“If you invited me here for business, Dustin, tell me who exactly you are?” Larry peered at him with suspicious.
Dustin didn’t answer. Instead, he placed a name card on the table and shoved it a little farther from him. Larry took a glance at it. Alpire Group Financial Controller was written in the bottom left corner of the card.
Larry simply snickered. “Huh, I see you have multiples identities. Foreign-trained doctor, university professor, and now what? Financial Controller? What else did we miss? I guess creating a new identity is as easy as drinking a glass of water for you.”
His words were spoken with sarcasm to irritate his rival. However, Dustin knew for a fact that Larry was right. To carry out his plan, he had to come out with a new identity. And before he knew it, he had forgotten about his main goal and objective.
That was why he did not refute him. He remained silent and his gaze drifting from Larry to his name card on the table.
The latter noticed he couldn’t utter any reply, so he switched to a scornful tone and continued, “I’m here to meet the chairman. Now, where is he? Don’t tell me you’re here on his behalf. You’re not in a position to talk business with me.”
“Mr. Norton, I’m afraid there’s been some misunderstanding. Actually, the chairman sent me here to represent myself and the company. I’ve never said I’m here to represent him. So, if you have anything to tell him, you can convey it through me. And as a courtesy, I’m here to attend to your inquiry,” Dustin said it in one breath without blinking an eye. Each time he opened his mouth, Larry was annoyed.
“All right, let’s get down to business, shall we? The chairman ordered me to discuss the details of the acquisition with you. I thought this matter is very much important for you, but as soon as you saw me, I guess you’re not curious about it anymore. I see, there’s a strong resentment between us.”
Larry took a deep breath. He’s right. I’m not here to pick a fight. I need to hear their reason. I shouldn’t let this jerk affect my judgment. The company comes first.
He tried to control his emotions as he knew it wouldn’t do any good to waste his time on Dustin’s tactics.
Somehow, his temper rose again. He just couldn’t sit face to face with Dustin and had a formal conversation. He shut his mouth tight in a look of extreme displeasure.
Dustin reached out for a pile of documents beside him and laid them in front of him. Then, with great confidence, he said calmly, “Here, the chairman wants you to look through all these files.”
Larry’s frowning gaze dropped to the files on the table. While he was dumbfounded, Dustin pushed them closer to him and arched an eyebrow. Larry reached out and took it.
As expected, those documents contained all the reasons he wanted to know. Dustin clarified that the poor data management of Norton Corporation had led to the acquisition.
However, Larry knew very well how the company had operated over the years. He couldn’t comment nor accuse him of the leaked information. Their reason was just inconceivable to him.
