Vivian POV
Before I could even ask further questions, the door to the elevator opened and we stepped out. Raising my gaze to look up, I froze on the spot. A long table, containing at least twenty five men in suit sat around, each in their own prudence of power, some were tapping impatiently on the table while the rest had their feet stomping lightly on the stone- tiled floor, obviously displaying the delay in their patience. The vast screen- projector that was hung at the extreme of the wall added a more intense view of supremacy in the room and I realized that this wasn’t just an ordinary conference.
Perhaps, were they all shareholders in the company?
They all stood up as soon as Mr Norman stepped, he walked towards the other end of the table where there was two empty seats, one was the head seat and the other seemed like something a deputy would take.
I followed closely behind him, titling my head down to avoid the gazes that already shot at me in a questionable manner until we finally arrived.
As expected, I thought Mr Norman would take the seat after me but then he shocked me ” After you dear” He said and I furrowed my brows in shock.
What does that mean? I couldn’t probably sit before him and there was no way I would taking the head seat because only the owner of the company could do that.
“Common, we’ve already wasted a lot of time, get seated” He added, smiling mischievously at me.
Definitely, something didn’t feel right at all! This was all strange.
I moved my feet gently, pushing the seat aback a bit to allow more access to myself as I gently sat down with my gaze refusing to stare up at neither of them.
Mr Norman then took his seat beside me. Right now, I felt tensed, nervous and anxious until a man walked in and dropped a file in front of Mr Norman
“Here” Mr Norman pushed the file towards me and I looked up at him in confusion.
“Why?” I said lowly, as not draw more heated attention to us.
“You’ll handle this, you’ve been a back bone to Max’s company all these while. I know you’re capable so you’ve got this” He relayed and I shrugged.
This wasn’t getting funny any longer. When had u turned to a CEO of a company.
“Stanley, explain in details to her so she can understand before opening the documents” Mr Norman said to the man behind us who had handed over the file to him earlier. Everyone watched me, even as I fidgeted slightly.
“Is she the new partner you spoke of Norman?” One of the men spoke, glaring intently at me.
Mr Norman nodded” Yes, she’s the ome and also my son’s wife” He replied. And then a bit of an uproar Rose amongst them although in a whisper.
“But you can’t have a female look at all these things, she probably has no knowledge about how things world here and to talk of this is the headquarters Mr Norman and not just anyone can come here” The mam added. His last statement got me.
Who was he calling ‘just anyone?’ Me? Damn! I hated people that condescends others and just like it was the straw I needed to flare, Mr Norman looked at me, giving me a heads on to defend myself.
I took first class in business administration and management and they think I was just an ordinary Passover of a woman? They really didn’t know what this brain of mine could do and from the look of things and studying their faces, I could swear half of the men here was nothing more than criminals facading under the guise of perhaps, their illegally acquired shares.
I wondered what it was Mr Norman wanted me to handle but then I’m ready for it.
“Give me a brief detail Mr Stanley” I suddenly said with brevity, taking both Mr Norman, Stanley and everyone by surprise. The shock plastered on their faces can’t be hidden as they stared at me with disbelief in their eyes. Just a while ago, I had felt nervous from their eyes but then, I had suddenly revoked to a Fierce business woman.
” In the past six months, we’ve experienced a great loss from the internal affiliates here in the headquarters, our company in LA was shut down abruptly due to allegedly found hard drugs on patients and also five of our branches was also closed in France which includes the fashion industry and the Oil mines. The government has requested 15 million dollars as ransom for those affected but then, we’ve also been experiencing a decrease here in our financial account and the source where the money goes to is currently untracked ” He finally briefed and I let out a long breath.
Truly, this wasn’t just any problem, it was critical.
” The shareholders, how many are still staking?” I asked but I felt a kind of turbulence soar with few of the men at my question but I cared less. If Mr Norman couldn’t handle all these by himself and brought me along then I was determined to fish out the problems which I already have a hunch are within these same men.
” Two are still staking, the rest are threatening to withdraw their shares” Stanley and answered and it was only then I opened the file before me and went through it. With a few turn of pages, some figures seemed manipulated, which made the total expense unbalanced, some were added while some were removed with no plausible expense and immediately I shut the file closed, pushing my chair back and stood up, then walked to stand in front of the projector.
This was business time!
“This screen records every activities done across the other companies both in LA and France right?”I turned towards Max with a Stern look and he nodded ” Yes ma’am”
“Good, I would like to revisit the activities that went on last month in both countries and also, I want the financial accounting department manager here” I divulged and the men’s eyes lit up with fear.