My phone beeps, and I pick it up. There’s a message from Huxley. He wants to know if we’ll have dinner. I type a response in the affirmative, and set my phone down.
“Dad, Ronald, thank you so much for coming here. Let me explain how this is going to work. First, I have a lawyer who will be handlingmydivorce. So, thank you, Ronald, for the work you’ve put in, but it was unnecessary.”
Before Dad can shoot his mouth off, I raise a hand and he falls silent, but his eyes are warning me that there’s going to be hell to pay. Like what? Mia left me. Does he think he can do anything that could be worse than that?
I stand up, put my phone in my pocket. “Second, I’m going to give her fifty percent of everything.”
"Excuse me?" Dad barks.
I meet his eyes. For once, I don’t look away.
"She gets what she wants. The shares. The payout. The house in Burlington.Everything."
Dad’s face turns red. "Are you out of your goddamn mind? That’smymoney. That business?—"
"I rebuilt it," I remind him coolly. "Tripled its worth. I took over when you couldn’t lead anymore. So don’t talk to me about what’syours."
Ronald clears his throat. "Aiden, you should listen to Nelson?—"
"Ronald, I’m not my father. And I’m not negotiatingwith a woman I betrayed. She doesn’t have to fight for what’s hers."
Dad slams his hand on the desk. "You fucking idiot."
“Now, see, it’s not nice for you to call me names,” I condescend. “And until you can clean up your act, Dad, that's the door, see yourself out. When you think you can speak civilly to me, you can come back.”
His jaw clenches.
I plant my hands on Granddad’s desk, leaning in until my face is inches from his. “Until then…Go. Fuck. Yourself.”
Dad stares at me, thunderstruck.
Ronald clears his throat again, this time more nervously. "I'll…are you sure about your formal position, Aiden? That’s a lot of money you’re giving away."
“Mymoney.” I pack up my laptop. I’m ready to get the hell out of here and talk to Huxley, lay my plan out. “Oh, and Ronald, consider this your notice. I’m not your client anymore. Dad and the others in the family can do whatever they want."
Instead of looking hurt or angry, Ronald surprises me by looking relieved. “You take care, Aiden.”
He fumbles with his briefcase, closing it. He stands up and looks at my father. “We’ll talk later.” And with that, he walks out of my office.
Dad fixes me with a sharp, venomous stare. “Are you out of your mind?”
“No, Dad, I have not only found mymind, but also my morals, my values, and my integrity.” I sling the bag strap over my shoulder. “I’ve worked so damned hard towin your favor, your acceptance, have you praise me—and you never did. Not when I was growing up, and not when I turned the company, that you were fucking up, around.”
Dad bangs his fist on the desk. “I gave you this company,” he snarls.
“No, Dad, the board did ‘cause you were screwing it up,” I say easily.
It’s a truth I never dared speak before—God forbid it upset him.
Now I don’t give a damn.
Years of keeping the peace, waiting like a fool for my father to finally say, ‘Good job, son’, cost me the one person who ever mattered. My wife. The woman who wanted nothing from me but myself, who loved me, flaws, failures, and all. I repaid her by breaking her heart.
“You ungrateful?—”
“Dad, it’s done,” I say softly. My tone stops him cold. “You and I are finished. I’m finished with Gianna, Tristan, Mom…all of you.”
He looks at me like he’s seeing me for the first time—like I’ve suddenly grown horns. Then, because Nelson Winter is nothing if not a mean bully clinging to relevance, he sneers, “I’m going to make you regret this. You think being CEO is going to save you? I know the board.Iam the one with the power.”
