Chapter 45
Open Threats
The office was dead silent when Victoria walked in, the sound of her heels echoing in the room. She had a satisfied smirk on her face seeing the looks of utter shock on the faces of the directors.
They had ample reason to be shocked.
Victoria had connected her system to the projector in the boardroom and she'd projected certain things, the directors had gotten the shock of their lives.
There were four men in the room, they should've been more but Frank had assured her that there'd been only four directors present at the meeting. This made Victoria relieved, things were still within her control.
The board had nine directors, two were loyal to her, and the other three, they answered to Michael. The four who were meeting were all leaning towards Damien, so it was obvious what they were up to.
Victoria didn't dare allow things develop further, if Michael got a whiff of what was happening it could bring unexpected problems. She didn't dare push her luck.
"Wha—what's the meaning of this?" Philip, one of the directors snapped at Victoria, his face was red and he'd broken out in sweat.
"Exactly what you saw Mr Philip," Victoria smiled, not at all bothered by his anger. "It would be interesting what your wife would have to say about this, would you lose your wealth if she filed for a divorce?
Victoria flicked the remote in her hand and the screen lit up, the other Directors had strange looks on their faces. The screen was showing a photo of Philip with a woman in an intimate position, but it wasn't the position that drew their attention, it was the woman.
She was one of the secretaries working in the finance office, the directors here recognized her.
Philip looked like he was about to burst. "You damn—"
"Is this your wife's email?" Victoria smiled and she flicked the remote, an email address was displayed on the screen. "I wonder what would happen if she received an email containing these photos?" Victoria smiled coldly and the blood drained from Phillips's face.
"How—how dare you?" Philip finally reacted and his eyes looked like they would pop out of his skull. "You can't do this, you can't—"
"I can and you can't do anything about it," Victoria cut in smoothly.
"You—" Philip looked infuriated but he didn't dare say a further word. "Can you—"
"I'll come back to you Mr. Philip," Victoria flicked her fingers and the image on the screen changed, it was an image of a bank statement.
One of the other three men reacted, his mouth quivering. "Ho—how did you get this?How?" He was beyond shocked and his eyes were filled with deep rooted shock, he'd received those payments without telling a second soul. How did Victoria find out about it?
"Hahaha," Victoria chuckled coldly, paying no attention to him. "You're nothing but a pawn in my hands, Barette. Now what do you think will happen if my father gets to see this?"
"Please," after a few silent moments, Barette suddenly got to his knees, begging. "Please don't do this," he whispered, his voice hoarse.
His face was red and slick with sweat from fear. He, better than anyone knew the consequences if Michael found out about his actions, he'd be lucky to escape with just a sacking.
"Hmph!" Victoria snorted, glancing at the two remaining men, one of them was a young man in his early thirties but his expression ever since had remained calm, she couldn't guess what was on his mind.
"I'm convinced, Miss Victoria," the last man, Barnes, finally spoke up, his face pale. He was the director in charge of Marketing, he was smart enough to speak before Victoria exposed his secret before everyone.
"If you have anything to ask of us," Barnes said, glancing at the other directors. "Just ask," the other directors nodded in agreement except the youngest.
"Mr. Richard?" Victoria spoke up, her gaze fixed on the youngest director. Richard had been a graduate fresh out of college, Damien had taken an interest in him and they'd started working together.
Victoria didn't dare underestimate him, he was the only one she didn't have something on… yet. But of course, she didn't tell him that.
"Can I take my leave?" Richard asked, getting to his feet. "
Victoria's expression froze, she quickly recovered and she sneered coldly. "You don't leave until I say so, or perhaps you'd like me to reveal your own secrets?"
"As you wish," Richard smiled a little but he turned to leave.
"You should think twice about your actions Mr. Richard," Victoria bristled and her expression hardened.
"Don't make things difficult for us," Philip glared at Richard, the other Directors also revealed displeased expressions. They were all in a mess and all Richard could do was act like this, what if he angered Victoria and she leaked the information she had? It would be a disaster.
"I don't care about any of that," Richard smiled, unbothered and he walked out under the cold gazes of everyone present.
"So disrespectful," Barette snorted coldly, his eyes meeting Victoria's briefly. He wasn't actually angry but he didn't want Victoria to go into a frenzy.
"He'll be a problem," Victoria remained calm and said. "Fix it, and about your earlier discussion—" her eyes narrowed dangerously. "Tell me what happened."
"Well…" Barnes spoke up, quickly explaining the whole situation. Luther had come and explained that Victoria had bribed them to take down Damien's company and she'd not kept her part of the bargain.
Philip had called the other three to meet and discuss.
"But of course, we won't proceed with anything else," Barette hurriedly said, seeing Victoria fall silent. "He's just a dissatisfied former employee who wants to cause trouble," Barette spun a big fat lie without any feeling of shame.
"I'll make sure he's not allowed into the company premises," his words were met with agreement from the others, but Victoria still wasn't okay. She produced a flash drive and held it up, catching their attention.
"All your secrets are in here," she said coldly, holding the flash drive. "Do your part and it's gone, but…" the temperature in the room suddenly dropped by a few degrees. "If you don't play your part," Victoria didn't continue speaking but her threat was evident.
If they didn't play their part, all hell would let loose.