The Billionaire Heir Fell for the Wrong Girl (Hathaway Whitmore) novel Chapter 24

For the next few days, Hathaway stayed home, preparing for the return to work, waiting for the first day back after the holiday.

On the eighth day of the holiday, it was the first day back at Whitmore Group, excluding the factories.

Hathaway and Avery arrived at the office early. But by ten o’clock, there were still two employees on the list who hadn’t shown up.

Hathaway stared out the window at the busy street below, her thoughts a tangled mess.

‘No wonder Whitmore Group is going under,’ she thought. ‘Some of these old-timers treat the company like/a retirement home.’

Avery was thinking the same thing. Every so often, he’d glance at his watch, a hint of impatience flickering in his eyes.

But before Avery could lose his cool, the deputy manager of brand promotion, Gregory Aldridge, strode out of the conference room, clearly annoyed. “Are we having this meeting or not?

“Mr. Whitmore, how long are you going to keep us stuck in the office?”

Gregory, a middle-aged guy pushing forty-five, was a distant relative from Sylvia’s side of the family.

Back when he first came to Bayridge, he brought his whole family along, broke and desperate, and leaned on the Whitmore family for help.

Now, he’d managed to buy himself a car and a house, and word was that both his kids were attending international schools that cost 150 thousand dollars a year each.

“We’ll start the meeting once everyone’s here,” Avery said, giving a faint smile.

As expected, Gregory was also one of those getting the axe.

Just then, Avery’s phone rang. He glanced at the screen and picked up right away. It was the front desk calling to let him know the last two employees had arrived.

Avery glanced at his watch and let out a sarcastic laugh. ‘Ten fifteen? What? Did they come here to grab lunch?’

His voice was calm as he said, “Have security shut the main entrance.”

On the very first day back at work, the doors of Whitmore Group stayed firmly shut!

This was Avery’s first time going behind Conrad’s back. Conrad and Sylvia had already been in Velmora for two days, and if they didn’t wrap this up today, it’d be a real headache once Conrad got back.

Even though Avery didn’t let it show, inside, he was as on edge as Hathaway.

Finally, the last two employees arrived, and Hathaway walked into the office with Avery.

In her previous life, she never got involved in the company’s affairs. It wasn’t until Whitmore Group collapsed that she was forced to let go of her innocence and ignorance and finally wake up.

Now, she was fully awake. She was determined to do everything she hadn’t had the chance to do in her previous life this time around.

As soon as Avery took his seat at the head of the table, the deputy sales manager, Phillip, cracked a joke. “Mr. Whitmore, did you call us all in on the first day back to hand out gifts?”

Everyone burst out laughing at that.

Just then, the two latecomers sat down, looking excited. “Gifts? Wow, talk about good timing. We really picked the perfect moment to show up.”

Avery glanced around at the group, including the deputy sales manager, the warehouse manager, the deputy brand promotion manager, the workshop foreman, and so on.

Then he spoke calmly, “Today marks the first day back at Whitmore Group. I’m afraid to say, everyone here is being let go.”

For a moment, dead silence filled the office. About five seconds later, the conference room erupted into chaos.

Phillip slammed his hand on the table and shot to his feet. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“Why? We’ve been loyal to this company for years, and now you’re kicking us to the curb?”

“If you’re firing us, fine. But you owe us an explanation, unless you’re saying Whitmore Group is shutting down tomorrow.”

A wave of outrage crashed through the room.

“Of course, there’s a reason.” Hathaway shot a look at the angry crowd. She turned on the projector. “Here’s the evidence.”

1/3

Chapter 24 Purging The Company

The office instantly went dead silent.

None of them saw this coming. Their shady dealings lay bare. Some of the old-timers were frozen in shock

“You’ve been embezzling project funds, faking travel expenses, and stuffing your own pockets.” Hathaway tossed stack after stack of evidence onto the table, right in front of each of them. “Any one of these is enough to put you away for three to ten years.”

Someone shot back, “This is all fake. We want to see Conrad. Where’s Conrad? Why is he avoiding us?”

Voices of agreement rose up all around.

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