Alex Cohen waited patiently and finally knew what Yannick Solomon was getting at.
In that case, there was no need to wait any longer and Alex could just diss him back.
As Alex had mentioned earlier, Yannick was just a small shareholder that only had 1% of shares in Helse Pharmaceuticals. Alex, on the other hand, was a majority shareholder with 45% shares.
It was simply too outrageous if Yannick thought that he could kick Alex out of the company by relying on a post that Kevin Lindstrom clearly said did not cause much of an impact.
It was a compliment to call Yannick naive because he was clearly just an idiot running a fool’s errand!
This was also the reason why Lenox became more impatient as he listened to Yannick’s speech…
Yannick was too self-absorbed and did not realize how outrageous his idea was. He even said it with such conviction. When he heard Alex had mentioned Zachary Ewing, he suddenly trembled a little. Although he had an ominous feeling, he still did not take it too seriously. He only glared at Alex and questioned, “We’re talking about you and that post, so why did you mention Zachary Ewing out of the blue?”
Alex shrugged and said, “Mr. Lindstrom just asked me what I thought and I said that I’d wait for you to finish. That doesn’t mean that I have nothing to say. Now that you’re done, it’s my turn to speak. But before I speak my mind, I must first make a situation clear. That is, when you secretly met with Zachary Ewing yesterday, what exactly did you talk about?”
Kevin Lindstrom had already heard Alex’s explanation about this and continued to remain silent while he stared at Yannick curiously.
Lenox Lindstrom, who was still in the dark, asked with surprise, “Alex, you said that Yannick secretly met up with Zachary Ewing?”
Alex nodded and said, “Yup! Yesterday, I was at a hotel and saw him sitting at the same table with Zachary, chatting away happily. Yannick, I had other things to deal with yesterday, so I didn’t have time to ask you about it. Now that everyone’s here, explain yourself.”
Yannick had expected Alex to mention this matter, so he settled down and answered, “I just shared a table with Zachary. How did this become a secret meeting when you say it? Alex, I have to say, your ability to make up false accusations is just like your business aptitude. It really is disappointing!”
“Oh…share a table, huh? That’s a real coincidence. But I remember that there weren’t many people in the dining area and there were more empty seats than occupied ones. Yet you claim that both of you are just sharing a table?
Then I must applaud the two of you for saving resources for the hotel. Oh, I also recalled something else. At that time, you were in Room 8108 with Zachary, then you both went downstairs to the dining area together after chatting. Don’t tell me that…you went all the way over there and talked to Zachary for nearly half an hour, just to discuss the matter of sharing a table with him?”
“Who…who said that I went to Zachary’s room? Who saw that I chatted with Zachary for half an hour? We clearly met in the dining area! I considered the fact that we’ve been rivals with Zentrum Pharmaceuticals for many years. As the saying goes, the only way to victory is to know your own strength and your enemy’s strength.
That’s why I’ve taken the initiative to eat with Zachary at the same table. Yet you want to take the opportunity to poke around for information. Alex, you’d better figure out the situation before you speak and don’t spout nonsense!”
“Yannick, is this your explanation? Forget about me, do you think that everyone else here will believe it? Considering that you’re my cousin’s cousin and we’re both colleagues, I’m willing to give you another chance to confess.
As long as you tell the truth, I’ll definitely be lenient on you. But if you still refuse to admit your mistake, then I’m sorry, I can only deal with it accordingly.”
“You’re the one who’s refusing to admit your mistake! You know you can’t escape, so you want to throw the blame on me?”
Yannick did not expect that Alex had so much information about this. However, he thought that was all Alex knew. Unless he said it himself, no one would know what he had talked to Zachary about. As he considered this, he thought that Alex was scamming him!
‘I’m a college grad, so how will I fall for your trick?’
Yannick sneered and glared at Alex, then looked at everyone else and “sincerely” said, “All of you here are sensible and intelligent people, so you should be able to tell what Alex is thinking about at this moment.
Since I brought you all together today to discuss how to deal with him, it’s normal for him to think that I’m targeting him and it’s understandable that he wants to dump the blame on me at this critical moment. But I swear that I only did this for the sake of Helse Pharmaceuticals.
I absolutely don’t have any selfish thoughts and all I’ve said is the truth. Before this, I don’t even know Alex, so I certainly don’t have any personal grudges against him. Just ask yourselves, who would wrongly accuse a stranger for no reason?”
After he said that, the room fell silent.
Lenox was inclined to believe Alex, and Kevin was even more determined to believe Alex, but the current discussion was about business matters.
Both of them were not comfortable speaking on behalf of Alex without any substantial evidence that could prove Alex’s innocence.
The others, on the other hand, did not know who was right and had a wait-and-see attitude.
They would wait until one of them proved themselves so that they had a basis for their judgment, then only they would give their opinion.
Alex waited for a while to make sure no one else wanted to intervene before he continued, “Generally speaking, it’s true that no one will wrongly accuse a stranger for no reason, but there’s something called accepting bribes.
There’s also a kind of people called profiteers. That is, they can do anything for money. Yannick, do you like money? It’s alright, I already know the answer. You don’t like money, but only like souvenirs…right?”
“Hiss…”
When Yannick heard the word “souvenir”, he suddenly sucked in a breath of cold air.
There was a sudden ominous premonition that emerged in his heart.
Could it be that Alex knew everything about his conversation with Zachary?
