Keelan stood as the brothers ogled Rhedara, he suddenly felt very annoyed sure she was pretty and he'd used her a little as eye candy to his other business 'friends' because they respected Keelan enough to not be as foolish as men these two hambones. The brothers heads snapped up as Keelan stood hands behind his back looking down on them, "Sit my lords, please, unfortunately this isn't a social call," he was firm and wasn't nice but they listened. Herold sat so quickly and bulled up like a child whose hand was slapped from the plate of cookies.

Curtis sat softly, he had tougher skin, "Pleased to meet you Miss Shannon, lord Morrigan has a knack to always snatch up all these talented people," Keelan finally sat and Curtis turned his attention to Keelan, "if this isn't a social call my lord pray tell the reason?"

"You're both bleeding your company dry," Keelan said coldly, "Miss Shannon care to explain? She knows about all the messes Ive cleaned for each of you and for the last few weeks shes balanced your books and came to me with some startling discrepancies," she had all the information with her, it was time to prove that she was an asset. He had given her all the tools to slap the brothers with a open handed palm.

Keelan whistled and the jaws of the brothers steady dropped, the merchant saw the overwhelming gears turning in their minds as they scrambled to find an excuse to uphold their schemes and ungodly spending.

"those are all necessities, tell them Curtis," Herald actually whined, he sounded and looked every bit the word flabbergasted. Curtis cleared his throat trying to regain a calm composure, "Seriously lord Morrigan we have the money, sure a few things are...idiotic...," he cut cold dark eyes at his brother, "but we have the funds."

"No you don't and here's why, Miss Shannon," they had rehearsed this once or twice, she'd know which paper to hand him and he'd hand it to Curtis, "before I stepped in to spend my money to fix his problems the trading company was about to be belly up lord. I send you your customers, I bail you both out of stupid spending, and I pour money into your pockets," the brothers were looking at the paper detailing every cent spent by Keelan, "what do we pay you for then?"

"To keep your sorry asses from catching a damn rope for starters Herald Vitlock," Keelan rose from his seat and the two men sank back, he hadn't even raised his voice but the tone was dark and loud enough, "I want to continue doing business with you two gentlemen, but I will not crash my cart and burn with you. I've cleaned your last mess," electric blue eyes pierced Herald, "and paid your last bill."

Keelan began to pace a hand in his pocket,
"Miss Shannon has a buiness plan for the trading company, we'll go over it of course but first we need to come to an agreement for the future."

Keelan turned and walked to Rhedara smirking as he took out his contract offering a quick smirk, "This was drawn up by Miss Shannon and myself, read it over," this was the sign for Rhedara to excuse herself.

"This is extortion Curtis if I've ever seen it," cried Harlow as he and his brother read this folly of a contract. Harlow was quite and reserved for a while before he shushed his brother venemously, "We wouldn't be in this mess you moron if you hadn't...killed...that woman," Harlow whispered the word as if he said it any louder would somehow manifest a creature, "and your blindly excessive spending," Keelan added darkly, Harlow swallowed and nodded, "that..that too. The terms are simple Curtis if I'm reading this right: Miss Shannon will handle budgeting for us and our company, right?"

"Correct."

"And as long as we don't cause another potential scandal, we maintain Lord Morrigans business and we keep our company," Harlow read loudly, Keelan nodding at every word, "and if we fail?" Curtis asked, "You'll forfeit your company to the Morrigan Company and our business together will end," Keelan answered for Harlow. The brothers looked at each other and seemed to silently debate their position here. Finally Harlow asked, "and if we refuse?"

"I walk away and you'll drown under your own shit Mister Vitlock," Keelan again answered and the threatening doom in his words was enough.

"Quill?"

Keelans reached into his jacket producing a very ornate quill with a very sharp tip, he handed it to Harlow who looked confused, "Ink my lord?"

"I'll need something more solid than ink, just run your fingers over the tip," he didn't elaborate, both men looked at the quill, it was also a knife blade...Harlow pricked his finger first and signed.

Victory. The way Keelan stood, his hands in his pockets, and lack of a satisfactory smile as he looked at Rhedara spelled victory. The contract was signed and all was absolutely legal, "Seems to be in order lord Morrigan," Curtis said bitterly even his false reassuring smirk was of extreme bitterness, "we shall abide by your contract and we hope to continue business with the Morrigan Company," he extended a hand but Keelan looked at the bloody fingers, no, Curtis embarrassed dropped his hand to his side. Harlow had done walked away, "He'll come around, he isn't use to being...so..."

"Controlled? Told no? I wouldn't have guessed," Keelan said dryly, "Exactly, we'll have a servant show you out Lord Morrigan."

Keelan beckoned Rhedara to follow and once again they were shown out of the gawdy estate and to their carriage. Once inside Keelan sat back with legs crossed as Rhedara entered, "You...did...Excellent Miss Shannon, excellent..."