Early in the morning, Janessa asked Sally and Linda for a leave of absence.
Sally had made up her mind to give her hell at work, so she had to be on her guard all the time.
Then, once her leave was authorized, Janessa took a taxi to the Qiu Group.
With the memories of her last accident still fresh in her mind, Janessa refused to get behind the wheel
no matter what.
Along the way, Janessa met several shareholders who looked familiar to her.
They greeted her in a hurry and then excused themselves.
They didn't seem inclined to chat.
What happened to the shareholders? They used to talk with her for longer when they met in the
company.
Did Aydin do something behind her back? She had a bad feeling about the upcoming meeting.
The boardroom was quiet, and the shareholders were clustered together in small groups.
Janessa looked around and sat at the head of the table, which was the CEO's seat.
The shareholders looked at her in surprise, but they didn’t say anything.
At nine o'clock, Aydin entered the room with a cheerful smile, which disappeared as soon as he saw
Janessa sitting at the head of the table.
A displeased frown formed between his brows.
Norma tugged at Aydin's clothes and shook her head slightly, signaling him silently to not lose control
of his temper.
Aydin snorted and sat on an unoccupied chair, his eyes full of resentment as he glared at Janessa.
Janessa met his stare straight on, and both sets of eyes burned with mutual hatred.
All of the shareholders around them avoided looking at them for fear of getting caught in the crossfire.
Norma gracefully strode forward to stand in front of the projector screen and started the meeting.
"The Qiu Group has been operating for two decade under the leadership of two former CEOs.The
company has its golden years, but it has also encountered its fair share of failures.The former
chairman, the mother of Janessa Qiu, placed the company in great jeopardy because of her poor
management.To make up for her shortcomings, she managed to secure the support of the Lu
family.However, with her untimely demise and the divorce of Janessa and Rayan Lu, the Lu family
ultimately decided to withdraw the capital that they had invested in the Qiu Group."
Full of confidence, Norma looked at the shareholders calmly, as if secure in the thought that it was
Janessa and her mother who had made the Qiu Group so vulnerable.
The truth was, if the Qiu family didn't have such a parasite as Aydin and his family, the Qiu Group
would have been an industry leader.
Janessa calmly watched as the couple continued their performance.
She waited to see how these people would screw up in front of so many shareholders.
"Janessa has tried her best to recover the company's losses that the pull-out of the investment had
caused, but it still ended up in the termination of two of the Qiu Group's projects, as well as the loss of
millions of dollars in profit.Clearly, Miss Janessa Qiu is unsuitable to inherit the Qiu Group even though
the will of the late chairman stated so."
Obviously, Norma didn't want her to take over the company.
She knew that Janessa no longer had Rayan's support, so she was trying to back her into a corner.
All for the sake of power, Aydin's family had acted shamelessly and disregarded their blood ties.
"I single-handedly secured a five-hundred million investment to get the company through its capital
issues.Why are you forgetting to mention that, Norma?"
What did she mean by recovering the company's losses? If her sources were to be believed, Aydin was
the one who pulled the plug on those two projects.
"Five hundred million dollars was enough to officially launch the three projects.Do you have any idea
how much capital is needed to ensure the successful operation of those three projects?"
Janessa retorted, "If my memory serves me right, the Lu Group only invested four hundred million
dollars to sponsor the Qiu Group.The capital I have secured was five hundred million dollars—was the
difference of one hundred million dollars not enough?"
Did they really think she was a little girl whom they could bully at will? She wouldn't have been
appointed as a manager in the Qiu Group if she lacked business acumen.
Noticing that something was wrong, Aydin coughed slightly and looked away, waving a hand to let his
wife continue.
Taking Aydin's hint, Norma reined in her dissatisfaction and continued in a pleasant voice, "Dear
shareholders, I invited you here today so that we can select the new chairman of the board of
directors.The candidates for this election are the daughter of the former chairman, Janessa, and the
current general manager, Aydin.Now, please welcome Janessa Qiu to the floor so she could speak
about her bid for chairmanship."
Janessa was trembling with anger.
Aydin only told her about the meeting—he did not mention the election.
Aydin seemed to be well prepared.
At this point her only chance of winning the election was if the shareholders believed that she was
capable of securing capital for and running the company.Janessa tried to calm herself down and slowly
walked toward the projection screen.
Placing her hands on the table, she stared each person in the room in the eye.
Aydin's disdainful eyes, the guilty glances of some shareholders, and the steadfast gazes of her
mother's most trusted subordinates—she saw everything.
"It is the tradition of the Qiu Group to elect its leaders during the general meeting of shareholders.I
don't have much to say, but I hope that you can remember one thing: the Qiu Group was established
through the efforts of my father and every single one of you who are sitting here.You don't want the
company to fall into the hands of incompetent people who can't run it well.The Qiu Group suffered the
setback of withdrawn capital, but who ultimately revived the working capital and saved the company
from ruin? At this point, I believe that every single one of you already know in your hearts for who you
should elect for the sake of this company."
The cold, powerful voice did not seem to come from Janessa.
After a final look at the shocked eyes of the shareholders, Janessa walked back to her previous seat
with confidence.
Only smart people could sit in this room, after all.
Aydin seemed even more relaxed in comparison to the calm Janessa.
He looked at the shareholders with a smile.
Finally, his eyes landed on Janessa.
"I have nothing to say.What I can assure you is that this year's performance will definitely double that of
the former chairman.As for Janessa...I think all of you can understand how an immature girl's pursuit of
power.I won't make a comment about her competency.I believe that you can make the most correct
choice."
Aydin's provocative eyes made Janessa feel a little uneasy.
Did he do something behind the scenes? "Well, please think about your vote carefully.Next, we will cast
our votes via secret ballots."
Norma took out several sheets of paper from her notebook and distributed them among the
shareholders.
Then, she carefully wrote down her vote on the ballot.
Then, she stood aside and waited for the vote to be taken away.
The secretary helped to count the votes, and the official tally and vote formula was calculated on the
board in front.
"Janessa."
"Aydin."
"Aydin."
Finally, only one vote was left, and the result was clear.
Aydin won.
Janessa turned to look at the four people who were supposed to stay loyal to her mother.
Who among them betrayed her? How could they be so disloyal? Janessa looked at them in confusion,
but she still couldn't figure out who voted for Aydin.
However, it didn't matter anymore.
Among the eleven shareholders present, she only had three votes.
Even if she had one more vote in her favor, it was impossible to change the situation.
She was doomed to lose.
"Next, let me announce formally that the new chairman of the Qiu Group is Aydin Qiu!"
Unable to hide her excitement, Norma ran around the massive table and threw herself into Aydin's
arms.
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