The next morning around 10:00 AM, Eric was sitting in the chair right in front of Bryan’s desk. Beside him, Katie sat relaxed, waiting for the meeting to start while holding the laptop she would be using. Eric was dressed in a sharp, custom black suit with a white-striped black tie, dress pants, and leather loafers. Bryan checked his wristwatch and stood up.

"Let’s get started. They should all be gathered by now," Bryan said.

"Alright... let’s get this over with," Katie replied, standing up.

"Okay... let’s go," Eric replied, feeling a bit nervous as he got to his feet.

"Just relax, no need to be so stiff," Bryan said, stepping out from behind his desk and patting Eric on the shoulder with a smile.

"I know... it’s just that this is my first time attending a meeting with the board, the shareholders, and an investor," Eric said, adjusting his tie.

"Haha... chill out. You’ve got your beautiful big sister right here next to you, you’re perfectly safe. Besides, you look smoking hot this morning," Katie teased, slipping her arm through his.

"Please don’t joke around, Katie," Eric said, only getting more tense.

"Hey, joking is how you break the tension, you know," Katie shot back with a satisfied grin.

The three of them walked out and headed straight for the conference room. When they stepped inside, Eric caught his breath for a second. Sitting around a massive mahogany oval table built for fourteen people were four shareholders who also served as board members, along with a board member who didn’t hold shares but was an outside investor with a partnership agreement. Eric walked alongside Bryan, who kept a reassuring hand on his shoulder, with Katie following closely behind as they made their way to the head of the table.

In addition, about six department directors sat directly across from the board members. Eric immediately spotted a heavyset man in his fifties with thinning hair, wearing a dark grey suit. He was sitting on the right side with the board members, and Eric recognized him as Mason, whose photo he had seen before. Next to Mason sat a slicked-back, grey-haired man in his mid-fifties. His face was rigid and his sharp eyes held a cunning, arrogant look.

He was wearing a cream suit paired with a light blue polka-dot tie, leaning back comfortably with his arms crossed over his chest. Eric had definitely seen this man’s photo before too. This was Paul—his prime target today. As Bryan took his seat on the right, placing Eric in the center, Katie sat on Eric’s left and immediately set up her laptop, plugging it into the projector. Paul instantly stood up and glared at Bryan.

"What is the meaning of this, Bryan? Why are you letting an intern sit in your chair? Do you think this meeting is some kind of joke?" Paul asked. His voice was calm, but his target was obvious, instantly trying to demean Eric.

"Exactly, Bryan. Are you undermining the importance of this board meeting?" Mason chimed in from his seat, staring at Bryan to back Paul up while casting an arrogant glance at Eric.

"Mr. Paul, please take your seat so we can begin the meeting. The young man in the center is Eric Reed, and he is far more qualified to sit in the center chair than I am—or even you," Bryan said with a smooth smile. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Hearing Bryan’s words, Paul’s face instantly flushed red. He glared daggers at Eric, but since he was currently the center of attention for all the directors and the three other board members, Paul sat back down. His eyes, however, never left Eric. Katie then brought up several files on the screen.

The moment the documents flashed on screen, proving that Eric was the owner of E-R Holdings and held a 40% stake in the company, the entire conference room fell into a dead silence. Every single director was stunned, as were the four board members, including Paul and Mason. But before Bryan, who had already stood up, could even begin to explain, Mason bolted upright.

"That’s impossible... E-R Holdings... this kid?" Mason stammered, his face turning a furious shade of red as he pointed directly at Eric.

"Please read it for yourself, Mr. Mason. As it is written, Eric Reed is E-R Holdings, and he holds a 40% share in our company. In other words, he is the second-largest shareholder after Chloe. The paperwork has been fully vetted, and everything is completely legit," Bryan explained calmly, entirely unfazed by Mason’s outburst.

"This doesn’t make any sense! I saw in the database that he’s listed as Chloe’s husband. He obviously got those shares by marrying Chloe! E-R Holdings is a co-founder of this firm, and this company is clearly older than this brat!" Mason shouted, pointing a finger at Eric.

