Chapter 1137 Grayson’s Visit
Sonia had received Daphne’s message to apply for leave when she returned to Bayside Residence with Toby the night before. In her message, she revealed that she was about to have her surgery soon and was planning to rest for about half a month. Sonia responded by giving her approval to her secretary, only to forget about it the next day, which was rather awkward.
“Chairman Reed, this is your schedule for the day. Please have a look and see if there are any cancellations or postponements you would like to make for your agenda.” The secretary passed the document in her arms to Sonia.
Sonia flipped through the papers and pointed at two schedules. “Cancel these two. They are unnecessary, so let’s not waste our time on that.”
The secretary leaned closer to look at the events that Sonia was referring to. “Sure.”
“The rest will go on as planned.” Sonia closed the file and gave it back to the secretary.
The secretary then hugged the document back in her arms and replied, “By the way, there is one more thing. The machine that you ordered from Kosovo when you went there a few months ago has arrived at customs.”
“Wait, what? Has it arrived already?” Sonia’s eyes brightened up joyfully.
The secretary nodded. “Yes, the customs agency is taking necessary actions to speed up the delivery process. Once it’s through, we can arrange for our people to collect the machine at the customs right away.”
“That’s awesome!” Sonia happily smiled, barely containing her excitement.
In fact, Paradigm Co. had always relied on its cooperation with other companies to facilitate its manufacturing process until it was hit by a financial crisis so hard that the management had to sell off the plant and all manufacturing units to survive. However, not only did the management’s efforts fail to save the company from falling apart, Sonia’s father also passed away in the end just as the company’s shares were being acquired by outsiders.
A few years later, things finally took a turn for the better when Charles, Carl, and Leonard reacquired the company bit by bit, although the Reed Family had still yet to regain full ownership over the company.
At the same time, while Paradigm Co. was currently under Sonia’s possession, she was well aware of the fact that her company still suffered from the absence of its own manufacturing plant and production units. After all, those equipment and fixed assets could not be reacquired as easily as the company’s shares could since they could only be bought back from those who currently owned them.
Furthermore, Sonia had a feeling that it would be hard to regain possession over those fixed assets from their new owners, thinking the reason they bought them in the first place was because they wanted to maximize their capacity. Because of that, it seemed troublesome to her to repurchase those machines from the new owners, which was why she reckoned it was almost impossible to reacquire those machines that had been sold off earlier.
Due to the circumstances, Paradigm Co. had no choice but to outsource its production companies like Dwells and Rentoor that specialized in manufacturing since it didn’t have its own production and manufacturing unit.
However, Sonia quickly realized that it wasn’t wise for her company to continue down that path, considering the limited leverage it had over the other companies, which could put the company at a disadvantage one day.
Her worst fear came true when the owner of Dwells violated the contract and secretly sold the parts to Connor behind her back. Because of that, she no longer felt secure to outsource her company’s production, thinking it was safer for the production to be held in house.
In fact, Sonia had been having that thought at the back of her mind as she began to take necessary actions to revamp and renovate her company’s manufacturing plant, as well as order the machine her company needed from Kosovo.
While the plant was still in the midst of repair and renovation, the ongoing assembly of the machine in Kosovo had forced Sonia to continue working with Dwells until the unpleasant incident happened despite their long-term partnership, much to her dismay.
Now that the machines Sonia had ordered were at the customs, Paradigm Co. would no longer need to depend on the other companies to produce the spare parts and goods once they collected them. That way, I suppose it’s only a matter of time before Paradigm Co. will be listed on the share market once again.
The more Sonia thought about it, the more tightly she clenched her fists. “Tell the logistics department to pay attention to the customs agency. I want the machine here as soon as possible. Make sure nothing goes wrong!”
“Don’t worry about it, Chairman Reed. Miss Daphne walked me through it when she handed over her job to me.” The secretary smiled in response.
Sonia smiled and replied, “Even when she is sick, she still can’t get her mind off her job. I can’t help but pity that poor lady.”
“Miss Daphne is indeed a responsible employee.” The secretary nodded in agreement.
“Is the construction of the manufacturing plant complete?” Sonia looked at her.
With the files in her arms, the secretary replied, “It’s done, but there are still a few minor adjustments to be made, and we’ll only know what to do when the machines arrive. After all, the construction workers only have the drafts to refer to, which makes it hard for them to decide where to install the circuit box and ventilation fans. Furthermore, they won’t know how big each circuit box should be and how much space each ventilation fan would take up until they see the actual object.”
“I understand. I’m going to head over to the manufacturing plant to inspect their progress myself, but as for the minor adjustments, I suppose we’ll only talk about that when the machines arrive.” Sonia sat down on her chair.
The secretary nodded. “Alright.”
“Great. You may excuse yourself now. Please also tell our shareholders and the senior management about the meeting soon.” Sonia waved her hand and made her instruction heard, whereupon the secretary nodded and excused herself.
After that, Sonia continued to sit down in her office for the next few moments before she started to gather the documents she needed for the meeting later. Then, she left her office and headed for the meeting that lasted for almost three hours.
When the meeting was over, it was almost 1.00PM. At that moment, Sonia could hear her stomach growling as she rubbed her belly and returned to her office with a pair of furrowed brows on her face.
As soon as she got back to her office, she heard the telephone on her desk ringing before she could even ask her secretary to get her lunch. Because of that, she decided to send her secretary a text message and told her to buy her lunch, whereupon she put down her cell phone and answered the intercom. “Hello?”
“Greeting, Chairman Reed. I’m calling from the front desk.” The receptionist’s polite voice was heard.
Sonia raised her eyebrows, wondering why the receptionist would call her. Then, she started to suspect there might be something important she had to attend to by herself like a guest or some confidential parcel. Otherwise, the receptionist would’ve contacted her secretary or her assistant first instead of approaching her directly. At the thought of that, she put up with her hunger and sat up straight, speaking with a strict tone. “What’s the matter?”
“There are two guests claiming to be the president of Lore Communications and his assistant. They would like to meet you.” The receptionist looked at Grayson and spoke over the phone.
“The president of Lore Communications?” Sonia squinted.
“Yes.”
Sonia pursed her lips, knowing the reason why Grayson was here. I can’t believe that someone from the Lore Family is here, but I never thought it would be the president of Lore Communications himself. I bet he must be here for Lynette.
“Chairman Reed, would you like to see them?” the receptionist asked once again.
However, Sonia didn’t answer right away. Instead, she held the phone up with one hand while knocking on the table with the other, seemingly pondering about the receptionist’s question.
On the other hand, the receptionist, who heard the knocking, didn’t dare to interfere with Sonia as she only kept the phone in her hands and apologetically smiled at Grayson, signaling the man to wait.
Nevertheless, Grayson was extremely impatient by that, responding with a darkened look on his face. Deep down, he reckoned he should be respected by Sonia, deeming himself equally on par with Henry in terms of seniority. In fact, he also reckoned that he was older than Toby, which was all the more reason Sonia should show him some respect.
Where is this lady’s respect? She should come and receive me after learning about my arrival. Instead, she’s taking her time without giving me a proper response.
