The Toymaker's Gift Rated PG

[Ella713]

Moonlight Fan Fiction
The Toymaker's Gift
By Ella713
Rated PG


A toy company's CEO puts children at risk by selling hazardous toys!


Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.


Sasha Goldwater hated toys. He always had. And even though his great grandfather had started the corporation that had made his family rich beyond their wildest dreams, it was still because of freaking toys!. And now since his father had passed away, all this garbage was now his. He shifted positions in the chair waiting for the probate attorney to finish reading his father's will so he could go back to his life in New York
"After a few charitable bequest the entire corporation of "Sasha Toys" goes to my son Sasha Goldwater. My son will also receive the estate in Southampton and the lake house in Chesapeake Bay"
The attorney was reading. Sasha stood up.
"Yes. That's fine. I'd like to retain you as my attorney now and the first order of business will be sell this corporation to whoever wants to buy it from me" Sasha said getting ready to walk out the door.
"Mr. Goldwater.......um....there is a slight problem with that request. You see, if you wish to have any of the family fortune, you must retain the company. Your father was quite specific on that point. If you sold the business, you were to receive nothing" The attorney said looking down at the papers before him.
"Is this some sort of joke?" Sasha asked in disbelief.
"I'm afraid not" The attorney replied.
"My father knew I hated this corporation! He knew I wanted no part of this crap!" Sasha yelled.
"Yet, it was his final wish that you become a part of your legacy" He replied.

Lance Harding looked at Sasha in disbelief.
"So the old man get's the last word after all" He said shaking his head slowly "Man this stinks!"
"I know. I know. This messes everything up!"
"What are you going to do?"
"I have no idea, but I can't live like this" Sasha said thinking of his options.


"Are you sure this is something you really want to do Mr. Kostan?" His secretary Bridgett asked one last time.
"Do you think I'm a monster? Can't I have soft side occasionally? This is the best idea I've had in a while. And it's a long time coming." Josef finally said as the press started to show outside of Kostan Towers. "Welcome! Today is the grand opening of the Kostan Industry's Day Care Center!" Josef announced.
"Why do something of this scale now Mr. Kostan?"
"Because it's needed. I've turned a blind eye to child care for a long time. I have thousands of employees and in spite of what you might think, we're not all vampires. The majority are families and child care costs have become outrageous! When I heard what my own employees here in Los Angeles were expected to pay for child care, I was furious and the jacked up prices for sub par services. So from now on every Kostan Industry Building will have an attached daycare center, run by the very best teachers and faculty. For Kostan employees, there is no charge ever, and it will be open to the public as well with prices on a sliding scale" Josef said and the press were in awe.

Sasha toured the factory and listened to how his father spent so much money on various Holiday functions, like a free tour of what was called Santa's Workshop for families, and free toys for homeless shelter that took women and children. The list went on and on. There seemed to be more money pouring out than coming in. And what for? Kids didn't even play with toys anymore. It was iPhone, iPad and Xbox. He listened as the woman giving him the tour told him of his fathers dedication to the doll portion of the factory. Sasha felt a migraine coming on. He looked at his watch and saw that he had to leave or he would be late picking up Victoria for the opera.
"Look......I'm sorry, you're name again?" He asked.
"Jennifer Bonotto"
"Yes. Jennifer, everything looks great. But I have to run. I'm going to be late for another meeting, so keep doing what my father would have done until I get my plans laid in place" He said rushing out of the factory door.
"That man's an ass!" She proclaimed to herself.


"I have to admit sir, I thought this idea was going to become problematic" Brian said to Josef.
"But look how well it's all turned out. Not only are they getting a good solid background for primary school, the parents work much harder now that they aren't carrying around that burden anymore. And to think, I used to loathe children. Really. Back in the 1700's a group of vampires started a rumor about witches using the fat of un baptized children to create a flying potion!"
Brian looked at Josef in surprise.
"That was you? That rumor is still going strong! Kids said it at Harvard Westlake Prep! Was it ever true?" Brian asked with a smile. Josef shrugged his shoulders.
"Who knows. Maybe. Witches are freaks!" Josef joked.

[allegrita]

OMG, that last line had me

[Ella713]

OMG, that last line had me

I thought that would sound like something Josef would say!

