CHAPTER 11 : Let The Know, What I am Made Of.

CHAPTER 11

The talk about Anika misusing her shareholder power and how it would have been better had her brother Rahul held that power was ongoing until the meeting room doors opened.

Anika got onto the podium, while Sam stood behind Mr. Hudson.

"Good morning, dear Board Members," Anika said with a crafty smile.

"Leave that. First, tell us why you have called for the Board Meeting. Wasn't it decided that the next Board Meeting will be conducted tomorrow?" said one of the Right Wing Board Members, Mrs. Dolly, the Marketing Director.

"And you, yourself, who called for this meeting, are late. Is this what is to be expected from someone who is running for the position of 'Chief Executive Director'?" she added.

"Mrs. Dolly, I am sorry for being late, but all the printers in my office haven't been working, so I had to ask other departments," Anika replied.

"Even though we have already filed the form for replacing them with the Management Team, I still don't know why Mr. Goosley's team hasn't responded," she said in a mocking tone. "Oh, he isn't here. Even though it's a meeting called by the Major Shareholder, he isn't here. I wonder where he is."

Hearing Anika's reply, Mrs. Dolly lowered her head as if she wanted to avoid the question.

"Did she find out?" one whispered to another.

"But how? The press conference probably just started now, and to let others know, we even first passed the policy directly into the hospital," the other said.

"Yeah, you're right. Maybe she hasn't found out. If she did, she wouldn't have that annoying smile on her face."

<"Cough"> Mr. Dolly coughed as if wanting to silence those directors.

"So tell me, Ms. Anika, why have you called for the meeting?" she said, diverting others' attention from the whispering directors to Anika again.

"Ms. Riya, please provide the project reports to the Board Members," Anika said, signaling to Riya, who was standing near the door with some bundles.

One by one, Riya handed them over. Mrs. Dolly looked at the slippery soft copy of the report in her hand.

"Project - Image?" Mrs. Dolly read the name on the front page in confusion. "What's this all about, Ms. Anika?" she asked, looking toward Anika above her spectacles.

'Those viper-like eyes of hers just compliment her personality,' thought Anika, seeing Mrs. Dolly's eyes, which had a hint of green in them.

"It's a proposal, ma'am," Anika said in a taunting tone.

"Pftt," someone laughed.

"I know, I can see that. I am asking why you have given yet another proposal when you didn't even submit the presentation of your last one," Mrs. Dolly said, filled with anger and embarrassment.

Hearing this, Anika stared at Mrs. Dolly with a contemptuous gaze before continuing, "So, as you all have seen in the report, the area marked red has a national highway not more than 2 km away from it, connected directly to the sublime and flyovers leading here."

"It's surrounded by rural towns and villages like 'Rustwood' and 'Willow Creek.' Also, a main road connecting them directly to the city passes in front of it."

"Just get to the point, Ms. Anika," one of the Board Members said.

Anika perfectly knew and understood the situation of the Board Members. Although there was hierarchy among them, none of the members were willing to support another. Most probably, they would love to see another get embarrassed, even if that person was from the same party.

And it was because of this that nobody had objected to Anika ignoring Mrs. Dolly's question.

By now, Mrs. Dolly was fuming in anger. The thread of her patience was thinning out.

Anika continued, smiling as she looked at the embarrassed and angry face of Mrs. Dolly. "I have talked to the farmers cultivating this land, and they are ready to sell it for 15% more than the market price."

"What, just 15%? Are you sure they are selling this whole land marked here?" Mr. Akash asked. He was a comparatively young man among the general people present here, with a healthy and fit body, an oval face, and some white hair among his black ones.

He was one of the people who were neutral and actually thought more about the company's welfare than the crowning race for heir.

"Yes, sir, this whole 6 acres of field," Anika said respectfully.

"Hmm, it's definitely good news, but not enough for you to call an emergency meeting like this," Mr. Hudson finally spoke, probably telling Anika to stop playing around and get to the point.

But just as he finished speaking, Mrs. Dolly's anger balloon popped. "Anika, how dare you waste our time over this small matter? And as I've seen the full report, this project you are proposing has already been put off by a majority vote."

"It's the same KC-Mall project, and you have the audacity to give this garbage to us after just changing its name," she said furiously, standing up and slamming the table.

"What?! Let me see," said one. All the members were shocked; some were secretly happy, thinking that they could finally hold something against Anika.

"What is this, Ms. Anika? Do you take us for granted, or do you think we are fools?" they said.

Anika had done that deliberately—changed the name of the project, added a few reports and census data before the PPT, and submitted it. She did it to confuse the members. It was all part of her plan.

'I was expecting a bit more time, but I guess that's as far as I could make fools of them,' Anika thought.

Anika had been preparing to propose this project again and was slowly collecting data for that purpose. So, she had attached all the data she had collected to that report.

'There could never be an opportunity as good as this for putting forward this project and acquiring its management rights,' she thought, looking at the confused members.

"How irresponsible you are. Now you've truly shown that only Mr. Rahul is capable of leading the company. See how he is—" Mrs. Dolly said but suddenly stopped, covering her mouth.

"Why have you stopped, Mrs. Dolly? Tell me, 'How he is?' " Anika said in a daunting tone.

"Let me tell you," Anika said, stepping down from the podium. "She was saying how he had stolen my idea of elevating our public image by compensating the victims and is now doing a press conference by himself."

"When I was the one who proposed the idea, and I was the one who had to be there instead of him," she continued, broadcasting the live press conference onto the projector screen of the meeting room.

Everyone's mouths gaped open. Even Sam and Riya hadn't anticipated it. They thought that Anika might just put the proposal of that project forward in exchange for her idea being plagiarized.

"How did she know? Didn't you say there's no chance of her knowing?" said someone.

"Just shut up," Anika said rudely. "You, who should be an example to all, are now being so cheap," she criticized the one who was whispering.

"Ms. Anika, know your limits. How dare you talk to someone like that—and, at that, a Board Director," Mrs. Dolly said, taken aback by Anika's reply.

"Oh, please. You all are the worst and rotten part of this company, that if my father were alive, he would have thrown you all out."

"An idea of someone gets stolen and used for others' benefit, passed through Board Members secretly, implemented, and you all want to debate with me about how to talk with elders?"

"Is this the management of the company? Is this what people expect of KC Group? Mr. Hudson, Mr. Akash, I at least expected you to have an idea about it, but looking at your faces, I doubt it. Shame on you."

'Is what I wanted to say, but no, Anika, you can't. I have to be smart about this,' she thought to herself.

"Now what would you say, Mrs. Dolly?" she said, gazing at Mrs. Dolly's jaw-dropped face.

"A good leader are we? Or a thief and superiors who would steal other people's ideas for their own gain and won't even give me the least bit of credit," she continued as the screen showed her brother along with Mr. Chobby and Mr. Goosley.

Everyone went silent. Not even the sound of whispering came. They were all waiting for Anika to make some mistake that they could use as justification for her brother doing the press conference instead of her.

When they caught one, the tables turned, and now not a single word could come out of their mouths.

Nobody could speak anything. And how could they? Doing so would mean serving their own necks to the guillotine.

After a long silence, Mr. Hudson finally spoke. "What do you want, Ms. Anika? How, according to you, should we deal with this situation?"

Anika was waiting for such a moment—a golden chance to get the neutral Board Members on her side.

The first step for her to have a proper standing against her brother inside the company and a solid backing in the fight for the Group's ownership.