her glory, and it took all his power not to grab her and draw her gasping into his arms, right there and then. Such was the force between them.
He'd never laid eyes on such a magnetic person such as Melody Tinker. She had that 'don't look, don't touch' quality about her and it drove him wild. Malcolm had been hypnotized in a way he'd never been hypnotized before -- not even by Dina.
As a sign of bravado and sheer recklessness, Melody, tired of Malcolm's ridiculous heckling, stood up and glared at him. This time he'd pushed too far and he knew it. "I could take you on myself," she shouted, slamming her fist on the table, "if you didn't spend all your time holed up in your office in your mansion, counting your money!"
He grinned malevolently, watching every muscle twitch in her face. "Sell me your part of Tinker Toys and I'll leave you and your family alone."
"Never!" spat back Melody, expecting this move, "not even if you and I were the last two Sims on earth. Besides, I have something here that may be of interest to our shareholders."
Malcolm went slightly pale. His grin vanished. "You're bluffing," he whispered, sitting down hard. Melody just smiled knowingly and reached into her briefcase.
She brought out a sheaf of papers, and distributed them all around. Malcolm picked one up and leapt to his feet. "How did you get hold of this?" he spluttered, his hands shaking badly and his composure rattled briefly.
"The same way you got information about my father's company,' she replied, a hint of victory in her voice, 'and all the other companies you've managed to acquire -- legally and/or illegally."
A balding gentleman peered through his spectacles at the sheet of paper in front of him. Perusing it carefully, he sat forward and folded his hands on the table. "Is this true, Mr Landgraab?" he asked, his dulcet tenor voice rumbling in the eerie silence of the board room.
For once, Malcolm was at a complete loss for words, and remained seated, glancing nervously around the room.
"Gentlemen," the old man continued, "it appears that Landgraab Enterprises is on the verge of collapse."
Melody continued. "The massive amounts of money and resources Landgraab Enterprises has committed to acquiring Tinker Toys, J'Adore Bakery, the Electronics Superstore, and other businesses in and around Sim City has depleted its capital to the point where its very solvency remains in question."
"Also," she continued, "it appears that his fledgling nightclub, Club Dante, has posted the biggest losses of all."
She turned back towards Malcolm and riveted him to the spot with a withering glare.
"Does that sound like a conglomerate you'd trust to take over a successful company like Tinker Toys? A company my grandfather, Ron Tinker, built from the ground up?"
She paused, taking a sip of water before continuing. "The figures from the last three fiscal terms show revenue declining at an alarming rate each year. In the last fiscal term, which ended about two weeks ago, Landgraab Enterprises' losses amounted to about one billion simoleans. In addition, the costs of his own extravagant wedding --"
Finally, Malcolm had had enough. "Stop!" he screamed. "Don't you dare bring my wedding into this! That expense did not come from company coffers."
"Oh really, Malcolm?" asked Melody. "You are such a simpleton. What about your wedding plans? You paid the caterer, the limousine driver, the travel agency? What about that? Or are you going to say that wasn't your expenditure either? Because the records show that clearly --"
"Tell me how you got hold of my financial records."
Melody grinned. "They ain't top secret, you know. They're readily available through the SCSE -- Sim City Stock Exchange. All I had to do was go to their website."
Then she wrapped her presentation with a final statement. "So, dear shareholders, I move to reject Malcolm Landgraab's takeover bid of Tinker Toys, on the grounds of Landgraab Enterprises' financial insolvency. All in favor signify by 'I.'"
One by one, the shareholders rose their hands. Melody pumped both fists in silent victory. Tinker Toys was hers. Finally hers.