AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Why are you even here?” Noah asked in a barely controlled voice.
“To get you off my back, asshat,” Corey replied.
Noah’s eyebrows twitched. He was struggling to control his anger to keep up the image of an ice-cold boss but was badly failing. No one in the world could rile him up like Corey.
“This meeting is to discuss the future prospects of our construction business,” Noah said through clenched teeth. “It directly links to the sale of the subsidiaries you’re heading. Aren’t you interested in the growth of your own profit?”
Corey sat up straighter. “I’m interested just fine,” he replied. “I just don’t see why we all have to sit here and listen to you go on and on about how amazingly you’ve been handling the business. Couldn’t you put this information on a fucking slide and email it to us? We’re not idiots, you know? We can understand the gist of things by looking at graphs.”
“Can you?” Noah asked with a scoff. “You never bothered taking a business course in college.”
“They teach Math outside of business courses too, asshat.”
Noah pursed his lips, his eyes glowing with rage. He hated us behaving so callously in front of the other managers. It was important for him to show a united front to the world.
Corey understood that and made sure to raise hell in every meeting he was invited to.
“And for fuck’s sake, tell someone to lower the thermostat in this room!” Corey shouted. “We’re not all reptile-brained like you. I’m fucking sweating my balls here and my butt’s going to leave a wet patch on this chair by the time you’re done with your sermon!”
The older managers were all looking down at the table, doing their best to hide their amused grins and soft chuckles. I didn’t want to encourage Corey but he was right about the thermostat. The heat was enough to make me want to tear off my suit.
Dad cleared his throat loudly. “Your projections look good for the year,” he said in a mild voice. “I’m sure everyone here agrees with me?” He looked around the table, earning nods from the other members of the board.
“Thank you, Father,” said Noah, looking comically important.
I hated how pretentious he sounded when he called Dad ‘Father’. Someone needed to remind him we were in twenty-first-century America, and not Victorian England.
It was only a few seconds before my phone buzzed. Unlocking the screen, I saw another meme Corey sent me.
This time, Noah’s head was swapped with that of a quacking duck.
Smothering my chuckles, I looked up at Dad. He’d stood up and was looking around the table.
“Sit down, Noah,” he said in an authoritative tone. “I’m glad you took the opportunity to share your progress with us, but that’s not the reason I called you and everyone else here today. I have an announcement to make.”
“Thank fuck,” Corey muttered loud enough for everyone to hear.
Noah glared at him but contained himself from spitting out a curse.
I sighed internally. There was going to be a massive fight the moment we went home today.
“What kind of announcement, Dad?” I asked, urging him to be done with this meeting.
“I’ve spoken to the board of directors and investors,” said Dad. “They’ve agreed to accept my resignation.”
“What?” Corey gasped, sitting up straighter in his chair.
A buzz spread throughout the room at once. No one expected Dad to step down so soon. He was barely sixty.
For a moment, my mind went back to a particular day five years ago.
It was the day before Eva’s funeral ceremony.
I’d never seen him break down so badly in my life. When he learned of Milla’s disappearance, he trashed the living room area and shut himself in his room, refusing to see anyone. He’d even stopped eating and sleeping.
Dad wasn’t the same after Eva’s funeral.
Something seemed to have switched off inside him after the day of the funeral. He eventually became normal again but our relationship with him went dead overnight.
