Standing Before Love (Myra and Sean) novel Chapter 503

Heather chatted with Matthias on Messenger while drawing on the canvas. She found a book that taught its readers how to draw using charcoal, and after following the step-by-step instructions stated in the book, she slowly got the hang of it.

She looked at the drawing she made contentedly, and it looked much better than the sketch she had made in the beginning. Her mouth curved into a smile of satisfaction; she realized that drawing wasn’t as difficult as she thought it was, for smart people would always be faster than others in whatever they did.

As a result, it took her much longer to reply to Matthias’s messages, but Matthias didn’t mind this. After all, he was happy enough as long as she was still willing to pay heed to him.

Just then, a knock on the door was heard from the outside. Matthias knitted his brows, for he had ordered Lara not to let anyone disturb him.

However, the knock on the door wouldn’t stop, so he had to open the door himself. When he opened the door, Regan revealed himself and his plastic smile at once. As he expected, it was the annoying Regan who had been knocking on the door. On the other hand, Lara stood behind Regan with a troubled expression while giving Matthias an apologetic look.

Matthias smiled at her to soothe her apologetic feelings. Then, he directly stood in front of Regan to keep him from coming in. “What’s the matter, Director Locke?” He had no time to waste on Regan since he was in a rush to reply to Heather’s messages.

Regan took out a document and looked at Matthias with a serious expression. “This is the company’s latest financial statement.”

Matthias took the statement directly from Regan before thanking the latter politely as he said, “Thanks for your hard work.” However, just as he was about to close the door, Regan stretched out his arm and stopped him from doing so. He then said, “I haven’t finished yet, President Locke.”

Regan’s expression grew increasingly sullen, and it boggled Matthias’ mind. After all, he seldom saw the former wearing such an expression. “Come in,” he said with much reluctance. In his eyes, Regan was bad news who caused him trouble whenever he came.

Regan sat down unceremoniously across from Matthias, and the latter looked at him furtively. He took the financial statement and read it as though nothing happened, but he suddenly felt his cell phone vibrating. When he saw that the notification was from Messenger, he thought Heather must have texted him. However, he couldn’t take out his cell phone since Regan was across from him. It was hard to describe his feelings at this moment, but he had never hated Regan so much before.

Meanwhile, Heather took a look at her cell phone when there was no reply from Matthias for a long time. Then, she directly put her cell phone on the bookshelf. As she happened to be taking a book, she decided to concentrate on drawing.

On the other hand, Regan kept badgering Matthias the whole time. Matthias had held the concurrent post of chief financial officer, so he was quite proficient at reading financial statements. However, he didn’t notice anything after reading the financial statements, and Regan’s inscrutable expression made him suspect that he was up to something again.

“Our company’s financial expenditure has increased significantly since May, but many of the expenses were written down in only a word or two. I’m afraid it’s inappropriate to explain the whereabouts of such a large sum of money in such simple terms.” Regan tapped the desk as he spoke.

Only then did Matthias realize what Regan was up to. “Inappropriate?” He gave a nonchalant smile. “In that case, what do you think is appropriate, Director Locke?” He stared into Regan’s conniving eyes. It’s too confident of Regan to pick at me from the aspect of finances, he thought to himself.

“You were in charge of the company’s finances earlier, President Locke. You wouldn’t mind if I ask you about any doubts that I encounter while taking over the job, would you?” Regan asked tactfully. The meaning behind his words couldn’t be clearer—he wanted Matthias to explain the specific whereabouts of the large sum of funds.

“Ask me? I’m afraid that you’re questioning me.” Matthias could no longer care about Heather. After all, he had to concentrate on dealing with Regan now that the latter had suddenly created such a difficult situation for him.

“I wouldn’t dare to do that at all.” Regan didn’t dare to defy Matthias rashly, for he was still on Matthias’ turf. However, he mustn’t show signs of weakness—he had to give that man a sense of danger.

“I’m afraid there’s nothing that you wouldn’t dare to do. Matthias pushed the financial statement aside directly as he was really annoyed by the way Regan behaved; it seemed like he was trying to force him into stepping down.

“President Locke, I only joined the Locke Group recently, so I’m afraid that I might make some mistakes. You know how cautious I am; I’d like to figure out the cause behind the increased expenditure and the expenses, so could you enlighten me on this, President Locke?” Regan deliberately humbled himself, but he was actually talking back to Matthias. Moreover, his aggressive-looking eyes showed no modesty as someone asking for advice.

Matthias directly pushed the financial statement toward Regan and squinted at him. “Since you know that you’re a newcomer, you should focus more on watching and learning instead of speaking out of turn.”

Regan picked up the financial statement with a smile of embarrassment. “Are you not going to explain to me the story behind this, President Locke?” He was still unwilling to admit defeat, so he insisted on knowing the reason behind the increased expenditure.

“What right do you have for me to explain it to you? There aren’t many explanations in the financial sheet, but whatever you want to know can be found from the financial information. How could you come and question me without doing anything? Regan, you’re only my subordinate, so don’t think of riding roughshod over me,” Matthias admonished snappishly. Since they were in the Locke Group, he would be the one calling the shots. How could Regan have the nerve to question him just days after taking up his post?

Upon being told off by Matthias, Regan looked as black as thunder; even the insincere smile on his face vanished. At the sight of this, Matthias felt much better—he had had enough of Regan’s relentless fault-finding these days.