What If?

Chapter 20 - Whose Fault Is It?

From behind the transparent glass wall of the grand executive boardroom, Jerry stood tall, anxiously monitoring Glenn’s every move.

Inside the soundproof room, Glenn leaned back lazily in his leather chair. His gaze was cold, entirely devoid of any enthusiasm for this morning’s audit division coordination meeting. He felt incredibly uncomfortable, especially since his position forced him to sit directly across from the supreme CEO of Ellsworth Group, his own father.

The meeting opened with sheer arrogance from his dad. The middle-aged man delivered the opening presentation on the company's projections in an arrogant tone, as if every single achievement of the Ellsworth Group were purely a result of his own genius.

Listening from the opposite end of the long conference table, Glenn could only give a subtle, faint shake of his head. The look in his eyes flashed with utter disgust.

"Before we move on to the main agenda regarding the financial reports," his dad suddenly paused his presentation, casting a mocking, condescending smirk toward Glenn. "I would like to welcome our new Head of the Internal Audit Division. It’s only his second day on the job, yet his face already looks haggard and drained, like someone who's sleep-deprived. Don't bring your lazy habits and useless late-night partying from abroad into this office management, Mr. Glenn. It hampers productivity."

A few key staff members and senior managers in the room instantly let out stifled chuckles, joining in on the mockery to curry favor with the CEO. The atmosphere in the room suddenly turned suffocatingly hostile.

Watching the situation unfold from behind the glass, Jerry immediately clutched his head in a panic, knowing that the lion inside that room was about to snap.

Glenn clenched his fists beneath the table, his jaw tightening in irritation. However, instead of exploding in anger, Glenn simply curled the corner of his lips into a calm, yet utterly lethal, sarcastic smile.

"Truly fascinating," Glenn’s baritone voice cut through the mocking laughter in the room, striking the key staff members dead silent instantly. Glenn leaned forward, resting both hands on the table as he locked his sharp gaze onto his father. "I wasn't aware that the scope of work for the CEO of Ellsworth Group had been downgraded to monitoring my sleep schedule. Is our stock price plummeting so badly that you have this much free time to obsess over my haggard face?"

Glenn’s direct, sarcastic strike instantly caused his father's face to harden, flushing red as he fought back embarrassment and fury in front of his subordinates.

"And for those of you who just laughed," Glenn cut in sharply. His cold, piercing eyes swept across the room, locking onto each key staff member and senior manager one by one until they all instinctively looked down, suddenly trembling with fear. "The Internal Audit Division under my leadership was established to investigate financial leaks and your performance. So, instead of wasting your time laughing at my haggard face, you better brace yourselves. Make sure not a single cent of your division's funds is unaccounted for, or your comfortable seats in this office will be gone before lunch."

Glenn roughly flipped the page of the draft report in front of him. "Can we begin this meeting professionally, Your Eminence? My time is far too expensive to waste on workplace drama during business hours."

The moment the staff members filed out and the glass doors shut tightly, Glenn was just about to stand up from his chair when his father’s cold voice echoed through the now-empty room.

"Stay right where you are, Glenn."

Glenn halted his movement, then leaned back casually into his leather chair once more. He looked up at the middle-aged man walking toward him, his eyes filled with a dismissive glare.

"I received a report from lobby security yesterday afternoon," his dad said, his voice deceptively calm yet laced with venom. "You allowed some poor intern from a low-level division into your sports car. Absolutely pathetic."

The older man rested both hands on the table, leaning in to look down at Glenn with a sharp, ruthless gaze. Glenn let out a cynical chuckle, remaining relaxed in his seat. "If I’m really that disgusting to you, why did you go out of your way to give me this crucial position, Your Eminence?"

Simon drew himself up to his full height. His facial expression suddenly shifted into a calm, manufactured look of disappointment.

"You think this was my choice?" Simon looked at Glenn with a heavy, manipulative gaze. "If it weren't for the will your mother's lawyer brought forward after she passed, I would have never willingly put you in this position."

Simon stepped closer, patting Glenn’s shoulder with a heavy dose of guilt-tripping. "Your mother was the one begging through her lawyer. In her final days, all she wanted was for you to come home and stop living like a useless vagabond abroad. She was deeply disappointed by your behavior, Glenn."

Thud!

Glenn’s jaw instantly tightened. Those words successfully cornered him, striking a direct blow to his absolute weakest spot. Glenn’s mind suddenly short-circuited; a wave of guilt washed over him so fast that he couldn't even process the real, underlying reason why his mother had specifically requested for him to head the audit division.

Seeing his son strike out, Simon whispered ruthlessly, "So, respect your mother’s dying wish. Know your place, Glenn. Get out and go to your office now."

Yet, Glenn didn't flinch at all. Instead of flaring up, he let out a low, dark chuckle. He drew himself up, then locked eyes with his father, his gaze turning infinitely colder and more lethal.

