Chapter 110
"What happened?" Nora lowered her voice, clearly annoyed. "Not only did she come out of this without a scratch, she actually got to show off in front of the media!"
"Ms. Nora Langley, we didn't expect Alexander to show up out of nowhere, and then..." The person on the other end of the line seemed to struggle for words. "And that Charlotte is a lot harder to deal with than we thought. We..."
"Excuses!" Nora's voice turned sharp. "I'm not paying you to tell me you can't get it done!"
"I don't care how you do it. Get rid of this problem, fast. I don't want to see her in this company anymore!"
"But... if we make another move, the risk is too high."
"Then find a way to make her leave on her own!" Nora's anger exploded, and she screamed into the phone.
"Understood, Ms. Nora Langley."
The other person mumbled a reply and hung up.
Nora stared at her phone screen as it went dark, her chest heaving, her eyes shot through with red.
After a long moment, she finally spat out a curse under her breath.
"Damn you, Charlotte. Damn you."
......
The night passed quickly. The next morning, when Charlotte returned to the Langley Group, Mireille was already waiting in the office.
When she saw Charlotte walk in, Mireille's brow furrowed with worry. She handed over a tablet with a troubled look on her face.
"Ms. Johnson, take a look at this..."
Charlotte took it and looked. The screen was filled with headlines from major financial news outlets.
\#Langley Group's 'Lakeside Estates' safety incident continues to escalate — stocks may plunge 7% at opening!
\#Reckless disregard for human life, or a failure of oversight? The Langley Group faces its worst crisis of trust ever!
\#Inside source reveals: Langley Group Investment Director Charlotte Johnson lacks the experience to handle this crisis.
Below each glaring headline was the Langley Group's stock chart — a gut-wrenching line of green, falling fast.
In just an hour or two since the market opened, billions in market value had already vanished into thin air.
Charlotte's expression grew darker with every headline she read. Just as she was thinking about how to handle this, Mireille suddenly seemed to receive some kind of alert and rushed over to the floor-to-ceiling window, looking down.
What she saw made her gasp.
"Ms. Johnson, downstairs — look at downstairs..."
Charlotte was caught off guard, but walked over.
The moment she saw what was happening below, her brow pulled tight and her face fell.
The plaza in front of the Langley Group building had erupted into chaos.
Dozens of people were holding up banners that read: "Langley Group — heartless and reckless with lives! Give us justice!" The words blazed in the sunlight.
On top of that, the crowd was crying out, cursing, and pouring their grievances out to the onlookers and reporters who had already begun to gather.
The whole scene had descended into complete disorder.
Charlotte pressed her lips together, her eyes cold and dark.
Just then, Mireille's phone rang.
Whatever was said on the other end made Mireille freeze for a moment — then she snapped back and responded with urgency.
"Even the PR department can't do anything?! And the board is already... Okay. Got it."
She hung up, looking like she was on the verge of tears. "Ms. Johnson, what do we do now? The board has started talking about..."
"Calm down," Charlotte said evenly, as if she'd already guessed what Mireille was about to say. "The fact that these people are making this much noise just means whoever's behind this is getting desperate. They're trying to pressure me into doing exactly what they want."
"Tell every department to carry on as normal and ignore what's happening outside."
"Also, have security send extra staff to keep order. Make sure there are no confrontations — but don't forcibly disperse the crowd either. Just focus on keeping our people and property safe."
"But the stock price..."
"A company that can't hold its foundation together — no matter how high the stock climbs, it's just a bubble." Charlotte cut her off, her gaze shifting to the computer screen. "Right now, the most urgent thing is to find the mole."
Mireille was about to nod when her phone buzzed.
She looked down — and her face went pale.
"How is this possible..."
"What happened?" Charlotte glanced at her.
"You should just read it yourself. I don't even know how to begin."
Mireille handed over her phone, her expression tight with anger.
It was a freshly posted interview video.
In it, a well-dressed, refined-looking middle-aged man was speaking directly into the camera, his face a picture of deep distress.
"I am truly heartbroken by what has happened at the Langley Group."
"As a father, I'm very worried about my daughter, Charlotte."
"She's so young. She grew up in the countryside, away from all of this. She's never had to face anything like this before, and she has a simple, trusting nature."
"Honestly, a company as large as the Langley Group, and a role as critical as Investment Director — that's an enormous weight to place on one person's shoulders."
"I think Ms. Victoria Langley asking her to step back comes from a place of genuine care for her daughter."
"But sometimes, too much protection and too many gifts aren't actually good for a child."
"And if someone doesn't have the ability to match the position they're in, it doesn't just hurt them — it puts the entire company at risk."
"I hope... the Langley Group will reconsider this decision, and not gamble with the future of the whole company and the livelihoods of so many employees over a moment of carelessness."
Charlotte let out a cold laugh when the video ended, her eyes filled with contempt.
She had to hand it to him — Henry had absolutely no shame. Every word on the surface was about "doing what's best for his daughter" and "doing what's best for the company." But underneath, he was insinuating that Charlotte only got her position because of her mother Victoria's connections.
And by slipping in "grew up in the countryside," he was quietly painting her as incompetent and narrow-minded.
As Charlotte read through the comments below, the sneer on her face only deepened.
"He really does know how to make every word cut."
Mireille was shaking with rage, her voice full of disbelief. "How could he do this? You're his daughter!"
"He probably never thought of me as his daughter," Charlotte said coldly.
Then she picked up the desk phone and dialed the head of the investigation team.
"It's me."
"Pull all the procurement records for safety equipment on the Lakeside Estates project over the past three years — along with the inspection reports and supplier credentials."
"Also, get me the background files on the project's chief engineer and safety supervisor. I want everything on my desk within the hour."
"Understood."