The board of directors were engaged in hushed conversations as they waited for Matthias’ arrival. Regan was all smiles, confident that Matthias would be struck down from his sudden attack. There was a hint of smugness in his smile when he imagined how gloomy Matthias must look, but when Matthias came in, Regan realized he was smiling confidently, as if unfazed by the recent events.
Matthias sat in his spot, silencing everyone with a glance, then he threw a mocking grin at Regan. Oh, looking confident, huh, Matthias? No matter. You’ll be the butt of the joke soon. Regan had distributed the file for everyone present, and the board of directors had finished reading the document that recorded all the mistakes Matthias did recently.
The biggest mistake recorded in it was about the eastern suburbs’ project manager swindling a huge sum of money from the company. A scandal like that would have been censored, but Regan made it known publicly.
However, that was a huge mistake on Regan’s part. He was only doing it to topple Matthias, but he forgot one thing—his tactics were just child’s play for Matthias, who had seen worse in the business world.
“What’s the main agenda of the meeting?” Matthias asked casually. He had to, since nobody would talk. At the side, Regan was smirking, while everyone was whispering, but Matthias was smiling mirthlessly.
“No answer?” Matthias asked again, but sternly this time. He was going to get serious.
In the end, Regan answered, “Have you finished the file I gave you, President?” He looked around him.
The windows were closed, and the lamps hanging above were radiating a warm light, shining on Matthias’ face. His every move was magnified, and one frown was enough to silence the board of directors. “I did. Nonsense. All of it.” He made that statement in a straightforward manner, and he stopped smiling. Instead, he started radiating a dangerous aura.
Regan was feeling awkward, and the directors didn’t say anything. They knew how terrifying Matthias was, so nobody helped Regan out.
“If that is what you think, then may I ask you to explain yourself?” Regan was still courteous, since he couldn’t just fight in the open. He still needed to be polite, even though it wasn’t genuine.
In response, Matthias looked at him. “You’re suspecting me of mismanagement and called a board meeting all on your own. Are you trying to force a resignation?” he asked calmly, but Regan was still terrified nonetheless.
Meanwhile, Nikolai was just beside him, and he felt like clapping for Matthias. He managed to shoot that question calmly. Nice one.
Regan smiled. “This is my job. It’s my duty as the Chief Financial Officer to question anything regarding the finances once a problem rears its head.” He was trying to calm himself down. Don’t get scared, Regan. Stay calm.
“What about the board meeting then? Usually I’d be the one to call it, so what is the meaning of this? Can I interpret it as insubordination?” Matthias wanted Regan to explain himself no matter what.
Regan was really feeling the heat at that point, and his smile started to freeze up. He never expected Matthias to be so insistent, but then he realized Matthias was just distracting everyone and delaying the inevitable. “President, an employee has swindled a huge sum of money, impacting the company gravely. Everyone here has the right to know about this.” Regan calmed himself down and explained himself.
“That is no reason for you to call a board meeting on your own.” Matthias still wouldn’t let it go, since he wanted to see what kind of tricks Regan had up his sleeve.
“President, we need an explanation about Harper’s swindling. You approved the deal.” Regan didn’t want to argue anything unrelated, since he noticed that the board was starting to chicken out. I have to get this back on track.
“I approved it, so? Do you need an explanation? Does everyone need an explanation? Anyone?” He looked at the board of directors and scoffed when none of them met his eye.
“I checked the papers, and there’s a lot of problems there. You shouldn’t have approved the deal so easily. A board meeting should have been called for a big deal like that. Besides, you’ve approved a huge sum of expense for the eastern suburbs’ project. Harper’s list for the expenses was just a trap. You’re the boss, but still Harper managed to play you like a fiddle.” Regan was still acting polite, but he was already starting to attack Matthias, obviously trying to dump the blame on him.
Matthias looked at Regan nonchalantly. “Ah, so that’s what you’re getting at. You think this is all my fault, and you want me to get the money back huh?” Matthias’ collected demeanor despite the crisis was scaring everyone there. This family feud is really… thrilling.
