Chapter 22
Aiden
“What’s so interesting on your screen?” Huxley strolls into my office, dressed like the only man in Vermont who would and could wear Balenciaga flip-flops in a corporate setting. “Bad news or porn?”
I glance up from my screen, sigh. “Board meeting. End of August. Dad’s stepping in to defend Diana. Wants a full hearing before any termination goes through.”
Huxley sprawls on one of the leather chairs across from me. “You mean you haven’t fired her yet? After she lied to your wife—sorry, your ex-wait-maybe-wife—and nearly blew your second chance? What the hell, man?”
“My hands are tied.” I push my laptop away in frustration. “My father is still chairman of the board. He invoked the bylaw about ‘executive-level dismissals requiring board review.’”
“Of course, he did.” Huxley leans back in his chair, lounges. “God forbid he let you do your job without micromanaging your soul into oblivion.”
There’s a knock on the door, and Jolene peeks in. She’s holding a tablet and has that glint in her eye that means she knows something I don’t.
“Am I interrupting your bromance?” she asks.
“Darling, you never could,” Huxley flirts.
Jolene rolls her eyes. “You know I play for the other team, don’t you?”
“Ignore him, Jo.” I gesture.
Huxley raises his espresso. “We’re just talking about how his father’s a parasite.”
Jolene does a fist salute in the air. “Amen to that.”
She sits down and places her tablet in front of me. “Latest reports from HR. And—” she lowers her voice dramatically “—word in the hallways is that the board might be rallying around Nelson. Especially since you’ve been skipping dinners, pushing back on policy, and trying to fire his pet CFO.”
I scan the data on the tablet and pinch the bridge of my nose. “Of course, they are.”
“They think you’re going rogue,” she continues. “Nelson’s spinning it like you’re emotionally compromised because of your ‘marital drama’.”
“Compromised?” Huxley snorts. “This guy has more poise under pressure than half the boardroom.”
Jolene hunches forward onto the desk, folding her arms. “Well, if you plan to make a move, do it soon. August isn’t a long ways away, but it’s long enough to twist a few knives.”
“Right.” I exhale sharply, eyes flicking upward. I have to confess that I’m less interested in saving my job than I am my marriage, and that’s been a welcome surprise about my psyche.
“You’re going to find a way, aren’t you?” Jolene queries with furrowed brows.
“While your father puts together the most devious obstacle course known to mankind,” Huxley exaggerates.
I look at Jolene, smile, hold her gaze. “Jo, you know, you’ll be taken care of. If this blows up—”
“Don’t.” She holds up a hand. “I’m not going anywhere until you’re fired.”
Huxley perks up. “Wait. If he gets fired, you’re on the market, Jo?”
She sends him a flat, unimpressed stare. “Seriously, Hux, he’s your best friend and you want him fired?”
“Because I need an assistant,” Huxley continues smoothly, as if she hadn’t spoken. “You want to trade in spreadsheets for hotel ballrooms and espresso martinis?”
Jolene narrows her eyes. “You don’t even own a calendar.”
He grins. “I do. I just don’t look at it.”
“If I get booted, I’m holding you to that,” I tell him.
I’m not worried. I know Huxley will take care of Jolene. Hell, he’ll take care of me.
“I’m not leaving,” Jolene says through gritted teeth.
Huxley puts a hand to his heart. “I pay well and never micromanage.”
Jolene gives him a slow blink. “You do know that I’m friends with your ex-assistant, don’t you? You also once scheduled a meeting at a cigar lounge with no Wi-Fi or screen for the presentation, and everyone was smoking.”
He shrugs. “The vibes were impeccable.”
“Ugh!” Jolene flings her hands in the air. “Try not to get fired, Aiden, please? Otherwise, I’ll have to work for him.”
“It’s embarrassing how much she loves me,” Huxley drawls.
When she leaves, Huxley turns serious. “So what’s your plan? Besides praying Mia lets you back into her life, and the board doesn’t burn yours down?”
“I got one focus right now, Hux. And it’s Mia.”
He arches an eyebrow. “And Winter Financial?”
I shake my head wearily. “I’ve got everything documented. Diana’s misbehavior. The HR complaints against Dad. If the board ignores it, they’re complicit.”
“Have you talked to investors?”
I nod. “Sure.”
“And?”
I shrug. “And they’ll come with me if I want to start out on my own.”
His eyes narrow. “Do you?”
“No,” I say emphatically.
I live alone. Sleep alone. I’ve had nothing but time in these past six months since Mia left me to think about my future.
I have decided that if my father’s bullshit continues, I’m going to bail.
I have enough money to be just fine—and if push comes to shove, I’ll find a job like a regular person. I have skills.
“I’d hire you as my CFO any day,” Huxley says quietly. “Hell, I’ll give you my job, you can be CEO, and I can gallivant around, be the playboy I’m destined to be.”
He’d do it, too. That’s the kind of friend Huxley is. I’m humbled.
“First, the playboy crap is all smoke and mirrors. Second, you outwork every executive I’ve ever met—bar none.” My phone beeps, and I peer at the screen. I have a meeting in five minutes. “And third, I don’t think working seventy hours a week is how I want to live the rest of my life.”
“How do you want to live your life?” Huxley rises to his feet.
“With Mia.”
“That simple?”
“Yeah.” I feel the magnitude of my mistakes. “I wish I’d had this clarity before Thanksgiving, before….”
“You got this clarity because she walked away, Aiden,” Huxley reminds me. “Well, I’d better get back to work.”
His office is at the flagship Sinclair Hotel, Ellis & West, which is right next to the building where Winter Financial is housed, so we often found ourselves in each other’s offices. His EA knows how I take my coffee, and Jolene knows how he takes his whiskey, which is neat.
He stops by my door. “You know, I thought you’d be pissed with the board and would want to nuke the building, with your father in it.”
I know why he thinks that. I didn’t build Winter Financial from the ruins by being a good guy. I am a relentless, ruthless businessman. I know how to win.
“That’s pride. I’m choosing sanity.”
He nods, then studies me for a beat. “These past months have changed you.”
“Yeah?”
“Less robot. More human. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you afraid before.”
“I was always afraid to disappoint my father,” I remind him.
He shakes his head, his hand on the doorknob. “Not exactly afraid, Aiden, more respectful. You were giving him what you felt he gave his father. It was tradition.”
“He doesn’t deserve it.”
“Hell, A, I’ve known that since I met him. Took you a few years to catch up to that.”
I rock back in my office chair and give him a pointed look. “What do you think I’m afraid of now?”
He grins faintly. “You’re more nervous about your date with Mia than you are about the board meeting. What does that say?”
“That I’m finally getting my priorities straight?”
“No shit!” He gives me a thumbs-up before he leaves.