Chapter 103 CHAPTER 103
Chapter 103 CHAPTER 103
Andrew’s POV
You know, it won’t be bad if everyone screams ‘happy birthday’ as I enter and I see colorful balloons everywhere with shrieks and screams from the excited directors as my dad takes the lead with the birthday cake and later, they’d laugh at me for coming so soon in an informal outfit and while I was sweating profusely and panting so hard.
The imagination was great except today is definitely not my birthday and the faces before me aren’t of excited directors, they look rather uncomfortable at my shabby appearance.
I can see my dad sitting at the head of the table, usually kept aside for me. He never attended meetings like this so I usually occupy that seat. I run things in the company but as the chairman of the group, he remains more powerful than I am.
When he sees me, he removes his eyeglasses as if they were hindering him from seeing properly. I look down in shame.
“Mr. Andrew Rousseau, why have you come so late to the meeting?” dad asks, maintaining his professionalism in the presence of the board of directors.
I check my wristwatch. I am only eight minutes late. However, I know that in my dad’s books, there is no difference between being eight minutes late and two hours late.
I bow my head slightly, “I am sorry for my lateness. I was notified late.”
Dad sighs, “If you were going to be late anyway, you should have put more thought into your dressing. Is this how you run things in my absence, Mr. Andrew?”
“No, sir,” I reply. “I received the news late and that affected a lot of things for me. Please forgive my shabby appearance for today. I believe we have something more pressing to discuss."
“We do,” dad says, his eyes glued to the report before him. I take my seat among the directors and Taylor comes around to submit a copy of the report to me. By now, my sweat has begun to dry off due to the powerful air conditioner in the room.
Dad continues to talk, “What have you done with the management, Andrew? I mean, Mr. Andrew.”
“You can speak informally, sir,” I reply. “About the management, I have been doing my best. This current problem will be resolved.”
“Of course it will be. There are no two ways about it,” dad says firmly.
I turn to the director of legal affairs, “We got sued today and that’s especially fine. It occurs with large corporations all the time. What matters is our next step. How much are they asking for?”
“Nine hundred and ninety nine million, nine hundred and ninety nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety nine US dollars,” the director of legal affairs replies.
“They do love the number nine a lot, don’t they?” I mutter and this makes some of the directors laugh. I stare at them coldly and the giggles stop. I stand up, making my presence known, “We are about to be sued for a billion dollars and you guys find it funny. The board of directors shouldn’t be like that, should they?”
There is silence.
“What we need is a solution, Mr. Andrew, not a transfer of aggression!” my dad interrupts.
“Yes, sir,” I acknowledge and turn to the director of legal affairs one more time. “We didn’t collect data illegally nor did we sell them to people of questionable background. The duty of the legal team is to represent us properly and reveal the truth. I believe it’ll be much easier since we never committed the crime in the first place.”
The director looks around skeptically before saying, “We cannot be sure about that, sir.”
“What do you mean?” I ask, confused.
“What I mean is…” he sighs. “There might have been illegal data collection.”
The moment he says this, there are grumbling and murmurs among the directors. I am taken by shock as well.
“That’s impossible!” I say firmly. “I didn’t authorize such action. How could it have happened?”
“The person in charge might have done things without your order, sir,” the director of legal affairs replies calmly. “Nothing is certain for now but according to my sources, there is evidence procured against us. If they truly have evidence and a witness, we will need to pay them a billion dollars.”
“That will be a strain on the company’s pocket. We can’t afford to lose that much,” my dad says firmly. “Mr. Andrew, I will put you in charge of this from this moment onwards. Let it be known that if you fail to handle this, I will reconsider leaving you in charge of the company.”
Dad stands up and everyone, including me, stands as well. He steps out of the room with his secretary and everyone else remains. I walk down to the spot he just left with the aim of wrapping up the meeting.
“Nothing is certain and as such, words spoken here today must not be spread. The director of legal affairs shall wait to see me privately after the meeting and other directors will go back to their work and wait for my order. I won’t be paying a dime, let that fact sink into everyone’s heads,” I tell them firmly.
“Yes, sir,” a few directors responded. I call an end to the meeting and they all begin to walk out in pairs. The director of legal affairs and Taylor come close to me.
“Did you want to speak to me?” the director asks carefully. “What is it about?”
“It’s nothing much…” I reply in a simple manner. “Listen carefully. I don’t care if we collected data illegally or not. No matter what, it must be proven we are not guilty.”
The director sighs, “Are you asking me to cover up the truth?”
“Isn’t that the work of a lawyer?”