[Ella713]

"I thought I said I didn't want to be disturbed!?" Sasha boomed when his office door opened.
"I know, but you have some gentlemen from Tashki Toys" Jennifer said with a frown.
"Oh good! Could you send them in? And get them some coffee or tea or something?" Sasha said buttoning his jacket and straightening his tie.
"Mr. Goldwater do you know who owns Tashki Toys?"
"No." He said undoing his tie and staring all over.
"Russell Pan owns Tashki Toys. He has the largest manufacturing plant in Hong Kong. He does not make good toys. He takes shortcuts and uses dirt cheap materials even unsafe materials" Jennifer stated. Sasha finished his tie and looked Jennifer in the eye.
"Send them in" He said walking away from her.
"Mr. Goldwater....don't take this meeting..." She pleaded.
"I said send them in or you're fired" Sasha said in anger. Jennifer looked at him sadly and walked out of the office. Jennifer came in with two very well dressed gentlemen.
"Mr Goldwater, Russell and Denes Pan" Jennifer introduced and left the office.
"It's a pleasure to meet you both" Sasha said.
"Thank you for taking this meeting." Russell said. "I must say we were very pleased when we heard that you were interested in buyers for this company. And may I express my condolences for the passing of your father. He was a formidable businessman" Russell said.
"Thank you. You may have also heard that I have no interest in running this company."
"Yes I have. But I also know that your father made certain provisions in his will that make it impossible for you to sell."
"Yes. As you said my father had a very formidable business mind, but so do I when my hands are tied. What I propose is a merging of our two corporations. You can call it whatever you like. I don't care. Then at some very near point in the future, you can buy out my shares. That way, I get rid of this company without selling it and you get Sasha Toys for a very low price." Sasha finished sitting back in his chair.
"You really don't want this company?" Russell asked with faint amusement.
"No, I most certainly do not" Sasha replied.
"Well, how can I not accept your proposal. Lets say we wait a year for the buy out. It looks better that way. Can you as they say "tough it out" for a year?"
"I will draw up the forms. Welcome to Sasha Toys!" Sasha said with a large smile.


In the following months many employees of Sasha Toys were either laid off or they had quit. Russell was seeing that his investment paid off.
"Mr. Goldwater? A word please?" Jennifer said going into his office and shutting the door behind her.
"Yes. What is it?" Sasha said already becoming angry.
"We've had 10 more employees terminate their employment. These were good, hardworking people" She said.
"What would you have me do?....I'm sorry....you name again?" Sasha said looking up from his computer. Jennifer gritted her teeth.
"It's Jennifer. Russell Pan has canceled all of our material contractors and replaced them with labor and material in China! Mr. Goldwater, the toys he's manufacturing will be made with cheap lead based paints! You have to stop this." she pleaded.
"Look.....Jennifer. Russell knows what he's doing. He is the head of the top toy manufacturer in Asia. We'll be fine." He said casually
"What about the lead?"
"We both grew up on toys that were made with lead paint, even lived in houses made with lead paint. I'm perfectly healthy and you look pretty darn healthy as well. Let's try not act like drama queens here." Jennifer stared at the man. Never had she encountered such insolence.
"Mr. Goldwater, I quit!" she said. He casually glanced up at her.
"Okay. Go see Rosanna in Accounting and she'll give you your final paycheck." He said still looking at his computer. Jennifer left his office but patted her jacket pocket with the voice recorder inside. someone had to stop this lunatic!


Patricia Bowen was the head of the Kostan Day Care Centers and she had a great idea for the holidays and got an appointment to see him. She was a little nervous. She had never actually spoken with Mr. Kostan before. Do you still call the man who was President Mr. President? She thought to herself.
"Former President Kostan would be the exact wording" She heard someone from behind her say.
"Oh!..thank you." She said nervously.
"Don't be nervous. Josef is the nicest man I know." He replied.
"How do you know him?"
"He's my Uncle. Hello, I'm Gabriel St. John" He said holding out his hand.
"Patricia Bowen". She replied.
"So what's got you so nervous?"
"Well, I work for the daycare centers and a lot of the children come from low income households and I wanted to speak to Mr. Kostan about a possible Christmas Party so those kids could have some presents maybe a visit from Santa?" She said shyly. "But I hear Mr. Kostan has a temper and...well...I love my job" She stammered.
"You have nothing to worry about. Uncle Josef has calmed down in his old age." Gabriel laughed.
"What the hell was that?!!" Did you think you could scam? Get the hell out my office and off my property before skin you alive!!" They heard Josef yell at someone who came running out of his office with fear written all over his face.
"That was calm?" Patricia said nervously as she swallowed.
"I'm sure he was a very bad man" Gabriel said. Josef came out of his office and saw Gabriel.
"Gabe! How's it going?" He said giving Gabe a hug.
"Uncle Josef, this is Patricia Bowen, she works at the Day Care center and wants to speak to you about something" Gabriel said.
"Alright. Come in Patricia" Josef said. Patricia looked quickly at Gabriel not wanting him to leave her, but he had already walked down the hallway. Josef sat behind his desk. "Okay. What can I do for you?"
"Um......well, as you know a lot of children at the Day Care that come from families that are struggling financially....and well....I wondered if we could have perhaps a Christmas Party with some presents and maybe a visit from a local Santa?" She finished nervously.
"Patricia, that's a wonderful idea! I'm sure the parents would love it as well. So you have carte blanche' over this! Let's throw in a feast as well. Kostan Industries has a new brand now! So let's do this up right" Josef said.

