Gino sounded condescending as if he was giving out charity. He believed Kaze had to play nice with the former employees to survive at the company even if he managed to pull some strings to get the COO position. A loser like Kaze would not miss the chance to expand his network. “Alright. I’m in.” Kaze nodded in agreement with a smirk. Gino was not helping out of the goodness of his heart. He had something up his sleeves. Kaze only accepted the invitation because many former employees of Shangrila Group would be there. The re-establishment of Shangrila welcomed back many former employees. Most of them were loyal to the previous management and they were competent at their jobs, but a few with ill intentions might slip through the cracks of Snow’s hiring. Kaze could use the opportunity to check these people out.Soon, Gino sent a text with the address of the place they were meeting at. The venue for the party was Golden Key Lounge, a bar located adjacent to the office
Megan spotted the girl and assumed a commanding tone, her voice dripping with condescension. Sophie once worked at the former Shangrila Group too. She was hired back as one of the leaders in the HR department, working under Megan. “I’m sorry, Megan. My mother fell ill. I admitted her to the hospital before coming straight over.” Sophie knew Megan had a reputation for being harsh, so she would not miss the latter’s birthday party unnecessarily. She rushed over to the venue without getting home for a change of clothes. Still, it gave Megan a reason to rip into Sophie. Megan would not have any of it. She pulled a long face and gave Sophie a piece of her mind. Swallowing her discontent, Sophie avoided talking to the leaders and sought solace in a quiet corner, only to find Kaze there. “Hello, sir. Thank you for letting me catch the ride ahead of you.” Thinking Kaze belonged to higher management, Sophie expressed her sincere gratitude. “I’m Kaze. No need to call me ‘sir’.”
Megan got herself thinking the moment she decided to invite Kaze to her birthday celebration. She wanted to humiliate Kaze tonight to release the pent-up anger of the last two years. Now, she finally had her chance. Despite being ignored, Kaze managed to draw attention to himself like a walking target. It was only right that she did him the favor by putting him back in his place. “Who do you think you are? Megan is extending the courtesy by inviting you, but you have been rude to her. You should ask yourself whether you have the skills to match before jumping the gun.” “If the loser can afford any car at all, he wouldn’t have taken his wife’s family name. He has no dignity.” The senior executives around Megan commented in disdain. “Took his wife’s family name?” Sophie glanced at Kaze in surprise. She was skeptical. Kaze’s grace left a strong impact. Sophie could tell from the brief chat with him that he was a man of depth and taste. How could he possibly marry i
“What? A Ferrari 488? Did I hear that right?”“Um… Can the loser even afford a sports car? Are pigs flying?” “The server probably got the wrong guy.” Gasps erupted in the room. People looked at Kaze in surprise, distress, and envy. However, most of them were doubtful. They refused to believe that Kaze would drive a Ferrari 488 to the party. Kaze had outdone all of them. Megan stood there, utterly embarrassed. It took a while before she said curtly, “What’s great about a Ferrari 488? Sure, it’s a multimillion-dollar car, but it only costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to give any scratch a fresh coat of paint. I can still afford that.” That was the truth, but anybody could read the aggression in her tone. Put in the spot, the server could not say anything without risking offending either party. Kaze was not unreasonable like Megan. To end the server’s dilemma, he fished out the car key from his pocket and handed it over. The car key bearing the Ferrari log
Everybody in the room except Sophie taunted Kaze. Even when Kaze drove a Ferrari 488 to attend the party, the group interpreted it as Kaze showing off. It slipped their minds that Kaze made no mention of it the whole time. That was not their concern anyway. They wanted to humiliate him to ease their awkwardness. Faced with harsh criticisms, Kaze remained unfazed. He kept a smile on his face. Kaze watched them like they were clowns in a circus. They were oblivious that Kaze could not be bothered to stoop to their level. The group took Kaze’s silence as a sign that he was overwhelmed by the mockery and had nothing to say for himself. They believed he was a loser. “Don’t forget that we have gathered here today to celebrate Megan’s birthday. We got a cake for her. Come and enjoy it,” one senior executive said. Soon, he and another friend pushed a cart over with a candle-lit three-tier cake on it. Megan made a wish and blew out the candles as everybody watched on.
Kaze wiped the cream and cake bits off his face in silence. He was not the type to take the humiliation lying down. It had crossed Kaze’s mind to retaliate against Megan and the other executives. None of the close to twenty in the room would survive the blow. Nevertheless, he put down his hand when Megan explained the motivation behind the humiliation. Megan and the others were making him pay for ruining Shangrila Group. They were acting out on the anger and resentment that gnawed for two years. If that was the sole reason, Kaze could consider a lighter punishment for these people tomorrow. It would still be a consequence that Megan and others could not bear though.“You got your payback. I should get going.” Kaze walked out. “Hold it right there. Who said you could leave?” Gino and another male associate stood in his way, staring him down. Megan scoffed. “You’re naïve to think that this is over.” “What else do you want?” Kaze stopped in his tracks and tur
“Ms. Pamela, when Mr. White moved the company back to Lilyrose, you were just a fresh grad looking for a job. He took you in even when you didn’t have related work experience and he helped you a lot in your career. How can you just forget about that? “When Mr. White’s wife, Winnie, was pregnant, you tried to seduce Mr. White but got turned down. Mr. White showed you mercy because you were still young and transferred you to another branch so that his wife wouldn’t suspect anything. He saved your career as well! How could you forget that?!” Megan’s expression turned grim as she glared at Sophie who fired shots like a machine gun. Her dark past was displayed on the table, exposed for everyone to see and hear, yet she had no words to argue back. Sophie then switched her attention to Gino. “Mr. Hebrew, you were one of the pioneers of the company but we all know you were not capable enough to keep up with the company’s expansion, yet you still embezzled money from the company. “M
Sophie was no one and she could not possibly threaten Megan and the other executives. Megan and the other executives focused their firepower on Kaze after they got rid of Sophie. “Kaze Lee, you piece of useless garbage! Listen up! If you dare to set foot in our company, I’ll ask security to throw you out!” “If you get an arm or a leg broken in the process, don’t blame me.” Even the security chief, Carlos, who barely had any power in the company, joined the rest in threatening Kaze. Insulting Kaze and preventing him from entering the company was the main objective of Megan and the other executives. There were only so many executive positions in the company. If Kaze became the COO, he would hinder more than one person’s career. Kaze was quiet as Megan and the rest ganged up on him. They took his silence as their victory. “That’s what we have to say and you better take our words seriously. Or else, we are business elites who have multiple powerful resources and we have m