Chapter 604


    Meanwhile, back in Sris, the news of Matthias’ return soon traveled to Tony’s ears. However, what


    surprised Tony was that Heather didn’te back with him.


    Ever since Matthias returned to Sria, he had been wearing a sulky face every day. His handling of


    Locke Group was rather rxed. However, due to the sudden change in Matthias’ mood, the


    atmosphere of the entirepany became gloomy too.


    Niki had already expected this to happen. He was in a state of shock when Matthias had asked him


    to book him a flight back home. After that, he couldn’t reach thetter by phone at all. He also never


    replied to his messages, even when Niki had sent them through various channels.


    As such, Niki guessed that Matthias had a fight with Heather. Even then, he still bought two flight


    tickets just in case. s, Matthias still came back alone toward the end. From that moment, Niki


    knew things had gotten serious when he picked Matthias up from the airport.


    Matthias’ face was scaringly stiff. At that time, Niki wanted to bring up some rxing topics to ease


    the tension, but thetter had started a serious conversation before he could speak up.


    “Any recent updates from Locke Group?” Matthias asked Niki in a stern manner.


    “It’s veryplicated. I’m afraid I can’t exin it to you right now,” Niki answered awkwardly. He felt


    pressured being asked such a question right after they met.


    “Just summarize it. You don’t have to go through the details.” Matthias insisted Niki give him a


    summary. This was truly a difficult task for Niki as he wouldn’t be able to summarize everything


    within such a short time.


    Matthias fixated his eyes on Niki, who quietly lowered his head after receiving the pressure from


    Matthias’ gaze. Matthias narrowed his eyes as he was annoyed seeing Niki’s reaction. “Niki,


    have you forgotten mymand to you?” Matthias questioned him angrily.


    Niki lowered his head even more. Indeed, he hadn’t taken Matthias’ exhortation to heart. All this


    while, he had obviously been relying on Matthias with the perception that thetter would have


    everything handled even if some issues urred.


    Although he had perceived Matthias’ intention to let him deal with things independently, Niki didn’t


    want to officially do things on his own. Matthias, however, had a totally opposite reaction toward this


    action of his, resulting in Niki being extremely flustered.


    All this while, Niki had been obediently carrying out tasks ording to Matthias’ orders, and he had


    lost the ability to think independently. Now that Matthias suddenly requested him to do so, there was no


    way he could do that.


    “Lift up your head. You’re getting more irresponsible,” Matthias rebuked disappointedly. He hadn’t


    lectured Niki in a long while, so Niki felt like he was being thrown into hell hearing Matthias’ strict


    remarks.


    “Where’s Lara?” Matthias was surprised to not see Lara. By right, she should be the oneing to pick


    him up.


    “She has some matters to attend to in thepany,” Niki answered guiltily. He didn’t even dare to


    lift his head to look at Matthias.


    “What happened in thepany?” Matthias didn’t expect to receive this kind of news right after


    stepping back into the country, which made him even fretful.


    “Some people are stirring up trouble in thepany, so Lara is resolving it.” Truth was, Niki couldn’t


    handle the situation at all, so he pushed it to Lara. Even Niki himself thought he was such a failure


    as a man.


    “Why didn’t you tell me about this earlier?” Matthias was even more irritated, growing more


    disappointed in Niki’s actions.


    “Lara didn’t want you to worry, so she asked me not to tell you,” Niki mumbled timidly. He had truly


    pissed Matthias off this time, and he didn’t even know how to respond to him.


    “Did you think you would be able to hide such matters from me?” Matthias really wanted to crack


    Niki’s brain to take a look at what was in it.


    Niki stuttered, for he was truly at a loss for words. Matthias’ words actually made him ufortable,


    making Niki reflect upon his own problems. Lately, he had indeed spent too much energy on some


    issues even though he was aware Locke Group was in a critical period.


    “Your heart has not been about work at all recently. I have no idea what exactly happened to you, but


    you shouldn’t let it affect your performance at work.” Matthias realized his words were a little too harsh


    just now, so he adjusted his tone as he didn’t want to be too fierce with Niki.


    To think about it, Matthias actually regretted dragging Niki into the business circle because thetter


    was an emotional and artistic person to begin with. As such, Matthias was thinking if he should have a


    talk with Niki. Back then, he thought what he did was for Niki’s benefit, but now it seemed like he


    might be wrong.


    The two of them quickly arrived back at thepany, and it just so happened that Matthias caught


    Lara looking all anxious. As such, he quickly walked over to her. He knew all the people who were


    causing trouble were the mid-level managers in thepany. By right, they should be a rational group


    of staff, so why did theye to cause a scene at the director’s office?


    The calm look on their faces subsided a little when they saw Matthias. On the other hand, Matthias


    red coldly at them while wearing a half-smile.


    “Don’t you all have tasks toplete today?” Matthias’ voice was cold. His mood was already


    unpleasant to begin with, yet this group of people still wanted to cause trouble at this point in time.


    “Director Locke,” one of them who seemed to be the leader greeted Matthias politely.


    “So, you do remember that I’m the director of Locke Group.” Matthias curled his lips in disdain.


    That person lowered his head with guilt. He, too, did not have the guts to look Matthias in the eye.


