Charlotte returned to work at Time Group as usual.
However, she discovered that during her recent absence, the newly launched product-Wild Geese-had not been performing well. The sales had declined, customer feedback was extremely poor, complaints and returns were increasing, and other partner companies were withdrawing their cooperation. The company’s reputation had taken a severe hit.
She instructed the finance director to bring the company’s accounts for a detailed review and found that the company’s profits and losses were indeed problematic. She also asked the production director to bring some samples for use, and the quality was noticeably worse than before, with poor performance and even causing slight skin allergies.
Initially, she thought of Virginia’s previous threats to suppress Time Group, but upon careful consideration, she dismissed the idea. She believed Virginia was not such a devious person.
“Investigate!” she ordered coldly, instructing her secretary to bring all relevant documents and began personally investigating each department’s operations.
Charlotte personally visited the finance, marketing, safety, production, research and development, and after-sales departments to check their workflows and found no major issues. Where was the problem? After investigating every department, only the procurement department remained.
When Charlotte, the new ice queen CEO, arrived at the procurement department, her graceful figure, enchanting body, and fair skin exuded a subtle fragrance of youth. Every employee in each department admired her beauty and worked more diligently, though they knew she was unattainable.
At the procurement department, the director Aron Bullock was already waiting to greet her.
“Chairman, you’re here,” Aron said with a smile.
“Take me to the warehouse,” Charlotte replied with a cold expression, exuding an air of authority.
Hearing Charlotte’s words, Aron felt uneasy, as if hiding something. However, he dared not disobey and led Charlotte to the warehouse.
The warehouse shelves were filled with production materials, and several employees were slowly organizing goods. Upon seeing the CEO’s visit and admiring her beauty, they worked more diligently without slacking off.
Charlotte carefully inspected each type of material on the shelves while Aron introduced their names and uses. Most materials seemed fine until they reached the shelves holding materials for the new product.
Each material was sealed in insulated boxes, recently purchased for production.
“What’s inside these boxes?” Charlotte asked.
“Chairman, these are basic production materials for the new product, just delivered today,” Aron explained nervously. “Honey, eggs, milk, lemons… and so on.”
Charlotte’s sharp eyes detected Aron’s unease. “Open these boxes,” she ordered sternly.
Aron reluctantly opened each insulated box with trembling hands, sweating profusely. A pungent moldy smell filled the air as the boxes were opened.
“What is going on here?” Charlotte demanded angrily, covering her nose and mouth as she coughed from the stench. She inspected the materials closely-most of the honey and milk were expired, some eggs were rotten and smelly, lemons were shriveled and not fresh… all other materials were of extremely poor quality and unusable for production.
Seeing Charlotte’s fury, Aron panicked and pleaded. “I’m sorry, Chairman. It was Ewan Fraser who instructed me to do this. I won’t do it again.”
Ewan Fraser was a minor shareholder who had joined Time Group early on. His family had some small businesses in Stresall. Charlotte had heard that he was not diligent in his duties and had previously embezzled funds when Time Group was still under the Edwards family. She had never had concrete evidence to revoke his shares until now.
“Confess everything,” Charlotte demanded icily.
Aron confessed that Ewan had a partnership with a wholesaler from Bradshaw Group. During Charlotte’s absence, Ewan used company funds meant for purchasing top-quality materials to buy the worst materials instead, pocketing the difference. He also promised Aron a twenty percent cut to handle these transactions.
“You won’t be working at Time Group anymore,” Charlotte declared without mercy. “From today onwards, I’m removing you from your position. You’ll be blacklisted in this industry. Think about your actions.”
“Chairman… please!” Aron pleaded desperately.
“No need to say more. Do you want me to send you to prison?” Charlotte retorted coldly.
Aron regretted his greed and helping Ewan; now he lost his director position and could no longer survive in Stresall.
With the truth revealed, Charlotte returned to her office and called Quentin to inform him of the situation. She believed Quentin would know how to handle it.
“Well done, Bradshaw family,” Quentin sneered. Since they dared to harm Time Group’s interests, he thought it was time to deal with them. After all, they were one of the four families responsible for his parents’ downfall and taking over Zeustimes Group. It was time for revenge.