The data on the screen shifted. All of Eric’s personal identification documents appeared, including the original filing documents for E-R Holdings LLC showing that it was established by Ethan Reed.

The records traced the transfer of rights from Ethan Reed, Eric’s father, down to Eric Reed himself, until every single share attachment was completely displayed. Following that, to definitively prove that Eric was indeed Ethan’s son, Eric’s DNA test results, the very ones first shown to him when he visited Richard’s office, were pulled up on the screen.

Staring at the data on display, Mason’s face drained of color. It was painfully obvious from his expression that his grand plan to marry his son off to Chloe was a total failure. Even if that marriage ever took place, there was no way he could ever become the largest shareholder and take over the company now.

Mason sank back into his chair, turning to glance at Paul, who looked calm on the surface but was clearly burning up inside. The three other board members, who were also shareholders and joint-venture investors, remained dead silent.

However, a glimmer of hope sparked in their eyes, whether for their own personal gain or for the good of the company. Meanwhile, the department directors were completely awestruck, staring blankly at Eric, then at the screen, and then right back at Eric.

"The purpose of this meeting is to officially introduce Eric as our second-largest shareholder and, more importantly, to address a serious breach of company regulations," Bryan announced.

The room fell completely silent in an instant. Everyone in attendance began whispering and wondering what was going on, but Mason looked visually panicked, while Paul maintained his composure, though his hands were clenched into tight fists.

Katie immediately brought up the company’s financial data, showing the utilization of supplementary corporate credit cards, irregular cash flows, and several other anomalies.

Staring at the data on the screen, Paul’s mask of calm finally cracked. A flash of panic washed over his face for a few seconds before he managed to force his composure back in place.

Mason, on the other hand, looked like he was sitting in an oven, sweating profusely as he wiped his pale face with a handkerchief. Bryan explained everything point by point, highlighting where the discrepancies lay, but he only scratched the surface without throwing direct accusations at anyone.

From his seat, Eric watched his two targets shift in discomfort. They were visibly growing anxious, especially Mason, who was practically coming apart at the seams. Bryan then played dumb and directed a question at the finance director.

Naturally, the director answered and pulled up his own records. When the topic of the supplementary credit cards came up, a specific name finally surfaced, Melissa Grant was listed as the user, and the person who had authorized it was Mason. And of course, the actual usage data and statements were completely at odds with the original intent for which the card had been issued.

A panicked Mason instantly snapped his head around to look at the finance director, who remained perfectly composed as he pushed his glasses up his nose.

"On top of that, there are numerous fund transfers with regulations that can’t be legitimately traced. Here is the data," the director said.

He immediately distributed the files to everyone in the room, including Eric. Looking over the documents, Eric smiled. He glanced over at Paul and Mason because every single row in the spreadsheet bore their tracks, and the files even included invoices and receipts with their signatures on the back.

An elderly board member who was also a shareholder turned to look directly at Paul and Mason.

"Excuse me, Mr. Paul, Mr. Mason, can you explain what is going on with the data in these documents?" the old board member asked.

"Huh... these spreadsheets, invoices, and receipts are fraudulent. Someone must have doctored them," Paul replied, tossing his file into the middle of the table.

"All of this data was extracted from the master records in our database. It has been fully audited and cross-checked with physical evidence, which is exactly why the discrepancies came to light," the finance director chimed in.

"An audit? When? Why wasn’t I informed that there was going to be an audit?" Mason demanded.

"Because Xavier, who usually tips you off whenever we perform an audit, is no longer with the company. His termination letter is with the HR director. Go ahead, ma’am," the finance director answered, turning his gaze toward a middle-aged woman who looked like a warm yet firm mother figure.

The HR director stood up and slid a copy of the termination letter, noting it was a firing without severance, right in front of Mason. Staring at the copy of that letter, Mason’s face turned even paler than before.

Suddenly, Eric leaned forward, resting both elbows on the table. He turned his head to look at Paul and Mason, who were sitting frozen in their seats.

"So, Mr. Paul, Mr. Mason, can you explain these files?" Eric asked with a smile, his eyes fixed on them with a chilling coldness.