    Today, Matthias was indeed different from how he was in his usual days, especially his eyes; it was as


    if his eyes were piercing through their flesh. Initially, they were all staring at Matthias, but after he


    walked into the office, no one dared to even make eye contact with him.


    “So what’s your problem? Come in and tell me,” Matthias said while opening his office door.


    Before this, Lara had been stopping them from barging into the director’s office, but now when Matthias


    actually invited them toe in, none of them dared toe forward. Matthias turned around and


    looked at them. “Don’t you all have something toin about? Why are you still standing there?


    Shall I escort you in personally?”


    Hearing that, the leader took a step forward, and it was only then that the others followed suit. Seeing


    this, Matthias roughly knew that this ruckus was nned. Seeing how obvious that there was a leader,


    Matthias reckoned someone must be instigating this group of employees in the dark.


    Matthias sat in the chair and waited for them toe over. It would only take a few steps to walk into


    his office, yet the managers took around two minutes to muster the courage to walk into it. Matthias


    stared at them coldly as they approached him.


    In the past, Matthias would invite them to take a seat. After all, he had always remained friendly on the


    surface despite his fierceness deep down. But today, he had directly put away his disguise. His face


    was so gloomy and terrifying that none dared to look at him at all.


    “I didn’t ask you to take a seat,” Matthias said to one of the managers who took a seat self-consciously.


    Matthias knew straight away this person was theziest among this group of managers. He would be


    the first person to sit down whenever there was a chair, and he would never stand if there was an


    option to sit. That person stood up immediately, which made the leader look at him in disappointment.


    What a bad beginning. Their energy was diminished right from the start.


    “Why didn’t thest one who entered the room close the door?” Matthias asked crabbily.


    With that, the crowd was flustered. It seemed like Matthias was very different from usual as he had


    been picking on them. Sweat broke out from the forehead of the leader as he felt immensely stressed.


    “Are you guys putting on airs for me?” Matthias questioned them sternly.


    Everyone turned to look at the leader as they didn’t know how to respond to Matthias’ question. They


    could only depend on the leader now. Meanwhile, the leader was stunned by Matthias’ vehemence; he


    was so stunned he couldn’t even recall any of the appeals that he had prepared before this.


    “No one’s talking. Did you guys n this whole thing just to annoy me?” Matthias continued picking on


    them. He hadpletely overwhelmed the managers with his solemn aura.


    “Not at all, Director Locke. You’ve mistaken us. This time, we—” The leader finally spoke up in a timid


    manner as he was still fearful of Matthias.


    Unfortunately, Matthias didn’t even give him the chance toplete his sentence and interrupted him


    directly, “What is it that you guys are stirring up trouble this time for?” Matthias had directly deemed


    their actions as causing trouble, not intending to be nice to them at all.


    “Director Locke, we’re really not looking for trouble.” The leader pulled a long face as he regretted


    agreeing to be part of this stupid n. Now, he had officially offended Matthias.


    “I’ll be the judge of that.” Matthias continued retorting the leader as he was extremely cheesed off.


    “Just get to the point and tell me about your dissatisfaction.” Matthias deliberately softened his tone as


    he knew it would be meaningless to argue with this bunch of people. He would rather stay calm at this


    moment.


    The managers stared at one another. They had lost the nerves to say a single word after they saw


    Matthias. In fact, that was exactly the situation Matthias had expected, so he used his re to scare


    them off. He had returned from d after having a fallout with Heather, and these mid-level


    managers decided to find trouble with him. As such, Matthias wanted to teach them a good lesson.


    “I’ll give you three minutes. If there’s nothing you’d like to say, get back to your respective work after


    three minutes. Since you’re my employees, I’ll entertain you no matter how big of trouble you want to


    stir up, provided that your tasks are not affected,” Matthias said nonchntly. This was, in fact, a subtle


    threat.


    Three minutes had never felt so long before. The managers were all waiting for their leader to speak


    up, but the leader was actually even more timid than they were. After a while, the leader still failed to


    speak up while the others just stared at the ground and only lifted their eyes asionally.


    “Time’s up,” Matthias humphed gloomily in a cold voice.


    “Since you all have nothing to say, get back to your tasks immediately. Each of you will receive a sry


    deduction of half a month for making trouble out of nothing today,” Matthias rebuked coldly. Since you


    dared to stir up trouble, don’t me me for giving you a heavy punishment.


    Finally, the leader mustered his courage and said, “Director Locke, I’m not sure how I should say this.”


    “Three minutes isn’t enough for you to sort out your thoughts? It seems like you’re really stupid. Locke


    Group doesn’t need a fool.” Matthias didn’t directly call him out on hisst sentence, but obviously, he


    intended to beat the dog before the lion.


    The leader had never thought Matthias would make a decision in such a short time. What was worse,


    he had never expected such an unfavorable oue—to lose his job because of this incident. As


    such, he was put in an awkward situation.


    “Director Locke, I’ll give you a reasonable exnation, but if you’re asking me to just spit it out, I’m


    afraid I can’t put it to you adequately.” Since Matthias had already driven him into a corner, he might as


    well be bolder and honest with Matthias.Property of N?)(velDr(a)ma.Org.