Playtime's Over, CEO: She's Really Done With You-Chapter 387: Kick the Dog When It’s Down

Just as a few people were conspiring, the door to the meeting room suddenly opened.

They were all startled.

They quickly turned their heads to glance, only to find Silas Hawthorne standing at the door, smiling at them.

They were shocked, immediately standing up.

With hearts full of anxiety, they wondered how much of their conversation Silas Hawthorne had overheard.

"Here you are," Silas Hawthorne’s smiling voice came.

"Young Master."

"Mr. Hawthorne."

...

They instinctively greeted him.

"The meeting has started," Silas Hawthorne said with a smile. "Couldn’t find anyone, then I randomly opened a door and found you."

Silas Hawthorne remained as gentle and unchanged as usual.

But in their eyes, his smile looked like the devil’s smile.

"Huh?"

"Oh oh..."

"Right... the meeting... "

They stammered in response.

Silas Hawthorne admired their anxious and panicked expressions for a moment, then smiled and turned to leave.

Following behind him, Secretary Sawyer almost couldn’t hold back a laugh.

Silas Hawthorne did it on purpose.

After Silas Hawthorne left, only then did they drag themselves out.

They exchanged looks and then headed together to the meeting room.

In the first meeting room.

The meeting proceeded as usual.

It’s just that today, everyone sitting there felt like they were on pins and needles.

After all, many of them had pressured Silas Hawthorne in the past few days.

Now, they were a bit afraid that Silas Hawthorne would settle scores with them later.

After all, they understood that Silas Hawthorne might seem gentle, but he was not a person to take things lightly.

The entire meeting process was tormenting for many, wondering when Silas Hawthorne would bring up Serena Sterling’s matter.

They had all agreed privately on what to say, that if Silas brought it up, they would say it was all for the good of the corporation.

Their intentions were good.

They meant well.

And besides, Serena’s project hadn’t made much money, just not losing money.

But until the end of the meeting, Silas Hawthorne never mentioned Serena Sterling.

They suffered through the entire meeting.

"Anything else?" Silas Hawthorne opened his mouth, looking at everyone present.

They exchanged looks, with expressions of deflation, but no one dared to speak.

The entire meeting room was filled with an eerie silence.

"Meeting adjourned." Silas Hawthorne stood up and took the lead in heading out.

Those supporting Silas Hawthorne also headed out.

Leaving behind only those who had previously pressured Silas.

They breathed a sigh of relief.

But they also felt a strange sense of disappointment.

It was like they had prepared strategies for a long time but hadn’t executed them, feeling stifled.

Everyone was awkwardly stuck there.

Then they started infighting.

"I said earlier, don’t be so hasty; what if we act rashly and it doesn’t work?" someone spoke first.

"Yes, Director Wyatt, we were following your lead. If Serena dragged down the Hawthorne Group and impacted our income, we’d follow you. So what now?"

...

A few middle-aged men immediately rebutted with the same rhetoric as before.

In short, summing it all up was one sentence–"Serena hasn’t really made money; we don’t know how things will go in the future. We nipped the risk in the bud, and we were not wrong!"

...

As they argued heatedly in the meeting room, Silas Hawthorne had already returned to the CEO’s office.

Orion Hawthorne had finished his business elsewhere and was waiting there.

"Brother!" Orion greeted joyfully as he followed Silas into the office.

Silas nodded.

Secretary Sawyer closed the door from outside.

"Why didn’t you teach them a hard lesson!" Orion said with a laugh.

He had specifically returned to watch the spectacle, but unfortunately, Silas hadn’t mentioned Serena at all.

He was planning to add fuel to the fire.

During the years Silas was abroad, many of them hadn’t been kind.

Silas did not look at Orion, just flipping through documents.

"It’s not the right time yet," Silas stated.

"How come?" Orion asked.

Silas pointed to a chair, inviting the excited Orion to sit.

Orion quickly sat down, looking eagerly at Silas.

"It’s not severe enough." Silas said.

Once they realize how much they’ll lose in bonuses and end-of-year payouts for missing this opportunity, that’ll be the best time.

Only then will they realize how foolish it was to refuse investment and to underestimate Serena.

"A downed dog..." Silas met Orion’s gaze and softly said, "must be beaten hard."

Orion met Silas’s gaze, showing an expression of enlightenment.

...

The news from Aether triggered a string of reactions.

Especially after many asked what happened during Emeric Grant’s departure, for some reason, another rumor started circulating.

It was said that Brandon Huxley and Serena Sterling intentionally spread the news of Emeric Grant’s departure.

That they teamed up to deceive.

In response to this news, Brandon Huxley directly addressed it.

Brandon posted a video.

In the video, Brandon looked baffled.

He said, "These rumors are logically contradictory front to back."

"Did I go to the conference to announce fundraising and then say our key personnel left? So do I want funding or not?"

"Do I look that stupid?"

"If I really wanted to give Serena a backdoor, I would just go to her directly, why bother with this?"

"It’s the same for Serena—she didn’t initially plan that much funding; she was forced, and Jasper Ford was dragged in, and everyone at Aether knows what I was talking about."

Finally, Brandon helplessly shook his head and said, "I don’t know where this rumor came from, but neither I, Serena, nor Jasper Ford ever spread it. Please don’t blame it on me; I can’t take it!"

...

Once this video came out, most people immediately believed it.

After all, just like Brandon said, there was no reason for him to do such contradictory things.

Then someone became curious about what happened at Aether that day.

"It’s complex to explain, but indeed it was as Brandon said. Serena and Jasper later provided one hundred and fifty million under duress," said someone highly respected in the industry.

Some wanted more details, but they were informed it was enough.

On the other side, Isla Lawson had just hung up the phone.

She had just scrambled to get someone to stop this issue, clarifying that they were also misled; it might not have been Aether who released it, but they were also deceived.

This way, although there were still objections, they weren’t as severe.

If it continued, it might affect her reputation.

Isla Lawson was furious.

And that Emeric Grant!

She personally called Emeric to try to recruit him to The Lawson Corporation, promising many perks.

But that ungrateful Emeric refused her!