Chapter 1053: No reception

Since Zoren called for an emergency vote on whether to appoint Atlas as President, the meeting had to take an hour’s break for deliberation. The board of directors and even the shareholders needed time to process the situation.

"Director William, what is going on here?!" one of the directors panicked, pacing back and forth in William’s office. "How could you not know about this? You said everything was under control!"

"Director William, wasn’t this supposed to be about Mr. Jonathan Pierson? Why is Atlas Bennet here?"

"We can’t let Atlas Bennet become the President of Pierson Corporation. Just this morning, didn’t he warn us... I mean, didn’t he threaten you this morning, Director William? I think that’s what he meant by what he said!"

"We can’t put off this vote. We need to persuade the rest of the board and the shareholders! It’s an emergency vote—this is what the CEO planned, isn’t it?! It’s why he’s been so quiet all this time!"

As William’s lackey panicked with every passing second, William and Jonathan’s faces grew darker. Since it was Zoren and the chairwoman who had called the emergency meeting, they had no choice but to cast their votes, whether they wanted to or not.

And this vote wasn’t just any small vote.

They were putting a completely different person into that spot.

"That Zoren Pierson..." William seethed, pounding his fist on the armrest. His eyes glowed malevolently, and in his mind, he had killed Zoren countless times in all sorts of ways. "Where does he get all these cards up his sleeve?"

William punched the armrest again, grinding his teeth in anger. Jonathan, on the other hand, stayed quiet. He simply watched William seethe in anger instead of thinking about how to turn the tables.

A deep exhale escaped Jonathan as he pinched the bridge of his nose. ’This shouldn’t be happening,’

Jonathan felt his head throb, realizing that today was supposed to be a day for him to make his presence known. Of course, Jonathan wasn’t expecting much. For him, as long as the Pierson Family, the board, and the stakeholders knew of his existence, he could work his way from there.

Jonathan had avoided things that had led him to failure in his past life as much as possible. However, avoiding them seemed to make things even more complicated.

"If you count Zoren’s supporters and the chairwoman, that wouldn’t even be half of the board," William suddenly spoke sternly, stealing everyone’s attention. "As long as we get a draw, we’ll get another twenty-four hours for the next vote. We need everyone to vote ’no’ or at least make sure it’s a draw."

"How are we going to do that, Director William?"

William’s eyes glinted as he huffed. "Try to get in touch with other board members instead of complaining."

Upon hearing that, his lackeys’ faces twisted. This wouldn’t work. Zoren wouldn’t have called for an emergency vote if he knew his chances were high. The reason Zoren had called for the emergency vote was because he needed it to end in his favor. He wouldn’t let it be a draw.

"That’s futile," Jonathan finally spoke. "We all know that Zoren Pierson wanted this vote to go in his favor without having to do it again."

He then lifted his phone, showing them his screen. "I don’t have reception at the moment."

"What?!" The other directors quickly checked their phones, gasping in shock as they too had no reception. "What is the meaning of this?"

William frowned when he saw that he was having the same reception problem. "This is impossible. They can’t just cut the reception in here."

"Penelope Bennet has been going in and out of this building more frequently than before," Jonathan explained, quickly formulating a theory in his head. "Just recently, the security system of Pierson Corporation was upgraded, which was disclosed at the last meeting. One of the upgrades involved using face recognition for those in executive and managerial positions."

That’s why executives didn’t need their assistants to use special access cards anymore.

"I wasn’t in the meeting, but I’m certain Zoren Pierson did disclose this in a roundabout way," he continued. "The Prime Group recently launched their newest security system series, but because it’s so rare, it was offered through a bidding system."

William and the other directors’ mouths fell open as they stared at Jonathan with wide eyes.

"I think... I think CEO Pierson mentioned winning the system through bidding," one of the lackeys blurted out under his breath.

"How could you all not know about this additional security feature?" Jonathan hissed, suppressing the anger in his voice at these incompetent old men. ’Weren’t these people once Zoren’s biggest supporters? How could they miss such an important detail?’

All of them, including William, were rendered speechless. They looked at each other, reviewing their memories of why they hadn’t remembered this. Then it hit them. They had been so focused on nitpicking Zoren that they hadn’t noticed that he had slipped in all kinds of trivial details to avoid questions about the important aspects of this new security system.

"We all thought he was just splurging since Penelope Bennet is the Prime Group’s CEO, and she’s his wife," someone answered, his heart now full of dread. "So, we thought there’s no way he would be buying such an expensive security system that his wife owned."

"What... what are we going to do now?" one of the lackeys inquired, his voice low as his heart sank. "It seems like he’s been preparing for this for a long time now."

Another deep exhale escaped Jonathan as the veins on his forehead protruded. How could these old men not know how essential that new technology was?! Even international companies and some important government agencies had shown interest in it, willing to pay tens of billions just to get their hands on it.

What made them think Penelope Bennet would simply give it away to Zoren Pierson, even if they were married? Business was business.

Little did they know, the security system had indeed been at auction, but it was first offered to Zoren for free. The only condition Penny had was that Zoren would have to shower her with tons of cuddles, kisses, and attention.

Jonathan pinched the bridge of his nose again. "Fine," he sighed. "I’ll see what I can do."

"What?" All of them looked at him, surprised. "What are you going to do? How are you going to change the other’s decision?"

Jonathan didn’t answer. He leaned back, his eyes glinting sharply.