Chapter 25 Chapter 25
The arrogance that had filled him earlier was gone completely now.
In its place was desperation.
“Mr. Oliver, I am very, very sorry,” he said quickly. “Please.”
His voice trembled.
“If it was because of the way I spoke to you earlier, then please forgive me. If it was because of the way I spoke to your staff—”
He pointed toward the lady and the man.
“—then I am very, very sorry. It will never happen again.”
He swallowed hard, his dignity breaking apart with every word.
“Please, you cannot cancel this contract. Please, you cannot do this.” His breathing had become uneven now.
“I’m begging you with everything I have. Please.”
He looked at the two staff members again, then back at Oliver.
“I am ready to apologize to them properly severely, if that is what you want. If it was the way I spoke to them, if I failed to behave well, if I did not greet them the right way, then I will correct it now.”
His voice dropped lower, almost pleading beyond pride.
“Please, I will do it properly this time. I am very, very sorry.”
Immediately, Oliver looked down at Vincent and said, “You are kneeling for nothing.”
There was no pity in his voice.
No softness.
No sign that Vincent’s desperation had moved him in the slightest.
“I have absolutely no power to reverse this,” he continued. “Do you really think the three of us sitting here have the authority to deny you a contract of this magnitude simply because you failed to greet us properly? Or because you spoke to us with arrogance?”
He gave a short, humorless smile.
“That is not even possible. Not in the slightest.”
His tone sharpened.
“So stop wasting your energy kneeling before me, because I have nothing to do with this.”
Then he delivered the blow more clearly.
“The order to terminate your contract came from above. Not from me.”
The words hit Vincent like cold steel.
From above.
The moment he heard that, his entire body stiffened, and then he began to shake.
Because if the order had come from above Oliver, then this was no longer a matter of staff annoyance, wounded pride, or internal misunderstanding.
It meant someone higher up had intervened, Someone with real power.
Someone above Oliver, which could only mean one thing.
The CEO.
Vincent’s mind raced wildly.
How was that even possible?
Why would the CEO be involved in something like this?
He had never even met the CEO before.
Not once, so how could he have offended someone he did not know? Who had he crossed? What had happened behind his back?
What exactly was going on?
The questions hit him all at once, each one more frightening than the last.
He looked up at Oliver again, completely rattled now.
“I’m very, very sorry,” he said quickly. “Please… I don’t even know what to say anymore.”
His voice was trembling harder now.
“But can you just fix this? Please. Talk to the CEO for me, fix a meeting between us. At least let me know what I did.”
Then Oliver looked at him and said, “You must be mad.”
Oliver’s face hardened completely.
“You want to speak to the CEO?” he said, staring at Vincent with open disbelief. “Who exactly do you think you are to request a meeting with the CEO of Global Investments?”
His voice rose not in volume, but in sharpness.
“Have you lost your mind? Have you gone out of your senses? Do you really think the CEO of Global Investments is someone you can simply ask to meet, as though you are equals sitting across a casual table?”
He shook his head slowly, almost in disgust.
“You must be truly delusional to even think such a thing.”
Then he straightened slightly and spoke with brutal clarity, making sure every word landed.
“So let me make this very clear to you, and let me make it simple enough for you to understand. There are no two ways about this. There is absolutely nothing you can do to bring that contract back.”
His eyes did not leave Vincent’s.
“It is gone.”
He paused.
“And it is gone forever.”
The room seemed to grow heavier around those words.
“From this moment on,” Oliver continued, “you had better begin using that so-called brilliant brain of yours to look for contracts somewhere else. Because as far as Global Investments is concerned, you are finished.”
Vincent remained frozen on his knees.
Oliver’s voice dropped lower, colder.
“So now, stand up and leave.”
Then came the final warning.
“Because if you do not get up this instant, I will call security, and they will drag you out of this building.”
He let that image hang between them before pressing it further.
“And you know exactly what that will mean, don’t you?”
His expression turned cutting.
“All the media people you were so proud to summon here all those cameras, all those reporters waiting outside because of your own grand performance they will watch everything.”
He leaned forward slightly.
“They will record you.”
“They will stream you live.”
“They will capture the exact moment you are thrown out of Global Investments in disgrace.”
That was the humiliation he wanted Vincent to feel in full.
“So now the choice is yours,” Oliver said. “You either stand up this moment, walk out with your own two legs, and leave with whatever dignity you still have left to go and explain yourself to those media houses outside…”
His gaze sharpened one last time.
“…or we bundle you out of here. The choice is yours.”
At that moment, hearing what Mr. Oliver had said and seeing the firm, unyielding look on his face, Vincent finally understood that this was no childish threat.
This was not a joke, this was not a misunderstanding.
And this was certainly not something that could be laughed off or delayed.
It was real, Painfully real.
He knew very well that if he allowed them to drag him out of this office, the humiliation would be unbearable. The embarrassment alone would be enough to destroy whatever image he still had left. The media outside would have a field day. The videos would spread everywhere. The shame would be instant, public, and impossible to control.
So for now before he could understand what was truly happening, before he could figure out who he had offended and why everything had suddenly turned against him he needed to leave with whatever dignity he still had left.
Slowly, Vincent pushed himself up from where he stood.
His legs felt weak, his mind was spinning.
His chest was tight with panic, confusion, and wounded pride.
Still, he forced himself to speak.
“I… I will be taking my leave,” he said.
Even as the words left his mouth, he knew he had no idea what he was going to tell his father, his family, his friends. He did not know what he was going to tell the people waiting outside. He did not know how he would explain any of this to anyone.
But none of that mattered in that second.
All that mattered was getting out before things became even worse.
So, with his head lowered and his thoughts in complete disorder, Vincent turned and began walking toward the exit.
Immediately, that was when Mr. Oliver told the lady, “Now put out an announcement saying the contract from Global Investments to Vincent has been cancelled.”