[Ella713]

The party for the Day Care Center was unprecedented! Patricia had feast delivered to the banquet hall in Kostan Towers. Josef had provided a Santa that looked and behaved like the real deal. There was a music and a showing of A Christmas Carol, but when Patricia had arranged for presents for not just the children but for the parents as well, there wasn't a dry eye in the whole place. And for this one moment everything was as it should be..............................

Julius Carver was first child to suffer from a rash and a very high fever, then three more kids came down with the same symptoms and by mid January all of Kostan Industries Day Care Centers were closed nation wide. The CDC was called and Josef had hired every top pediatrician he could find to make sure all of these children were getting top notch medical care.
Josef finally drove over to speak with the one person he knew would produce results.
"I know why you are here Uncle Josef" Abigail said. Josef handed her a file.
"This is everything we have so far. Something is killing these kids and no one can figure it out?"
"Zachary and I will see what we can do". Abigail said opening the file and looking at the test that had been done thus far. "This looks familiar......Zachary!!" She called out.
"Shh. I just put Alexander down for the evening. Hi Mr. Kostan." Zach said as Abigail placed the test results in his hands. "Looks like lead poisoning. See this compound? It's the same as lead" He continued to look at the file. "These are children?" He asked.
"And these results are the same from every location" Josef said.
"Any chance this could be organic?" Zach said to himself.
"Not with this compound?" Abigail replied. "So this isn't something that's affecting Kostan employees? These cases are just in the day care centers. So what was introduced that was new to the environment?" Abigail asked.
"Nothing. Every last day care center is exactly like the other. We decided to keep everything uniform"
"Maybe cookware? Some cookware has trace amounts of lead" Zach stated.
"No. The food we feed the children comes from the chef in Kostan Towers." Josef said.
"Wait! I see here that you had a Christmas Party? Food from Eva's, which I'm pretty sure it wasn't from her place or else we would have heard about customers by now....but what about the toys? You have a very large distribution of toys. Where did they come from?" Abigail asked.
"More importantly, where were they made?" Zach added.


Brian looked over the results that Abigail and Zach had compiled and all the evidence pointed at one toy manufacturer. And only one. Sasha Toys, Inc. From the look of things this was once a very upstanding and reputable company. Brian began to look up Sasha Toys financial records.....now this was very interesting Brian thought to himself.

Jennifer has heard about the deaths on the news. She could have prevented this if she had acted sooner, but she didn't know what Mr. Goldwater would do. His attorneys would most likely have her thrown in jail...but 4 children had already died.

"What the hell Brian! How could this happen? It was never meant to happen this way" Josef said in anger.
"Greed sir. Greed and negligence. We will have to take a large financial hit, but the culprit will be found and restitution will be given to all these families." Brian said calmly. "And no sir. You can not kill the individuals" Brian added.
"It was a thought" Josef added.

The Press of course were having a field day and every news story of the day featured "breaking news".
When Josef found out that one little boy who was one of Josef's favorites had now taken ill, it took every fiber in his being not to take out everyone who ever made a toy. In his present mood, even Santa himself was a walking target!

Sasha himself had been made aware of the children who were hospitalized after playing with a toy his company made! Hell, it was barely his company anymore. Russell would have to deal with this nonsense! More people die from over the counter medication each and every day! This was nothing more than parents trying to sue for money.

Josef's secretary Bridgett came into his office.
"Mr. Kostan sir, you have a visitor" She said in her efficient voice.

[Ella713]

"What do they want?" Josef ask briefly looking up.
"Sir. You might want to see her. She said she used to work at Sasha Toys and she has some information for you." Bridgett said.
"Send her in and call Brian and tell him to get in here quick" Josef said standing up from his desk.
"Mr.. Kostan, Jennifer Bonotto" Bridgett said ushering the woman into Josef's office. Brian came in behind her and stood next to Josef.
"Ms. Bonotto, please have a seat." Josef said pointing to the chair across from him. "This is my CFO Brian Petzer. Now you say you have some information.." Josef asked
"Sir, I'm here to tell that I know what's making the kids sick." She said pulling the voice recorder out of her purse. "It's all on here" She said handing it to Brian. Sasha Goldwater doesn't want the company and he wanted to sell it as soon as his father died, but his father made a provision in the will that states if Sasha sold the company he get none of the family fortune.. and he decided to take a shortcut." Jennifer explained. Josef and Brian listened to the recording. Josef's eyebrows went up.
"That son of a bitch!" Josef said.
"Russell Pan is wanted by Interpol for racketeering and corporate theft" Brian said.
"Black market toys" Josef said.
"And made with toxic materials." Brian said.
"How did you get this information?"
"Mr. Goldwater made it perfectly clear that he had no interest in Sasha Toys and since he couldn't sell the company outright, he made a deal with Tashki Toys in Hong Kong. I tried to tell him that they couldn't be trusted and that they take too many shortcuts, but as you can see...." She said with tears in her eyes.
"Brian, lets pay a visit to Sasha Goldwater" Josef said standing up.
"Ms. Bonotto, let us keep this for a bit" Brian said. At her nod Brian and Josef left to have a talk with Mr. Goldwater.

