The Prison-Made Queen novel Chapter 684

Hackett forced down his anger and addressed the crowd. “My friends, we will get to the bottom of this. If the Sloan Group is responsible, we will not shirk our duty!” He paused, calculating his next move. “For now, please, calm down. Register your names at the front desk. Once we’ve investigated and verified everything, you will be compensated.” The most important thing now was to defuse the situation. As for Cedric Watson… he could run, but he couldn’t hide.

The workers, hearing the promise of money, began to settle down. “Will he really pay us?” one asked, skeptical.

“Is this just another trick?”

Hackett raised his voice. “I, Hackett Sloan, am a man of my word! Please form an orderly line to register. As long as your claims are legitimate, I promise the compensation will be in your hands within two weeks!” He then added a warning, “However, if we find that you were put up to this by someone with an agenda to frame the Sloan Group… we will not hesitate to use the full force of the law. Have I made myself clear?”

After a long morning of shouting, the crowd’s energy had waned. A few inconspicuous men in the crowd exchanged subtle, knowing glances and nodded. A moment later, Hackett saw the man at the front lower his wooden club. A collective sigh of relief went through the Sloan Group staff.

…

The office door opened quietly. Josiah walked in, holding a stack of files. “Dad, we have the preliminary investigation results.”

Hackett looked up. Seeing it was his son, he rubbed his temples again, the brief moment of calm vanishing as his nerves tensed up. “Go on.”

“The workers were telling the truth. Most of them were from the subsidiary’s project, and the whole issue stems from the southern district project that Cedric Watson was in charge of.” Josiah placed the file on the desk and opened it to a specific page. “This is the accident report from the subsidiary. That old fox Watson, in order to skim money from the project, purchased refurbished, second-hand equipment that didn’t meet safety standards. A week ago, a crane cable snapped, leading to a collapse. When it happened, there were a number of workers directly underneath. It was so sudden they had no time to escape, and many were seriously injured.”