Chapter 549
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 nce, 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 thepany. 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 y 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 themps 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 exin 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 nheless.
Meanwhile, Niki was just beside him, and he felt like pping 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 exin 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 dying the
inevitable. “President, an employee has swindled a huge sum of money, impacting thepany
gravely. Everyone here has the right to know about this.” Regan calmed himself down and exined
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 exnation about Harper’s swindling. You approved the deal.” Regan didn’t
want to argue anything unrted, 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 exnation? Does everyone need an exnation? 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 y you like a fiddle.” Regan was still acting polite, but he
was already starting to attack Matthias, obviously trying to dump the me on him.
Matthias looked at Regan nonchntly. “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 beening to work a lottely, 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 red 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.
Copyright N?v/el/Dra/ma.Org.
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 rted 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 thepany.” Matthias put on a calmposure
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 thepany, but this is a
big case. I don’t think calling a board meeting to demand an exnation is too much, eh?” Regan was
fashioning himself out to be a defender of thepany so he could force Matthias to exin himself.
“ording to your logic, people like us should abandon our emotions and be nothing but
heartless machines then? After all, our judgment will be affected, and we’ll inevitably slip up if we’re
human after all. ording 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 exnation,” Matthias answered adamantly.
Regan didn’t see thating, and the directors’ face darkened. They thought Regan was just making a
mountain out of a molehill in the first ce, but after seeing how arrogant Matthias was, they thought
Matthias had to exin himself.
Even though everyone was forcing him to exin 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 exin 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? ording 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 exin everything.” Regan found
Matthias’ questionughable. 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 havended 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…