Chapter 24

Chapter 24

“Sign it!” Sterling commanded.

With shaking hands, they al began to sign the papers one after the other. Assistant Li wanted to laugh at the way they were behaving but he got a hold of himself.

He took the papers from them one after the other and arranged them in a pile on the desk.

Sterling stood up from the chair and headed out of the room. Assistant Li followed after him after warning the business men not to show their faces in their company or else, Sterling was going to punish them severely.

“This is your fault.” one of them started blaming the one next to him.

In no time, all of them started blaming each other.

“If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have been here. It was you who came to my house to brainwash me. I told you Sabrina and I have no deep relationship.” He wanted to cry.

“But no one forced you to accept the offer. Look brethren, this is for our own good.” the other ones looked at him angrily.

“Our own good? Are you kidding me? You think it is a good thing losing partnership with Mr. Hawthorn? You must be out of your mind.”

Fight broke between them and they continue to curse each other. And all the time they were doing that, Sterling was already out of the room heading towards his room.

But he stopped at the entrance. Because of what happened just few minutes ago, he has already lose interest in staying in that hotel.

“Mr. Hawthorn, aren’t you going in again?” assistant Li asked him.

Sterling nodded his head and turned around.

“Let’s go to the company, I need to sign these papers too.” he pointed at the papers in assistant Li’s hands.

Assistant Li bowed his head and stood aside so Sterling would pass through.

On their way going out of the hotel, they bumped in to Sebastian who was also coming inside the hotel.

He put on a mischievous smile as soon as he saw Sterling. That was the moment Sterling understood the smile he had been giving him since on the voting day.

So Sebastian was behind that. And if he was right, Sebastian conspired with those business men to cheat on him.

“Hi, Mr. Hawthorn.” Sebastian mockingly bowed his head to Sterling.

“Or should I just call you Sterling now? I think Sterling will be better.” he chuckled.

“Mr. Sebastian, I won’t stand by and watch you speak to my boss this way.” assistant Li stepped forward.

But Sterling stopped him. He was already matched for Sebastian so, he wouldn’t involve his assistant in that.

“Now that you didn’t get what you want even with your powers, I think you should forget about that actress. There’s no way she is coming back to this industry, Mr. Hawthorn.” He stepped forward.

“That actress is good as gone, Mr. Hawthorn. Take your eyes off of her and continue living your life like it has been,” he smirked.

Sterling nodded his head and smiled. He didn’t have time to waste un talking back at Sebastian. He was already used to that so, it was just a minor thing.

Instead, he stepped closer to Sebastian and patted his shoulder.

“Good luck to you, Penelope.” Sterling walked away and assistant Li hurried after him.

Good luck to him? What does he mean by that? Sebastian couldn’t fathom. He shrugged his shoulder and went inside the hotel to meet the men that have been waiting for him inside.

[My wife with Hawthorn? That’s impossible]

Sebastian opened the door to the room the men were waiting for him in. But the atmosphere he met in the room surprised him.

Why were they fighting and raising their voices on each other? He was surprised.

When they saw him, they went mute and returned back to their sits.

“What’s wrong with all of you? You guys are acting like you are little kids. Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?”

he hissed at them and sat down on one of the chairs.

“You aren’t going to believe this, Mr. Penelope.” One of the men stood in front of him.

Sebastian looked at all the men in the room. And even before they could say anything to him, he already knew Sterling had been to the room. He scoffed before inhaling deeply.

“Mr. Penelope, Mr. Hawthorn came in to this room earlier on.” the man wiped the sweats on his face.

“And guess what? He made us signed the contract termination papers.”

Sebastian’s eyes widened but he quickly put on a mischievous smile. He knew that was going to happen as that was what he has been aiming for. When he found out Sterling was going to partner with them, he wasn’t happy and he started devising of a way to make them lose his trust.

“And you guys aren’t happy about this?” some of them nodded their heads.

“Why? Shouldn’t you be happy that you no longer have to be under him again?”

“You won’t understand, Mr. Penelope. We’ve put all our hearts in to this.” he sighed.

“You put your hearts in to this? Then you should have voted fro the actress.” he smirked.

“But remember you forced us to vote for Sabrina.” others agreed with the mans statement while others scoffed at him.

“We didn’t do this because Mr. Penelope told us to do so. We did that because of Sabrina.” another one said.

“It was you and they who voted for her because of her. But we didn’t voted for her because we wanted that. If only we knew this would happen, we wouldn’t have even listen to you.”

Sebastian shook his head. Some of the business men that were on Sabrina’s side already knew Vivienne was Sebastian’s wife. But others didn’t know. They thought he was doing that because everyone already knew him to be one of Sabrina’s sponsors.

“Enough of all this!” he commanded and they stopped arguing again.

