Silly Bride

Chapter 129

The conference room was portioned into two separate sections.As Winnie stood at the outer section, she could clearly see what was happening inside the inner section via the huge glass walls.Daniel, who was supposed to host the meeting, was replaced by another person at the last minute.This person was ingratiating himself with Nathaniel; his expressions and body language clearly showed that he was trying to get into Nathaniel’s good books.That was because he knew that Nathaniel was the future owner of Garland Group.As for the rest who did not have the chance to get close to Nathaniel, they all had nervous expressions on their faces.They were worried about what might happen to their existing benefits and jobs now that Garland Group was going to change hands.Among these people, only Hamish was visibly out-of-place.He was very startled and furious at the same time.Hamish knew he caused Garland Group to sustain heavy losses. Thus, he was mentally prepared for the worst-case scenario.That was to relinquish all titles and work with his greedy cousin, and come up with a plan to save the company. All in the hope of making a comeback in the future.However, Hamish did not expect that the Garland Group, which he had been helming for more than a decade, was secretly sold off by his cousin, Daniel, and the group of people present in the conference room!Further, it was sold to a foreigner!“You! And you! All of you!” Hamish, fuming with anger, started pointing at the members of the Garland family in the conference room. “When did all of you start to work with an outsider? What a bunch of ingrates! We may be fighting internally but what you all have done is despicable!”Those who were berated by Hamish got upset.“Hamish, what right do you have to blame us?” “Back then, if you did not play favoritism and married that retarded Winnie off to the Fairchild family, we wouldn’t have been ostracized by them.”“Garland Group had been going downhill for these few years, and it was made worse when you infuriated the Fairchild family.” “Not to mention the investment projects which you injected a huge amount of funds into. All your investments were loss-making ventures; we didn’t even get to enjoy any dividends.”“If we don’t sell off our shares now, we’ll end up being debt-ridden like you.”“Before you blame others, take a good look in the mirror first. Look at yourself; you’re truly a good- for-nothing inside and out!”“I guess we can’t expect much from an illegitimate child. Old Mr. Garland

must have been blind when he passed the company to you.” “If your older brother hadn’t passed on so early, Garland Group definitely wouldn’t have landed in the hands of an illegitimate child like you.”It had been a long time since anyone brought up the matter of Hamish being the illegitimate child of the Garland family. It was an emotional trigger and remained a thorn in his flesh.Hamish gave a deadly stare and shouted, “D*mn it, I dare you to say it again!”“I will! You’re an illegitimate child, and everyone here knows about it! Bore by a lowly hostess, you’re a worthless person!”Bang! Enraged, Hamish took a chair and threw it toward the person opposite him.The person did not take it lying down, either. He climbed onto the table and advanced toward Hamish.Nathaniel did not expect that Garland Group had fallen to such a pathetic state. He just watched on nonchalantly as the drama unfolded before him. Although he brought along two security guards, he did not ask them to stop the fight.That was because Nathaniel knew Winnie was watching outside.Hamish was her father and enemy. If Winnie did not intend to stop him, Nathaniel would not poke his nose into it.At this moment, Winnie was sitting on a couch in the outer section of the conference room. She was sipping coffee relaxingly as if watching a show.The female assistant, Jasmine, who was standing beside her, started to worry.She asked softly, “Ms. Garland, a fight has started inside. Do you want me to get the security guards?”“No need.” Winnie frowned slightly. Scenes of this man abusing her mother when she was young started to flash across her mind once again. Her lips curled slightly. “I should be thankful for that person who’s getting his hands dirty on my behalf. Why would I rush to stop him.”But the drama ultimately ended.There was not a single person in the conference room who was on Hamish’s side.Furthermore, they did not wish to leave a bad impression in front of Garland Group’s new owner. Thus, some people quickly broke up the fight.After all that, Hamish was still disgruntled. He banged the table and shouted at Nathaniel, “I am the major stakeholder of Garland Group. I own forty percent of the shares, and including my wife’s ten percent, I have a fifty percent say in the company. Even if you buy the shares from the market and the traitors here, you can’t possibly own fifty percent. Hence, Garland Group is still under my control.”“Shut up!” A bespectacled man who got into a fight with Hamish earlier sneered at him. “You must have gone mad. After the restructuring last year, you’re only left with thirty percent, while your wife only has eight percent now! Plus the fact that you used your shares as mortgage and collateral, you have long been

debt-ridden! Even a security guard in Garland Group is wealthier than you! Stop embarrassing yourself here!”Hamish immediately fell into despair as the cold hard facts poured over him.Yes, he was well aware that he had been debt-ridden for a long time.Seeing that these people finally settled down for a moment, Nathaniel pinched between his brows and stood up.The bespectacled man hurriedly followed Nathaniel when he saw him leaving his seat.Nathaniel was not fond of such interactions between a superior and a subordinate. Thus, he gestured to the bespectacled man not to follow him anymore.The bespectacled man took the hint and went back to his seat.He even instructed the rest, “Calm down, everyone. Let Mr. Quinn have a moment of peace.”Nathaniel walked over to the edge of the glass wall. He was indeed slightly exasperated.The senior management of Garland Group was the messiest and most disunited management he had ever encountered.Nathaniel stared at Winnie through the glass wall and gave her an eye signal. It was as if he was begging her to come in quickly and clean up the mess.Upon seeing Nathaniel’s signal for help, Winnie shrugged her shoulders and put down her coffee cup. She stood up and made her way to the inner section of the conference room.As Nathaniel was standing near the glass wall, the seat for the CEO was empty.After a brief exchange of glances with Nathaniel, Winnie walked straight toward the seat.In full view of everyone, she pulled out the seat and sat on it.Her actions were swift and clean, yet elegant and natural, filled with assertiveness. This was a far cry from the dumb girl who was dragged by Daniel into a room to have forced sex with him.Although the bespectacled man felt a bit overwhelmed by her intimidating presence, he quickly reacted and started to act as the guardian of Garland Group’s new owner. “Winnie, who allowed you in here? How dare you take that seat? You’d better get up now. You have no business in here. Get out!”“Ha…” Winnie laughed lightly. Her eyes suddenly turned sharp. “I’m not leaving; all of you will be leaving instead. Starting with you, Felix! And him, Jason, and him… All of you here, pack your bags and get ready to scram.”After one round, almost everyone present was called out by Winnie.These people were already jittery about their future as Garland Group changed hands.Now that they were being called out individually by Winnie in this manner, it was as if they were being summoned to the guillotine.“Who gave you the authority to do this?”“Yeah, what right do you have?”“Mr. Quinn has not even spoken!”The bespectacled man was pressured by the rest to act as their representative. He approached NathanielUpstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g

for verification. “That’s right, Mr. Quinn. Today’s meeting is for internal stakeholders, so it’s not appropriate for unimportant outsiders to be present, right?”Nathaniel knitted his brows and questioned the bespectacled man sternly, “Who told you that she was an unimportant outsider?”