Chapter 379 - It's Not My Call
~ At Heavenly Star Enterprise ~
The management of the Heavenly Star Enterprise was currently having a weekly meeting for project updates and other concerns.
During the meeting, some directors raised the issue regarding multiple blacklisting of companies that the CEO ordered last week with the approval of their Chairman.
John's father tried to talk to his friend, Director Go, who is one of the Directors of Heavenly Star Enterprise. He asked his help to raise his concern during the management meeting today.
Director Go was the same director who connived with Mr. Miller before as they planned to oust Tristan from his CEO position during his scandal. They planned to replace Tristan with Andrew but they failed.
Now, he was the same person raising the concern about the decision of Tristan in rejecting the partnership with Bancroft's Company and blacklisting the other four companies.
"CEO Davis, can you explain to us the reason for rejecting the proposal of Bancroft's Company? It was already decided two weeks ago that Bancroft's Company would become our partner in the upcoming project?" Director Go sounded unhappy with Tristan's decision.
The other four directors who were also Director Go's accomplice before also supported his complaints today.
"We also heard that aside from rejecting the good proposal, you also put Bancroft's Company in the Blacklisted Companies together with another four companies without a reasonable reason." Another Director had spoken.
They were targeting Tristan right now. They wanted to make him look bad and unreasonable in the eyes of others.
"With all due respect CEO, we just wanted to know if you did it on impulse. We heard that their family members had offended you that's why you did this. Can't you resolve this by talking to them and without compromising our business?" Another Director, who was supporting Director Go shared his opinions with everyone.
They had no idea that it was an order coming from Chairman Lu, not only Tristan.
Grandpa Lu and Tristan were just listening to their complaints, allowing them to speak what they wanted before responding to them.
Matthew, who was sitting beside Tristan, told him something.
"Assistant Twig informed me this morning that your two cousins talked to your grandpa. Did you forget? Alexis Bancroft is their friend so they tried to convince Grandpa Lu to remove Bancroft's Company from our Blacklist."
"They even told Chairman Lu that you were acting immature for doing it," Matthew added.
Tristan's lips twitched fighting a smile while lifting an eyebrow.
"So how did grandpa react to them?" Tristan whispered back to Matthew.
Matthew grinned widely as he answered Tristan. "Chairman Lu only replied 'So What?'. They had no idea that your grandpa was the one who gave that order. So it appeared that they called Chairman Lu immature."
Tristan let out a soft chuckle. He could imagine the expression of his two evil cousins when Grandpa Lu responded to them like that.
Because of his laughter, Tristan caught the attention of the Directors who were not yet done complaining.
"CEO Davis? Do you think this is funny? Have you not anticipated our potential losses because of this? Our competitors especially Sy Corp will grab this opportunity to work with these five companies whom you banned from transacting with us," Director Go ranted at Tristan. He couldn't hide his irritation as he thought Tristan was laughing at them.
"This is a serious matter. Not something you can just laugh about. This is a clear indication of conflict of interest," Director Go added with a disdainful look on his face.
"Please explain your action." He demanded Tristan.
Everyone focused their attention on Tristan, waiting for his response. It seemed that Director Go and his friends were already done talking. Now, it's Tristan's turn to defend himself.
Cough! Cough!
Tristan cleared his throat first before speaking. His expression had become serious.
"I'm sorry about my laughter moments ago. I'm not laughing because of your statements. My assistant told me something funny, that's why I laughed. But don't worry, I am paying attention to all your complaints a while ago," Tristan said with his calm demeanor.
"Regarding your concern about the Blacklisted Companies… you are asking me for my good reason to do this? Let me ask you first, Director Go… Are you speaking to me as the Director of this company or are you speaking on behalf of those blacklisted companies?"
"Of course, I am speaking as a Director of this Company."
Tristan smirked at him after hearing that. "Is that so? Remember Director Go that our decision within the company should not be influenced by outsiders, am I right?"
"Yes, we are aware of that," Director Go responded promptly.
"I see. I'm just making sure because I am afraid that you are doing this because of the conflict of interest you've mentioned a while ago."
