Inside a huge conference room on the 10th floor of the building, a group of men were seated, all dressed up in posh professional attire with their suits probably costing several thousand dollars.
More importantly, everyone had an indifferent, arrogant look and clearly displeased that they were being made to wait.
"What happened? The princess is not here yet?" The chair at the head of the table, Jonathan Hofstader, mockingly commented.
When Mia's father was alive, he had always called her their princess and the man did not hesitate to mock his dead brother's words.
And this cruel remark only fell flat on the other gathered big shots' ears.
The men sitting around the conference table all either indifferently continued about with their business or sneered in disdain just like the chair at the head of the table.
Only one person clenched his hands tightly and replied back. "Uncle, you preponed the meeting time purposefully, knowing that Mia is still answering the press."
Rey glared at the man who had once been so friendly and supportive to them but now had completely turned his back on their plight.
Not only that but he also wanted to swallow the whole company and even Mia's house and personal property.
Rey absolutely hated the guy. He had always felt a bad feeling from him as if everything about the man was fake and now his true colors were out for everyone to see.
"Heh. I don't recall anything like that. Besides, if the company is important to her, she should have arranged other things for later today." Jonathan Hofstader simply shrugged.
"You also gave her the wrong time. This meeting is supposed to be in 2 hours."
"Did I now? Then how come everyone else is here?"
Rey simply could not take it anymore. He stood up angrily but before he could do something that he would regret, the conference room door opened again and Mia walked in.
Immediately everyone quieted down. All the eyes in the room turned around to look at her and see the defeated expression on her face.
However, what they saw was something different. The woman was as confident as always and there wasn't even the smallest sign of frustration or sadness on her face.
She looked like a pure angel made of ice as she waltzed in, donning a simple and elegant egg shell white dress. Her long honey blonde hair hung loosely, dancing like a cascading waterfall with every step she took.
If the Mia before was beautiful, the Mia right now was absolutely breathtaking, the epitome of perfection. Everyone couldn't take their eyes off the woman.
Their gaze trailed her as she walked in and quietly sat down on one of the empty chairs. "My apologies for running late." She curtly nodded and sat down.
"That's fine, Miss Mia. Shall we start the proceedings now?" Jonathan Hofstader smiled and glanced at her before turning to his assistant who was standing near him.
However, no one noticed the strange glint that flashed past his eyes as he looked at Mia.
"Today's agenda." The assistant announced. His voice snapped everyone's trance as they stopped looking at Mia and awkwardly cleared their throats.
Mia, on the other hand, did not look in the least bothered by these things. She simply sat in her place indifferently.
Her calm and collected nature only further riled up the person. Jonathan Hofstader scoffed impatiently and grabbed the file from his assistant's hands, reading it himself.
"You are already late. So let's not beat around the bush. This meeting of the board of directors is convened because of your recent irresponsible actions."
"You are this company's acting CEO, that means you have to be a model citizen. Instead, you dared to defy a direct government order and commit treason."
"You dragged our entire company's reputation to the mud along with you. I have sources in the government telling me that an arrest warrant is being prepared for you as we speak."
"Do you even know what this means? Miss Princess, this is not a playground. Thousands of people depend on us for their livelihood. If our stocks go down, then they will all suffer."
"How are you going to answer all of this? How are you going to make up for all of our losses?"
Hearing Jonathan pointing out all of their current issues point by point, everyone started raising their own issues as well.
"The recent managerial duties have been neglected."
"You are spending more time on social media and playing a video game rather than running a company."
"What else did you all expect from a 20 year old? I knew it from the beginning. At this age, the youngsters only know how to drink and party."
"Yes. Yes. This was why I objected to her taking charge last quarter and now the new quarter is going to start. We need to make some changes."
"I agree. This quarter we need to do damage control. Otherwise, things might go beyond repair and our company stocks would truly plummet."
"I have sources saying that an economic storm is coming. We need to stabilize our condition soon. Otherwise, we will be in hot water."
One by one all the board members started raising their voices and pointing fingers at Mia.
And the person who threw gasoline to light this fire, Jonathan Hofstader, silently rested his face on his palm and observed her, taking note of Mia's every action.
Once again the strange glint flashed past his eyes.
Mia, on the other hand, silently looked at the center of the wooden table observing the pattern of the rippling waves on the wooden surface.
She patiently listened to every single complaint that was raised against her. She did this for a whole twenty minutes before calmly standing up.
"I have heard everyone's opinions. I will give you all a suitable answer soon." She curtly replied, preparing to leave.
"No, Mia. You cannot run away like this, Princess." Jonathan Hofstader stood up and followed after her.
Seeing these two, Rey as well got up and quickly walked out, but he was stopped by two men who asked him to sign for his attendance. He had come here today instead of Alex so he had to take care of a few formalities.
"Damn it. Give me quickly." Rey did not have a good feeling.
Outside the room, Mia continued walking straight to the elevator and pushed the button to the ground floor.
After giving today's meeting half an hour, she knew that things had now become unsalvagable. Back in that room, there was nothing she could have said or done.
They were all already against her. Or rather someone had planned everything beforehand.
"You shouldn't leave so soon, princess. You should at least try and talk to some of the board members, else you might really end up losing everything you own."
Mia stopped in her tracks hearing the familiar voice. She did not turn around. However, the other person still chuckled and walked over to her.
"You really sealed your own fate this time. I didn't even have to do anything. A scandal like this will finish you."
Jonathan Hafstader lifted a few strands of her soft silky hair and felt it in his fingers, the strange glint flashing past his eyes again.
But Mia quickly moved away and turned to glare at him icily. She gave him a stern look and then walked away without saying anything else.
"Your father is gone, princess. You better stop deluding yourself that you can run this company. You need me. You know that. It's checkmate, princess."
Mia indifferently closed the elevator door. She then walked out to catch a cab and directly went over to her house. Alex was waiting for her there.
"How did it go? I just spoke with Rey."
"How else could it go? It was just as we expected."
"Damn it. I knew it. That pervert bastard wants to screw you out of every penny you are worth. Damn. What a disgusting man!" She spat out angrily. This man was supposed to be their guardian.
"What are you going to do now?"
Mia shook her head. "I will make a few calls to my lawyers and see what could be done, but I think we are going to lose the house."
"Ok." Alex nodded. She also thought of something so she quickly walked into her room and then directly logged into her game cabinet.
"Liam, are you there?" She quickly sent a message to the only guy who could probably help them at the moment.
"Liam, could you please tell me what is the best way to farm gold coins? We urgently need money and lots of it."
Alex sent the message and silently prayed. He had come through every single time they needed him, so this time also…
"Please. Come on. Come on."
Ding! A message popped up the next second but it was not the one she expected. Instead, it was a strange cryptic message.
"Go to the airport. Now."
