Chapter 348 Fallen From Grace
In an instant, the conference room was so silent that one could hear a pin drop. Someone let out a gasp. After all, Justin was Arthur’s only grandson. Even if he had now been removed as the Burton Group’s president, no one would dare to speak to him like this. Essentially, Robin was testing the man’s limits.
Despite his suggestion that Justin stay in the company as vice president, everyone knew how completely incompatible he and Justin were. If Justin were to stay in the company’s headquarters, he would definitely have a hard time.
Just when everyone thought Justin would definitely lose his temper, Arthur suddenly spoke. “Sounds like a good suggestion to me. Staying at the top for too long would make one forget that one should have their feet on the ground at all times. What do you think, Justin?”
Isn’t Old Mr. Burton gonna stick up for him?
“Old Mr.—”
Justin raised his hand, cutting Frankie short. He stood up and fixed his eyes on Robin across from him, uttering, “I accept it.”
As soon as the meeting ended, Frankie followed Justin out of the conference room. “President Burton, how could you agree to stay in the headquarters as vice president? Now that the company has been handed over to Robin, he’ll definitely give you a hard time at every turn if you stay here. This is—”
“Do you think I’m scared of him?”
“That’s not what I mean. President Burton, I’m just worried that you’ll be humiliated.” In Frankie’s eyes, Justin was a proud and aloof man who had stayed in a high position for many years without ever letting Robin have his way regardless of what the latter did. Now that Robin had triumphed over Justin, what Frankie feared most was that the former would play dirty tricks on Justin. “President Burton, why don’t you talk to Old Mr. Burton? It’s okay even if you have to go to the branch office. In any case, it’s better than staying here and running into Robin often.”
“It’s not necessary.” Justin’s brows furrowed, but his tone of voice was peremptory. It was precisely because Robin had become the company’s president that he had to stay. If the Burton Group were really to be handed over to Robin, no one knew if he would lead the company down a path of self-destruction.
Seeing that Justin had made up his mind, Frankie had no choice but to hold his tongue.
The pair had reached Justin’s office when they saw Miss Evergreen standing at the door with an uneasy expression. “President Burton, Frankie. President Gunson, he…”
Frankie’s face tautened at her words. He pushed the door open, only to see Robin sitting behind the desk with his feet on it. Not only that, but he rested the heels of his leather shoes on a book on the desk that Justin hadn’t finished reading, tearing its pages.
Frankie turned red with anger at the sight of the scene. “What do you mean by doing this, President Gunson? This is President Burton’s office!”
“President Burton?” Robin smirked. “Watch your language, Assistant Beckham. I am President Gunson, the president of this company. You should be calling him Vice President Burton from now on. Adding or skipping one particular word makes a huge difference in its meaning.”
“How dare you—”
“Frankie.” Justin came in while looking indifferently at Robin with a stony face and cold, piercing eyes. “What are you doing here?”
Robin looked around the office with his hands clasped on his stomach. “I’m here to ask you if we should swap offices. After all, I’m the company’s president now.”
Frankie got agitated at once. “Don’t go too far, President Gunson!” This office had always belonged to Justin ever since he officially took over as the Burton Group’s president 12 years ago. Without his permission, no one could ever step into his office as they pleased.
“Am I talking to you?” Robin looked incredibly smug. “Justin, tell your lapdog to stop barking!”
“Robin!” Justin’s voice turned chilly all of a sudden.
Seeing the chilling gleam in the man’s stony eyes, Robin shuddered at once. There were certain times when he was still somewhat afraid of Justin. In an instant, he straightened up and stared warily at the man across from him.
Justin regained his composure soon afterward, though. He said nonchalantly, “You like this office? I’ll give it to you.”
“President Burton!” Frankie was in disbelief.
Justin unhurriedly walked up to the desk.
Robin was a little nervous, and he subconsciously pulled his feet off the desk while gulping some saliva. Then, he straightened up, asking, “What are you doing?”
Justin picked up the book on the desk and dusted it off with his hand before pointing at the room’s furnishings. “If you like these things, you can use them as you please. If you don’t like them, you can take them apart and have them reinstalled. As for these books, I’ll be taking them with me.” He waved the French book in his hand. “You can’t read these books anyway, so let’s not keep them here to take up space.”
Robin’s face instantly turned livid one moment and pale the next. Although he had a master’s degree in finance from abroad, he had only earned it from a diploma mill, so he couldn’t speak any foreign language other than very poor Latin. He was able to fool the nonexperts by having his underlings work hard for him all these years, but his academic qualifications were completely worthless in front of Justin.
“Frankie, get someone to pack up my stuff and move them downstairs.”
“Yes, President Burton.”
Despite having fallen from grace, Justin maintained his dignity with an innately noble air unmatched by a vile character like Robin.
As soon as the man left, Robin swept everything off the desk in anger.
Startled, Miss Evergreen, who was tidying the office, shuddered with fright before turning to look at him in a panic.
“What are you looking at?” Robin’s face was sullen. “Starting from today, I’ll be calling the shots in the Burton Group. Justin, on the other hand, is nothing!”
Meanwhile, Justin left the Burton Group right away.
“President Burton, I’ll have your office cleaned up as soon as possible.”
“There’s no hurry for that. Give me the car keys.”
“Are you gonna drive by yourself?” Frankie’s face showed a look of surprise. Since losing his memory in the car accident five years ago, Justin had been unable to drive by himself. According to the doctor’s diagnosis, this was a result of post-traumatic amnesia.
Justin didn’t explain much about it, though. After taking the car keys, he said, “You don’t have to follow me.” With that, he got into the car alone.
Frankie was startled again as he watched the car whizz off. Could President Burton have regained his memories?
Meanwhile, Justin drove to Hudson Pharmaceuticals right away. “I’d like to see Rachel.”
The lady at the front desk was startled for a moment. “President Hudson isn’t in the office today.”
Thinking that the front desk lady was stalling him off, Justin stressed again, “I have something important to talk to her about.”
“President Hudson really isn’t in the office, President Burton. If you don’t believe me, you can call Miss Carter to ask her about it.”
Had I been able to get through to Jolly on the phone, I wouldn’t have made a special trip here, thought Justin.
Just as they were conversing, the front desk lady suddenly pointed behind Justin. “Miss Carter’s here. You may ask her directly.”
Justin looked back. When he saw Jolly, who had just entered the building with documents in her hands while dressed in a white suit, he immediately strode up to her.
Jolly had just come back with a stack of documents in her arms, only to scowl the instant she saw Justin face to face. “Why are you here?”
“Miss Carter, I’m here to talk to Rachel. Where is she?”
“I don’t know.” Jolly rolled her eyes crossly before turning around to leave.
Justin strode up to Jolly and blocked her path. “I have something urgent to talk to her about.”
“It’s useless no matter what you want to talk to her about. To tell you the truth, Chris isn’t in Riverdale.”
Justin’s pupils shrank at her words. “Where did she go?”
