Emily and Elsie each found a place to sit down. Elsie immediately grabbed Beverly's arm and asked impatiently, "Mom, what happened? Why did Dad fight with Daniel?"
Before Maury stepped onto the stage, he had someone treat the wound on his face. The lights had also been dimmed. This way, when he stood on the stage, no one could see the wound on his face.
He was still thinking about what had just happened, and could hardly calm down. He stood on the stage and stared at the speech draft the entire time. He read it stiffly, as if he was angry. The employees below the stage could not help but straighten their backs when they heard it, as if they were being lectured by a leader.
After Maury finished reading all of them, he forced out a smile and said, "Tonight, I wish everyone can have a good time. I wish everyone a happy New Year and continue to work hard in the coming year."
The audience applauded.
Maury smiled as he stepped down, but that smile didn't last for 3 seconds.
A few people suddenly showed up at the entrance of the long banquet hall. They looked middle-aged, and they wore glasses and a black suit, and held a document in their hands. Maury was fretted to see the white paper document, as if it was another paternity test. He looked at Eliot obscurely. And they were both stunned when their eyes met.
Eliot's eyes were filled with confusion and uneasiness, while Maury's were filled with scrutiny, like surveying his son. Eliot didn't dare to move a little bit, not even to blink.
Maury had walked towards the door. Before stepping down, he gave the marketing director a look. The marketing director immediately took the microphone. He began to warm the atmosphere. But the staff had seen those people coming in at the door. There were whispering, worried that something would happen to the company. No one put their eyes on the stage. The director of marketing was also a bit absent-minded. After all, the company had an accident and many people were gambling. He was also gambling because a company could only see the hard work of its employees when it was at its worst. When the enterprise was revitalized, the boss's praise for the employees would be much more proportional.
He almost thought the year-end bonus would be doubled, but a group of people suddenly barged in with solemn faces, like serious judges in a court, and the paper document in their hands was like a ruling.
Maury quickly walked to the door. Only then did he see the new CFO following behind them. The former CFO never showed up, and Maury didn't care, during that time, he was busy with Eliot's problems, all the company affairs were handed over to Beverly. It took a long time for Maury to know about the CFO. Because the former one didn't quit, he asked for a long term off. At last, Maury had no other way but to recruit a new one.
When Maury stopped, the new CFO quickly trotted over and whispered, "Mr. Maury, there is a mistake in the year-end bonus. I just went back to the company to print the voucher, but these people came and said that we were evading taxes..." He took out a list from his hand and said, "Leave alone that. When I checked the bill, I found that ... some money is missing."
Tax evasion was such a big deal, and a new CFO told him to take it easy?
Maury's eyebrows twitched. He was pissed off. Then, he saw a report handed over by the CFO. It was the remittance slip of the project that the Scavos had cooperated with. Because the project would not start until the end of January, the account had been left at the bottom. The CFO had not checked it during the past few days when he came to the company.
However, what did the CFO tell Maury at this moment?
Missing money?
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" Maury raised his voice in disbelief.
Before the CFO could speak again, the group of people were already impatient. They shook the paper document in their hands and said to Maury, "Are you Maury, the legal representative of the Britt Group?"
"Yes." Maury faced them.
"We have received an anonymous report that your company is suspected of tax evasion. We just went to your company and only the CFO was there. Therefore, we now request you to follow us back to the company for verification." Said the leader.
"What are you doing back at the company?" Maury found something wrong. He turned around and immediately grabbed onto the shoulder of the CFO. "Everyone else is attending the annual meeting. What are you doing back at the company?"
Obviously, he didn't hear what the CFO had said the moment they met.
"Print the voucher," the CFO explained again. "There's something wrong with the summary of the year-end bonus accounts. I went back to check the bill."
"What's wrong with the year-end bonus? Why didn't you say anything at the meeting yesterday?"
He was doubting the CFO. After all, the CFO was the closest to money.
The CFO explained patiently, "The statement of accounts is correct, but the amount of money in the card is incorrect."
Maury suddenly calmed down when he thought of Beverly's face. He then looked at the man in a straight suit and said, "Alright, I'll come with you."
Eliot rushed over. He grabbed Maury's arm and said, "Dad, I'll go with you."
"No, you stay here and run the annual meeting. Don't worry, it's fine." Maury smiled at him with a placating smile. However, that smile was very faint. He took a few steps and suddenly turned around to say, "Call your mom over. I'll meet her at the door."
Eliot was stunned for a moment before realizing something and his expression changed.
Maury saw it. His face stiffened for a moment. He took a few steps and grabbed Eliot's shoulder. Apart from being disappointed, there was also great anger in his eyes. "You knew about this? You knew it and you allowed your mother to make such a mistake?!"
Eliot was speechless.
"Tell me, did you know?!" Maury asked angrily.
Eliot closed his eyes and nodded.
Maury roared, "Where did that money go?!"
Eliot shook his head. He didn't know, he really didn't know.
"Great, you..." Maury nodded and laughed angrily. "Excellent."
Then, he turned around and followed the group of people out.
The annual meeting was in complete chaos. The employees all shrunk together in fear and some came over to eavesdrop, but they could not hear it clearly. Everyone was distracted. All of them wanted to know what was going on.
Seeing Mr. Maury leaving angrily, leaving his son with a pale face, the employees looked at each other. They knew they were going to go bankrupt.
Beverly was texting Daniel under the stage, preparing a string of confessions, but she didn't see anyone coming at the door. It was Elsie who noticed something was wrong and pushed her.. Only then did she move her gaze away from the screen of her phone and look behind her.