Alex had finished what he had to say. He did not wait for Yannick to respond, then took out a flash drive and pushed it over to Kevin.
“Cousin, there’s an audio file here. Please play it for everyone to listen. I’ll give you all a heads up though. The audio is a bit long and noisy, so you may not hear some of the sounds very clearly. But I’ve listened to it in its entirety and the inaudible parts don’t affect the main point.”
Yannick subconsciously thought that Alex was going to replay his conversation with Zachary Ewing.
If it was truly that, he would be done for.
Yannick was tense all over. He suddenly shot up and reached over to snatch the flash drive in Kevin’s hand, then casually dunk it into his own cup of tea.
Kevin also stood up. He quickly fished out the flash drive from Yannick’s teacup then wiped the wet flash drive with a paper towel. He glared at Yannick and said, “What are you doing?”
Yannick responded with a red face, “Everyone’s busy. Who has time to listen to some bullsh*t audio?”
“If you’re busy, you can leave anytime. No one’s stopping you!”
“I…”
Yannick was speechless for a moment, but seeing that the flash drive had been soaked in water, it should have been damaged or at least could not be used for a while, so he felt a little relieved. As long as Alex could not get conclusive evidence, he would never admit it, then nothing would happen.
However, in the next second, Alex took his phone out and said, “Cousin, I also have a copy of the same audio file on my phone…”
After Yannick heard this, his heart was unsettled.
He wanted to pounce again to grab the phone, but Kevin was vigilant this time and did not give him the chance.
All he could do was to pray that the audio file Alex mentioned was not his conversation with Zachary.
Sometimes, it was just like being targeted by God, whatever one feared most would happen.
Kevin connected Alex’s phone to the conference room’s speaker and found the audio file. When he clicked play, Yannick immediately wilted and plopped down on the seat. That was because the sound that came out from the speaker was him greeting Zachary last night.
Big Ken’s transmitter was a high-end product and the recording signal receiver was also of good quality, so the recording was quite clear.
Moreover, the multimedia equipment used in the conference room was also in the $10,000 range.
Through this series of high-grade equipment, the conversation between Yannick Solomon and Zachary Ewing was as clear as day.
If it was not for Yannick occasionally bending over and hovering his sleeves over the pocket area that created some friction sound in the recording, it would have simply felt that they were all listening at the scene. In addition to this high-quality sound reproduction, Yannick and Zachary’s dialogue very directly showed that the two of them were colluding.
Without waiting for the recording to finish playing, Yannick could not take it any longer and lifted his hands to cover his ears while he shook his head uncontrollably and said, “Stop it! Stop it! I…I know I’m wrong!”
Alex laughed, gestured for Kevin to press the pause button, then said, “Everything we do must have evidence. If I didn’t have proof, I wouldn’t have brought up your little situation. Well, now it’s your turn to prove your accusations against me.”
Yannick stared blankly at Alex with a despondent face and cursed in his heart. ‘If I had evidence, I would’ve taken it out long ago! How could I have waited until now?’
“If you don’t have proof, then I’ll assume that you were just talking sh*t.”
Alex still maintained a faint smile and said aloud, “Gentlemen, regarding this matter of Yannick targeting me, the recording just now has already made it clear, so I won’t repeat it. Next, I’ll explain the events mentioned in that post.
In the case of Zentrum Pharmaceuticals’ land acquisition project, since it involved my hometown, I did carry a certain amount of selfishness in dealing with this matter. That’s because the compensation Zentrum planned to give was ridiculously low.
Not just myself, but not many villagers could accept this. Since I have the ability, I thought I would intervene and fight for the village folk’s benefits. Unfortunately, I couldn’t reach a consensus with Zentrum, so the next best thing is to take over that project.
If Helse Pharmaceuticals doesn’t recognize the project, then I’ll bear all the expenses alone, as well as all the consequences arising from this matter!”
Kevin followed their established plan and stood out in time to add, “Cousin, how could you say that? You’ve taken so much land that could grow a lot of medicinal herbs, which is extremely beneficial to the development of Helse Pharmaceuticals.
This is a great thing! Although we haven’t reached an agreement yet, that’s only because it hasn’t been discussed. Eventually, this project will definitely be able to pass the vote.”
“That’s right!”
Lenox finally expressed his thoughts after his son took the lead. He continued, “I also think that it’s wise to take over Zentrum’s land acquisition project. I won’t express my opinion on behalf of Helse for now, but I personally strongly support it!”
“Thank you! Thanks for your understanding.”
Alex nodded gratefully, then looked at everyone else and asked, “What do you all think?”
Originally, the other stakeholders were all against Alex’s approach, but even the company’s president, Lenox Lindstrom, had taken a stand. Moreover, Zachary had managed to convert Yannick to go against his own company and had aroused their hostility. They were all in a fit of anger, so they gritted their teeth and expressed their support for Alex.
Another reason they made this choice was to declare their stance.
Alex and Yannick were at odds, so if they still did not support that project, that would mean they agreed with Yannick and might even be tacitly accused of being in cahoots with Yannick, who had been proven to be a traitor. Drawing the line with a traitor was an instinctive reaction to protect themselves.
If they could not support Yannick Solomon, then they could only choose to support Alex Cohen.
At this point, this issue that had been pressing on Alex for a long time finally settled.
Before this, Yannick never would have thought that his carefully planned conspiracy against Alex would eventually turn out to be a booster that was a great help to him too…
