After listening to the finance manager, Deanna regretted letting Kamden leave so easily.
Her face darkened as she looked at the finance manager and asked, "Now that Kamden has left the company, what are the chances of holding him accountable for these embezzlements?"
"Honestly, not very high."
The finance manager shook his head, genuinely hoping Deanna wouldn't pursue these accounts. Otherwise, his earlier statements would be exposed. Some of the embezzlements were Kamden's doing, but some were his own manipulations.
Deanna was unaware of this. She listened to the finance manager with a gloomy expression but said nothing more.
She then shifted the topic, asking, "How much liquid capital does the company have now?"
"…Less than ten thousand."
By the end of his sentence, the finance manager's voice had grown much quieter, looking quite guilty.
Deanna didn't notice his guilt; she was too shocked by the number she had just heard. A publicly listed company in Cloudmere's top fifty had less than ten thousand dollars in liquid capital. Who would believe that?
Suddenly, Deanna felt somewhat relieved that many employees had left the company; otherwise, she might not have been able to pay this month's salaries.
Thinking about it, she couldn't help but ask again, "With so little money on the books, how were you paying salaries before?"
"Uh, salaries were previously issued by headquarters. But now that you, Miss Jones, have taken over, future salaries will be deducted from the company's funds."
The finance manager finished speaking and looked at Deanna with a meaningful gaze.
Deanna understood immediately and felt an urgent need to make money. After all, she had already instructed the HR manager to hire more staff. Based on the company's positions, there would be at least eighty to ninety people, and monthly salaries would amount to nearly a million dollars.
Of course, she wasn't short of this million dollars, but she couldn't keep subsidizing the company every month.
With this in mind, Deanna instructed the finance manager, "You may go now. Also, call the project manager over; I need to know which projects are currently operational and profitable."
"Um... Miss Jones, the project manager left with Kamden. The project department is currently paralyzed," the finance manager replied awkwardly.
Deanna took a deep breath to suppress her rising emotions. "I understand. You may go back to work."
She waved the finance manager away and then picked up the internal phone on her desk, dialing a short number. "Miss Mills, it's me. Please send someone to assess which departments are currently non-operational."
About an hour later, Miss Mills knocked and entered.
"Miss Jones, I've completed the task you assigned."
She handed Deanna a notebook with her findings and reported, "Currently, three departments are paralyzed: the project department, the marketing department, and the technical department."
Hearing this made Deanna's mood worse. Although she had never managed a company before, she knew that the project department, marketing department, and technical department were crucial.
Moreover, for some reason, she had a bad feeling.
Unable to do anything else, she suppressed her anxiety and instructed calmly, "Miss Mills, please work hard over the next few days to recruit key personnel for these three departments. Given the circumstances, we can lower our standards if necessary."
"But it's close to year-end; there aren't many job seekers," Miss Mills said hesitantly. "I contacted some familiar HR people this morning to recommend suitable candidates, but they all said there are very few job seekers right now."
Deanna pressed her lips together. "Then look for short-term hires and widely distribute job postings. Increase salary and benefits if needed. We must get through this tough period."
"Alright, I'll try."
Miss Mills nodded and left.
Seeing this, Deanna didn't remain idle either. She picked up her phone to see if she had any contacts who could help her find talent.
After searching for a while, she only found Julia and Landon.
With no other choice, she called her two good friends.
Upon hearing that Deanna had taken back Vortex Technology, Julia and Landon were happy for her. They were also willing to help when they learned about her current predicament.
Even so, Deanna remained deeply worried about the company's situation.
That evening, when Lance came to pick up Deanna, he noticed her low spirits.
"What's wrong? You seem really down."
"I'm fine; just worried about the company," Deanna said as she couldn't help but share what she had discovered that afternoon. "No wonder Garrett returned Vortex Technology to us. He must have known about the company's situation. And I was foolish enough to let Kamden go so easily. If he hadn't left, things wouldn't be this bad."