Chapter 32: Announcement

Zarah followed to the car while deeply bothered by what happened to Josh.

"What's the matter, young lady?" Isaiah asked her.

"It's nothing, Old Man," she dismissed.

"Oh. Wait, where's Josh? I haven't seen him around since I woke up." His innocent question made Zarah uncomfortable.

She looked at Chris who was seated in the driver's seat and their eyes locked. Chris rolled up the partition so the father and daughter could talk in private.

"Did something happen?" Isaiah asked and Zarah bit her inner lip.

Isaiah liked Josh for Zarah. He thought that he was a good man for his daughter. He also found out that she had a huge crush on him back in high school and when Josh was pursuing her, he gave quite a few meaningful pieces of advice to Josh on how to get Zarah's sweet yes.

She didn't consider Isaiah's reaction when she ended things with Josh.

"Old Man, uhm...I hope you won't be upset but Josh and I...we broke up." She decided to be honest as there was no point hiding this from him. Lying would only make it worse as Isaiah knew when she was lying.

"Oh!" Isaiah did not comment as he remained silent.

"Old Man, are you okay?" She asked in worry.

"No. I should be asking you that question. Are you okay?" Isaiah asked her instead.

"I'll be fine." She replied.

"Then I'm fine." He said his response to her question. As long as Zarah's okay, he'll also be fine.

He then decided to look at the scenes outside.

"Where are we heading?"

"I'm not sure." Zarah decided to press the button and asked Chris over the microphone.

"Where are we going, Chris?"

"Master Xavier arranged a place for the Chairman to stay. He said the Chairman would like it there." Chris replied and Zarah looked at her father.

"Do you have any idea where it is, Old Man?" she asked.

He hummed in response but did not say anything.

Zarah realized that they'd passed by Maple District and were heading to Pine District. Pine District was the southernmost district of Oakridge City. The population was less dense compared to the other districts.

They had passed by the suburbs and some subdivisions with expensive houses built in the neighborhood.

After another ten minutes of driving, their car entered a subdivision.

Isaiah immediately recognized the neighborhood and the corners of his eyes moistened.

The guards asked them to pull over for verification. As soon as Chris showed his ID card, they were immediately cleared to proceed.

There were only twenty houses in this neighborhood and most were expensive villas owned by the elites.

After five minutes, their car stopped in front of a huge silver gate. Within a few seconds, the gate opened, and a driveway greeted them.

Three minutes later, they finally saw the house which was hidden behind the trees.

"They've grown so tall now," Isaiah mumbled and she heard it.

Isaiah was emotional as he didn't expect he would be staying on this property again.

They then got out of the car and Zarah together with the private nurse helped him transfer to his wheelchair.

"When will my son be coming home?"

"Master's currently in a meeting with the board of directors," Chris said and an idea popped up in his mind.

"Oh! Then, can you help me do something, young man?"

"Sure. What is it, Chairman Stevens?"

Xavier on the other hand was sitting in the Chairman's chair since he was the second-highest shareholder after Isaiah. Well, all thanks to Nikolai's shares.

He allowed them to give time to express their concerns about his position as the new CEO of the company.

At the same time, the update about Isaiah's health had reached the investors as they had the right to know.

Franklin and Nikolai somehow managed to convince some of the investors to be on their side and they were now trying to make things difficult for Xavier in this meeting.

However, the one they tried to mess with was calmly listening to their nonsense and in the end, it was them who felt frustrated.

They wanted to test Xavier if he would waver under their pressure. Given his age, they thought that his knees would tremble and would beg them to let him stay in the position.

On the contrary, he was very calm and it pissed them off. They started losing their composure and opted for more aggressive means.

One of the shareholders said that they would pull out their shares since Isaiah's health was deteriorating.

Xavier respected their opinion and so he confidently said, "Go ahead. Kindly list down your names in this paper if you want to sell your shares. I'll be happy and more than willing to buy them back in cash."

Instead of letting these old folks stay and let them ruin his time in the company, he'd rather chase them out.

He had other means to if they'd pass his offer. A more brutal one if they liked.

"Ha! Stop bragging, will you? Do you even have the means? You're just the son of a wh*re." Franklin tried to provoke him.

Xavier got up from his seat and spread his arms in front with a mocking grin on his face and said, "Don't start calling my mother a wh*re dear b.r.o.t.h.e.r. If my mom was a whore then how about yours?"

Franklin's eyes widened as his anger rose. He got up and was about to attack Xavier when Rupert stopped him by grabbing his arm and pinning them behind him.

Rupert might look skinny but he was strong.

"Let me go! You bastard!"

"Mr. Stevens, I'm afraid you should refrain from being aggressive. You're not going to like what I'll do with you." He warned.

Xavier liked watching Franklin so worked up about it and so his mood became better.

"Release him, Rupert. He's not worthy of getting your hands dirty." He said and Rupert pushed Franklin harshly that he staggered and almost fell.

"You!"

"Before I forgot. There's an ongoing investigation into the corruption that you and your brother were doing in the company. Wait for the results of our investigation. I'm sure that you'd love it."

The people inside the rumor burst into murmurs.

Franklin's face turned pale when he heard this. However, Nikolai reassured him that they would not find a single thing, and he believed his brother and considered what Xavier said as empty threats.

Just then, Rupert's phone rang and he excused himself to answer it after he saw Chris' name on the screen. It was a video call.

When he answered, he was surprised to see Isaiah on the screen rather than his cousin.

