"But the news said that she's the one who took those poor boys. Are they in your house now?"
"Oh, if those boys are in your house, we should use them during the press conference," one shareholder said. "If those boys are with you, then your name will be cleared immediately, Mr. Gray."
"Yeah, we can use your wife and those boys to gain the public's trust once more. Because at this point, the public is rooting for the boys, and everyone is in love with your wife because she's an angelic beauty with a good heart."
"But the rumor said that your wife left you, that rumor is not true, right?"
Vincent's body trembled as he tried his best to hold his fury. He was angry at these bastards and their nonstop chatters and useless questions.
He was even more annoyed knowing that Chloe and those four useless boys weren't in his grasp right now and were nowhere to be found. So he couldn't drag them to a press conference to clear up his name.
'I will have to think of a way to handle this bullshit without Maria,' Vincent thought. 'Everything is a mess right now.'
"I will handle everything, don't worry," Vincent said. After having enough of these shareholders' bullshit, he stood and added, "The meeting is adjourned. I will contact all of you once I've done the press conference. You will see the result after that."
"And when will you do that press conference, Sir?" The shareholder asked.
"Mid January. I still need a bit of preparation and I still have things to do," Vincent replied. "Besides, Christmas and New Year is around the corner, the public will soon forget about this and business will be good as always."
"We hope so, Mr. Gray," the shareholders said simultaneously. They were skeptical that Vincent could recover from this.
True, the public would soon forget about the scandal because of Christmas and New Year, but the holiday season was also a very risky situation to have.
During holidays, many people stay in their homes, which means they have a lot of free time. They could use that free time to start gossiping about Vincent, and the rumors would spread like wildfire.
They were very skeptical but couldn't do anything other than wait for Vincent to do something.
Vincent returned to the CEO's office after the meeting. He got a new secretary, a man who was actually the manager's secretary.
The young male secretary bowed politely at Vincent, who just entered the office, "Good afternoon, Sir. The documents that you need are on your desk."
Vincent eyed the young man from head to toe. He frowned, and his frown turned into displeasure as the male secretary stood before him, waiting for an order.
"Why are you here?" He asked.
"The HR department said that you need a temporary secretary to replace Mrs. Maria, Sir. I happen to be the most competent for now, so I will be here until we get a replacement."
Vincent rolled his eyes, "Tell them to give me a female secretary. I don't care if she's worse than you, but my secretary needs to be a woman."
The male secretary was shocked, "B—But, Sir, you are the CEO, and I happen to be the only one that knows about your line of work currently. It'll be a mess if someone else takes this position."
"Then you can do the work outside while that female secretary will be working here in my office," Vincent said. "What do you want to do here inside my office anyway? Stripping naked? You fucking disgusting homo! GET OUT!"
The male secretary flinched. He quickly left Vincent's office and headed to the HR department to get another woman as Mr. Gray's secretary because that was what Vincent wanted right now.
Vincent sat on his chair. He leaned and stared at the ceiling for a while, thinking of all the mess he had to deal without Maria's presence right now.
"This is all because of Chloe," Vincent muttered. "If that bitch didn't leave me, then I can use her as my punching bag, so my mind will be cleared each time I go to the office."
Without Maria working for him, Vincent had zero ideas how to find Chloe right now.
Of course, he could always do a massive manhunt to find her, but that would definitely alert the man she was with right now. He still didn't know the identity of this man, so he couldn't make a rash move.
He just knew that man must be powerful, or at least at the same level as him.
"Vernon was so fucking useless for giving me list of millionaires in New York before," Vincent sneered. "Obviously, that man must be a multi millionaire, or even a billionaire on par with me, but also with political connections."
"It should've been easier to filter the list of billionaires in New York, but most of them are very secretive, just like my late father."
Vincent's late father, Vaughn, was also a billionaire before him. He was the one who did all the work before, developing the business from a mid-sized company to a billion-dollar company.
Meanwhile, Vincent's task was to maintain the position, making sure that the company would stay powerful after Vaughn's death.
Vincent still remembered his late dad's message for him.
-
'My son, if you want to be a successful man, you have to make sure to keep everything under your control, including your woman.'
'In fact, your woman is the property that is likely to rebel. You have to beat her if she dares to fight back, and you have to make her desperate enough, so she won't even think about running away.'
'You have to know that we are above them. We are basically their God, while they are our pets. Remember, we're the one who feeds them and gives them shelter, we deserve to train their obedience like a dog.'
-
Vincent gritted his teeth as he got frustrated, knowing he had failed his father.
He failed to maintain the company's success, and he also failed to keep his wife in check.
Heck, he also failed to make his little brother obey him. Vernon acted like a wild mutt in front of him, thinking that he could stand on his own without his help, and even dared to fight back.
"That bastard dares to fight back against me, his own Big brother. I should teach him a lesson," Vincent said. He asked Maria about Vernon's company report before, but since Maria was missing, that meant he had to do it all by himself.
He wanted to destroy his little brother's company, so Vernon would return to him, begging to be saved.
Thus, Vincent called his most loyal dog Gregory Maxwell.
That old man would do anything for him as long as he could be on his good side, "Well, it's time for you to be useful, you dirty old bag."
Vincent called Gregory Maxwell and waited for him to pick up.
That fat old man usually picked up on the first second of the call. He was so desperate to survive with the Gray company because his company was under Vincent's mercy.
But it took more than five seconds for this fat old man to pick up now, much to Vincent's annoyance.
—
"Good afternoon, Mr. Gray," Gregory Maxwell greeted perfunctorily. "May I know if you need something?"
Vincent also disliked the way this man talked so coldly to him. Usually, Gregory Maxwell sounded very sweet, as he would always try to please Vincent in any way possible.
But he had to put his displeasure aside and get straight to the point.
"I need you to do something for me, Mr. Maxwell," Vincent said.
"And what kind of task do you have for me, Mr. Gray?" Gregory Maxwell asked. His voice got even more strange and alienating, as if he didn't want to get a call from Vincent, which was just ridiculous.
Who wouldn't want to get a call from a powerful man like Vincent Gray? Everyone wanted the chance to get on his good side, so Vincent would give them a project or any work.
"I want you to work with my little brother, Vernon Phoenix Gray. Get on his good side, and make a contract with him. After you're done with it, you should report to me about the contract and all the systems his company has," Vincent said. "Don't worry, I will give you a good reward for your hard work later."
Gregory Maxwell went silent for a moment. Then he scoffed as he found that ridiculous.
"Then I should tell you something, Mr. Gray," Mr. Maxwell said. "First, I don't need your instruction, because I am currently working with Mr. Phoenix Gray right now. I already signed a contract with him months ago, around the same time you humiliated me in your office."
"Oh, that's good," Vincent approved. "That means you're halfway done. Come here and give me all the information about your contract and the project that he has. I give you two hours to reach my office."
Visit freewe𝑏(n)ovel.co(m) for the b𝘦st novel reading experience