In the morning, Matthias came back to life. Sweeping away yesterday’s gloom, he became cynical again. Meanwhile, Evan prepared a hearty breakfast for him. Looking at the table full of desserts, Matthias frowned slightly. He felt sick even just looking at them.
“Have some sweet food. It will improve your mood,” Evan said with conviction, causing Matthias to roll his eyes. Sometimes, he felt like Evan was androgynous, and occasionally he would act rather feminine.
“Don’t you know my preference?” he asked rather resignedly. He didn’t like strong flavors. Instead, he preferred if everything was in moderation.
Shrugging, Evan ordered a maid standing by, “Take all the desserts away.”
Matthias glared at him in response. What was he going to eat if the desserts were taken away? There was only congee left. This was clearly a form of revenge from Evan, but Evan ignored the vicious stare from him.
Then, Matthias had his breakfast and left for work. After the fuss with Evan this morning, his mood was actually much better.
Despite that, what caught him off guard was that he ran into the finance director from Tasnia City just after he arrived at the office. When in Tasnia City, the head of the family did not tell him about this, so he was taken aback. On top of that, what was even more unexpected was that the finance director was Regan.
When the two met, they sized each other up before Matthias reluctantly extended a hand, whereas Regan had a half-smile on his face.
After a simple handshake, Matthias tried to make his expression look natural. “Welcome to Bradfort City. The position of finance director has been vacant for some time, and I believe that with your talent, you will do a good job.” It was a false sentiment.
Previously, the position of finance director was Matthias’s part-time job. Although the position of finance director was two levels lower than that of the executive director, it was still an important position.
Now that the post of finance director had fallen into the hands of Regan, Matthias really didn’t know whether to cry or laugh. It seemed that his performance in Tasnia City had caused dissatisfaction and panic among the Locke Family, which was why Regan was here.
This was certainly not the head of the family’s intention. After all, Matthis saw early on that he wanted to train Regan to be the successor as the head of the family, which was why he refused to let Regan into Locke Group and had always brought him around to handle the Locke Family affairs.
It really was a botch and Matthias regretted what he did in Tasnia City. If he had not caused public anger, he would not have ended up in this situation now.
On the other hand, Regan was filled with energy. Of course, Matthias knew what Regan was thinking. He didn’t care at all about being head of the family. What he wanted was to be the leader of Locke Group.
Unfortunately, Matthias was already the leader of Locke Group. Although his seat was not secure, he would never let Regan snatch it from him. Before he achieved full control of Locke Group, Matthias had to keep a low profile as it was evident that the Locke Family wasn’t going to tolerate him being the slightest bit capricious.
“We’ll join forces as brothers and work together to make Locke Group in Bradfort City flourish.” Regan also pretended to be affectionate. They put on a show so that to an outsider, they would think that they were getting along really well.
Just then, Matthias revealed a polite smile. Since things had come to this, he could only take things one step at a time. He never thought he would pay such a big price for what he did.
Regan was the person he hated the most, yet he was now in front of him every single day. Even if he didn’t do anything, it was still enough to push Matthias over the edge.
However, there was more bad news. As Regan smiled cunningly, he whispered in Matthias’s ear, “My assistant will be here tomorrow, and the head of the family instructed me to make sure to drag you along to receive them.” He was deliberately keeping him guessing.
At once, Matthias had a bad feeling. It was just Regan’s assistant, yet he was asked to go and pick them up at the airport. It seemed like that person wasn’t just anyone.
“Who is it?” Matthias asked warily.
“You’ll know tomorrow.” Regan laughed and patted Matthias’ shoulder. He wondered why the Locke Family members liked to pat others’ shoulders so much.
“I’m very busy and I don’t have time,” Matthias directly refused. Unless the head of the family personally came over, otherwise, he would not pick anyone up at the airport.
Regan then took out his phone and waved it in front of Matthias. “This is our family’s Messenger group,” he said, pointing to his phone.
Matthias wasn’t added into the group, so he was a little baffled. Why did he bring up the family Messenger group out of nowhere? Regan then continued, “The head of the family is also in it, and he specifically instructed me to take a short video of your pickup tomorrow. So don’t make it difficult for me.”
Seeing his smug face, Matthias really wanted to punch his pretty teeth. It was annoying how Regan was using all kinds of means to threaten him.
“Then you have to tell me who exactly is this person.” Matthias glared angrily at Regan. He couldn’t not compromise at this point, and if he continued to be capricious, he was afraid that the Locke Family would put him in a difficult position using the number of shares they had.
“They are third generation officials with a distinguished identity. They’re coming to us for an internship,” Regan said lightly, still refusing to make it clear to Matthias.
Looking at him in disgust, Matthias wanted to punch Regan’s smug face. Then, he smirked as he no longer intended to continue the conversation. Talking to him was equivalent to making himself miserable.
