A Replacement Bride

Chapter 402

Chapter 401 Dragging Gray Corporation Down

Emmanuel was shocked. He shot up and ran to the French window, seeing a big crowd gathered at the entrance of the building. He was too high up to hear what they were shouting about, but he could see the fury on their faces. Some were looking like they would attack. He frowned and ordered, "Quick! Call the guards! They mustn't let these people in!"

The assistant said, "Already relayed the order. The guards are stopping them by the entrance, but they're outnumbered, and the protesters are agitated. They can't calm those people down. If we aren't paying, they aren't leaving." Please check at N/ôvel(D)rama.Org.

Emmanuel flew into a rage. "It's not like we're trying to delay their payment! Where's the foreman? Can't you contact him?"

The assistant was panicking yet couldn't do anything about it. "I can't. I've called many times. First, he didn't take the calls. Then, he even canceled his number. I sent someone to find him, only to find out he had run off with our money. He left Hovington and went missing."

"Then, call the cops!" Emmanuel felt like screaming.

His assistant shot him a look of dilemma. "Mr. Gray, this is more complex than it looks. The contractor's done a lot of shady deals, and now everyone knows we purchased subpar materials. If we call the cops, they will definitely look into our case, and then…"

That thought had escaped Emmanuel for a brief moment due to how furious he was. However, now that the assistant brought it up, he finally realized the severity of the matter. But we owe these people a huge sum of money. We don't even have any cash to pay them at the moment. He gritted his teeth and commanded, "Chase them away however you can! I don't care what you have to do. The nerve of them

to protest right in front of the company! This is such an embarrassment! Also, send someone to hunt that contractor down! I want you to find him, no matter where he's hiding."

His assistant had no idea how to even settle that matter. "Sir, even if we can chase these people away and find the contractor, it'd still be useless. The fact that he swindles our money away means he's not going to pay us back. And these people signed on with us, not the contractor. He's just a bridge between the workers and us. We're the ones who have to settle this. Now that the workers are here, they won't stop until they have what they want."

Infuriated, Emmanuel slammed his ashtray onto the ground, and it fell with a thud. "Do you have any better ideas, then?!" Furiously, he roared, "You're settling this! I don't care how you do it; just settle it!"

The assistant was reluctant to take on this nearly impossible task, but he had no choice. To their surprise, however, the case had gotten into the eyes of the public. Just within half an hour, 'Gray Corporation owes worker salary' had made its way to the top of trending. At the same time, someone also leaked the news that the construction of Coast Resort was using subpar materials, and that topic made its way to second on trending.

Gray Corporation was brought to the forefront of the court of public opinion, and the netizens judged it harshly.

'Holy cow! Even Gray Corporation makes shady deals?!'

'Are you sure the news is reliable?'

'I just went by their company today and wondered why a big group of people was gathering outside the building. So, they owe those workers their pay, huh? This is outrageous.'

'Welp, guess every company's the same. They'd do anything for profit. The only matter is if they're caught in the act. Gray Corporation rules Kyoland. This is probably the tip of the iceberg. I hope the

media uncovered more of their dirty deals. Can't wait to see them getting toppled.'

'This is shocking news!'

'Indeed.'

Emmanuel almost had an aneurysm when he saw the comments, and Philip almost blacked out.

He called Emmanuel, and the sounds of the beeps alone were making his blood pressure rise. When the call went through, he roared, "How did this happen?! Do you have any idea how serious this is? Is this how you handle the company? By running it into the ground?!"

Emmanuel's mind was in chaos. He massaged his forehead, and his brows furrowed deeply. No longer did he look smug. "Calm down, Dad. I'll deal with this."

"Deal with this? How?!" Philip barked. "The public knows what you did! This is the very first time that our company has had to endure such humiliation! What a capable son I have!" He slammed his table, his face red with fury. Then, he cursed, "Look at what you did! You went and bought subpar materials. You've just damned the company's reputation, you useless brat!"

Emmanuel gnashed his teeth as he held back his urge to slam the phone. Hoarsely, he said, "I never wanted this to happen, but it did. Now, we have to settle this instead. Arguments are just a waste of time."

He's talking back to me?! Philip could've breathed fire. "Fine! You think you can handle everything now. You think I'm too old to lecture you, huh? Fine, I'll see how you settle this. If you can't deal with the problem, I'm kicking you out of the family. You just ruined the whole family's reputation, boy!" He slammed his phone down and hung up.

Emmanuel was as black as thunder, but he forced himself to calm down and called his assistant back. "Tell the PR department to take down the top two searches. Stop the news outlets from talking about this and see if we can appease the public."

The assistant had a lot of work on his plate, but he dared not to protest, so he quickly did as he was told. To his surprise, the top search couldn't be taken down, no matter how much the PR department tried.

When Emmanuel was told of it, he kicked his desk in a fit of rage. "How did this happen? How dare they try to fight us! I'm going to sue them."

The assistant trembled in fear, but still, he answered, "Mr. Gray, I think… someone's behind this. They intend to drag the whole company down."