Humble son-in-law in the day, Billionaire at night

13

The frown on Aiden's face deepens. Is this guy filming so something?

“Mom!” He screams again.

The next moment, Aiden's mother-in-law comes running into the room in her night dress. “Are you okay? Bryan!”

She rushes to where he is and manages to get a hold on him.

“Oh my goodness!” She screams in horror, examining Bryan's hand.

Aiden takes a step closer to see the hand she's looking in horror at. He can't see anything wrong with it.

“You bastard, what are you waiting for? Get me the first aid…no, dial the emergency number.”

“Emergency?” Harper's voice calls across the room. She too comes running toward her brother. She stops dead, confusion on her face.

“What is going on?” She asks.

“Can't you see?” Her mother snaps. “Your brother is bleeding!”

Harper looks toward Aiden in confusion as if trying to ask him if she's the only one seeing what she's seeing.

Aiden shrugs slightly. This is actually the first time he'll be seeing a fully grown man making a fuss about a slight cut that isn't even bleeding.

But still, his mother-in-law won't stop making a fuss at him. So when his ears are almost bleeding from her nags, he gets the first aid and applies it on the damn cry baby's finger.

Half the time, Bryan won't stop groaning.

Aiden shakes his head slowly as he goes back to drop the first aid.

He thought he's seen all the weird things in the world but it turns out he's not.

Some minutes later, after taking his bath, he goes back to the dining room to join them.

“I swear, dad, he just stood there staring at me,” Aiden hears Bryan saying as he gets in the sitting room.

“I told you, dad, Aiden wants me dead. If not for him, the cup wouldn't have slipped and hurt my hand,” Bryan adds.

“But you said it, he was only greeting you,” Harper says.

“He screamed the ‘good morning’ that I was startled out of my wits. Dad, you're not going to let this slide just like you did yesterday, right?”

Aiden's father-in-law clears his throat. “Since you created the mess, you should find a way to solve it.”

“But, dad, it wasn't my fault!” He whines.

“Whose fault is it? Your sister's? Or your mother's?”

“Honey, try to be gentle with him,” Aiden's mother-in-law says quietly.

“How can you expect me to keep watching him—”

“Harper got married to a liability but all you did was watch. Why should mine be different?”

“Five companies have been closed down—” Harper is saying when Bryan cuts in.

“I almost died today because of your stupid husband.”

“From what? That little cut wouldn't make a one-year old flinch?”

“What?! Little cut? I could get an infection from that. A bacteria could get into it and I could die. It could expand—”

“It's okay. Let's eat, after, you'll go and figure out how you're going to solve the problem you created,” Aiden's father-in-law says.

Bryan's jaw tightens. There is no way he's going to deal with a shitty lawsuit all by himself. There is more to life than this.

His eyes catch Aiden as he's turning to go back inside.

“Dad, I can't do anything with my hands now. What about Aiden helps me out? In case there is anything to jot down.”

“Jot? How?” Harper asks with a frown.

“I can't trust my iphone to record important information. Shit can happen with gadgets anytime, so shut up. Aiden, come right here.”

“Yes…that's true. Since Aiden is partially responsible for your injury, he should go with you and help you out,” Aiden's mother-in-law adds.

A smile flashes across Bryan's face.

Bryan knows the subsidiary is going to shut down and there is nothing he can do to stop that. The chairman that is supposed to help them get access to the best lawyer in town is the one who they can't meet so what's the hope?

Nothing. He can't wait to see Aiden try…try? What does that fool know about business? Nothing!

This might be the chance he's been waiting for and kicks Aiden out of the house.

“Go and get ready, we'll be leaving in the next ten minutes,” Bryan says, standing up from the table. “Dad, I promise to do my best and get the company back to the normal position.”

Aiden's father-in-law sighs and continues eating.

“Dad, I promise to do my best this time,” Bryan says standing up from the table.

“Honey… don't you think you're being a bit unfair?” Aiden's mother-in-law says as Bryan goes inside.

“What do you expect me to say?”

“At least…a compliment would have gone a long way. You're not hesitant to dish out compliments to Harper when it comes to issues like this.”

Aiden's father stands up from the table. “I have a long day today. See you in the evening,” he says, clearly tired of his wife's early morning whines.

“Me too,” Harper stands up from the dinning chair and passes the opposite direction to stop Aiden from noticing her teary face.

When the hell will Aiden change? He can't just…he can't just allow people to walk over him this way.

Aiden, seeing that the dining table is empty, goes over to get some food down his throat before the day starts.

He hums a very old class song under his throat as he dishes himself some food.

“You,” he hears his mother in law's creepily low voice behind him.

He turns around with a smile. “How can I help you, ma'am?”

She hisses. “Don't ever smile around me again, you ungrateful fool.”

Aiden looks down. Who does this woman even think she is? It's time he actually took the first step after all these years.

“Wesley wants to have a word with you this evening by 9 p.m. Here,” she tosses a sheet of paper on the table. “Go there after Harper has gone to bed and don't ever…” she places an emphasis on the ‘ever’ along with a stabbing look, “I shouldn't hear this from anyone else.”

With that, she waltzes out of sight.

Aiden looks at the piece of paper. It's an address to a bar. One of the numerous bars he owns in New York. He shoves the piece of paper in his pocket.

He's about to start eating when he gets a call.

“Sir, it's time to come back. You promised to be back after two years,” the woman at the other end says.