Hate Me Love Me

37| Billionaire Bribery 💰

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"Save money, and money will save you." --- Jamaican Proverb.

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Dean Aldrois is parked outside my uncle's house.

There are three cars, all black. The one in the middle is a limousine, and the one's in front and back are both jeeps.

Is he trying to intimidate me?

Mr Aldrois is wearing a real, Russian Sable fur coat, and I'm not surprised that the man doesn't care about using animal fur. He's topped the look with sunglasses, and, if I didn't know better, I'd think he's a young man with the way he's dyed his hair. He's wrinkle-free, casually leaning against the car with a few men around him, in normal coats.

I trudge through the snow to have the first conversation with my boyfriend's father.

As if sensing me, the bodyguards make way and then I'm face to face with the man Alaric despises.

Dean takes off his sunglasses, hands them to the man on his right, and stands straight.

The colour of his eyes is so strikingly similar to Alaric's, but the shape is very different. And the way they're looking at me is very different as well.

I tug my muffler down and look at him with a face flushed with the cold. The guards move further away with a gesture from Dean, so they don't overhear the conversation.

'Hey,' I say, adjusting the grocery bag in my hands.

He tilts his head slightly, as if trying to figure me out, and then says 'Do you know how my son's been acting these last few days? Weeks?'

Straight to business then? Ok.

'How?'

He takes a step closer, and nearly spits in my face as he says 'Carefree.' His eyes hold disdain. 'Happy.' His snarl holds such a close resemblance to Alaric's. 'Lovesick!'

I give him a beaming smile and say 'That's good to hear.'

He takes a step closer. 'I've raised my son to be an exact replica of me. How do you think I manage such a large, international company? I don't care about the feelings of the people around me, of course. If I did, I'd be handing out charity money and flowers daily, judging by the number of emotion-driven weaklings I see.'

'OK' is all I can manage. He's getting heated, and I'm not sure I like it.

He can order a clone of himself to do his bidding. He's certainly rich enough.

'Stay away from him,' he finally commands, and, without thinking, I reply 'No.'

His expression morphs into that of unspeakable anger. 'You dare say no to me, little girl?' his voice is low and laced with threat. 'If he stays with you any longer, he's going to grow up to be a lousy heir to my business, and I'll be damned before I let that happen!'

And now I'm full-on angry. And when I'm angry, I do things I normally wouldn't do.

'OK, so, first of all, he'll be going to university soon, so he's already grown up. Secondly, I've seen the grades he gets and his dedication, and it hasn't ever been wavered by my interference in his life. He keeps getting better everyday. In fact, the other day we were testing each other before the exams, and his answers and explanations were even better than the ones in the textbooks.'

I step close enough to smell the expensive perfume on his attire, and say 'If you think that being capable of human emotion is going to make him a lousy businessman, it would've been better if you gave birth to a robot.'