“You haven’t been coming to work a lot lately, President. I heard you were visiting the Langstons a lot, presumably because you’re courting Miss Heather?” Regan grinned and brought up Matthias’ recent activities so the board could see that Matthias had wasted his time on a woman.
Matthias’ face fell the moment Heather was brought up. He glared at Regan, gnashing his teeth. “We’re in a meeting, so don’t bring my personal life into it. That is disrespectful, Mr. Locke.” He didn’t like Regan dragging Heather into this.
Regan was delighted to see Matthias getting riled up, because that was what he was aiming for from the start. The angrier Matthias was, the easier he’d slip up. Regan wanted to expose Matthias’ true colors to the whole board of directors. “But that’s related to work, so I have a duty to point it out. Your recent actions have been disappointing, President. It is never wise to bring personal matters into work,” Regan shot back. Now that he had gotten the chance, he wouldn’t let Matthias gloss it over.
“So you believe that my recent actions are affecting the company.” Matthias put on a calm composure again. Since Heather was already brought up, he thought there was no problem admitting to it.
“Yes. You have always been a shrewd businessman, President. You seldom make mistakes, but you have been making nothing but mistakes recently. Minor slip ups won’t hurt the company, but this is a big case. I don’t think calling a board meeting to demand an explanation is too much, eh?” Regan was fashioning himself out to be a defender of the company so he could force Matthias to explain himself.
“According to your logic, people like us should abandon our emotions and become nothing but heartless machines then? After all, our judgment will be affected, and we’ll inevitably slip up if we’re human after all. According to your logic, being human will affect work.” Matthias refused to get back on track, only talking about irrelevant matters. Regan would start to get frustrated as time went on, eventually exposing his true colors.
“Please get back on track, President. Not everyone will make mistakes just because they have emotions. The point is that people like you should never let their emotions get in the way of work. You can’t make mistakes at work just because your love life isn’t going well.” Regan was mocking Matthias’ failure. He had been observing Matthias closely, so he knew it wasn’t going well with Heather.
Then, the directors looked at each other in confusion. They were wondering why the Locke brothers were talking about something irrelevant. I don’t think they need to bring this up during a meeting.
“This case is top secret. I see no need to give any explanation,” Matthias answered adamantly.
Regan didn’t see that coming, and the directors’ face darkened. They thought Regan was just making a mountain out of a molehill in the first place, but after seeing how arrogant Matthias was, they thought Matthias had to explain himself.
Even though everyone was forcing him to explain himself, Matthias still looked as calm as ever. Then, Regan asked, “So three hundred million is nothing to you, huh, President? Harper ran away with three hundred million in cash, and you’re telling me you won’t explain yourself just because it’s top secret? That is disappointing.” Regan was representing the whole board of directors, though he himself was angered by Matthias’ attitude.
“Do you even know Harper as a person? According to this file, Harper is now uncontactable, so how can you be so sure he’s the one who ran off with our money? That’s unfair to him,” Matthias retorted.
Regan stared at him in disbelief. He didn’t expect Matthias to counter the attack with that point, but he scoffed. “President, I’m not the first to notice Harper’s crime. It was Travis, Harper’s old friend. If you have any questions about the matter, I can get Travis here to explain everything.” Regan found Matthias’ question laughable. I orchestrated this whole thing. As if you can get past me that easily. Laughable.
“Ah, no need for that.” Matthias waved him down and took his phone out. He scrolled down until he found Harper’s number, then Matthias called him on the spot. The speakerphone was turned on, so everyone heard the beeps. They waited with bated breaths, wondering if Harper would pick it up. Regan didn’t think he would, since he knew Harper would have changed his SIM card at this point.
As expected, the call didn’t get through, and Regan heaved a sigh of relief. Hah, what a farce. He then shot a look of disdain at Matthias. Let’s see what you have left up your sleeve.
Matthias smiled. “Harper should have landed in France by now. He must have changed his number. Silly me.” After saying that, he dialed Harper’s other number.
What? Harper has another number? Regan never knew that. His face darkened, and his heart started to pound. If this call gets through, then that means…
