I knew that it was a mistake to come here even before I even picked up Ellie. It would’ve been selfish to cancel, but it’s more selfish to go despite the fact that I’m not in the right headspace to meet my fiancée’s parents. Fiancée. At this point, that word doesn’t even make sense anymore. I mean, who the hell am I to marry this beautiful woman? Can I even make her happy? Definitely not as long as I’m in the state that I’m in. And how long will this last? Likely a very long time.

They fired me.

I showed up to the meeting with the Board of Directors to try to figure out a way to make all of this work and they just fucking fired me. It didn’t matter that I started the company. It didn’t matter that I was the CEO. None of that mattered. The shareholders are unhappy with the direction that Owl is going in, so they just got rid of me.

I knew they were unhappy, but I never knew they were capable of anything like this. I mean, who the hell do they think they are? Did they invest their blood, sweat and tears into this? No, they’re just a bunch of old rich assholes who don’t know their elbows from their assholes. And yet, they have the power to fire me at will and hire some dick who probably never even heard of Owl before to run it.

My blood boils at the thought of that, and yet here we are. Thanks to Blake, all major investors pulled out and that’s somehow my fault. If only they knew the truth. If only they knew that Blake deserves to be in jail for what he did, and tried to do, to Ellie. But no, he’s out there walking free and there are people who are actually listening to him about the direction that Owl should take.

“Aiden, are you listening?” Ellie whispers in my ear as her mom gives me a tour of their house.

“Yes, of course,” I say quickly. My eyes meet Margie’s and when she launches into another aspect of the recent remodel that the house underwent, I nod quickly and ferociously to look as interested as I possibly can.

I know that this evening is going all wrong. I shouldn’t be here. Hell, Ellie shouldn’t be here. This is not how I wanted to meet her parents. What I should be doing is telling Ellie what happened today at work. But I can’t think straight tonight. All I feel is anger boiling up from somewhere deep within me.

“Well, I think we’re ready for dinner now,” Margie says and I nod again. After handing me a glass of whiskey, Mitch disappears into the kitchen with Margie.

I follow Ellie into the living room, taking three big gulps of my drink. As the dark brown liquid runs down the back of my throat, I feel some of the stress lift from my shoulders.

“What the hell, Aiden?” Ellie whispers as she shows me to the dining room table.

“What?”

“It’s like you’re not here. Why did you even agree to come?”

“I’m sorry. I’m just going through some things at work.”

I want to tell her the truth. More than anything. But I can’t. Her parents will return any minute and then what? She will have more questions and I’m just not ready for this conversation. Not until I drown my sorrows in the whole bottle of whiskey.

When everyone is seated and Margie and Mitch bring out the food, we both oh and ah over how delicious it is. I make a great effort to appear as if everything is as normal as possible, but I’m having a hard time judging whether or not anyone is buying it.

“So, Aiden, I can’t lie, I have of course heard of Owl and the great success that you made of that company,” Mitch says. He works on Wall Street and not in some junior associate position either. I’m sure that Mitch Willoughby not only heard about Owl’s success, but also its downfall.

“Well, thank you, sir,” I say. “It has been quite a ride.”

“Tell me, how did you get it started? I love to hear stories about entrepreneurship.”

“Mitch is a big Shark Tank fan, in case you were wondering,” Ellie adds. I smile.

“I was in college - Yale…”

“Oh! Ellie’s and my alma mater!”

“Yes, Ellie told me that, sir,” I say. “I was always into computers a lot. Didn’t have many friends growing up. And the idea sort of came to me. It’s not really that original, of course. It’s just an online retailer like Amazon.”

“Oh, you’re just being modest,” Mitch says. “There are, of course, a lot of online retailers. But very few of them are Amazon. Seriously, it’s quite remarkable that you were able to grow it to the level at which it exists today. Amazon considers you to be their main threat. Even more so than Walmart. Of course, I’m sure you know that already.”

I smile, nod, and finish my whiskey. He quickly pours me another - a man after my own heart. After I’m sufficiently lubricated, I feel a lot looser and not so standoffish. Suddenly, engaging in conversation doesn’t require that much effort. Mitch and Margie continue to ask me about Owl and I actually reply in more than a few words.

“So, can you tell me of any big mergers or acquisitions that are coming up?” Mitch asks when we all finish our food.

“Oh c’mon, you and I both know that I can’t talk about that,” I say.

“We will just keep this between friends.”

I shake my head. This is how investment bankers are. He’s asking me to break the law. He’s asking me to commit insider trading, but to him it barely registers as an offense.

“Your father wants insider information, Ellie,” I say. “Do you know what that means?”

“Isn’t that what Martha Stewart went to jail for?”

“No, that’s what she went to prison for,” I correct her.