Captivation: Want Nothing But You

Chapter 148 MisunderstandingText © 2024 NôvelDrama.Org.

Andy nodded. Taking out a stack of documents from his briefcase, he handed out the papers to the directors. Ten copies for the ten people present. "What do we have here?" A director looked at the document placed in front of him and furrowed his brows at Rachel. Rachel settled her elbows onto the table and knitted her fingers around her jawline. While smiling, she said, "Open the document and take a look for yourself." After a long silence, no one reached out to open the document. Somehow, they were feeling uneasy about what was inside the document when they saw Rachel's mysterious smile. Aldo's face darkened visibly. He slapped the desk and said, "Stop playing tricks!" Andy scowled. He noticed that it had been several times already that Aldo had ended up scolding Rachel. He thought that the way Aldo treated Rachel was very disrespectful. He could hardly stand it anymore. Before he could say something, Rachel spoke up. "See for yourself what is inside first." She understood that Andy didn't want her to feel wronged, but all the scolding and sarcastic comments in the world wouldn't be able to deter her. She gave him a comforting look to help soothe his worry. Andy nodded slightly without saying another word. With a loud snort, Aldo picked up the document sitting in front of him on the table and checked it. The other directors also checked their documents seeing that Aldo was willing to give what Rachel was proposing a chance. Rachel lowered her gaze and took her time to drink her soup. From time to time, the ceramic spoon made crisp noises when it touched the edge of the bowl, joining in with the sound of the directors turning the pages of the documents. After sipping half of her soup, Rachel was nearly full. She set down the spoon and lifted her eyes. At the finality of the sound, the directors all stopped flipping through the pages. They all had different expressions on their faces, but similarly, all their eyes held panic in them. "So I see that you've finished looking through it?" Rachel moved her lips very slightly to say those words. Her tone was flat and devoid of emotion. When the directors heard it, they right away felt the oppression of those words pressing down on them. No one said anything. The directors avoided her eyes and gave each other looks. No one dared to say anything first. "Bennet Group has been in decline ever since my mother passed away. I wasn't proactive in keeping up with the company's businesses and didn't bother meddling in its affairs. I know you all helped develop the group with my grandfather and mother. And that none of you will ever do anything to harm the group." Rachel leaned back against her chair and ignored their silence. She spoke slowly to ensure that everyone heard her words loud and clear. "But I divorced my husband just a few days ago, and now Bennet Group is almost bankrupt. It was only until then that I realized just how foolish I've been all along. I put a lot of trust in your abilities running the group, of course, but I know I shouldn't have burdened you with so many responsibilities. If my grandpa and mom saw me not lift a finger to help and just let you manage on your own, they will probably blame me for my thoughtlessness. So as of now, I've decided I'll take things into my own hands and become head of Bennet Group. The first thing I will do is to analyze how much each of you has contributed to Bennet Group in the past few years. And the documents you have before you state the capital flow and personnel transfer of the projects you all have managed over the years." "Contributions?" Andy sneered inwardly. After looking through the documents, he assumed that not one of them dared admit that they were contributors. Rachel had sent him these documents two days ago. When he saw what was written in them, his hand that had been holding the papers at that time trembled. In the past seven or eight years, Bennet Group saw a loss of about five billion dollars. Every investment the company made was almost all in vain. After there had been an investigation done on these investment projects, all fingers pointed to the directors. So in essence, the funding for these projects all ended up in the pockets of these people. How dare they?! They actually stole about five billion dollars! And these people were really good at covering their tracks. Thinking back to how hard Rachel's grandfather and mother worked to build and grow Bennet Group and how difficult Rachel's life had been over the years, he clenched his fists out of anger. If they were still alive to see what was being done to their beloved company, it would hardly put a dent in their outrage by throwing these directors out of Bennet Group! The board members all kept silent, with sweat collecting on their foreheads. They even started to breathe more quietly. Rachel was in no apparent hurry and just waited for them patiently. Finally, someone couldn't keep quiet any longer. His face was very pale as he stuttered, "Miss Bennet, you must've misunderstood us." "Yes, yes, this must be some sort of misunderstanding!" "Yeah, Miss Bennet. You've been absent all this time so it's perfectly normal for you to not know what is going on with Bennet Group all these years. This is a pure misunderstanding." "The information you have here is not credible." The silence had long since dissipated and now everyone clamored to be heard. They all wiped the sweat off their forehead and collected behind the first person to voice their opinions. The room, which had originally been so silent that even the sound of a pin drop could be heard, suddenly became noisy and chaotic. Rachel sipped from her glass of water and glanced over at the silent Aldo. A feeling of respect for the man rose in her heart. He really was a formidable foe. If she hadn't done her research, she would have believed that he was the most innocent out of all the directors. She placed her cup onto the table. It was a light and dull sound. The board members immediately stopped talking and turned to look over at Rachel with nervous looks. "What's the matter? Why did you stop your discussion? Keep going. You know I'm listening." Rachel cocked her eyebrow. After a while, she pretended to be illuminated by their words and said, "Ah, so you were saying these documents were faked, right? That there must've been some sort of misunderstanding here, right?" The board members all swallowed nervously. "Then tell me, which matter listed on the documents is a misunderstanding?" Though her voice was gentle, it also came across as oppressive and suffocating. No one dared to speak up. Rachel looked at the directors and went on to say, "Is it really a misunderstanding? The project that funded five hundred million dollars to a technology company three years ago and lost eight hundred million dollars. Is that a misunderstanding? Or the project that purchased raw materials using fifty million dollars five years ago and eventually the items were tested to be not good enough to use and that the actual cost of the materials was only three million dollars? Or is it some sort of misunderstanding that you spent tens of millions of dollars to set up a research institution in the name of some well-known experts from abroad, but in fact, what you really did was hire some men who weren't even real experts to do the research?" The directors all focused their gaze on the floor, and there was even more sweat gathering on their foreheads. They could say nothing to refute her accusations. Everything she said was all true. These absurd projects really did exist. There was no misunderstanding at all. Rachel's eyes turned cold. "What? Didn't you just say there was some sort of misunderstanding?" "Are you here to settle accounts with us?" After some time had passed, a deep and dignified voice sounded out. Rachel turned to look at the person who spoke. At long last, Aldo couldn't hold his peace anymore and decided he would contribute to the discussion.