Chapter 317 - Chaos
Aaron practically floated through the days leading up to the shareholders meeting when he would finally overthrow his father. 'She loves me, she loves me, she loves me' ran through his head repeatedly like a mantra and he couldn't stop himself from smiling.
All of the employees he encountered at Hale Investments wondered what on earth was wrong with their vice president. He never smiled. Ever.
"Why are you in such a good mood?" Cameron asked as they headed into the board room.
"She loves me," Aaron said dreamily.
"What?!" he whisper-shouted, attracting the attention of a few of the other shareholders before lowering his voice even further. "You've been married this long and she only said it now?"
"…we have a bit of a complicated history."
Cameron was about to ask more, still confused, when his wife walked in and sat down across the table to maintain the illusion that she didn't know him. The sight of Jennica sufficiently distracted him long enough for the other two missing shareholders to file in and sit down so the meeting could begin.
Alistair began by going over monthly reports and noteworthy issues like usual. Aaron had to try very hard not to burst with excitement waiting for his turn. Revenge would be sweet. Two lifetimes of this man trying to control him and Aaron would finally be the one in control.
"I have something to say," he finally spoke up with fifteen minutes left of the meeting.
"What is it?" his father asked impatiently, covering the room in ice. He was still bitter that Aaron hadn't attended Lacy's funeral.
"Nothing much. I simply need those shares you promised me when my wife gave birth to a son. The contract is legally binding and we're already running behind schedule because my son is three months old."
You could practically hear crickets chirping in the room. Everybody who didn't already know about Keeley, Kaleb, and Violet were completely frozen.
Aaron took that as an opportunity to show copies of his marriage certificate and Kaleb's birth certificate on the screen. He needed witnesses in case his father tried to back out of the contract. Then he would sue him for every last penny.
The next pictures he showed were copies of the share transfer agreements between him and all of his dummy shareholders.
"That being said, once I get the shares I am legally owed, I'll become the majority shareholder with fifty-one percent. At that point it is within my right to change the board of directors. So I'll be replacing my father as the CEO. We'll be needing a new vice president…Cameron, are you interested?"
He had actually been paying attention to the meeting for once but he was still caught off guard by the question. "Are you serious?!"
Aaron shrugged. "Your salary will increase and I'll stop sending you all over the world."
A satisfied grin crossed his features. "Done."
Jennica clapped her hands together in delight. "Way to go, babe!"
The other shareholders finally unfroze and the room dissolved into chaos. Everyone was arguing with each other until Alistair began to yell. At that point everything went silent at the frightening aura he gave off.
"AARON HALE YOU BETTER EXPLAIN YOURSELF!"
A satisfied grin appeared on his face, which was the exact opposite of the facial expressions everyone else in the room had on. They were all terrified. But the storm didn't affect him at all.
"It's quite simple, Father. I don't like the way you do things so I began planning this my freshman year of college. I bought up as many shares as I could and handed them off to other people who would vote on my side and deflect suspicion.
"I monitored all of your activities, so I know about the inside trading. If you try and put up a fuss about this, I'll hand over the evidence I have to the police and the company your family has been in charge of for generations will be destroyed from lack of public trust. Personally, I couldn't care less. All that matters to me is my wife and children.
"Oh, right. And Bethany Carlisle? Doesn't exist. I got someone to pretend to be her at that birthday party because I knew what you were planning to do. The woman you heard on the phone was always my beautiful, non high society wife. We got married last year and had twins without you being any the wiser. I win."
Alistair couldn't believe what he was hearing and blustered wordlessly. It took a minute for Aaron's words to sink in for everyone else.
"You engaged in insider trading?" Samuel, his most loyal supporter, asked angrily. "Do you have any idea what that would do to the company if anyone found out?"
"Our shares would become worthless and we would lose thousands of dollars each!" Carol exclaimed.
"How could you be so irresponsible?" Alexander demanded.
Once again, the room became a cacophony of yells. Aaron watched the chaos he had created with a wicked grin. Everyone had turned on his father now.
Cameron walked over and laid a hand on his shoulder. "You did it. You actually did it. There's no way he'll have enough guts to stay on at the company now."
"Definitely not," he said with a laugh.
It was so satisfying watching his father desperately try to explain himself. He looked downright pathetic. Gone was that mighty presence he was known for. Alistair Hale was a cornered rat.
The meeting ended up going on an extra twenty minutes because too many people were cursing Alistair out. Multiple shareholders claimed that if he didn't hand over the shares to Aaron and retire that they would sue him personally for breach of trust.
This was more than Aaron could have possibly dreamed of. Revenge was sweet.
"Why would you do this to me, Aaron?" his father asked weakly once everyone else left the boardroom and it was only the two of them.
He let out a short, bitter laugh. There were so many reasons he couldn't say because Alistair didn't remember doing them. At the very least, in this life he had tried controlling Aaron like his own personal puppet.
"You tried to mold me into a miniature version of you. I don't appreciate being controlled. Exactly how many times over the years did I tell you I refused to marry that witch? And yet you plotted behind my back to announce the engagement publicly so I couldn't refuse. Well guess what? She's dead and I got to marry the woman I love."
Alistair's pupils shrank in fear. "Did you kill her?!"
"Of course not. I'm not that petty. I suppose I have a guardian angel."
Or a deranged, psychopathic brother but it was basically the same thing. Speaking of Gray though…
"That reminds me. Michael Gray sends his regards."
He jumped to his feet with a ghastly expression on his face. "How do you even know about him? You…both of you planned this together?!"
"No, this was my plan. He just helped a little bit with the execution toward the end," Aaron said with a smirk. He pushed the share transfer document across the table. "So about those shares?"