"Good morning Chairman Stevens!"

"Good morning, Rupert! Ah! You resembled a lot of your father Clifford, Rupert."

"I'll accept it as a compliment, Chairman Stevens."

"Well, you should. I owe your family a lot. Your father died protecting my son until the very end." Isaiah said.

Clifford was the nurse who accompanied Xavier when he came back to Oakridge City four years ago. However, he died during the car accident.

"Well, he's only doing his job, Sir. We owe our life to Lockhart." Rupert said.

"I know. Anyways. Is my son with you?"

"He's still inside. I excused myself to answer this call."

"Go back and put this phone on speaker. I want to make an announcement."

"Okay, Chairman."

When Rupert came back to the room, he immediately put him into a loudspeaker. He also projected the 

Xavier saw that his father was on the phone and so he decided to not interrupt.

"Good morning ladies and gentlemen!" He tried to greet everyone energetically yet he failed.

Everyone was surprised to see him on screen and to hear his voice.

They greeted him back and asked if he was fine.

"I'm still alive. Don't get too excited to attend my funeral." It was a joke he tried to make from his condition.

"That's not what they mean, Dad," Franklin told him and ignored him.

"I did not receive the memo that there's a meeting. Why didn't you inform me, Elliott?"

Elliott, who was standing on the sideline, immediately spoke, "Chairman, the doctor advised us to let you rest."

"Don't worry about me. I'll be eternally resting soon. Now, I missed the fun because of your negligence." He scolded Elliott. Instead of being upset, Elliott wanted to cry.

He would miss this from him. No one would give him lectures when he failed to do something.

Isaiah never treated him as his lowly subordinate. He treated Elliott like his apprentice.

"Pardon my lack of enthusiasm. I'm not surprised if the news about my terminal illness reached your ears." He paused as he tried to catch a deep breath and then continued, "Yes, that's true. But my death will eventually come one day whether we like it or not."

Zarah wanted to stop him from talking longer as he was catching his breath.

But Isaiah was adamant and wanted her to stay away and let him do it.

"I'm sorry if I'd pause for a while. I stopped my dialysis and other medications. Anyways...." He paused to take a breath and then continued.

"Before I go, I'd like to make an announcement."

"What is it, Chairman?" One member asked.

"It had come to my knowledge that you're doing this meeting since you questioned my son's current position as a CEO."

"That's true. We wanted to know where the company is heading with him as the new CEO. He's so young for the position. Did he even finish his degree? And now he wants us to sell his shares to him?" Another answered. He was on Franklin and Nikolai's side.

"So, what do you propose then?" Isaiah asked him.

"We want him to give up his position and return the shares he illegally acquired from Mr. Nikolai Stevens."

They thought that Isaiah would be reasonable and favor them.

Well, should they vote about this, Isaiah could join. And as the highest shareholder, containing 45℅ of the shares, they had to make him agree with them.

"Then my son is right, Mr. Gomez. You should sell your shares to him."

"What?!" Mr. Gomez suddenly became offended by this.

"This might be the last time that you'll see me and so I'll make an announcement to set things clear," he said.

"I'll give half of my 45% shares to my son, Xavier. This share should belong to my second wife, Abigail. However, she refused to have it and so, I'm giving it directly to our son."

Xavier was not surprised to know why his mother would turn it down. His mother was never short of money.

So the brothers' claim that Abigail married Isaiah for money was never true. She married him out of love. She loved him despite their huge age difference. Isaiah could stand as her father.

"Xavier, I hope you'll accept it, son. At least I'll die doing something right for you." Isaiah's voice cracked as he was holding back his tears.

Zarah who was standing on the sideline felt worried about him and so she grabbed some tissue and handed it to him but he refused and asked her to go back from where she was standing.

Faced with his stubbornness, Zarah had no other choice but to obey.

Isaiah looked at his son's face which resembled so much of his late wife.

"As for the remaining half, I'll give it to my daughter who has been with me and never stopped caring for me when I'm at my worst. I know she didn't want to accept anything from me as she feared what other people would say about it but legally, she has a share of all that I owned."

Aside from those who know Zarah's identity, everyone in the room was so curious to know who she was.

"Now that my son holds the highest shares, he's now the new Chairman of Stevens Group. He now has the power to decide. Believe me when I say I believe in my son's capabilities."

Just then, Isaiah felt tired and so he decided to wrap everything up and said, "I'll send my lawyer to process the legalities and I will give the task to Elliott and to my son to make sure my wish will be fulfilled. Should you disobey me, I'll haunt all of you in your dreams."

Just like that, the video ended leaving everyone in deep thought.

Meanwhile, Franklin was embarrassed as Isaiah never gave him any attention and he could tell his father was looking at Xavier all this time and not him.

Wait, he had to tell his brother about this as soon as possible so they could stop this from happening.

It would be a nightmare for them both if they would let Isaiah's will be fulfilled.

Xavier on the other hand looked at everyone with a smug expression.

"Seriously, if you disliked me here in the company, I'd rather have you sell your shares to me. I'm not going to leave. This is my father's company and I'm his son."

That was Xavier's statement that ended the meeting.

As they left the conference room, Xavier told Rupert what to do next. Even Elliott was pleased with Xavier's performance. He didn't let them get the results they wanted.

He was also happy that Xavier did not reject Isaiah's offer.

He thought that the future of the company was brighter with Xavier in command. How lovely would it be if Zarah joined the company after she graduated, too?

***