Run, Girl (If You Can)

Chapter 379: The Scary Man

Using the charts and graphs from the monthly data that he had prepared ahead of time, Aaron began conducting the meeting as Violet happily remained in his lap while holding her pink stuffed rabbit. As he went, Alistair's demeanor grew ever more glacial. Some of the shareholders began rubbing their arms to ward off the chill.

Even Violet felt it. She squirmed uncomfortably, squeezing her rabbit even tighter. Eventually she turned around and buried her face in Aaron's chest, clutching part of his shirt in her tiny fist.

He was so angry that his father had scared her that he unintentionally let off an ice storm of his own. By this point everyone in the room was trying to stop their teeth from chattering.

"Daddy," Violet whimpered.

Hearing her voice immediately calmed him down. All of his ice evaporated so the room was only half as cold. Aaron made it through the rest of the meeting like that and everyone scurried away the second it was over except the last person he wanted to see.

"Come on, Vi, we're leaving," he said stiffly.

She had already hopped off of his lap and put on her backpack. She held out her little hand to him, more than ready to leave the scary room.

"Bringing a child to a board meeting was incredibly unprofessional of you," Alistair said frostily. "What is this, a playground?"

"What do you want?" he shot back flatly. "I don't have time for the likes of you."

"Yet you have time to gallivant around entertaining a toddler."

Aaron could feel his temper building. "Yes I do. I, unlike you, am a half-decent father who makes time for his children. And I'll have you know, Violet hasn't hindered my workday in the slightest."

Alistair narrowed his eyes. "So her name is Violet. Carol was right; she does look like you."

Resentment rolled off of him in waves. He already didn't like Violet's mother but now he was even more prejudiced against her because she looked exactly like his rebellious son.

She hid behind her father's leg and hugged it. "I don't like the scary man," she whispered.

'He doesn't like you either,' Aaron thought bitterly. If Alistair dared say one negative word about Violet in front of her, he would probably try to strangle him.

"I asked you what you want. As you can see, I'm busy," he said in a hard voice.

"I can't see what my only son has done to my company?" Alistair asked acidly.

He was even more imposing than Aaron remembered him. Violet had never been exposed to someone with this kind of presence before. She was trembling with fear from the aura permeating the room.

Aaron had been like that once too. It had taken him a long time to convince himself he wasn't afraid of his father when he was her age. It was a lie. Little Aaron was always afraid. Why else would he do everything his parents said even when he didn't want to?

That horrifying level of coldness was something even a small child could sense. He had never wanted to be on the receiving end of his father's ire so he tried his best to be a perfect child.

His young mind's logic was that if he was really, really good he might even get a hint of warmth from his father. That had never happened.

He was self-aware enough to realize that he was a lot like his father. The thought horrified him so he had worked very hard to become the kind of parent he always wished he had. Aaron read every childcare book he could lay his hands on when Keeley was pregnant with the twins and had a lot of long talks with Robert about his parenting techniques.

He was doing a fairly good job, all things considering. His children loved him and Keeley frequently praised him for being such a good dad. He couldn't throw that away because his father was getting under his skin.

"You've seen it. Stock prices are up, we've seen a boost in both customer numbers and customer satisfaction, and we've expanded to six different countries since you left. I've done more for Hale Investments than you ever did," Aaron said coolly. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have work to do."

"Aaron," Alistair said in such a frightening voice that Violet nearly jumped out of her skin. "No matter how much you've done for the company, I will never acknowledge that woman or her children."

He picked the shivering little girl up and held her close, trying to instill some warmth back into her. She curled up in a ball and buried her face in his neck. His eyes blazed with fury.

"What a coincidence. I don't acknowledge you or your wife either. I have all the family I need."

Aaron held his daughter even closer. He didn't care about his parents' approval anymore. He wasn't the desperate child who craved the tiniest scrap of affection that he once was. Keeley had given him all the love he had ever wanted and more. So did their children.

Alistair's opinion meant less than nothing to him. He only cared about Violet not getting her feelings hurt. She had always been sensitive.

"Come to next month's meeting if you must. And any meetings after. I don't care. Nothing you do has anything to do with me. But if you dare harass my family I will destroy you completely. Good day, Alistair."

Calling his father by his first name clearly drew the line between them. Aaron didn't consider them related anymore and Alistair knew it.

He walked out of the board room with his head held high and called security as his father was still in earshot. "Please be sure to see Mr. Alistair Hale out; the meeting is over and he has no other business here today."

"Yes, Mr. Hale," the head of security replied respectfully.

Alistair finally lost it as the door to the board room swung shut. "Aaron Hale, you ungrateful brat, just you wait until I—"

He didn't even hear the rest of the threat through the closed door. He didn't care, either. There was nothing that man could do to him now. He had no power here. Aaron was the CEO; he was just a shareholder.

Violet finally peeked out from where she was hiding in his neck when they were in the elevator. "Daddy, the scary man is mean. I don't like him."

"I don't like him either, baby," he sighed.

"Is that why you were scary too?"

Of course she had picked up on that. At least she didn't seem to be afraid of him now.

"I'm sorry I scared you. Remember how Mommy taught you about different feelings? The scary man makes Daddy angry. But I'm okay now because I've got my favorite daughter right here," he said in a somewhat silly voice, making her giggle.

"I love you, Daddy! You're not as scary as him. You're nice!"

Aaron kissed the top of her head; grateful that she seemed to have moved passed the incident already. He had been slightly worried she would see him in a different light. He always tried very hard not to act like he did in the office around his family so she wasn't used to his natural ice.

"I love you too."