Chapter 186 - A Share Transfer
Cameron had been very bored with Aiden gone. His lunch breaks were now spent trying to text Jennica (who wasn't always available because of auditions) and sitting by himself at their usual table. It seemed too quiet.
To make things worse, Aaron was on the verge of cracking. You wouldn't be able to tell unless you spent a lot of time with the guy but Cameron was fairly certain that his calm was a façade.
When he was stressed out or upset about something, he was little more than a human robot. There was no expression on his face whatsoever and his usual coldness wasn't as severe.
Some might think that would be a good thing since the man usually gave off enough of a chill to give people goosebumps in the summer but Cameron knew an ice storm was brewing right under the surface. One wrong move and the dam would break, covering everyone around him in endless winter.
He had an idea of what this was about. Dealing with the fallout of pretending to get engaged was wearing at Aaron and he didn't even have his usual de-stressor available. Keeley was pissed at him for some reason and seemed to be avoiding him even more than before.
Cameron had asked his fiancée if she knew what was going on after she butted in on that phone call the other day but Jennica was almost as clueless as he was.
"Aaron came to visit when I was packing up to move here and she told me to get rid of him so I assume something happened. We talked for a little bit—I asked her why she never told me that he was her ex-boyfriend—and she seemed shocked that I guessed it.
"I asked her why they broke up since he was so crazy in love with her and she was even more shocked. I told her what I'd heard when I was his fake date and she immediately jumped up, yelled 'he's dead' and ran out in her pajamas. She refused to talk about what happened after she came back so that's all I know."
He already knew they had gotten into some sort of fight…but discovering that Aiden's theory was right was a bit shocking. How badly had his boss screwed up to get the woman he was madly in love with to dump him in the past?
He wanted to tell his friend but figured it was better to wait until he was back in a week. The look on Aiden's face would be priceless.
Jennica thought that they broke up because Aaron didn't know how to show his feelings and that it was a communication issue. The exact words she used were "I can totally see him being a tsundere—Keeley would hate that."
Cameron had to ask her what it meant since he had never heard of the term before. It definitely sounded like his icy boss. Women needed to know they were cherished; didn't everyone know that?
Still, he felt bad for the guy. All the pressure would get to him sooner or later and then he would take it out on Cameron. And Aiden, if he happened to get back by then.
Personally he hoped the eruption of the ice volcano held off until the hacker was back. He knew how to handle Aaron's moods pretty well.
During the board meeting Cameron was sure to keep an eye on Aaron. He couldn't afford to crack in front of Alistair or the other senior board members. He had to keep up his image as the rising star of the company.
Stock prices were on the rise, which could be good news. If they became valuable enough it would be more beneficial to sell than hold onto them and Aaron could swoop in to buy them up.
The presenter blathered on about other company matters but Cameron's attention wandered back to the share issue. Even if Aaron did gather up the shares…how was he going to consolidate them?
Unless he had more than 50% he wouldn't have decision making power without the extra members of the board to back him up. It was why he had other people holding onto his shares in the first place. All of the dummy shareholders had signed an agreement that this was only temporary and that Aaron could take his shares back at any time.
Cameron didn't mind one bit—he looked forward to the day he wouldn't have to sit through any more dull board meetings. He would still have his job as the head of the analyst department when the time came so he would be set.
Roger and Kyle were much the same. Once they gave up their seats on the board they would still have their highly coveted jobs within the finance world.
So what about Alice? What had Aaron promised her that would get her to cooperate? He never said.
As the board meeting progressed, Alistair looked more and more uncomfortable before he finally stood and made an announcement. "I believe everyone here has heard about my son's engagement by now."
Murmurs of acknowledgement went around the table, making Cameron nervous. Where was he going to go with this?
"I promised him years ago that he would get 10% of my shares when he got married so I'm following through on that now as an engagement present. Congratulations, Aaron. The documentation is here with me so stay afterwards and sign it. We'll also need a witness to stay after the meeting."
"I'll do it," Cameron volunteered. This was too suspicious. He wanted to make sure Alistair wasn't pulling any tricks.
"Thank you Mr. Singleton. Before we end this meeting we need to discuss the expansion to Monaco. My son is in charge of the negotiation since it was his proposal in the first place but there are still other concerns to be addressed…"
Alistair launched into yet another long and boring speech that Cameron wasn't willing to pay attention to. If it was important, Aaron would fill him in later.
He glanced over at the man to see what his reaction was to getting 10% of his father's shares. As expected, his poker face was in full effect. He didn't seem happy at all. It was if he hadn't even heard the news.