He Fired Me After Getting Funded—Too Bad I Was the Money

Chapter 3

My father was Daniel Parker.

He'd gotten his start in medical devices way back, then moved into funding tech parks all over the region. His favorite line was, "Money isn't everything—but looking like you've got it can work wonders."

Ethan had no idea who my father was.

Starting in my freshman year of college, my father had sent me from one project team to another as an intern. He never let me reveal my identity because, as he put it, he wanted me to learn whether people liked me or the Parker family's money.

At the time, I thought he was being paranoid.

Then I met Ethan.

I believed in him for 3 years. I believed in him so completely that I nearly lost everything in the process.

When I got home, my father was feeding the fish in the backyard pond. He didn't even look up when I walked in.

"Get dumped?"

I dropped my bag on a chair. "Could you wish me something good, just once?"

"Sure." He scattered another handful of fish food. "I wish you'd wise up already."

I sat down beside him. "Ethan is closing his funding round with Evermont this afternoon."

"Doesn't your uncle run Evermont?"

"Yes," my father said. "Your uncle was praising the project this morning. He said the founder had drive."

"And you didn't tell him the founder was a backstabber?"

My father looked at me. "You told me not to interfere."

That shut me up.

When Ethan and I first got together, my father had been firmly against it. He said Ethan's ambition was written all over him, he never stopped talking himself up, and there wasn't much real talent behind all the talk.

I refused to believe him. We even fought over it. I accused him of thinking like an investor and assuming everyone was after his money.

'Damn. The old man really knows how to read people.'

"I'm not here to ask you for help," I said.

My father laughed. "Then why are you home?"

"I need to borrow some of your people."

"Which ones?"

"Legal. Audit. And my uncle."

My father stopped scattering fish food. "What are you planning?"

"He said the company needs to become more professional, right?"

I pulled out my phone and sent him the files I had organized.

"Then I'll help him get professional. Very, very professional."

My father opened the files and skimmed them. The more he read, the wider his grin grew.

"Server payment records, code commit logs, the patent authorization email, and your out-of-pocket payment receipts." He looked impressed. "Not bad, kid. At least being a hopeless romantic came with an automatic backup feature."

I rolled my eyes. "Can you stop making fun of me?"

He put down the container of fish food. "If it were up to me, I'd have your uncle pull the funding right now and make sure no one in the industry ever worked with Ethan again."

"No."

"Why not?"

"That would be too easy on him."

I looked at the new message Ethan had sent me.

Ethan: If you show up at 3 p.m. and cause trouble, I'm calling the police.

I held the screen out to my father. "He thinks I'm some nobody with no backing, so all I can do is make a scene. I'm going to show up looking exactly like an ordinary ex-girlfriend and let him say every ugly thing he wants to say."

My father burst out laughing. "If your mother were here, she'd call you devious."

"I learned from you."

He got up and headed toward the house. "Fine. I'll arrange it. But after today, you're coming back to work for the group. No more wasting your time trying to build a startup with a social climber."

I was about to argue when a man's voice came from the doorway.

"Mr. Parker, who's been upsetting our Nat?"

I turned around.

A man stood on the porch with his suit jacket draped over one arm. He had clean-cut features and the same annoyingly amused smile I remembered.

I stared at him for 2 seconds. "Owen?"

Owen Hayes walked over and looked down at me. "3 years and you don't know me anymore?"

My father coughed next to us. "Don't go inventing in-laws."

Owen pivoted without missing a beat. "No rush. It'll happen."

I had no response to that.

'He's still just as shameless as ever.'

The Hayes family and the Parker family were old family friends. Owen was 4 years older than me. When we were kids and someone stole my candy, he chased them for two blocks to get it back.

Later, he went abroad to study, and we didn't stay in touch as much.

I hadn't expected him to come back so suddenly.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

Owen glanced at my father. "Mr. Parker called me over."

My father said, "Owen is involved in Evermont's investment round too."

I blinked.

Owen smiled and added, "More precisely, I'm the one who has to approve the deal."

My father patted my shoulder. "So, kid, whose day do you want to ruin at the funding announcement?"

I looked at Owen.

He looked back at me, clearly delighted by the prospect of trouble.

"Ethan's."

Owen nodded. "Done. I'll make sure he doesn't live it down for a year."