Chapter 291: Methods
At this moment, the atmosphere in the office had grown thick and suffocating. Preston's obvious favoritism and indulgence toward Leopold had made his stance unmistakable. Bodhi felt increasingly uncertain, but what good did his unwillingness do? No amount of effort could outweigh a father-son bond.
Looking at the situation now, he realized just how badly he had miscalculated. Without solid evidence, there was no way to shake Leopold's position.
"Dad, I've worked at the company for so many years, working hard and diligently. I may not have achieved anything spectacular, but I’ve been diligent. But ever since Leopold joined the company, you had only eyes for him. No matter how hard I try, I can't compete with the fact that he's your son. I really feel... it's unfair. But I didn't really want to hurt him,it was just entertainment news, nothing major. I was confused for a moment, lost my head and did something wrong. Please give me another chance. I'll definitely find a way to make up for the company's losses."
Preston’s fingers curled, veins standing out like knotted roots across his aging hands, barely containing his fury. His gaze turned icy as he stared at Bodhi and asked, "How will you make up for it?"
Bodhi opened his mouth, "I... haven't figured it out yet."
Preston then asked Gemma, "The stock price has dropped. Will you use your money to cover the shareholders' losses?"
Gemma froze, not taking the bait.
Preston lowered his eyes, having seen enough of these people's true colors. He first addressed Bodhi, then pointed at Gemma. "You have no solution, you can't afford the losses. Besides having Leopold fix it, what else is there to say?"
He slowly stood up, walked toward Bodhi, patted his shoulder, and said, "You're injured. Go home and rest."
This clearly meant he was sending him away.
"Dad!" Bodhi panicked. "I'm fine. A few days of rest and I'll be good."
He still hoped Preston might show mercy, but then he heard him say, "Xiomara is busy at home taking care of the child by herself. You should stay home and help her."
Preston's attitude was so clear, extinguishing his last bit of hope.
Bodhi still tried to fight for it, "Dad, I still have a lot of unfinished work. Don't worry, I'm young and healthy. This little injury is nothing, I can come to work tomorrow."
Preston shifted his gaze to his face. He despised talking to two types of people: those who were naturally dull, and those who understood but pretended not to.
Since Bodhi wouldn't take the dignified way out, Preston had to spell it out, "You don't need to come to work anymore."
After saying this, he left without room for argument.
Gemma naturally had to help Bodhi. One less person of her own in the company meant giving Leopold one more chance to rise.
She hurried after him, her steps quick, voice lowered, "Preston, we've been husband and wife for years. Even if you don't consider me, you should consider Xiomara. If you drive Bodhi away, what will Xiomara think?"
Preston suddenly stopped, turned around and questioned coldly, "He's confused, and so are you? Before, when you two were balancing each other out, I didn't interfere because it didn't affect company interests. Now your stupid son-in-law, out of jealousy, has framed Leopold without caring about the company's survival, and you still dare to plead for him? Gemma, for the sake of our years together as husband and wife, I'm letting him off. If this were the past, I wouldn't care if he's Xiomara's husband—I'd deal with him just the same."
"But Bodhi is after all..." Before she could defend him, Preston's eyes suddenly darkened, and he said coldly, "Further explanations are pointless. I don't mind finding Xiomara another capable husband, but you need to understand—the company cannot do without Leopold right now."
Gemma stood frozen in place. The company came first, interests were paramount. In his heart, no one was more important than the company.
Meanwhile, in the office.
Leopold walked up to Bodhi, his tone carrying a warning, "Clean up the rumors created by the people you hired, and starting tomorrow, if I see one more piece of gossip about Summer and me online, you won't even be able to stay in the Wipere family."
Bodhi raised his head, his eyes full of resentment.
"Don't believe me?" Leopold mocked sarcastically. "Just now you didn't believe I could kick you out of the company either. How did that turn out? People like you are too full of themselves. Give you an inch and you want to show off, but your skills aren't up to par. You didn't succeed and ended up screwing yourself over. Remember this—my bottom line is my wife and her family. Your mistake was being stupid enough to mess with them. If you want to continue living comfortably in the future, you'd better behave yourself."
With that, Leopold turned and left, running into Gemma in the hallway as she returned.
Seeing Leopold, Gemma was grinding her back teeth, her face cold and unfriendly, "You really have some tricks." Easily removing the person she had planted in the company.
Leopold only said calmly, "Not bad, depends on who you're comparing to."
Compared to them, of course he was better.
Gemma belatedly looked back at his retreating figure, her eyes narrowing viciously.
Before the end of the workday, shocking news broke within the company—Bodhi had left.
No one expected that in the company power struggle everyone gossiped about, the first one out would be Bodhi.
For a while, everyone speculated that Leopold would take over Bodhi's business, but the announced news was that Xiomara would be in charge.
Husband leaves the company, wife takes over the business—anyone could understand that Gemma was behind this. It seemed all the eggs were finally in one basket after all.
Leopold had just entered the elevator when Preston and Erik also came in.
The elevator doors closed, and the car was silent.
Leopold said, "Mr. Preston Wipere."
Preston looked straight ahead, "You've vented your anger. Don't be too serious about the other stuff."
He was worried Leopold would pursue the matter of Xiomara taking over the hotel.
Leopold didn't care about that, "Don't worry, Mr. Preston Wipere, I'm not that petty."
Preston said, "It's best you think that way. After all, we're family."
Leopold said, "No, you are family."
Erik glanced slightly at Leopold, then observed Preston's gradually darkening expression, silently lowering his eyes.
The elevator stopped on the first floor, and Leopold stepped out first.
Watching his straight-backed figure, Preston said meaningfully, "He's really become capable."
Leopold's car happened to pass by Elijah's workplace. Remembering there were two boxes of tea in the trunk, and because of the harassing phone calls, he decided to talk in person.
He parked by the roadside and called Elijah.
"Dad, are you busy?... You're at work. I'm right nearby. I have two boxes of tea in my car to bring you... Okay, I'll be there in five minutes... 505, got it."
After registering at the gate, Leopold's SUV drove into the compound.
He carried a black plastic bag upstairs and pressed the button for the fifth floor in the elevator.
Elijah had just finished a meeting and was refilling the kettle on the coffee table, telling his secretary to bring the pending documents later.
The elevator dinged. Leopold stepped out into the quiet hallway.
Hearing the door, Elijah called through it, "Come in."
Leopold pushed open the door and walked in, seeing materials piled on the desk. "Dad, I'm not interrupting, am I?"
"Not at all, come in." Elijah went to make tea. "I just finished a meeting, haven't tidied up yet."