Leo came back home for the day, and found Snow sitting on the couch reading a novel. He asked, "Why are you up till now?"
Snow replied, "I was waiting for you to come over."
Leo smiled when he realized that Snow was waiting for him and then he walked up to her and asked, "Can you take a day off tomorrow?"
Snow shook her head and said, "I cannot, exams are coming and my bunch of students is behind in terms of syllabus."
Leo nodded and said, "If you can take a day off, you would be able to watch a good show on the news."
Snow smiled and replied, "Well, I will follow it on mobile when I Can. I hope they suffer."
The young man nodded, and the two of them retired to bed.
…
The people from the Cardinal group were at ease, because they thought that Butterfly Technologies was having a hard time negotiating new terms with the OEM company owners. However, it would not be that simple.
In the morning though, Cardinal Group was dealt with a big blow. Various media channels were breaking out the news of financial frauds and undercover black operations. Then, came shocking news that the police were on the lookout for Echo Cardinal, who was hiding somewhere.
Vincent Cardinal sat in his office looking at the television screen calmly, and with every passing second his eyes grew colder. He looked at his right-hand man, Qasim, and said, "Is this what you mean when you say that these people were rookies?"
Qasim gulped and Vincent said, "Go handle damage control, and find that idiot son. He needs to surrender and protect the image of the company. We will find someone else to take responsibility for his actions."
Qasim nodded quickly and dashed out to mobilize the public relations team and stuff. As he watched the news play, he thought about who was the person who made such a scene.
…
Leo dropped Lily to school, and Snow to her work place before he went to the office of the Butterfly Technologies. He parked his car in the parking lot and came to the top floor.
He noticed a few men were sitting in the conference room looking around at the room and talking to each other with wary expressions. He waited for a few minutes and found Percie Hibiscal coming over with her secretary.
The young CEO took over the set of files from the girl behind her and said, "President, the people are here."
Leo nodded and asked, "Did they come over organically or did you have to spend some?"
Percie Hibiscal smiled and replied, "Who would do anything for free in this world?"
Leo nodded and then the two of them went inside the room. An employee was standing inside, and said, "Everyone, this is Miss Percie Hibiscal, CEO of the company."
The people were dressed in modest clothing, and looking at the clean and pristine Percie Hibiscal, they stood up. The young lady waved her hand to them and pulled the chair for Leo to sit on. The latter did not have any hesitation as well. He sat down, and said, "Have a seat everyone."
The people sat down, and realized that this young man held a bigger authority than the young lady. Leo gazed at all the people, before he asked, "Well gents, you are invited here today for something that has the potential of changing your lives."
The five men sitting before him were taken aback by the big claims and one of them asked, "Sir, what do you want to say?"
Leo replied, "I want to hire you and all the workers beside you. My company will arrange accommodations for those who don’t have any and also provide insurance, and a pension fund. Your salaries will be increased by fifty percent as well. So, take a moment and think about it."
His words left the people in a daze, even Percie was shocked. Leo looked at the disbelieving men and asked, "Sounds too good to be true, right?"
The people nodded, and Leo asked, "Tell me what is the combined income of the people who work in the five factories?"
One man said, "We work in Crystal OEM, and combined all the men earn about two million. We have a hundred men."
Followed by this the rest of the people also reported their numbers and the stats were very close. Leo nodded and said, "Well, I will give you all a better offer. I want you all to organize your people in a group, and go on a collective strike against the owners. For this, I will pay you three months of salary in advance. All your men, which is around Thirty million Ren. This seems plausible right?"
The people thought for a bit and one middle-aged man asked, "Sir, how long would you want us to strike for?"
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Leo smiled and replied, "For two weeks. Sounds fair?"
Another man raised his hand and said, "Sir, can we think about it?"
Leo nodded and stood up as he said, "You have a couple of hours to think about it. I will come back to get your answer. However, know this, if you did agree, all the things I said earlier, they will be possible as well. I won’t hide it from you, I intend to force your bosses for a soft sale."
That said, he left the room with Percie. The men were gobsmacked and one of them said, "This young man seems very familiar. Also, his terms are not bad either."
Someone stood up to counter and the debate kicked off.
…
Leo and Percie were sitting inside the latter’s office, and she asked, "Boss, I understand what you want to do, but was it necessary to tell these men about your plans? What if they went out and leaked?"
The young man smiled and said, "Do you think that will work on them? At the moment, they are following Vincent Cardinal, and what’s about to happen is something that the old codger won’t be able to help them with."
Percie was stunned, this strategy was obviously a death bolt. The factories will suffer losses when the workers go on strike and then they can strong arm them to buy the factories off their hands.
Leo took out his phone and called Yulu head office. He said, "Miss Stein, good morning to you as well, I wanted to ask you if you can have the algorithm highlight the fact that some people have been trying to block my business?"
Percie took a deep breath and calmed down. She did not know how this fallen Young Master Cardinal had so many contacts, but the fact that he did, it was shocking, and not only did he have contacts, he was able to mobilize them as per he willed. This was amazing.
Leo looked at her face when he finished the call and said, "You just have to take care of the business at hand. If someone is trying to make moves in the background, you can handle them at your own pace. However, if you face something that you cannot handle, tell me. I will see what to do about them. I want this company to be profitable, and I want that soon. Do you understand?"
Percie Hibiscal nodded, the bossly aura coming from Leo was something that intimidated her and made her feel accountable for her job. She was thankful to him in a way and at the same time, she was worried what he might do to her if she failed.
After the decided time, Leo stood up and went inside the conference room. He looked at the five men and asked, "So, leaders, what have you thought?"
One of the men said, "Sir, if you are willing to give us a written agreement that after you buy the factories, you will retain us, we will agree to the strike, and you must keep the promise you made earlier."
Leo put his hands inside his pockets and said, "I will give it to you, but will you also give me a written agreement that you will keep this transaction a secret? If you dare to even peep the words to anyone, I will have you arrested for double playing and scamming me. If you agree, I will agree as well."
The people did count for such a thing and they resolutely agreed. Had Leo showed even one bit of hesitation, then they would not have agreed.
The agreements were brushed up quickly, and they were very simple. The worker union leaders agreed with them and nodded. After which the money was mobilized and they left. On the other hand, Percie’s team had returned after signing a long term exclusive contract for the raw materials.
The OEM’s didn’t have any raw material and they did not have any workers as well. Leo fucked them up and within a week, he will have his own factories.
At this moment, his phone rang and he frowned, "Hello, Miss Verse."
"Mister Cardinal, can you please come to the school quickly? Lily had a fight with a child."
Leo stood up in a snap and said, "I will be right there, please look after her for the time being."
His eyes changed from the collected boss, to a demon from hell.