Once Bitten, Twice Shy

Chapter 225: Lacking in Virtue

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The relatively few vehicles early in the morning made for a very smooth journey to the Barker Group.

Timothy and Ronald went to the top floor of the building and walked straight to the large conference room. As soon as they opened the door, they saw directors and senior figures filling the entire room.

Everyone’s face was extremely sour and the atmosphere in the room was extremely suffocating.

Timothy’s handsome face remained unchanged and no one could tell what emotions he had at the time. He strode in and sat on the main seat before lifting his chin and saying to Ronald, “Make the call.”

“Yes, Mr. Barker.” Ronald dialed an overseas phone number and started a video conference.

The picture of Michael and his company’s directors appeared on the huge projector screen. Their faces were also extremely ugly and they looked angry, even.

Michael did away with the courtesies and went straight to the subject with a frigid expression. “Mr. Barker, I expect an explanation from you regarding this scandal involving your wife!”

They had reached an agreement for strategic cooperation and both companies had since become inextricably linked with each other. That ought to be exciting news because both parties’ estimated market value would stand to double several times over. It was unfortunate that something like this would happen at that kind of juncture.

The news had initially been spreading within the country, but Timothy’s act of rescuing Samantha and making those statements in public caused everyone to train their guns on Timothy and the Barker Group.

The business world was a battlefield and there were many people who were jealous of the Barker Group. If something like that happened, it could conceivably form a huge hurdle. Public opinion erupted within the country and the news even spread internationally.

News involving Timothy—including him using his power to bully others as well as his brainless act of defending his vicious wife—had soared to the top of the international hot topics section and made the headlines of all major news outlets!

Timothy represented not only himself but the Barker Group as well. Everyone began to question his behavior, damaging his own image and calling into question his abilities to lead the Barker Group.

It would be utterly disappointing for a man like him to be lacking in virtue!

The directors who were present there agreed as soon as Michael said that.

One of them spoke up and said, “Mr. Barker, we won’t comment on your decision to defend your wife. But you went too far this time. What you did was practically a public declaration of war against the citizens. Isn’t your action tantamount to making an enemy out of the entire nation?”

The second agreed and said, “Public opinion is now inclining towards the idea that we had been using power to oppress others and there’s signs that everyone will boycott the Barker Group! Public opinion is continuing to rage on and the consequences will be unimaginable!”

A third person said, “Your explanation is in order, Mr. Barker!”

As powerful as a company was, it would teeter on the edge of collapse and be vulnerable to the smallest of blows if they failed to properly handle public outrage.

Ronald began sweating when he saw the situation.

It was much, much worse than he thought.

In fact, when public opinion began surging in the early morning, he executed an emergency public relations exercise at once but had been focusing his attention domestically rather than internationally.

He had successfully suppressed public opinion on the domestic side, only to discover that it had already exploded internationally.

Public opinion was like a virus that could not be controlled once it had spread. It leaked out of the country and made headlines internationally during that short period of time, until finally his efforts crumbled to dust.

Ronald later received a call from the directors as well as Michael, who all requested for an emergency meeting to be called for right away.

Timothy sat there silently and had not yet said a single word. Ronald glanced over and sighed to himself, wondering if Timothy could continue the unbeaten streak of overturning crises big and small since he first took over the Barker Group.

Ronald then got up quietly and walked out of the conference room after noticing Timothy rubbing his eyebrows in exhaustion.

He went to the pantry and brewed a cup of black coffee for Timothy. When he carried it and walked out, someone happened to come into the pantry and bumped into him.

He nimbly grasped the coffee cup in his hand to stop it from spilling.

Ronald shot a glance at the person who came in and reprimanded with a frown. “What, are you blind? Watch it!”

That person was a young girl who had an apologetic look on her face. “I’m sorry, Mr. Crawford. I’m so sorry! I didn’t see you.”

Ronald glanced at her and recognized her as Noelle Walsh, a new intern. He could not help but ask, “You came to work this early?”

It was not yet office hours.

Noelle smiled shyly, “I decided to come early today because I didn’t finish yesterday’s work. I was about to fetch myself a cup of coffee to get the energy pumping. I didn’t notice you were there. I’m really sorry.”

It was a logical excuse given that the meeting was scheduled at the last minute. She probably thought it was okay to come earlier because she expected that there would be no one there.

Ronald was magnanimous enough not to take offense with a little lady, especially when she had apologized profusely and was a hardworking employee. He waved his hand and said, “Don’t worry about it. Go ahead and have your coffee. There’s a meeting in the conference room right now, so could you please get twenty packs of breakfast for them.”

Noelle nodded, “Understood, Mr. Crawford.”

Ronald walked off with Timothy’s coffee. Noelle stayed on the spot and stared at his back for a few seconds before entering the pantry.

20 minutes later, she brought up the 20 packs of breakfast and knocked on the door of the conference room.

The discussion inside was reaching its climax and the atmosphere was very stiff.

Noelle turned a deaf ear to everything and placed the food in front of each person. She then put the tray on the chair by the wall and gently closed the door on her way out of the conference room.

…

Inside the hotel room, Samantha was still fast asleep when her cell phone ringtone started blaring in her ears.

She had not slept very soundly to begin with and woke up abruptly after a few rings.

Her eyes opened wide and she stared at the ceiling for about ten seconds while her consciousness slowly returned to her.

She realized she was in a hotel, and that Timothy had brought her there the night before.

She stretched out her hand and glanced at the caller ID, which startled her somewhat because she was slightly surprised to see that it was actually from Ronald.

Her first thought was that she had grabbed Timothy’s phone by accident.

She checked to confirm that it was her cell phone and subconsciously glanced to her side. There were traces of someone sleeping there, but Timothy was nowhere to be seen.

Ronald never called her without a reason, so she wondered if something had happened.

Samantha frowned and slid her finger to answer the call. “Hello?”

No one answered even though she said ‘hello’ several times.?All she heard was some heavily-accented English in the background. The person sounded rather animated.

What was going on?

Did Ronald accidentally dial the wrong number?

She was somewhat familiar with that accent after having lived abroad, and it sounded as though a meeting was being held. Since her principle was not to eavesdrop on company secrets, Samantha decided to hang up.

The next second, however, she heard a heavily-accented man saying, “Mr. Barker, it is half-past nine in your country right now. The stock market is now open, and you can see for yourself how sharply the Barker Group’s stocks have dropped after you defended your wife. It might even reach the price limit today! This is bound to have a serious impact on my company as well!”

“I’ll give you two choices. Either you step forward and sever ties with your wife to maintain the interests and image of the Barker Group, or I’ll terminate our cooperation and demand compensation according to the terms of our contract!”