Gabriel saw Josef and Brian walking out together and sensed that they were on a mission.
"Ok guys, what's going on?" Gabriel asked.
"Gabe, come with us. We may very well need some legal help with this. We've just received proof that Sasha Toys is responsible for the outbreak at the day care centers." Josef explained quickly.
"Have the authorities been notified?" Gabriel asked. But he could tell from their expressions that law enforcement was not needed. "Ok, is there another way? There has to be" Gabriel finished.
"That's for you to figure out on the way there" Brian said.

Sasha sat in his father's office eagerly awaiting the phone call from Russell Pan to let him know that the papers had been signed. All he wanted to do was go back to New York and forget about toys and California altogether! Hearing a knock on his door he jumped up and ran to answer it.
"Russell!" Sasha said then stopped looking at the gentlemen he wasn't familiar with' "Yes, May I help you?" He asked curtly.
"Sasha Goldwater. Hello. My name is Brian Petzer and I'm" Brian began to say.
"CFO of Kostan Industries...Yes I know" he said holding out his hand. "Please come in and have a seat" He said cordially. Brian and Gabriel sat in the plush chairs. "What can I do for you gentlemen?" he asked politely.
"Mr. Goldwater, my name is Gabriel St. John and I'm lead Counsel for Kostan Industries and we'd like to talk to you about Sasha Toys, Inc. It's come to our attention that you are very interested in selling your shares."
"That was true, but not anymore" Sasha replied.
"Because of Russell Pan I assume" Gabriel said, but Sasha said nothing.
"At this very moment Russell and his co-workers are being arrested by the FBI and Interpol, so I think any chance you had with him has passed" Brian said. They watched his eyes grow larger for one brief moment.
"What do you want?" Sasha asked sternly. Brian looked at Gabriel briefly
"Let's start with what you've done!" Brian said in anger standing up. "You bring to the states one of the most dangerous businessmen and because of your recklessness and thoughtlessness 5 children are dead! And that is your fault! Five families are grieving for dead children because you only thought of yourself. Not only that you made Kostan Industries your fall guy, and believe me when I tell you that Josef Kostan is NO ONE'S fall guy".

[Ella713]

"Now you have only two options here Mr. Goldwater. Option one is you own up to this disaster and make restitution, or option 2. 6-10 in prison and possibly forcible rape. Now I'm only speaking for myself but option 1 sounds like the better of the two." Gabriel said sliding a form in front of him. "Not only will you make restitution, you will make a public apology and admit your guilt."
"I think I need to speak with my attorney" Sasha said nervously.
"As you wish" Gabriel said standing up. "Brian, who was that scary guy we sent to prison for corporate espionage?"
"Vlad Strinskov" Brian replied with a smile.
"But he had a nickname didn't he? Something he went by in the Ukraine?"
"The Butcher" Brian said.
"That's it! The Butcher! Maybe we should let him know about the newbie we're going to send him. You know make things a bit more fun there." Gabriel said casually.
"You're bluffing! You don't scare me" Sasha said standing up and walking towards the door. "I'm busy, so good day to you both" Brian looked at his brother and raised an eyebrow. Gabriel sighed and walked up to Sasha.
"You are going to sign this document and you will pay the families you've harmed. The press are outside right now waiting to speak with you. You will tell the truth. Do you understand?" Gabriel said looking into his eyes.

"Do you think we let him off too easy?" Gabriel asked.
"Well, he owes millions of dollars in damages, his reputation is in the toilet and he got 5 years in the pen....I think that's enough" Brian replied.
"Uncle Josef won't see it that way" Gabriel said.


"Five years in prison? That's it? What the hell has happened to the legal system in America?" Josef yelled. "There has to be something more?" Josef said with a smile.


"Prisoner 56627 Walk this way" The guard said to Sasha as he unlocked the cell. "Hey Butcher. You got a new cell mate" The guard said pushing Sasha inside and closing the cell door.
"Wait! You can't leave me in here!" Sasha yelled.
"That's what prisons are for" The guard said walking away as Vlad slowly walked towards Sasha.
"Mr. Kostan. It's done" The guard said into his phone.
"Merry Christmas Don"
"You too Mr. Kostan"










The End