“Look, I didn't call you here to apologize,” I say, deciding to take the bull by the horn.
My words cause Aaron's scowl to deepen.
“Then why the hell am I here?”
“To hear the reasons why I am certain I deserve to be in Beth's life.”
“After what you've accused her of?” He glares hard at me. “I hate to break it to you, but Beth is good at her job. She's one of the best, I don't even need to tell you that. You saw it and decided to take her on. So, why the hell did you not take her word for it when she told you the mistake did not come from her?”
“I was too in my head,” I admit, my heart breaking all over again at the hurt I had caused her. “Someone in the company tried to sabotage All4One, someone hired by my dad.”
Aaron pauses at my words and turns to me, shock etched on his features.
“He tried to ruin All4One?”
“Not really. He hired someone to tell him what was going on with me and the app. But the guy went rogue. As for Dad, he just wanted my attention, I suppose.”
I understand how weird that sounds, but that is the kind of man my father, Bryce Bridges, happens to be.
“And spying was the best way to go about it?”
I chuckle at Aaron's dismay.
“Apparently, he wanted to be appraised of when things went sour to swoop in and take me home like a misbehaved kid.”
“My God.”
“We did make up, though,” I reveal with a fond little smile, “which is oddly what he had wanted. Because, despite being known as the most vicious business tycoon, Bryce Bridges still loves his son to pieces and is never going to allow anything to get in the way of that, so he has taken upon himself to find out why the sabotage.”
“So, who was the disloyal son of a gun?”
At the memory of Sam, my fist balls.
“My assistant. I mean, former assistant,” I correct myself, taking a bigger sip of my drink to calm my frayed nerves.
“What the hell? The nerdy-looking fresh college graduate?”
“The disloyal prick, yes.”
Aaron shakes his head in disbelief.
“So, what is the situation of things with All4One?”
“I did employ the services of the best hands. All4One is back up and already gaining traction,” I tell him.
Aaron gives me a smack on the shoulder, and at that moment, we both burst out laughing.
“I've always known that nothing can ever stop you. And I get proud when you prove that over and over.”
“What can I say? I'm a Bridges.”
Aaron just shakes his head, his smile dimming a little. But before he can get any word out, I blurt.
“I want Beth in my life.”
Looking at Aaron, his eyes don’t widen comically, and neither does he attempt to wrestle me to the ground. He looks a little resigned, like he had known that the conversation would come to this.
“You have not exactly given me reasons to think that you are deserving of her.”