The socialite who asked him the question stared at Aaron expectantly and he realized he had gotten lost in his thoughts again. He was among the enemy; he needed to stay focused.

"I'm afraid I do already have a date," he lied. He would have to find one quick. But where? One of Jennica's friends, maybe?

The woman pouted. "You're never available! Don't tell me you have a fiancée already."

Most of the people from his generation in this circle were already married or at least engaged. It wasn't an unreasonable guess. He had been one of them in his first life. It would be suicide to admit he was technically unattached in front of this crowd of vultures though.

He didn't get the chance to answer because Lacy glued herself to his arm and spoke for him. "Of course he does; who do you think you are? Aaron would only marry the best."

The woman's eyes shone with tears. "You're engaged to her?"

"Absolutely not!" he shouted as he broke himself free and shoved the leech away roughly. "I wouldn't marry Lacy Knighton if we were the last two people on earth."

Everyone flinched as the temperature around them dropped thirty degrees. It was obvious that Aaron was disgusted with the lie.

Lacy's composure cracked briefly enough to show her fury. She must have thought that Aaron wouldn't contradict her to spare her pride. She thought wrong. He didn't care one whit about anything to do with her, least of all her feelings.

"Oh, you don't mean that!"

"Yes I do," he said icily. Everyone in the vicinity visibly shrunk back from the power of his anger.

"How delusional do you have to be? Six years I've been avoiding you and you still can't get it through your thick skull. You aren't worthy to even breathe the same air as me. Get lost!"

A few of the socialites gasped and whispered to each other excitedly. Lacy hadn't been publicly humiliated this badly in years. She ran off in tears and Max chased after her to try and comfort her, shooting Aaron a dirty look as he went.

Aaron sighed. He was done here. Done with these stupid, shallow people who only cared for money and idle gossip. He was going home.

Alistair grabbed his sleeve and thundered, "Where do you think you are going?"

He tugged it away fearlessly. This man was nothing to him. "Home. I don't feel well."

"You just insulted the daughter of one of my most important business partners in front of everyone. Apologize!"

His father's levels of ice rivaled his own but he wouldn't back down. "No."

"What did you just say?" he asked dangerously.

"I said no. Lacy Knighton is a worthless piece of trash and I don't appreciate her clinging to me all the time. She had to be put in her place before she got any more bright ideas."

Let's see if she would dare claim ties to Aaron after this; almost everyone she knew had heard his assessment of her loud and clear.

"Lacy Knighton is the best candidate for your marriage," Alistair hissed.

"You may technically be my boss in the company but that is where your authority ends. I will not marry anyone I don't choose personally and there is nothing you can do about it," he said firmly before turning to walk out the door.

His father yelled after him but wasn't willing to throw away his pride completely and chase his son down. Aaron was able to leave and go home easily enough.

He loosened his bow tie and flopped backward onto his bed. His plans to stick his fingers in as many pies as possible outside of Hale Investments were well underway but they may need to be speeded up.

Alistair wouldn't be able to kick him out of the company just because of a fight; he had too much business value. The other board members wouldn't let him. That didn't necessarily mean he wouldn't try.

Aaron's empire outside of Hale Investments had been slowly developing over the past five years. He had connections in New York outside of the Hales' social circle but most of them were in major cities in neighboring states so his father wouldn't know about them. Even more were overseas.

He had wanted to do this properly so his father would never know what hit him and Aaron could sneak in victoriously at the end of Alistair's downfall with no one the wiser. But if he thought he could force his son to do anything he didn't want to do…conducting a hostile takeover wasn't out of the question.

Aaron wasn't the same man he used to be. Nothing would stop him now, especially not a worthless blood tie.

He sent a text to Aiden. 'Do we have enough manpower for Plan B?'

'Not quite, my dude. A few more months of networking with overseas investment bankers might do it. I can run the calculations again to be sure if you want'

'Do that. Our timeline may have accelerated'

'Is your dad trying to marry you off again?" Aiden asked bluntly. He really had a knack for seeing straight through to the heart of things, which was odd considering how much time he spent with machines as opposed to real humans.

Aaron may as well tell the truth. 'Yes'

'My family's all asleep; I can start compiling files on those people you asked for now. A Christmas gift from me to you'

'Thanks'

He sighed. The people Aiden referred to were ones he had dealings with during the overseas expansion in his previous life. All of them would become important figures in the global stock market.

Aaron had a lot of traveling ahead of him in order to accelerate the plan. He probably wouldn't get to see Keeley very much during that time…but how much could happen while they were mostly apart for a few months?

He could still text her every day. Maybe even call her and hear her clear, cheerful voice calling his name. They would be fine.