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My dad and I had a peculiar father-son relationship. He had ignored me after I became a teenager and only seemed to remember I was his son when I bagged a MBA. I had proposed my business idea to him because I didn’t have the required capital but he discarded the proposal and convinced me to work for him for five years instead. It was finally the last year of our agreement and he knew how desperate I was to leave his company.
He had probably come here this morning to make some insane demand. I had always felt like his puppet. He had me take over the company so that he could focus on his hobbies. Mostly just dating women from all over the world. I always felt he was the reason why my mom left, but I dismissed that thought when I realized that she had left not just him, but also me. At least he kept me under his roof and paid for the staff to ensure my physical needs were met.
His being here could mean a number of things, but I had a good idea of what he wanted. The shareholders must have pestered him to meet their demands, and now he was going to remind me that I did not have much time left to make a decision that would satisfy the board. I braced myself for the inevitable scolding I was about to receive.
“I heard about the research you helped sponsor. That was a smart move.” I was a little stunned by the praise.
“Thanks. Someone has to clean up this mess.” I replied, shifting my seat, not able to conceal the unsettled look on my face. “The faster I clean it up, the earlier I can leave.”
“You still think I had something to do with all of this, don’t you?” he asked, tapping his index finger on his knee, an old habit he had developed to calm himself.
“Well, as you know, everyone is a suspect.”
“You are not indispensable, Daniel,” he replied, the pitch in his voice getting higher. “What does it benefit me to keep you around when your siblings are more than capable?” I definitely hit a button because he definitely was swinging at mine.
“Jamie and Xander?” I scoffed. “Those two idiots will tear down everything you have built.”
“Well,” he said, rubbing his chin. “Someone has to take up the responsibility when you step down. I understand that the company has to be in a good state before you leave, but if this plan of yours doesn’t work within the time frame I gave you, you will be forced to leave.”
I felt my face grow cold, my jaw clenched as I shot him an angry look. I knew how important this was. If I stepped down without resolving this crisis, my future plans would be off to a bad start. That's the biggest red flag an investor would have and raising capital would be impossible.
“You have six months, Daniel. Six months.” He shot me a pointed glare before walking out of the office.
Dad always managed to invent new ways to piss me off. How could he accuse me of incapability and run the idea of displacement in my face? He must have forgotten the number of times my decisions boosted the company’s profits. I paced around my office. Anger surged through me as I grabbed my phone and dialed the number of the only person I could talk to.
“Hey Danny, what’s up? Is everything okay?”
“Everything is not okay, Evan.” My voice felt scratchy and like I was talking too loudly. “My dad came to visit this morning…”
“Yeesh,” he interrupted.
“He’s fucking planning on me to fail. He doesn’t think I can do what it takes to fix this bullshit, that I still think he had a hand in creating. What the hell is wrong with him? He thinks the idiot brothers could really do this better?” I sighed at the end of my small rant.
“Hey, it's okay. You would be better off if you got out of there, anyway. And you know he has to protect his business. It's only logical he has backup plans. Doesn't make it less upsetting, of course.”
“Of course not.” It dawned on me that I was overreacting. I understood Evan and even my father's point. He could have expressed it better, of course, but when was that ever the family way? The troubles we had in the past were nothing compared to this. The company's stocks have never nosedived so hard because of a rumor. Perhaps, the only way to fix this was to follow Evan's advice.
“To a certain extent, your father is out of your control. Just accept whatever he does and move on with your life.”
As much as Evan frustrated me at times, he was still the only person who could calm me down at such times.
“Thank you, Evan.”
“Don’t sweat it, buddy,” he replied. “Have you told Amy?” Typical Evan, he just had to ruin it.
“I'm working on it,” I lied.
“You’re a terrible liar, Daniel.” He laughed.
“In the end, I might not have to breach our contract. I could still find a different way.”
“You want to go against the entire board?” he asked skeptically.
“We'll see.” Truthfully, I didn’t have too much optimism.
“Do you have a plan?”
“Not yet,” I replied as Phil accompanied a large man into my office. “Thanks, Evan. I’ll call you later, okay?”
