Sebastian walked into his office and headed straight to the coffee machine to make himself a cup before he settled on a couch to catch his breath. He did not seem bothered about what was going on in the meeting room.
The strenuous activity from last night took up a lot of his energy.
On the other hand, Luke was pacing outside the office impatiently. His knees almost buckled when he saw how relaxed his boss looked.
“Mr. Hayes, why are you still sipping on your coffee leisurely? You don’t have time for that! The shareholders are in the meeting room. Even Mr. Hayes Sr. is here.”
“What?”
The last line grabbed Sebastian’s attention.
They got Dad to come over too?
These old blokes must have nothing better to do! They are only itching to create more trouble.
Sebastian pursed his lips and finally set his coffee mug down on the table before reluctantly trudging to the meeting room next door.
Bang!
He could already sense the tense atmosphere from the outside with sounds of things being thrown across the room.
“Frederick, the company is not owned by your son alone. He has cost us a billion in the blink of an eye, and he did not even seek consent before he made that decision!”
“Exactly! It’s a billion in losses, not merely a hundred thousand. Mr. Hayes, with all due respect, have you considered how we feel? We allowed him to take this position to help us profit, not thoughtlessly squander our money away.”
“You…”
Frederick had not stepped into the company in a long while. He couldn’t find the words to rebuke the angry shareholders’ accusations.
Sebastian had enough of the chaos and decided to enter the meeting room.
Click!
Immediately, the room went silent when they saw the person standing at the door.
No one dared to mess with him at Hayes Corporation, including the shareholders.
Sebastian did not speak as he took in the group’s reaction. Instead, he walked towards the head of the table and pulled out the chair that was rightfully his.
Like the perfect gentleman, he sat elegantly and glanced around the room with indifference.
When did he become such a calm person?
Luke was getting goosebumps as he watched the scene unfold.
“Speak up. Why aren’t you talking anymore? Please continue.” Sebastian stated after a long pause. There was a ghost of a smile on his face, scaring everyone else in the room.
It was common for these shareholders to act like that. When he was not around, they would think highly of themselves and insist on their ways.
However, when Sebastian was present, their courage seemed to have dissipated.
“Sebastian, we don’t mean to be rude, but we deserve an explanation regarding the loss,” one courageous shareholder spoke up.
“I have to report to you when it’s merely a billion? How about the time when I raked in tens and hundreds of billions? At that time, I didn’t see you making such a big commotion as you are doing now. Do you want to review the ledgers? We can most certainly do that!”
Sebastian straightened himself.
As the rest of the shareholders watched him, they collectively felt a chill down their spine.
“No, we don’t mean it in that way. We only want to understand why you did not stop our company’s share prices from plunging because we could have completely averted the crisis by acting earlier.”
As expected, their attitude towards him changed drastically. They stooped down to please him almost instantaneously.
Noticing their change in reaction, Sebastian sneered, “I’m the person who is in charge of the company. But I can’t even have the room to make losses. How are you so sure that I did not do that to profit more in future?”
His words were harsh, and no one dared to speak up in the room.
After all, in the last few years under his leadership, he did increase their revenue by a few folds. Many times, he did not play according to the books too.
Therefore, no one could argue with him when he brought up that point.
In the end, the shareholders could only leave in despair. Frederick watched them empty the room and turned to his son. “Do you have an actual project?”
Resting his legs on the conference table, Sebastian blew a smoke ring and shrugged. “Nope.”
“Nope?” Frederick’s eyes widened in shock. “Why did you say that earlier, then? How dare you lie to them? Don’t you know how hard it is to deal with that bunch?”
“Ah, that was your era. Under me, those old blokes wouldn’t even dare to raise their voices.”
Sebastian was crude, even to his father.
However, one could not deny that there was some truth in his words. The shareholders loved to complain, but if Sebastian resigned, they would likely panic. Besides, no one else could manage the Hayes Corporation better than him.
Frederick sighed in defeat and asked after a short pause. “What have you done with the billion?”
Raising his brows, Sebastian did not bother to hide his intentions either. “I gave it to your daughter-in-law. Didn’t you want me to win her back?”
Within minutes, Frederick’s mouth hung open.
“Are you talking about Sasha? You found her?”
“Yes.”
“What is she doing? Why do you have to spend so much money on her? Did she agree to come back? Otherwise, did you give her the money to break up with her…”
As Frederick rambled on, he could only come to that conclusion.
The moment those words were out of his mouth, joy faded from his face, replaced by a look of disappointment.
Sebastian glanced at him.
