Chapter 326 - Disloyal Once
What did we just hear?
The young man in front of us who seems too young to hold such a high position turns out to really be the chairman of headquarters who rarely makes an appearance?!
Did we just kick up such a huge stir right in front of the chairman?!
We even called him an impostor?
Oh God! What have we done?!
If there was a cure for regret in this world, they would go back in time to ten minutes ago and never let themselves behave so stupidly again!
Unfortunately, there is no way to turn back time. And regardless of how regretful they were, there was nothing they could do except face the harsh reality.
Adrian was the first to chicken out as he hurriedly lowered his head and apologized to Lucas. "I'm… I'm sorry, Mr. Chairman! I didn't know that you're the chairman just now… I really didn't mean to offend you. Please forgive me!"
He had been leveraging on his seniority to disobey William. But now that he was facing the person with the highest authority in the company, he knew that he would really be chased out of the company if he still didn't admit to his mistakes!
He was at least the deputy general manager of the company now, who drew a high salary each month and received plenty of bonuses each year too. More importantly, he could obtain lots of benefits too, making his net income much higher than the salary he was getting on the surface!
If he was really fired from his job and got kicked out of the company, he would no longer enjoy these benefits. Furthermore, he was already in his forties. It would be extremely difficult for him to get a similar job elsewhere, especially if the reason for his departure from the company was a unilateral dismissal because other companies wouldn't dare to hire him.
Thus, it was no big deal even if he had to swallow his pride and bow down to Lucas to apologize to him and seek his forgiveness.
The other six senior executives also quickly reacted after recovering from the shock and hurriedly apologized to Lucas.
"Mr. Chairman, w-we just made an unintentional mistake. We didn't intend to offend you. Please forgive us!"
"Yes, that's right. Mr. Chairman, we were wrong…"
...
Lucas stood still without moving and merely sneered. "You may not have been aware of my identity, but you were very clear that Mr. Carter is the general manager! I saw how sharp-tongued and aggressive you were just now. You people openly defied Mr. Carter and expressed your unwillingness to obey him. I almost thought you were the chairman of the Stardust Corporation!"
Lucas's derisive scolding immediately made the senior executives, who had just apologized, speechless as their faces became flushed.
Everyone knew that William was the general manager of the company and their direct superior. But they were still disrespectful to him nevertheless. Actually, it had nothing to do with whether they were aware of his identity or not. It just showed that they thought that William was a pushover because he was transferred here to be the general manager.
"Mr. Carter, from now on, all employees who disobey you and deliberately cause trouble in the company will be fired!" Lucas suddenly said to William.
"Yes, Mr. Chairman!" William didn't want to reveal his relationship with Lucas in front of the company's employees, so he was rather respectful when speaking to Lucas.
Adrian's face was extremely sullen. Seeing William's secretary about to turn around to prepare the dismissal letters, he was overwhelmed with anxiety, and he finally couldn't help standing out and protesting loudly, "Mr. Chairman, you can't just fire me like this! I was one of the first few employees of the company, and I've been around since its establishment. I won't dare to say that I deserve great credit for the rapid development of the company over the years, but I've at least committed a lot of effort, sweat, and tears to make it possible!
"Even till now, I'm in charge of many of the company's key projects, and I'm also responsible for keeping in contact with many of our clients. If you dismiss me now, it will definitely result in major losses incurred by the company. It will also cause the displeasure of our clients! I don't think any of us wants to see that happen, right?" While informing Lucas of his contributions, he was also somewhat threatening him.
Unfortunately, Lucas would never succumb to threats. "Do you think that the company can't continue operating without you? As for those so-called contributions you mentioned, don't go talking about them to me. I know better than you do."
The Orange County branch office of the Solar Corporation was brought back to life and put on track with Lucas's help. In terms of the clientele and expansion, the Stardust Corporation had given the Solar Corporation a great push too.
Furthermore, the company was relatively new and was thus still receiving lots of resources and help from the Stardust Corporation. Adrian had claimed credit to the wrong person.
Adrian wanted to play the sympathy card again but to no avail after hearing what Lucas said.
The other six executives gritted their teeth when they saw this and said, "Mr. Chairman, we didn't intend to go against Mr. Carter! We really… Well, Adrian Hill is the deputy general manager and holds great authority. He insisted that we boycott Mr. Carter together with him and threatened to deal with us if we didn't. We really didn't have a choice!"
"Yes! Before Mr. Carter came, Adrian Hill had been calling the shots in the office. Being employees who lack authority, we didn't dare to disobey him!"
"Yes, we didn't want to go against Mr. Carter either! In fact, who the general manager is makes no difference to us employees. Adrian Hill forced us!"
"Mr. Chairman, Mr. Carter, please don't fire us! We are all in our forties and fifties, have families to feed, and loans and bills to pay. If we get dismissed, how are we supposed to keep on living? We promise that we'll obey Mr. Carter and never defy him again!"
...
They all pushed the blame onto Adrian and tearfully claimed that he had forced them to offend William. They even pleaded to Lucas and William to forgive them and not kick them out of the company.
"You! You people…!" Enraged by their open betrayal, Adrian turned beet red, but he couldn't bring himself to say a single word.
William intended to ignore them at first, but he had previously also personally experienced the difficulties of finding a job as someone in their fifties. So he couldn't help but become softhearted and relent a little.
"Luc… Mr. Chairman, they seem quite pitiful. Why don't we let them stay?" William whispered to Lucas with sympathy in his eyes.
As soon as Lucas saw the look in William's eyes, he knew that William must have empathized with these people. But Lucas felt otherwise and instead shook his head with certainty. "A person who has been disloyal once should never be trusted again. They ostracized you for the sake of sucking up to Adrian Hill, and now, they're pushing the blame onto him for their own benefit. Next time, they might not even hesitate to sell the entire company for their personal interests!
"Besides, there are so many employees in this company, and they're not the only senior executives here. Why weren't the rest forced to go against you? So that's not a valid reason at all.
"Each and every person in this world has to take responsibility and pay the price for their own choices and decisions!"
In the military, the most shameless type of people were traitors because they were despicable by nature and would easily destroy the efforts that countless people had guarded with their lives for the sake of their own benefits. Lucas would never allow such people to stay in his company.
After Lucas said these words with a straight face, even William shuddered, let alone the other senior executives who bore the brunt of it. They almost knelt down immediately!