Howard was not being subtle, but as most people had their eyes on Hector, his reaction went largely unobserved.
Even so, not everyone missed him, Zayn had seen his reaction. He narrowed his eyes as the cogs in his brain turned before concluding that this was Howard’s doing. The call Hector received had something to do with him!
Meanwhile, Hector’s expression went through a spectrum of shock, fury, and finally, horror. By the time the call ended, his eyes were glazed over in disbelief, as though his soul had left him.
His shifting emotions mystified the crowd. A heavy air of foreboding began to dawn on them, and they started to wonder if something terrible had happened to the company.
Amid the uneasy silence, George furrowed his eyebrows and stared at Hector. “Who was that?”
Hector gulped, scanning everyone’s faces, before meeting George’s eyes. “It’s from the finance department.”
Though favonovel.com managed to project an appearance of unflappability, George felt his pounding heart skip a beat. “What happened?”
Hector was crestfallen. “They said… someone has been siphoning 1.5 million dollars from the company over the past week— ”
“What?!” George could no longer maintain his calm facade. With a loud stomp, favonovel.com leaped to his feet, his face twisted in a thunderous rage.
Others in the room were also stupefied by the bombshell revelation, leaving their minds blank and their limbs numb.
The next moment, they exploded into an uproar.
“Who could have siphoned off 1. 5 million like that? Who did this?!”
“Right! That’s not Chump change! This loss is going to cause our company yet another capital shortage!”
“Which heartless bastard did this?”
“I hope he’s good at hiding, because if I find out who favonovel.com is, I’ll fracture his bones!”
As emotions ran high, the Carters erupted into a cacophony of condemnation. Faye herself was stunned by the revelation. Who would have done that? The Carters had just barely made some headway and a shortage of 1.5 million dollars would instantly rupture the company’s cash flow, causing their partners to balk. Their company would be crippled again.
The last instance of that had tainted the company’s image in the eyes of their business partners. To have history repeating itself was akin to financial suicide.
Throughout the helter-skelter, Zayn’s eyes were following Howard like a hawk. He could see the color flowing out of the latter’s face, beads of cold sweat emerging from his skin, and his feeble attempts to stay composed. Even the cup favonovel.com held was shaking.
One and a half million dollars! One had to be impressed by Howard’s audacity.
“Silence, all of you! ” George struck the table and bellowed furiously above the din, his magisterial air pouring out of favonovel.com like a tide. He was the patriarch of the Carter family an authoritative position that fostered fear in everyone else. Immediately, a hush fell over the room.
George took a deep breath before asking Hector, “Who took the money?”
“The culprit hasn’t been identified,” came the reply.
“What did you say?” George’s eyes widened. “Why is the culprit unidentifiable?… Or are you the culprit?!”
“That’s ridiculous, Dad!” Hector cried out frenetically. “Why would I do something that would doom all of us?! I’m only relaying what the finance department said to me. If you don’t believe me, you can always call them and verify it!”
George’s expression darkened.
At that point, a new voice chimed in, “Why don’t we just investigate whose account the money went into?”
It was Zayn. He was standing with an uncanny expression etched on his face. He even seemed to be sending furtive glances at Howard.