“The deed has already been done and you should be happy that you are finally away from Hawthorn…” Sebastian was interrupted.

“Excuse me, Mr. Penelope, but I think my time here is over. I can’t continue living like this. I don’t see any advantage Sabrina has brought to me since I joined the company. I think its better I go find something to do.” he bowed to Penelope and walked out of the room.

One after the other, others started leaving too. And the only people left was Sebastian and the people supporting him.

But he didn’t mind. Why would he mind when he has already made them lose their partnership with Sterling? He was so happy about that and for the fact that Sterling wasn’t going to take them back.

“Can we discuss what why I called you?” he asked the ones still remaining in the room with me.

“Yes, Mr. Penelope. But before we start, can I ask a question?” Sebastian nodded his head for him to go on.

“Didn’t Mr. Hawthorn know that Vivienne is your wife? I mean, why does he want her back in the industry so badly?”

he asked but Sebastian only smiled. He knew Sterling didn’t know Vivienne was his wife. If he knew, he wouldn’t have even waste his time voting for her.

“Of course Mr. Hawthorn doesn’t know.” one of them answered.

“But what if he founds out? Don’t you think Mr. Hawthorn already knew about this and is doing this to make troubles with Mr. Penelope?”

Sebastian raised a brow. Why would Sterling do that? No way. He doesn’t know Vivienne is his wife.

“My mind keeps telling me Mr. Hawthorn and your wife have a secret relationship going on between them, Mr. Penelope. Don’t you think that was the reason she left your house?”

Sebastian was now confused with their words. But he didn’t want to believe that. How was that even possible? She didn’t know him even when she was still an actress.

And she doesn’t go out of the house unless he sent her out to do something important when she was still living with him. Unless they became close when she left his house.

“You guys should stop talking about this. Mr. Hawthorn isn’t that type of a person,” Sebastian hissed.

And Vivienne wasn’t that type of a person either.

“How did you find out he isn’t that type of a person? It isn’t written on the facer. Man,” Sebastian sighed. It was as if they didn’t know he was still there.

“Can you all just stop talking about this already? Don’t you have respect for me? Look, Hawthorn doesn’t have the right to date my wife. Understood? And I don’t want to hear this from any one else…”

“No one must know Vivienne is my wife.” they all nodded their heads.

Sebastian stood up, he wasn’t even interested in the meeting anymore. They can go somewhere and do it or they can goon with it without him since they chose to insult him in his face.

“Mr. Sebastian, are you also leaving?” one of the men asked him.

“Yes, I am leaving. You want to stop me?” they shook their heads.

Even though they were older than him, they were afraid of Sebastian. They dared not talk back at him or else they lose their jobs or even their companies.

Not that he was superior than Sterling, but he had tricks rolled up in his sleeves than any one could think of. They were even surprise that Sebastian hasn’t done anything to Sterling’s company.

But now that the was tampering with his wife, maybe he would act upon that.

-----------------

All through the way going to his company, Sterling couldn’t stop thinking of what just happened. Those people had the audacity to betray him? He was going to punish them. Nothing would even stop that from happening.

And about Sebastian again, Sterling didn’t know why he was acting that way. Does he have any connection with the actress that he doesn’t want any one to vote for her?

He couldn’t even think straight. Sebastian’s wife’s name was Vivienne but they didn’t even look alike with the actress. Sterling didn’t know but Vivienne got changed because of Sebastian.

Maybe he was doing that because of the relationship between him and Sabrina.

When Sterling stepped out of the car, something came to his head. Shouldn’t he show Sebastian and the rest that he wasn’t a fool to be played with?

After all, he had the power to do whatever he wants to see that Vivienne was back to the industry. And for the fact that Sebastian already doesn’t like her, that would even be a tough thing for Sebastian and the rest.

He stopped walking as soon as he entered the reception and turned to assistant Li who was behind him carrying the pile of papers.

“Announce to everyone, there’s an emergency meeting.”

An emergency meeting? Assistant Li scratched the back of his head confusingly.

Where was he going to start? He didn’t know how to go about it.

Just like an angel sent from above, someone tapped him from the back and he turned around startled.

[They betrayed Mr. Hawthorn]

With the help of assistant Mike, assistant Li was able to announce to all the departments while assistant Mike sent an urgent email to all the shareholders of the company.

“What’s with the urgent meeting?” assistant Mike was surprised.

“I have no idea either. But you are going to be shocked when you find out what happened behind you. Assistant Mike, people can’t be trusted. If they can do this to the whole Mr. Hawthorn, then people like us aren’t save from this.” he sighed.

“What happened while I was away?” he asked him as they made their way to Sterling’s office.

“Assistant Mike, you know all the men Mr. Hawthorn gave the contract to? The ones that voted for Vivienne Montague?” assistant Mike nodded his head.