Sleeping With The CEO
Chapter 57: Public Reprimand

Chapter 57: Public Reprimand

The secret to a good trap, was in the presentation. That was what Derek believed, and time and time again, that belief had been proven to be true. Even in everyday life that was true. The most dangerous plants looked good enough to touch. The scales of the most venomous snakes glinted in the sun, drawing victims closer.

And so it was that Derek started slow. He stood up, and just that simple act got him a round of applause, some of it more half-hearted than the rest. It was not difficult to locate the source of the lacklustre claps, but he chose to ignore it.

"Good afternoon, everyone, thank you for coming," Another round of applause and Derek had to swallow down his irritation. If they were half as loyal as their insistent clapping said they were, he would have been spared a lot of headaches.

Gritting his teeth, Derek swallowed down his irritation and smiled, glancing briefly at Emily for strength, he turned back to the room at large.

"As you all know, less than forty-eight hours ago, Haven Group had a situation that was threatening to spiral out of control," The statement was met with hushed murmurs, and Derek suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. Clearly the people before him were wasting their talent, their main skills were not in leading a company but in gossip mongering.

Why on earth were they all whispering about something that everyone in the room knew to be true, it was not like it was some big reveal.

Even so, Derek let them have their moment. He had not called the meeting for them afterall, he had called it for one person in particular.

When he had finally had enough, Derek raised his hand and hush fell over the room.

Walking around the podium, Derek went to stand in front of it. His posture relaxed, his hands in his pockets.

"My PA and I ended up taking an unplanned flight to the small town, all so we could deal with the situation on the ground," There were a few exaggerated shudders, and since he was in a room full of trust fund babies, Derek knew for a fact that they were shaking because of the mention of public transport, not because they were thinking of the difficulty of dealing with an angry group of protesters head on.

"I managed to make contact with the angry workers, and we ended up spending several hours negotiating," Not that he’d had much of a choice, seeing as they had barricaded the road. The reporters had at least made him look rather dashing in the pictures that had been taken. All that fire in the background, the protesters, their faces twisted in rage. Derek’s face a picture of calm that he did not feel, Emily right next to him, a fierce look on her face.

That was the photo that was currently doing the rounds, and Derek loved it. What he did not love however, was the circumstances that had led to the photo being taken. He had not liked that at all and he was going to let the culprit know.

Done playing, Derek zoomed in on his uncle.

"Mr Haven, can you please explain to us why exactly you chose to send such a damaging message without running it by me, or by people in human resources or finance, who could have told you what a monumental mistake you were making,"

"Not only did it rattle the workers, it also painted Haven Group in a bad light. Start talking, and please make sure that whatever you say makes sense and what you say had better be cold, hard, facts, and not excuses fuelled by your ego,"

He delivered each word softly, gently. If he yelled, it would be showing his uncle that he had been bothered by the man’s actions. Not only that, it could be seen by members of the board as Derek taking decisions while he was emotional, so he held himself back.

Instead, he took great pleasure in watching his uncle turn beet red. The man huffing angrily at the disrespect Derek was giving him.

In all of his years as the head of Haven, his uncle had never once shown him an ounce of respect. Doing as he wished with Derek letting him be. But Derek was at the end of his rope now. The more he had let the man get away with, the bolder he had become instead of tiring himself out as Derek had hoped.

It was now time to start showing him that there were consequences for his actions.

"What! How dare you question me! I only ever do things that are in the best interest of this Group. I would never..." His uncle was screaming at the top of his lungs. And seeing his uncle throwing a temper tantrum better suited for a toddler, Derek lost interest in toying with the man.

He did not see it. His uncle genuinely did not see the error in his ways. He was so far gone that he actually thought there really was nothing wrong with what he had done. Even if Derek were to press him further, the man would not give him any intelligent answers, just a whole lot of posturing and hot air.

"Be that as it may, Mr Haven, in this instance, your actions put the company at risk. I have managed to rectify your mistake, but it came at a cost," At this his uncle paled, if there was one thing Derek knew about the man, it was that he did not like ever having to take responsibility for what he had done.

"As of today, you no longer have spending money-" His uncle straightened.

"What?! You cannot do that you ungrateful son of a-"

Derek talked over him, silencing the loud man with his low baritone "The money that should have been your company approved spending money for each month will now be divided amongst the workers of the solar panel plant," His uncle looked about ready to pop a blood vessel.

"You would not dare dream of doing that," He hissed, and Derek shrugged.

"You are absolutely right, I would not dream of doing that, I am already doing it. And not just that, I am taking back control of the plant. You have proven with your little stunt that it was too much responsibility for you," The silence in the room after he finished could have been used as a weapon of war.

Leaving it at that, Derek stepped aside and Emily stepped in.

"The CEO thanks you all for your attendance, have a lovely day," She said, and when she met his gaze, her eyes were full of a quiet sort of pride that lit Derek up from within.

The two of them walked out of the conference room together, and Derek felt as though he could take on the world and win.