Chapter 263 Betrayer
“From Ivory Apparel’s perspective, they want to nip all uprising and potential competitors in the bud. Once those small businesses make it big, they will hinder Ivory Apparel’s progress,” Bill said with a grave expression on his face.
This was the harsh reality of the business industry.
“How long can Mr. Greenwood’s PR solution last?”
“No idea.”
Bill would never give vague answers. If he was unsure about something, he would say ‘no idea’ directly.
Before they could think of the next steps to solve this incident, someone from the PR department arrived. “Miss Hunter, there’s bad news. We are in trouble now—someone published a long article online that has gone viral. They even found out that you are the boss of Citrus Apparel.”
Courtney immediately stood up. This happened right after our meeting. Just like what Bill said—it’s too much of a coincidence.
Hence, they held an emergency meeting immediately.
The headline of the article was ‘All you need to know about the inheritor of Hunter Group, Courtney Hunter’s new business’.
It was published on Facebook by a famous page with millions of followers. Within one afternoon, the article appeared on the trending page.
It revolved around three points, the first being the most ostentatious one—the suicide of the employee who jumped from the top floor of the Hunter Group headquarters.
The second was the massive retrenchment and temporary unemployment of thousands of employees because of some finance loopholes in the Hunter Group.
The third was the conclusion drawn from the two points above with relatively harsh and rude descriptions. The blame was pushed entirely to Courtney; as she was Lucian’s daughter, she got the most amount of private inheritance from him that was built on others’ misfortunes.
Even though the article seemed logical and accurate, it did not even touch on the key points. It just combined all the rumors online and formed an even larger rumor.
On top of that, it even fabricated a false rumor of Lucian transferring all his money and assets to Citrus Apparel, the company that Courtney was managing right now.
It clearly discussed Citrus Apparel and Courtney’s relation with it.
“Found it.”
Summers, who was in the IT department, raised his head and reported solemnly, “The article’s IP address is not far from us. It’s Ivory Apparel indeed.”
Courtney and Bill exchanged glances. Sure enough, it’s them.
The PR Manager, Lionel, had obviously realized how serious this matter was. He blanched as he said, “It’s all my fault. I didn’t resolve this incident earlier even though I said I will get the facts out before them. In the end, they still took the lead.”
Courtney glanced at him profoundly.
“Don’t blame yourself—it’s not your fault. Right now we should think about how to resolve this. I’m afraid everyone has to stay back tonight to think of the way out.”
In this era where information and data dominated everything, it was more than easy to make a small company go bankrupt.
Hence, when they first started the company, Courtney immediately set up a public relations department. Even though Lionel did not have the required experience and capability, she believed that the incidents they faced would quickly shape him.
She did not mind spending money and effort in training talents. However, she was worried about internal betrayers.
Courtney’s gaze fell on the person next to Lionel—the administrative manager, Martin Brooks.
“Mr. Greenwood, first you should write a proper document that clarifies the entire situation. Get it stamped and published online. Then, control the direction of the online conversations. Notify all reporters from different news companies that we are planning to hold a public press conference to clarify everything that has been going on recently.”
Courtney gave a few orders about the emergency measures to Lionel, who nodded profusely, not daring to neglect any of them.
When everyone was treating this incident seriously, only Martin looked like he was in a daze.
“Everyone, stop everything you are doing right now and think about how to resolve this incident. Those who come up with a good idea will be rewarded.”
It was a long meeting and everyone involved thought long and hard about the adequate measures. However, Martin was the only person who looked nervous. Half an hour into the meeting, he could not stay seated anymore and stood up.
“Mr. Brooks, where are you going?”
“To the washroom. I’ll be right back.”
Martin looked slightly off.
Seeing his leaving figure, Courtney tapped on the keyboard on her phone and sent a message. ‘Martin is going out now. Keep an eye on him.’
The other person replied immediately, ‘Got it.’
Within the headquarters of Life Entertainment Media, in the office of the chief editor, a woman was apologizing profusely on the phone. Even though she was already in her fifties, she took good care of her appearance and only looked like she was in her mid-thirties.
“Yes; I got it. I’ll ask them to take it down immediately. Don’t worry, Mrs. Somerfield. This incident originates from the entertainment department. I really didn’t notice it. You have to keep in mind that we have hundreds of news going on every day.”
She heard the voice at the other end replying to her.
“No, no; I’m not trying to shirk my responsibility. Don’t worry; we will definitely check the fake news strictly and we will take the news down immediately.”
Nevertheless, the voice on the other end continued speaking.
After she hung up the phone, the chief editor’s face darkened. When she raised her head and saw her assistant standing like a statue in front of her, anger suddenly surged within her.
“Who the hell is this Courtney Hunter? It’s just some small news, yet so many people called in relation to this. Do you know how many calls I’ve picked up this morning?”
Ever since Courtney’s news made the headlines, as the biggest news media in the country, Life Entertainment Media had been receiving calls non-stop. Usually, the chief editor need not entertain these calls, but the people who called today were so important that she had to answer their calls personally.
The former president of Sunhill Enterprise and the only son of the Duncan Family, Alexander Duncan, immediately called the media company to question them. Right after him was Casey Lewis, the president of AW Group and the chief editor of the famous fashion magazine, Vivi Magazine. Apart from that, even the wife of the former chief of Tax Bureau rang her up with an unfriendly tone.
Her male assistant looked uneasy as he reported in a low voice, “Based on the documents, she’s the young lady of the Hunter Group but she’s not popular. For many years, she has been living abroad alone. Apart from that, the Hunter Group is facing bankruptcy now, so where does she have all these connections? Even President Duncan from Sunhill Enterprise also stood up for her.”
“Stood up for her?” The chief editor’s face darkened. “Would you call Alexander Duncan’s actions ‘standing up for her’? If there wasn’t a phone between us, he would be stepping on my face! Apart from that, how did she have connections with people from the Tax Bureau? She even knows Mr. Somerfield, who just returned to Kyoto!”
The chief editor’s assistant also did not understand what was going on. “Do we still take the news down?” he asked tentatively.
“Take it down?”
The chief editor laughed coldly. “Of course we are taking it down, but we are only doing that tonight, when it has reached the peak of its popularity. When that time comes, even after we take it down, we would have achieved the greatest publicity; the rest can only pick up our remnants. Also, send some people to follow Courtney Hunter and find out more about her. What exactly is her background that makes her so powerful?”
“Noted.” Her assistant could sense a huge gossip piece coming up. “I’ll arrange for some reporters to follow up on this.”
The entertainment department of Life Entertainment Media was famous for not succumbing to power. Every time when people called to complain, they would oblige through the phone but it did not affect the way they handled things. No matter what, the higher-ups of the media company would protect them if anything happened.
