Page 38 of The Betrayer
“You still haven’t told me what you need me to do.”
My father was watching me, and I was suddenly aware that I’d paused for too long again, too lost in my own thoughts and anxieties, falling under the pressure.
“I need you to run the day-to-day while I’m gone.”
My father looked at me for a moment, and a small, crooked smile accompanied his confusion. “You mean like I did before you got here?”
“Things have changed a lot since then, Dad,” I cautioned. “I made serious changes to the way things run. Will you be able to handle it?”
“Paul, I’ve been doing this since you were in diapers. If I have to get the hang of a new system, I’ll get the hang of a new system. Why would it be a problem?”
I sighed. “The business is different now. Considering I’ve been running the company in all but name the past few years, I’m concerned.”
I also didn’t know who else could do it. That was the point of having a CEO and a COO, and the other executive team members—the company could survive while one or more were gone. But given all that had happened not just over the past few years, I wasn’t sure it was going to work this time. I had a feeling Tara could run the company better than my father at this point—absentee father and absentee CEO. At least she knew how the day-to-day worked.
At my words, my father’s shoulders stiffened again, and I saw a flash of something cross his face and thin his lips. I was still pushing the line, testing the boundaries like a kid to see what my father would do and how far I could go. Instead of an angry retort, my father took another deep breath, the downward quirk to his mouth easing. The sight made me feel marginally better about what I was asking him to do and also about earlier.
Although my father’s admonition about being too hard on employees still rankled, mainly because it seemed like his selective memory was working on overdrive again. I might have been hard on certain people when they deserved it, but at least I was predictable and fair. For all he was known for being too “kind” and easy on people, Dad certainly had his moments where he would fly off the handle. We hadn’t had an incident since I took over as COO, and not many people remembered, but I did.
“I’m going to be fine, Paul. Give me a little credit.”
I met my father’s gaze, and he raised both eyebrows, daring me to say anything to the contrary. Well, it was only three weeks. He couldn’t ruin the company in three weeks—no one was quite that inept.
“And I know that guy isn’t going to back out. Don’t worry.” My father gave me another soft cuff on the shoulder. How had he known I was worrying? “If he gives you trouble, I’ll call him.”
Licking my lips, I nodded, my hand fiddling with the watch around my wrist.
If anyone would know, it would be my father. After all, most of our investors were there for him—in fact, the majority of our investors were there because Dad had brought them in, and they stayed because of him. My father wasn’t just charming with young women. He also used the same charismatic charm with investors, and they ate it up. I had never in my life been able to duplicate the rapport my father had with people, and I’d come to the conclusion it was something you had to be born with.
This was the first investor I was dealing with alone, even though my father had been the one to snag him to begin with, and I felt the pressure. Dealing with the day-to-day running of the company was something I could do in my sleep, but the thought of facing an enormous investor at such a critical time made me break out in a cold sweat.
“Paul.”
I realized my gaze had strayed to the leather of the couch, and my dad watched me.
“You’re going to be fine. Just don’t let him smell your fear, or you’re done for.”
My mouth attempted to pull up into a smile, but it didn’t get very far.
“Seriously, you’re going to be fine. Give them a smile, give them compliments, give them what they think they want while keeping your eye on your goal, and you’ll be just fine. Show them they can’t push you around, just like you did me.”
I felt my eyebrows rise. Despite the contradictory advice, had my father just complimented me? About lighting into him? For a moment, I wasn’t sure how to respond. He was still looking at me, a half-smile on his face, and I saw no trace of anger or facetiousness—did he believe in me that strongly?
My father seemed to intuit my uncertainty because he chuckled. “I know you can do it, just like you know I can run this company while you’re gone.”
“Are you really sure you can do this?” I asked. “I’m asking you now because this is serious. Are you not going to brush it off like the gala?
The smile disappeared. “This is the company, Paul, not some gala—”
“But that gala was for the company, Dad. For you, for me, for us, too.”
“It might have been for the company, but it wasn’t ever going to affect the actual running of the company.” His stare had become hard, and I could see he was going to chase this one as far as he needed to.
I was quiet for a long minute, aware of office life going on over my father’s shoulders and beyond the glass wall of windows. People passed through the corner of my vision, and I could hear muted conversations and phones ringing.
“This is it, Dad. You want to apologize, you want me to accept your apology, show me how serious you are.”
“And you need to show me how well you can do with this investor.”
