AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Alexa snuggled against me as we sat. Alexa hadn’t said anything about his rant against her, which was a relief. It sucked having such an opinionated father. I waited for the next bombshell, whatever it was.
“You’ve disobeyed me, and I’d like to know why.”
My stomach turned over. That was exactly how he’d started his rant about Alexa, and now she was here to hear it.
“Didn’t I tell you,” he continued. “To devote yourself completely to the company’s reputation overhaul?” So not a repeat of the Alexa conversation but another complaint about me.
I sipped the liquid fortitude in my glass for the next accusation. “Yes. And I have.” It was technically true. I’d been requested.
“Then why are you inserting yourself into acquisition negotiations. It’s not your job anymore. I thought that was clear.”
Alexa placed a reassuring hand on my leg.
I hadn’t pushed my way in, rather I’d been filling in a hole in the organization’s capabilities that he’d created by promoting Martin before he was ready. “I was merely—”
Dad raised a hand. “I don’t want to hear it.” His voice rose. “There is no excuse. I told the board how I planned to deal with the situation, and now you’ve gone and made me look like I’ve deceived them. I told them you were completely off of acquisitions, and one hundred percent on the reputation project that we need.”
There was only one thing I could say without causing more problems. “I’m sorry.” I could see now what had gone wrong. Martin had told his father I was helping him. Neither of us had known that Dad had promised the board I wouldn’t interfere, which was how any help would now be seen.
“But, Alexa started.
I shut her down. “It won’t happen again.” My best option here was to stay quiet. Explaining that Martin had asked for my help wouldn’t solve Dad’s issue and might create a fight in the boardroom between him and Martin’s father if he brought it up as an excuse for me.
“And then there’s the matter of…” He paused looking between us deciding if he wanted to bring the other topic up or not. “The fact that you haven’t made any progress on the reputation front. So I’m going to need daily updates going forward.”
“What?” Alexa challenged. “That’s ridiculous.”
“No,” Dad countered. “It’s a sound business practice when an employee has become distracted and isn’t accomplishing the work.”
Now I was a mere employee? And distracted? He had it all wrong. The only word to describe me now wasmad. “I’m not distracted.”
Dad barreled on. “It’s obvious that you don’t have your priorities straight. This…” He pointed between Alexa and me. “Relationship is affecting your work. Because no progress has been made on generating positive press for the company.”
“But—” Alexa started.
“You’ve generated zero positive press so far as I can tell,” Dad continued. “Or have you?”
Alexa’s grip on my leg tightened. “Why don’t you ask for the moon for God’s sake,” she hissed.
“This is family business, Alexa.” Dad said. “You will stay out of it.”
I’d heard enough, but it wasn’t good to loose control, so I kept my voice down to a half-yell, “You will not talk to her that way. Apologize this instant.” I stood quickly.
“I will not,” Dad insisted. “This is matter for family, and she isn’t family.” She might not be a family member, but nobody talked to my girl like that.
I raised my arm to the door. “You’ve overstayed your welcome. Get out. Now.”
Dad rose from the chair, but not before Alexa grabbed my arm. “Ev, darling, I’ve got this.” Her nails dug into my arm with a silent demand.
Against my better judgment I stayed quiet while Alexa rounded the coffee table.
“What kind of bullshit is this?” she said more calmly than I’d been. “You expected results in the… what has it been, a month or so since you gave Evan this task?
Dad’s eyes narrowed. This was a new experience for him. He wasn’t used to people talking back to him like this.
“For the last twenty years that you’ve been running the company, how many glowingly positive articles have you had?”
Dad stood there, his hand twitching.
