Chapter 6 CHAPTER 6

Chapter 6

The Board Room

Aria Hartwell.

I was already getting frustrated in front of the board as I was made to do another presentation by Cassian. This time around, I made sure that all my phones were switched off, and Cassian didn't fail to mention that particular part.

"You seem more coordinated today, Miss Hartwell." He had a pleasant look on his face, and I wished I could just use my car keys to gouge out his eyes. "That's a good thing. No phones ringing unnecessarily."

I pressed my lips into a tight smile and responded sweetly. "There's always a second time for everything, you know. A second time to get things right, and I'm really good at that." I said sweetly, and I watched his eyes darken with satisfaction pooling the depth of my heart.

Good. It wasn't only him who knew how to use sexual innuendos. I returned back to my slides on the screen, and back to the oblivious board members who looked dedicated at my presentation today even when they had began asking me questions before I even started. I had the feeling that they were all out here to eat me raw and throw out my arguments, but I wasn't going to give them any of that.

"The Meridian acquisition is a liability we cannot afford," I said, keeping my voice level despite the way Cassian's jaw had been tightening for the last four minutes. "The debt ratio alone should disqualify it from consideration."

"The debt ratio is manageable given their asset portfolio." Cassian's voice was cold and controlled as he stared at me, and then the slides on the screen. "Miss Hartwell, are you sure you know what you're doing? Should we give you more time to take a look at your slides before saying anything else?"

There he went again, letting me doubt myself. But I knew one thing was that even if I was wrong, I was going to say it with so much confidence that the board would be convinced not to work with this company.

"We've worked with this company in 2019, haven't we?" I looked at him directly. "In fact, you were the one, Mr. Kent, heading this project under these same circumstances that year. And what happened?" I was directly asking him the question, but I threw it to the audience to show them that Cassian Kent wasn't the man they thought he was.

He was just mediocre and took praises for the hard work of other people. Murmurs erupted around the boardroom to my satisfaction, and I hid my smile as I watched his jaw tighten, and his intense eyes piercing my soul.

"The project didn't survive, and the company lost several billion dollars." Then, I lowered my voice to make an emotional statement. "If we lose that money in this current economy, I'm afraid that it won't be long until this company folds. And I'm sure no one wants that."

"If..." Cassian pointed out.

"What?" I was slightly confused.

"You said 'if'. That means you're not certain because it's a probability."

My mouth widened into a smile, and I was happy that he was taken aback by my reaction.

"Yes, it's better to deal with probabilities than certainties. Your certainty in 2019 led us to losing money. So, I don't see why we should be hopeful that things have changed this time."

The board members were looking between Cassian and me as we raised more logical arguments until it was time for the board members to put on a vote.

"Before you continue the vote, I would like to point out a core information that Miss Hartwell has mismatched."

Even I paused at that statement, because what was he on about? I was certain that I had everything working well.

"Miss Hartwell is confusing the Meridian project with the Mary Jane project." He looked relaxed as he spoke. "I'm sure if Miss Hartwell consults her notes again, she will find out that she's been talking about the wrong project all these while."

I felt my heart sink to my stomach as I rushed to the notes on my table, praying and hoping that he was wrong, that all my night's work wasn't on something that wasn't related to this presentation.

"Mr. Kent is right, Miss Hartwell." One of the board members began. I hadn't learned any of their names yet. "To be frank, I was confused when you started the presentation, but I'm glad Mr. Kent has clarified things for us."

I hated him. I hated him so much. He knew. He could have pointed out that I was doing the wrong thing from the start, but he let me go on, watching me humiliate myself with that stupid smirk on his face.

"Either ways, you've done your research really well, which is saying a lot." The man continued as he began arranging his documents. "We hope that in the next meeting, you get the company names right, okay?"

"That was really impressive." One of the junior staff I never bothered to know his name, held the door open for me as other staff had already filed out of the boardroom.

"If you're here to mock me, then—"

"No, I mean it."

I looked at his face, and it was devoid of any form of amusement. He looked genuinely impressed, and for the first time, I felt my efforts were seen by at least one person.

"Thank you." I replied honestly, clutching the files to my chest with my full smile back on my face.

"My name is James, by the way. I work in the accounting department." He stretched out his hand for a handshake. "Would you like to join me for lunch? I'm really curious about your research process."

"I would love—"

"No, she would not." We heard a cold voice from behind me, and we turned to see Cassian glaring daggers at James and his outstretched hands. "Because she would be correcting the nonsense she presented at work today. She will be having lunch in her office, and no one would be allowed in case of distractions. We can't have the company falling into the wrong hands just because of lunch." He then stared at me with eyes so hot like larva. "I want to see the corrected research on my desk before the day is over."

He didn't wait to see our reaction before he turned around and walked towards his office. I felt humiliated in front of this nice man, and I wished I had the balls to slap the demon out of Cassian.

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