“Families of officials really have a lot of tricks up their sleeves,” Matthias said in a low voice before walking away from Regan.
This was not the first time Matthias encountered this kind of thing. In fact, Locke Group was a large enterprise, and occasionally there would be family members of a government official who would send their children or grandchildren here to hone their skills. Though they were loud to march in, it was clear that they weren’t serious about it. Rather, they were there simply being the spoiled children they were.
Looking at Matthias’ reaction, Regan flashed a smug smile. Things were developing in the direction he wanted, and he believed that tomorrow would be a big ‘surprise’ for Matthias. Thinking of this, Regan’s lips slightly curved up. He had finally joined Locke Group as he wished, and he was very pleased with the position of financial director.
Back then, he also studied economics, and his results were just as good as Matthias’s. However, when he returned home, he was forced to stay in Locke Residence, handling family affairs. He felt like his potential was being wasted on such a trivial job.
In contrast to Matthias, Regan was more unsatisfied especially after watching Matthias flourish. Now that he had finally entered the business world officially, he was eager to show the world what he was capable of. He wanted to prove his strength.
He wanted to let the Locke Family know that he, Regan Locke, was more suitable than Matthias for the position of Locke Group’s executive director, and that only under his management can Locke Group thrive.
Having made up his mind and having a goal, what Regan had to do now was very simple, and that was to perform and try to find out the mistakes and loopholes in Matthias’ decision making. He would use all means to pull him down from the position of leader of Locke Group.
After exchanging pleasantries, Matthias and Regan each went back to their work stations. Since the finance director’s role had been under Matthias’ supervision, the company did not have a room for the finance director at all. When Regan came to Matthias’ office, Matthias was burying his head in documents.
After listening to Regan’s plea, Matthias slowly lifted his head and moved his gaze away from the documents. He looked at Regan casually, and the corners of his mouth slightly pulled into a sarcastic smile. “The matter of the room is indeed an oversight on my part, but it’s not possible for me to arrange a room for you in such a short time.”
He was clearly brushing him off, but Regan couldn’t say anything. Despite that, he was not willing to leave like this, and he couldn’t be wandering around the office.
“How am I going to work then?” Regan inquired, knowing that Mattias would not actively solve the problem for him.
“You can move to the staff area, where there are many empty seats. You can pick whatever seat you want. By the window, by the wall, or by the door.” The corner of Matthias’ mouth lifted into a contemptuous smile as he watched the look on Regan’s face in satisfaction..
“Matthias, stop playing around.” Regan saw that there were no bystanders around, so he said to Matthias with dissatisfaction.
“I’m not playing, Regan. I’m being honest. After all, there are only so many rooms, and there’s no way to spare one for you for a while.” Matthias had a smug look on his face as he appreciated Regan’s anger.
“There is no way I’m sitting with the staff,” Regan said with unusual determination.
Just then, Matthias feigned a distressed look and said to him, “There is one more room. If you don’t mind, I’ll have someone clean it out for you.” The cynical smile on Matthias’ lips made alarm bells ring in Regan’s head, thinking that he must not have good intentions.
“Which room?” he asked tentatively.
“I’ll have my assistant take you there.” Matthias pressed the red button on his right, and in a short while, Lara pushed the door open and came in.
“How may I help you, Sir?” Lara asked respectfully.
Matthias pointed at Regan and said, “Take Director Locke to B3.” The two tacitly exchanged looks and Lara instantly understood him.
Meanwhile, Regan’s eyebrows knitted. He had a feeling that Matthias would not be so kind. Then, he heard Lara’s clear voice. “Director Locke, please follow me.”
Doubtfully, he followed behind Lara while Matthias watched his figure with a sly smile, hoping that Regan would like his new room.
A moment later, Lara stopped in front of room B3. Regan looked at the room in front of him in annoyance, recalling Matthias’ smirk before he left.
The room in front of him was small and pathetic, and the desk was not even half the size of Mattias’ desk. What was more annoying was that room B3 was adjacent to the bathroom. It was truly a spot with ‘great’ feng shui.
“Director Locke, this is room B3. It has been vacant for a while, so it’s a bit dirty. I will arrange for someone to clean it for you later.” Lara’s crisp voice carried a hint of sweetness, but it didn’t make Regan feel any better.
As if he had been humiliated, Regan clenched his fists so hard that his green veins were protruding. He thought Matthias was despicable, but he had to be patient and not clash with Matthias over such a small incident. Since Matthias did such a thing, then he might as well let everyone see how Matthias was treating him.
Holding back his anger, Regan spoke eerily. “Please tell Diretor Locke that I’m very satisfied with the new room, and I thank him for going through the trouble.” However, the expression on his face didn’t reflect his words. The murderous blaze in his eyes was terrifying.