"Fascinating," Glenn hissed sarcastically, the corner of his lips curling into a mocking smile. "I didn't realize the moral standards of the great Simon Ellsworth had become so exceptionally high. Tarnishing the family name, you say?"

Glenn stood up, closing the distance until he was towering directly in front of his father. His jaw clenched tightly as he stared straight into the older man's eyes without a single shred of fear.

"If simply giving a staff member a ride is considered disgusting and damaging to our reputation, then what is the proper title for you?" Glenn asked, his voice low yet razor-sharp. "A workaholic family patriarch who left his own wife to rot in loneliness? She went everywhere alone, did everything alone, to the point that on the day she died, she had to pass away completely by herself without her husband by her side. Isn't abandoning your wife for the sake of ambition far more pathetic, Your Eminence?"

His father's face instantly turned deathly pale. His jaw tightened, consumed by a mixture of shock and sheer rage as his own son deliberately ripped open that old wound.

Glenn casually adjusted his suit jacket, throwing one last cynical smirk at his father. "So, instead of wasting your time playing the moral guardian of my life, you should take a good look in the mirror. My time is far too valuable to waste listening to a lecture from a man who couldn't even keep his own wife safe."

Without waiting for a response, Glenn turned on his heel and strode out of the boardroom, leaving his father frozen behind, chest heaving as he fought back the burning rage consuming him.

The moment Glenn stepped out of the room, Jerry immediately fell into step beside him, his expression heavy with curiosity.

"How'd it go? We safe?" Jerry asked inquisitively. Since the glass walls of the room were transparent, Jerry could clearly see the intense tension between Glenn and his father inside, even though the space was completely soundproof.

"Yeah, the usual. Like you don't know how my old man is," Glenn replied with a slight smirk, acting as if that heated confrontation hadn't affected his mental state at all.

Jerry clicked his tongue and shook his head, lowering his voice as they walked side by side down the corridor toward Glenn’s office. "So... what the hell happened last night? Why did you suddenly call me in the dead of night just to book a VIP suite at Valerius Grand Medical Center? And with your personal card, no less. Are you sick? Or... did you run someone over?"

"I almost ran over the girl," Glenn answered casually, sliding both hands into his pants pockets.

"The Girl?"

"Launa."

"What?! Are you serious?!" Jerry stopped dead in his tracks from the shock, but since Glenn kept walking, Jerry had to jog a little to catch up. "How did that happen? And what's wrong with her? Why the hell is she in a cardiac hospital?"

Glenn let out a short breath, then began recounting the timeline of last night's events from the very beginning. From how he had slammed on his brakes, finding Launa sobbing on the asphalt, to the fact that her seven-year-old sister had suffered acute heart failure and was in critical condition at a suffocating public hospital.

Jerry listened without blinking. The moment Glenn finished his story, a barrage of questions fired out of his assistant's mouth like a machine gun. "So how's her sister now? Did the specialist take over? Did you seriously cover all the expenses? And what time did you even go to sleep last night? No wonder your face looked so haggard this morning—"

"uwwghh... Shut the f**k up, Jer. My ears are about to bleed," Glenn cut him off, thoroughly annoyed, quickening his pace as he was bombarded with questions.

However, Glenn suddenly remembered something. His pace slowed. "Oh yeah, is that phone I ordered ready yet?"

"Yeah, it's done. Everything is complete, exactly to the specs you asked for. I already left it on your desk," Jerry replied, gesturing toward the office door with his chin.

"I can just hand the phone over to Launa myself later."

"Don't bother. I'll give it to her myself," Glenn interjected flatly.

"Ahahaha, look who’s making a move," Jerry teased.

"Tch! Shut up. I'm just trying to be a gentleman. I was the one at fault here."

Jerry instantly furrowed his brow, grabbing Glenn’s arm before his boss could turn the doorknob. "Let me handle it, Glenn. Do you have any idea? The rumors about you and Launa from yesterday afternoon have already spread everywhere, it even reached my ears. Inside that room earlier, your old man definitely brought this up too, didn't he?"

Glenn curled the corner of his lips, meeting Jerry’s gaze with a defiant flash in his eyes. "He did. So what? You're acting like you just met me yesterday."

Glenn gently brushed Jerry's hand off his arm. "You know how I am... the more people try to pressure me and spread nasty gossip, the more openly I’m going to act out. I don't give a damn about what anyone in this office says—including my old man."

Jerry let out a heavy sigh, looking at his best friend with a dead-serious expression. "I know you don't care about what happens to you, Glenn. But have you even given it a thought? Launa is the one who's going to suffer. She's just a new intern. If these rumors get any wilder, she's the one who's going to get completely crushed and bullied by the entire office."

Glenn fell silent for a moment. Jerry’s words seemed to successfully put a leash on his stubborn ego, if only for a few seconds. He stared at his office door with a look that was hard to read.

Yet, instead of offering an answer or backing down, Glenn chose to remain silent. Without a single word, he turned and strode right into his office, leaving Jerry behind to rub his face in sheer frustration out in the corridor.

"Stubborn bastard... just like his father."

*****