Page 80 of The Producer: Aaron

“Why the hell would you buy Mom’s shares?” he asks incredulously as if he can’t really get it.

I watch him carefully, sure he’s making fun of me. He must have the same thought about this situation. It’s the basic strategy to acquire the company’s control.

“Because I can regain possession of the company. It will cost me a lot, I will have to deal with my financial advisors, but I cancome out of it with my head held high.” The hope that is in my voice is extinguished as my brother’s face turns into a mask of disappointment as he shakes his head.

“Are you really sure that’s what you want?” he asks.

“Why shouldn’t I? I sacrificed my whole life for it. I don’t want to throw away everything.” My tone is petulant.

“Really? Because you closed the streaming division the same week you discovered about the will and didn’t even look back. Those were the last four years of your life when you spat blood and didn’t even bat an eye before you did. It was a company with a positive balance sheet, healthy, without debts, and that alone dragged a good part of an old and obsolete company that is struggling and will close if it doesn’t change direction. But you really want to buy that dinosaur instead of the jewel you created?” he asks incredulously.

I say nothing. Shutting down the streaming division was a retaliation against my father. He always threatened to close it, but he never did because he knew very well that it brought the company’s coffers a good part of the proceeds, a percentage that’s been increasing every year. When I read the will, the anger was so violent that I acted on impulse.

“I can bring my experience to the other side and rejuvenate it. But without the right to vote on the board of directors, I can’t do anything about it.”

“Or you could take that experience elsewhere,” he proposes, raising an eyebrow.

“Where, to work for the competition?” I spat indignantly.

Evan rubs his hand over his face, exasperated. “I’ve always considered you the smartest brother, but sometimes you reason like an idiot,” he mumbles, making me feel like the youngerbrother.

“Thank you for your trust.” I half-smile at him.

Evan shakes his head. “You finally have the motivation to take off that leash that our father put on you since you were eighteen. Sell the shares he left you. Even better if you sell them to the competition, use that money to build something of your own. You worked and sacrificed your life for something that wasn’t even yours. I have no doubt that you will be able to do great things with something with your name on it. He always treated you like a mere producer, but the truth is that you have always been the CEO of the streaming division and have always taken responsibility like the boss you are. You have a woman who cares so much about you that she calls me in the middle of the night to tell me what is happening to you. Don’t you think the time has come to take your life into your own hands and start living it for real?”

His words hit me like an icy wave that I didn’t expect. I never considered that I could have something of my own. I always thought of earning that part of the company that I would inherit. I never thought I was entitled to that share just because of my last name, so I sweated blood to deserve it. Starting from scratch scares me. It was Evan who gave up everything, who was brave enough to give up the family fortune to build a life from scratch.

I am terrified at the idea of failing, but my brother’s words have awakened a part of me that in recent times went dormant, crushed by the continuous fights with my father that made me give up: the desire to innovate and get involved in a new project. I’ve always thought about new productions, new shows for an old and struggling broadcasting company. But the idea of bringing this enthusiasm into something bigger, like my own company, scares and excites me at the same time.

“You’ve always been obsessed with this idea of inheriting the family business, but you’ve never considered building something of your own,” he continues when I don’t say anything.

“You have always been the brave one of the family. I would never have had the balls to give up everything at nineteen and start from scratch,” I admit.

Evan seems surprised by my remark. He sips his beer and shakes his head.

“And to think that I have always considered you the brave one to be able to stand up to our father. It’s easy to pack your bags and start a life elsewhere. Apart from the initial uncertainty, you can do what you want without accounting for anyone. If I made a mistake, the only person involved would have been me. If you made a mistake, you would drag down dozens of families who depended on your work. It takes much more courage to stay and fight for what you believe than run away when things get rough.”

His words reach the center of my chest as a hug that warms me. Until this moment, until I heard them spoken out loud, I didn’t realize how much I needed to hear them.

“They will never let me sell to anyone other than the board members at the price they want. They have the right of preemption and also the right to vote,” I point out.

But it’s a great idea, the one my brother suggested, especially since it sends a big fuck you to my father, who spat on my sacrifices even from the grave. But the reality is far from being so straightforward. The other board members will never miss the opportunity to get their hands on thirty percent of the company.

“Not if Mom can’t vote.” My brother’s smug smile makes me realize he already has a plan.

I sit comfortably on the couch and invite him to continue.

***

It took me five days after my brother’s visit to be able to put together all the pieces I needed to free myself from the leash that my father continues to hold tight. When the secretary tries to stop me before entering the conference room where the board members are gathered, I don’t even stop to look at her.

“Aaron, I don’t know if you understand how your shares in the company work, but you can’t sit on boards,” Warren, the oldest of the board members and the one with the most shares in the company after my mother and me, reminds me with a sly smile on his face.

He has consistently pushed for a bigger slice of the cake and has never been shy about voicing his idea that the company should not go from father to son like a throne but that a person should earn the right to run it. He’s never kept it secret that he considers my streaming division havoc against traditions.

I smile and shake my head as I sit in one of the free chairs while the other ten board members look at me as if I have gone mad. In fact, I must look like someone who just escaped from the asylum, but I can’t get the smile off my face.

“I know very well. In fact, I’m here to get rid of that annoying thirty percent that I don’t want anymore,” I say, pulling out one of the sheets my lawyer has drafted.

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