37 The Journal (8)

It was time, and Kyro knew it. He closed his computer and filed away the documents. And then there was nothing left to do but stand up and go, so he did just that.

On his way out, he noticed sideways glances and knew that everyone must still be thinking about the Sheila incident. A few even looked worried about something. 'What have they come up with this time?'

His employees seemed to have more free time than he'd expected. Maybe he should increase their workload to make sure they weren't so prone to gossiping all the time. Then again, he had yet to find out what they were gossiping about.

By the elevator, his secretary caught up to him. "Mr. Hemming, I wanted to make sure you know that the venue has been changed from last year. It's now—"

"Yes," Kyro agreed, surprise for a moment by her words. "I was the one who changed it."

"Oh, yes, yes… I-I…" A blush crept up her cheeks, and she lowered her head, clearly embarrassed by her own actions. But why had she rushed over? She knew full well that he had signed under everything, and she herself had brought him today's schedule with full details.

"Anything else?"

This question seemed to give his secretary strength. She looked up, then down again, and then finally said, "C-can I ask something?"

"What is it?" he asked, keeping any annoyance from his voice. Lara was a good assistant, even if she was unable to get rid of her idolization of him.

"We- I- we were wondering, if-if Sheila…" She stopped, glancing at him to make sure he wasn't about to shout at her, and only then continued. "Was she fired?"

That took Kyro aback. Was that what all of them were thinking? No wonder they looked so worried.

"No. And I have to go now."

He swiftly entered the elevator, leaving his secretary standing awkwardly by the side. It was her own fault that she decided to start asking him at the last minute when he had only left himself a minute to get to the introduction area. There was simply no time for extra stuff now.

The speech went past in an instant. He hadn't rehearsed it, but this was the fourth or fifth time he was saying it, so it wasn't much of a problem. The new employees, most of them interns, applauded and then surged over to him, knowing that this might be their only chance to talk to him.

All of them tried to impress him with their skills, their diplomas, their achievements, and some even sex appeal. It wasn't anything new, so he just smiled and nodded, not spending extra time on any one person.

"Hey, long time," a male voice said from behind him.

Kyro slowly turned around, his features schooled into a genial expression. He forced out a smile and shook the man's hand. "Frank Brons."

His voice didn't sound as natural as he would have liked, but much better than he would have expected after being dropped such a bomb. What the hell was Frank doing here? Wasn't he traveling abroad, living in his overseas villa or something?

"Kyro, so formal. Is that how you treat old friends?" The man grinned, hitting Kyro on the shoulder. It was a simple show for the others, signaling them that they should back off since he was more important here—he was on first name basis with the boss.

But what the fuck was it for? They weren't friends, ever. And Kyro had destroyed his father's company to top it. He thought to push the man away, but his conscience told him that this would be going too far. If you destroyed a person's livelihood, it was good to stop at that, no need to embarrass them in public as well.

"You just caught me off guard, didn't expect to see you here." Kyro gave him a half-hearted smile. He still had to keep his own image. It wouldn't be good to look out of sorts, even if he was.

"Ha! You didn't even know you hired me? I'm now one of your market researchers," Frank answered with pride, and Kyro couldn't say if it was faked or not. That unsettled him even more.

"I see, good to have you then."

Kyro stayed around for a bit longer, then made an excuse for himself and left early. He couldn't stop thinking about what Frank was doing in his company. His presence simply made no sense.

When Brons Unlimited had crashed, it was bad. Really bad. The family had ended up millions in debt to every other person. Kyro wasn't proud of what he'd done, but at the time… at the time he thought it was a necessity. And the Brons family managed to collect itself in time. They weren't rich anymore, but they weren't hounded by debt collectors either.

Was Frank here for revenge? He'd sworn it before, but Kyro had never taken him seriously. Frank was just not the person; he was too soft, too used to getting everything he wanted that he wouldn't even know how to start a serious plot, and anything skin deep wasn't a threat to Kyro.

There might be someone backing Frank up, however. There were plenty of people who weren't happy about what happened, and even more who weren't happy with Kyro's swift raise in general. Were any of them at fault? Were they trying to unnerve him so he wouldn't be focused enough when they sprung their real trap?

Maybe, but until he learned more, the best place to start was his HR Department. He called the head manager right away.

"Who the fuck hired Frank Brons?"