"Hello hello hello hello! Where is everybody" George's booming voice echoed through the walls of the house.

The sound of his voice, excited three little people who were knee-deep in cooking. Jose Mario and Juan David, dropped their spatulas and raced to the door. Fifi, as the younger of the three needed some help getting down from her step stool before she was also racing down the hall.

"That should buy me some time. Thank you, George" Diane said under her breath as she went full throttle and busied herself cooking without the distraction of three little kids who believed they were helping.

George walked in with Fifi and Mario in his arms and David dragging behind a suitcase.

"Hi mama" he called as he placed both children on the living room couch.

"Hi" she replied distractedly, as she began flipping empanadas.

"Whoa. Are you cooking for an army?" George joked as he took in the mountain of food that was covering the entirety of the kitchen counters.

"No. I am cooking for the next 6 weeks. Come on George, we talked about this. I am going to be extremely busy with work and you promised to help."

"Chill mama. I am only teasing. Besides, you didn't have to go through all this trouble. I am more than capable of cooking"

"George, people need more than chicken" she teased.

"Hey, I will have you know that I am capable in other areas too. Chicken just happens to be my specialty"

"Mhmm" eyeing him slight skepticism.

"Its true" stealing some plantains. "What time is your meeting again?"

"I have to be there at 3:30" she answered as she began to dish the food into containers.

"Its almost quarter past 2."

"What?" she screeched. "Where did the time go?" now going on the double.

"Go" taking the spatula out of her hand. "I have it under control. I'll put everything away"

"Thank you darling" giving him a grateful squeeze before rushing out of the kitchen and up the stairs to shower and dress for her meeting. As she brushed her honey-coloured hair, she stared at the striking face in front of her. At times she could not believe just how far her journey had brought her. She had a beautiful home, food, a sizeable chequing and savings account, a profession she loved, thriving children and lifelong friends. It was so surreal. How she had managed to have the strength and will-power to survive everything she could not understand.

Her career was doing well and soon she would be signing a contract for a new series that will be her directorial debut. Her new series, was a historical fiction entitled Decade. It was a story of a group of people who had a chance to go back in their nation's history and set a course for events. It looked at doctors, entertainers, sport athletes, scientist, politicians and generals and what they would have done differently or kept the same. They must grapple with their egos, fears, antagonists and most importantly the butter-fly effect that could either improve the way of life or worsen it.

The first of the series was going to take the real-life events of the recording company Yora. From the 70's, Yora was one of the greatest producing and recording companies producing hits after hits. But by the mid-90s they were slowly heading into irrelevancy and bankruptcy. By 2010, they were a shell of what they used to be and had had successions of failures. Recently, Yora was privatised once more and the majority share-holder Aliston Tolhurst, grandson of one of the founding members wanted to revitalize the company to its former glory days. To accomplish this goal, they were going to come out swinging. They were going to rewrite Yora's history from the beginning of its failure. The series will show what they were going to do differently from real life events, to modern day events, it was going to showcase music and art. And Diane was at the helm of it all. She among others were writing the scores, lyrics and composition for the series with real-life artist both old and new from Yora. It was a reverse-documentary. Fictional with elements of the truth of power, love, music, competition, corruption, fame and above all ambition. true.

There was a lot riding on this. If this was successful, Yora could have killed three birds with one stone, music, acting, and publicity. This project had been finally picked up after months of dead-ends, lawyers, rejections and countless re-drafting. Diane had poured her heart, soul and finances into this project. Needless to say, she was both nervous and excited.

With one final look in the mirror, she grabbed her purse and made her way downstairs to where the kitchen was spic and span and the family digging into dinner.

"You look pretty mommy" Fifa squealed.

"Thank you mi amor" leaning down to give her a bunch of kisses.

"Mario, please don't try feeding your vegetables to Fifa in order to get out of eating yours"

Mario's big eyes widened in surprise that his mother knew that he had secretly been feeding Fifa his portion of vegetables to get out of eating them. "How did you know?"

"Idiot" Juan David said shaking his head in shame at his brother "You just admitted your guilt. Have you learned nothing from me? Deny, deny deny deny"

George laughed boisterously. Diane admonished her son's way off thinking.

"I am off. Love you all"

"Bye mommy!" the four chorused.

"Love you" she called as she walked to her car. She made a pit stop to pick up Blair, the ever-loving assistant. They were shaking with nervousness and excitement. They had put so much into this and seeing it coming into fruition was mind boggling.

They pulled up to the restaurant to the awaiting Heather Pensworth, their interim lawyer. Nina was away on a well-deserved Sabbatical travelling through Europe with her husband. Heather had been handling her work for now. She came highly recommended from Nina's firm. So far, she had proven to be very efficient and professional. But if Diane was being honest, she was not completely comfortable with her. Then again, she would most likely not be comfortable with anyone else but Nina. Nina had become like family.

"Do you ever get the feeling that woman is weird?" Blair asked.

"We are just used to Nina. Besides she is very professional" Diane rebutted.

"I don't know. She just gives me the heebie-jeebies. She reminds me of a fish" Blair said contemplatively.

"You don't like fish" Diane frowned.

"Exactly!" Blair exclaimed. "I don't know something about that woman and her team just seems off"

"Well, she came highly recommended by Nina"

"No. She came highly recommended by the firm Nina works for. Very different" Blair corrected as he got out of the car. "Anyways it will all be over when Nina comes back. Where is she by the way?"

"Last I heard, somewhere in Romania"

"Tansylveniya?"

"Who knows"

"Diane, Blair. How are you both doing?" Heather greeted pleasantly.

"Very well. Yourself?"

"Good. Shall we get this show on the road?" Heather asked pleasantly.

"Yes" Diane replied as she followed behind Heather and her two assistants.

In the conference room, the investors, stakeholders and producers had already gathered. Everyone exchanged pleasantries. Then came the exchange of contracts and signing them after their respective lawyers overlooked everything to ensure that everything was in perfect order.

"You can be at ease to sign it Diane" Heather assured her, handing her the pen.

She nodded before signing her name on the dotted line.

"Well, now all of that has been cleared, why don't we go out to celebrate. I booked a private room at the Flower Garden" Gerald Hume suggested.

"Sounds like a good idea"

"I am so sorry ladies and gentlemen; I have a previous appointment" Diane declined.

"Maybe next time" the rest chorused.

They filed out of the room after shaking hands with each other and promises of contacting each other in the coming days.

When the last person filed out, there was one person that lingered at the back.

"Did she sign the contract?"

"Yes, she-"

"Did she suspect anything?"

"No. She seems very eager to begin shooting. It has been taken care of with the greatest of care. Phase one is complete. It will be very unlikely for her to suspect anything."

"I do not like the word unlikely. I prefer the words not possible." he snapped in annoyance. "I do not have to tell you what is at stake, do I?"

"No"

"Have you gained her confidence?"

"No. But in my defence, Diane is extremely closed off. I am still trying-" but he was interrupted before he could give his excuse.

"So, you failed?" the cold questioned asked.

"Not exactly"

"Have you been able to integrate into her inner circle; yes, or no?"

"No. Then stop arguing, you failed!"

"I will keep trying"

"Forget it. I cannot afford for you to waste time and draw suspicion. Carry on what you have been doing. Keep me updated on every detail. Do not act without my instructions. I will let you know when to act, do you understand?"

It was not a question, but an authoritative command. One that must be obeyed to its full extent.

"Yes Mr. Dwight"