"What do you mean by saying this, CEO Davis?" Director Go asked him in confusion.
"As far as I can remember, you are a close friend of the Chairman of the Bancroft's Company. Did he ask your help with regards to this matter?" Tristan asked, sneering at Director Go.
Director Go fell silent for a moment after hearing this. It's true that Mr. Bancroft asked for his help. Aside from Tristan, other Directors from the Management were aware of his friendship with the Bancroft Family.
In fact, he was the one who highly recommended Bancroft's Company for the new project. His friend promised him a reward once their proposal would be approved by the Heavenly Star Enterprise.
From the tone of Tristan, it seemed that he was insinuating that Director Go might be accepting bribes or kickbacks from Bancroft's Company because he was hell-bent on supporting them with this project.
This matter slipped his mind. Now he was put in a difficult situation. Others might think and suspect him now because of this.
However, he should maintain his composure to make him look not guilty at all.
"I admit that the Chairman of Bancroft's Company is my friend. But that's not the issue here. Everyone here, even you, agreed that their company is the best company to become our partner in our next project. Their company is very capable and they passed the vetting and evaluation we did to them for this partnership."
"However, you suddenly rejected the proposal on the day of signing it just because Chairman Bancroft's son had offended you. This is a very unjust and unwise decision. This is clearly not a valid reason for rejecting the proposal." Director Go was pointing out Tristan's personal feelings in making the decision.
Tristan heaved a deep sigh. He was getting tired of this argument.
"I'll take full responsibility if ever we will experience great losses in this matter," Tristan said to end the discussion. He didn't want to explain further.
What would he tell them? He did it because of his wife and Sophia? The directors would surely criticize him more so it's better not to say anything.
"If you can't give us a proper explanation then maybe you must reconsider your decision and just sign the proposal." Director Go said, challenging Tristan.
"Alright, If you want me to sign the proposal because I don't want to explain then I will. However, Bancroft's Company is included in the Blacklisted Companies, so I can't still sign the proposal you are talking about." Tristan said to him nonchalantly.
Remove the Bancroft's Company and the other four companies in the Blacklist," Another Director suggested to Tristan in his demanding tone.
Tristan sighed deeply. "Regarding that… it's not my call."
"Why not? Aren't you the one who requested to ban those companies?" Director Go asked, squinting his eyes at him.
Tristan just gave Director Go a meaningful smile.
"Because I was the one who made this decision." Grandpa Lu, who was very silent a while ago, finally had spoken to them with his authoritative voice.
Director Go: "..."
The conference room was engulfed by deafening silence the moment they heard Grandpa Lu's voice. They could feel the frightening aura emanating from their Chairman. He looked mad and pissed off.
Director Go and the other four directors who supported his argument suddenly lost their ability to speak. The color drained from their faces as they realized their biggest mistake by today.
They were not afraid to go against Tristan, the CEO, but going against the Chairman was another thing. If there was something absolute in the Heavenly Star Enterprise, that would be Grandpa Lu's words.
No one would dare question his decisions. That's how powerful and influential Grandpa Lu was in his own Company.
Director Go and his director friends had mistaken. They thought it was Tristan's idea for blacklisting those five companies. It turned out it was the decision of Chairman Lu.
They felt like they dug their own graves today. Their negative words and insults they gave to Tristan as they called him impulsive, unreasonable, and unwise were indirectly targeted at Chairman Lu since he was the one who ordered to blacklist those companies.
'Damn… what a foolish move we have done today,' Director Go thought to himself as he exchanged glances with his director friends. They regretted their actions.
Tristan and Matthew including Assistant Twig tried their best to hold their laughter. They were enjoying the funny expression of Director Go and his friends.
The brave directors who were scolding their CEO moments ago suddenly turned into an obedient and frightened little sheep in front of Chairman Lu who looked like an angry wolf ready to devour its prey.
"I will not change my decision! Those five companies will remain on the list of blacklisted companies. Do any of you want to object and oppose my decision?"
"No Chairman!" Everyone answered in unison.