Chapter 245 Superior Deception Skills
"I must be the first one to complete the task and get the inheritance!" Elara said in a low voice, her eyes full of ambition.
Her real name was actually Elara.
She wasn't afraid of Timothy and the others checking up on her.
Her husband was indeed from the Bailey family, except that he was dead.
And she was indeed from the Rivera family in Lumaria, except that Elara was just an insignificant illegitimate daughter.
Jake valued Elara's exceptional fraud skills and took her on as his subordinate.
Before his death, Jake had left instructions for several of his people - whoever could take Seraphina away and raise her after he died would get most of his inheritance and an island.
If they could raise Seraphina until she turned eighteen, they would get the other half of the inheritance.
Elara had one characteristic - she loved money more than anything.
Using her exceptional fraud skills, she had already scammed quite a few people.
Elara was the first one to run directly to Border Ridge City and approach Emma, but unfortunately Emma was too useless.
If Timothy hadn't arranged so many bodyguards around Seraphina, Elara wouldn't need to go through all this trouble.
Elara looked at Seraphina's photo, a flash of satisfaction in her eyes.
As soon as the time was right, she could achieve her goal.
Just thinking about how Freya would be able to take Seraphina out to play in the future, and she could take Seraphina away without any effort, Elara almost wanted to laugh out loud.
Today Elizabeth wasn't going to work but was having dinner at The Nightingale Mansion, while Robbie at the company received many phone calls.
When the shareholders learned that Elizabeth had actually taken time off during such a critical period, their disappointment was beyond words.
At this moment, in a luxury restaurant's private room, several shareholders were shaking their heads and sighing, discussing with serious expressions.
"Does she even know that the company's stock hit the limit down as soon as the market opened today!" one shareholder said angrily.
"I don't think she's suitable for the chairman position," another shareholder chimed in, his tone also full of dissatisfaction. "I suggest we replace her."
Maddox listened quietly to the shareholders' complaints and accusations throughout, with a hint of helplessness on his face. He shook his head and said, "A girl who has never managed a company - I never agreed to her being chairman. If I hadn't trusted Vincent, I definitely wouldn't have agreed back then."
A shareholder immediately added, "Exactly, now that the company is in crisis, she's not even here. How can we feel at ease?"
Another shareholder continued, "We need an experienced leader with decision-making power to lead the company."
Maddox was very satisfied that everyone's opinions were now aligned. He nodded and said, "Tomorrow we'll go to the company and hold a shareholders' meeting to vote."
The shareholders all nodded in agreement.
Maddox secretly mocked Elizabeth in his heart.
It seemed Elizabeth wasn't that great after all - she could be brought down by such a simple thing.
He hadn't even put in much effort, and she was already about to be out.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth, who had already finished dinner at The Nightingale Mansion and returned home, also received a message from Robbie.
[Chairwoman Penrose, several shareholders have expressed strong dissatisfaction with your leave. They're planning to hold a shareholders' meeting tomorrow to vote, which may involve your position]
Elizabeth read the message calmly and handed it to Timothy.
Timothy looked at the message and smiled lightly, "Elizabeth, it seems the shareholders have quite a problem with you."
Elizabeth pretended to look aggrieved and said, "I'll give them what they want."
Timothy raised an eyebrow, "What are you planning to do?"
Elizabeth smiled brightly, "You'll find out tomorrow."
Timothy reached out and held her hand, saying casually, "Alright, whatever you decide to do, I'll support you."
Elizabeth, taking advantage of Seraphina not paying attention, leaned close to Timothy and kissed him.
The next morning.
Today was the fourth day since the Silicon Express shipwreck.
And so far, the Sherman Group had made no official public announcement about the smuggled goods salvaged from the wreck site.
Elizabeth went to the Sherman Group early in the morning, preparing to deal with the upcoming shareholders' meeting.
"Robbie, did you find information on Maddox and the others?" Elizabeth asked.
Robbie nodded and handed her a thick file, "Couldn't find anything on Delbert, but I found information on the other six. Here's their data."
Elizabeth took the file and quickly browsed through it, saying lightly, "No need to keep checking on Delbert."
Delbert had threatened her on the ship that day to hand over her shares, and she didn't know how Timothy had handled it in the end.
This morning when she left, Timothy had given her a share transfer contract.
Thinking of that contract, Elizabeth smiled.
Timothy was really a good teammate.
After reading through the information Robbie had found, she marked the useful details, planning to deal with them after the shareholders' meeting ended.
When it was time for the meeting, Elizabeth went to the conference room.
The shareholders had already gathered.
Elizabeth wore a well-tailored black business suit. She sat in the main seat, looking calmly at these shareholders.
Maddox was the first to attack, "Ms. Penrose, we're holding this special shareholders' meeting today because we question your management ability during this critical period."
"The company's stock has hit limit down for several consecutive days, yet you took time off at a time like this. This makes us very worried."
Elizabeth looked at them calmly and explained with a smile, "Dear shareholders, I understand your concerns. I haven't turned a blind eye to the company's crisis. In fact, I've been actively responding to this crisis and have a complete solution."
A shareholder questioned, "Then please tell us, what are your response measures? We need to see actual action, not empty words!"
Maddox sneered, his gaze disdainful, "At this point, you're still saying you have a complete solution. Stop trying to fool us. Let's start voting to replace the chairman now."
The other shareholders nodded one after another, echoing Maddox's proposal, clearly having lost trust in Elizabeth.
The voting began, and almost all the shareholders voted to remove Elizabeth from her chairman position.
Elizabeth looked at the voting results and smiled.
She stood up and looked around at everyone in the conference room.
"Dear shareholders, I understand your choice, but please give me a few minutes to explain my response measures in detail."
Maddox laughed coldly, "What more do you have to say? The facts are already very clear."
Elizabeth remained unmoved and continued, "I've developed a detailed crisis management plan. We will hold a press conference to explain the true situation of this incident to the public and shareholders in detail, and show the response measures we're taking. At the same time, I've also arranged an internal investigation to thoroughly examine the whole story of the incident and ensure the problem is completely resolved."
She took out a document and handed it to the shareholders present, "This document is our detailed action plan, including cooperation with media, maintenance of customer relationships, restoration of market confidence, and other specific measures. Please read it carefully."
Robbie distributed copies of the document to each shareholder.
The shareholders took the documents and began to read them.
Elizabeth continued, "I know you've lost trust in me, but please believe that I will do my utmost to lead the company out of this difficult situation. We've already taken multiple measures. The stock decline is temporary. As long as we work together, we can definitely restore market confidence."
The conference room fell quiet.
The shareholders began to seriously read the documents Elizabeth provided.
The detailed plans and careful arrangements in the documents gradually softened their attitudes.
Maddox and the others had originally planned to pull Elizabeth down from the chairman position today.
But now Elizabeth had suddenly pulled out a pile of documents, and Maddox and the others' faces instantly turned ugly.
However, no matter what, they couldn't let Elizabeth continue to stay at the Sherman Group today!
Maddox pushed away the documents in front of him, "We've already voted successfully just now. Elizabeth is no longer the chairman of the Sherman Group."
He smiled, "And anyone who becomes chairman should know how to handle this incident. I still think Ms. Penrose's handling speed is too slow."
"You're not suitable to continue leading the Sherman Group!"