Beneath His Lies

Chapter 3

Yvonne waited outside the restaurant for a while before finally finding a cab.

She got in the back seat and texted her friend, Sylvia to let her know she was on her way.

Sylvia was standing outside waiting for her by the time she arrived.

“Hi, my love.” Sylvia greeted, looking concerned.

“Hi Sylvia,” Yvonne responded calmly while walking swiftly inside the house.

Sylvia followed after her.

Yvonne went straight into the kitchen and poured herself a cup of juice.

“I got your text. What’s wrong? You’re off early, how was your first day?” Sylvia asked, shutting the door behind her.

Yvonne slowly turned to look at Sylvia, tears forming in her eyes.

Sylvia, noticing her teary eyes rushed over to her and pulled her into a tight hug.

“What is it, Yvonne? Talk to me”

Yvonne burst into tears immediately.

“They…. They fired me”

“Oh my God, babe. I’m so sorry,” said Sylvia, hugging her more tightly.

Yvonne paused, freed herself from the hug and narrated what happened with a serious expression on her face.

“I served this particular customer who looked quite intimidating. He stood up to make a phone call and then later accused me of taking his wallet.

“He did what?” Sylvia responded in shock

“He claimed I must’ve taken it while he left to make a phone call. And this was actually sounding so confident without even having any proof. And the manager fired me on the spot refusing to check the security cameras”

” What? That’s so unfair. Did you protest?”

“Girl, I tried my best but I was genuinely so stunned with everything that happened. Plus everyone in the restaurant had their eyes on me.”

Sylvia listened attentively, shock written all over her face.

“Both staff and customers. I just wanted the ground to open up and swallow me. It was so humiliating. He kept throwing the word ‘thief’ around as if it was his first time hearing it.”

“I’m just trying to understand why they would dare to fire you without proof, " Sylvia said while boiling with anger.

“I wondered the same thing too. But of course the customer is always right. Especially when the customer is rich and powerful. You should’ve seen him. So full of himself,” Yvonne hissed as she leaned on Sylvia’s shoulder.

“Does your mum know?”

Yvonne shut her eyes for a moment

“Oh my God, no. I don’t even know if I can bring myself to tell her. Right before the accusation happened, I had called her to tell her my first day was going well. How do I suddenly tell her that I got fired? This is all just too messy.”

Yvonne burst into tears again. Sylvia pulled her in for a hug

“How will I pay for Dad’s bills now? What am I going to do Sylvia?” Yvonne sobbed.

Sylvia gently patted her back, tears forming in her eyes as well.

“I don’t know bae, but we’ll figure something out, I promise”

**************************************************************

Barry jolted awake from the sound of his phone ringing. He looked towards the clock at the other end of his room. It was eight in the morning. He picked up his phone to look at who was calling. It was his father.

He instantly felt tense. He wondered if anything else had happened that he wasn’t aware of. He quickly cleared his throat and picked up the call.

“Good morning Dad”

“Barry, where did you keep your phone? I’ve been calling you all morning.”

Barry sat up.

“Don’t tell me you’re just waking up”

Barry hesitated for a moment, unsure of whether to tell the truth or not.

“I had a long day yesterday, Dad. What’s wrong?” Barry replied.

Anthony scoffed. “The whole world is talking bad about my company and you’re there sleeping comfortably. Oh Lord, why do I have to be in another country at this time.”

“Dad what are you talking about, Barry asked, a little confused.”

“Based on the recent allegations, some public figures have been calling out Dynamo online. They’re warning people against buying our products and they even created a hashtag that is trending already.”

“What?”

“Now, while all this is happening. My wonderful CEO son is lying in bed, sleeping peacefully. Is it until Dynamo crashes to the ground? Tell me Barry. Do you want to ruin me?”

Barry remained silent.

“Have I not given you enough chances? Or should I have left you in prison?”

“Dad, I—“

“No, Barry I don’t want to hear it. I already called for a board meeting to take place by nine this morning. You better not miss it.”

Barry bowed his head in frustration.

“The board members have already been questioning my decision to leave you as CEO even after your big mistake. I already told you that this is the last chance I’m giving you. I don’t care how you do it Barry, just fix it.

“Yes sir,” Barry sighed, feeling defeated.

“One more thing, make sure your sister is present at that meeting. I need a family member who can actually think strategically to be there.”

Barry frowned.

“Understood sir” he said while getting out of bed. He had to dress up and get to work quickly if he wanted to make it to the meeting on time.

**************************************************************

Barry walked into the boardroom just a few minutes after nine. The room went silent immediately he came in, people exchanging knowing glances at each other.

“My apologies for coming late,” he said as he took his seat.

“Shall we proceed, sir? One of the executives asked.

He raised his hand in approval and the meeting commenced. Barry shared with them the report made by the IT team.

He purposely left out all that Andrew discovered. He believed it was wise to leave it out for now. Instead, he watched closely to observe the actions of the board members.

Some of them pinned it on the competitors. One person suggested a lawsuit. Some others suggested that they delayed launches.

He looked at his sister, Sandra’s direction expecting her to say something. She was quiet, a tired look on her face.

‘So much for being the family member that can think strategically’ he thought to himself.

The topic switched to the issue of public figures making posts that portrayed the company in a bad light.

While everyone made comments, Barry was lost in thought. He pondered over the discoveries of the previous day with his father’s voice still echoing loudly in his ears. ‘I don’t care how you do it Barry, just fix it’.

“Instead of fighting them, why don’t we collaborate with them?”

That statement drew Barry out of his line of thoughts.

“What?” the other board members chorused in unison. They looked at Mr George, with hints of confusion across their faces.

“These people are popular, right? They have large followings and they are influential. “

“Yes, what’s your point? Barry asked.

“Okay. Please hear me out everybody. Right now, we understand that we are being directly targeted by those videos. Someone intentionally wants to bring us down. But unlike those anonymous videos posted by faceless blogs, these celebrities are real people. People who are actually concerned about their safety and that of others around them. ”

The tension around the room began to reduce as people could see where he was coming from.

“So unless these different celebrities somehow met and planned this together, then we can be sure that they are just worried and looking iout for people.

Barry nodded his head in agreement.

“So now, all we have to do, is bring them in and show them the actual production process right from the point of sourcing our ingredients. I know outsiders are usually not allowed into the factory but we should be able to excuse it once.”

Silence filled the entire room. The executives stole glances at each other, then at Barry.

“That’s actually a brilliant idea. Lets do it.”

Shouts of approval echoed across the room.

“Yes”

“Great idea”

“Well done George.”

“Mr George bowed his head humbly and took his seat.”

“While the PR team works on it, we should release a press statement to calm the general public ”

Barry looked up. His sister had just spoken for the first time since the meeting started. The executives all grinned at her in approval, like she hadn’t been silent the whole day.

Growing up, he and his sister were inseparable. After all, they were twins. He didn’t know what exactly happened or when but they just suddenly drifted apart. She never visited him throughout the six months that he spent in prison and that hurt him a lot but he was too arrogant to admit it.

He knew that some of these executives respected his sister more than they respected him. But he didn’t care. As far as he was in the CEO position, they would continue answering to him and not her.

“You can handle the press statement right?” Barry asked without looking in his sister’s direction.

“Yes, just leave it to me” Sandra said calmly.

She usually handled press statements and every other public appearance alongside some other executives and PR staff. Barry didn’t like public attention. Luckily for him, it worked to his advantage in prison. He wasn’t recognized by anybody and it also saved him from public outrage. His father had a large part to play in that as well.

They made some other conclusions and the meeting came to an end.