Chapter 44

Joshua turned to his brother, making Archer stand a little straighter and nod, even if the smirk was still on his lips. He didn't need to ask.

"They've already been sent disciplinary notices. We'll discuss it with our parents since two were senior managers and the third the leader of our main PR team."

Despite his playful behaviour and abysmal maturity, Archer was not set to be the youngest co-CEO of the Lore company in just name. When it mattered, his work would be done quickly and efficiently to a superior level of quality. The motivations behind his exceptional work may be of bad intent, all so he could have more time to play around, however his capability really was undeniable. It had almost been finalised that once the companies merged, he would official start training for the role of CEO. Along with his surprising work ethic, he also cared immensely about family. His job and family were the only two things he took seriously.

While still bitter about Penelope's favouritism, Henry was to be his younger brother, of course he would not tolerate such vicious rumours to circulate about the young man. Especially because he had seen with his own eyes just how smart and capable Henry was. The second they had followed the sound of arguing and found the Henry being verbally abused by the three men, he took pictures of their faces and called human resources, finding out who they were and issuing the notices.

"No need for discussion. Call HR and have them packed and out within the hour."

Henry found himself looking at Joshua once again in shock. Even though he had been relatively calm and tired just before, he had completely transformed. Joshua's face was no impassive and serious with a certain level of authority. Even though he was talking to his older brother, his voice was clear and certain; it was not a request nor a suggestion. Within the company they were working at only two levels apart on the hierarchy and that was only due to Archer's role as the first heir. While Joshua did respect that, when it came to something regarding the company, he had no problem exercising his own judgement.

It was the first time the Henry got a glimpse of Joshua Lore, the deputy CFO in charge of the second floor of the finance department. He could not help but feel that the beautiful man was a little too cool all of a sudden.

"If it were that simple, I would have done it already. All I would need is a two second phone call." Archer seemed influences by his brother suddenly getting serious, his own speech suddenly becoming work appropriate.

"It is that simple. They obviously don't share the same values the company adheres to; they aren't suitable to continue working for us."

"Of course I know that, but these three are apparently heavily involved with the essential operations, especially with so many people now working on the merger exclusively. Even if we fire them, we need to find suitable replacements and have their duties appropriately transferred if need be. With the signing a week away, we can't afford for anything to go wrong with essential ops. You saw how easily the shareholders will be swayed if things go even a little wrong. We are under a microscope at the moment. Just how can we have them out within the hour?"

Archer had barraged Joshua with the reasons why the situation was more complicated than they would like. Even then, he had mentioned less than a half of the issues, highlighting the main ones. However the younger man was not backing down, taking in all the information, looking in his brother's direction intently.

The atmosphere in the office was somewhat tense.

There was a short knock on the door before it opened, a young junior PA bringing two paper bags and four hot drink cups. She then bowed her head a little and went to leave. But as she turned to the door, she was stopped.

"Wait here, you can report to our parents once we are done." Once seeing the junior PA nod and turn back around, he turned back to Archer. "If it's about their current responsibilities, I will loan five of my own management team to cover for them. They will be more than capable. We can divvy up our work between us without too much hassle. But I won't allow those three to stay under our company for even another day; we don't need people like them, and we have no reason to hold back on our action because of them. We are more than capable to make up for what meagre, short-term loss comes from ridding ourselves of trash."

Henry almost dropped his jaw. Where had the mellow, socially awkward, occasionally mean Joshua he had just gotten to know gone? Who was this strict yet cool character in his place? He knew the man's perfect features could pull people in, even when they wanted anything but that, but he hadn't had the chance to see what really attracted people to the man. The truth behind the natural allure was the unlikely charisma in his cold voice. It pulled people in but always delivered the point that were made with impeccable clarity, even when the message itself is rather cold like when it came to most of the man's work.

The charisma had pulled not only Archer into his more serious side, but also Samuel.

"He's right. It would be best to fire them as fast as possible. It will do the company more harm than good if they stay. If you really do start to struggle with essential ops, we can lend a hand too. The merger involves both companies, it is only natural to rely on each other. Besides, the rumours themselves are quite harmful."

"It isn't just a rumour; they were slandering Henry. And then they verbally abused him. There is no place for that in this company. They should be glad they are getting away with no severance pay instead of a formal report."

Archer did not know whether he wanted to laugh or cry. He had forgotten about just how strict and vicious this side of his brother could be. Last time Joshua had been like this was almost five years ago. Penelope was starting to attract fame and a jealous parent tried to ruin her budding career with a cheating scandal. Of course, they never got the chance, and Joshua not only chewed them out in front of their child, but also ordered his family to sue them to hell and back. If his brother did not have to return to university after his break, Archer was certain things would have gone far worse for the family.

"Eh, since you've all gotten so serious, put me aside for a moment." Henry interrupted before a verbal rally started.

He did agree that the three men should be fired, they were scumbags. But he understood Archer's cautiousness. If they fired them with no severance pay, people within the company would talk. There were chances of retaliation from the three men. And, while he was certain most people working here probably liked the Lore's, if someone was fired purely for insulting him, there would be split opinions. This would be especially dangerous since it gives the Q Group a weak spot to infiltrate the company. Also, clearly Archer was heavily involved with essential operations, it makes sense for him to worry about the consequences that would come for their action. On top of all that, what also struck Henry was that it will have all been under Archer's name, if things went sideways people could shift responsibility on him. If he discussed it with his parents, some shameless souls would not hesitate to try and push it on the presidents too.

But ultimately, he did agree with firing, for many reasons.

"Looking at it objectively, there are too many problems with keeping them. If you fire them just because of this, it's going to cause some chatter and conflict. But no action will make that worse. Those men clearly had a problem with me, and none were being quiet about their opinions. It's safe to assume there are some others also thinking the same and spreading this gossip. The Q Group will do anything to ruin this merger, if the toxic discontent carries on and is heard by them, it gives them too many chances to retaliate before the signing next week. Also, not firing them immediately will only make them the men think there could be some truth to what they said, they'll spin their likes bigger. That will cause even more problems.

"So we can go with Joshua's suggestion, but with one added detail: Joshua will be the one to fire them. He'll give the order and you inform our parents. Which is essentially what was going to happen anyway, but the main thing is people know it is Joshua's actions. The biggest point that would cause problems with anyone else firing them is that some of your employees will think you are shutting them up or acting emotionally, especially without severance pay. But, would the young, well adored second son of the company firing three men for verbally attacking their fiancé be subjected to the same level of scrutiny? It will just excite them and prove to people that the vicious rumours held no precedence, for the most part.

"But really, everyone loves Joshua. Just follow his orders and have him shoulder everything. The chances of backlash are far lower that way."

What had originally started as a seemingly filial fiancé supporting his partners idea with clever insight had eventually become a scene in which the 'filial' fiancé advised everyone to through his partner under the bus. With how Henry had spoken, no one had realised all he was saying was a hypothetical, best-case-scenario maybe. Not until he spoke his final lines.

The junior PA found herself having to pick up her jaw. Personally, as perfect as Joshua was, she had always found him weirdly cold. Of course he was kind and polite, but it all felt like obligated niceties. When she heard that he was engaged to Henry, she wondered how someone known for their brightness and warmth could match. The PA had actually arrived at the door just as Joshua had initially said to have the men fired – Samuel hadn't quite closed the door properly – but the coldness did not surprise her. It only made her think that the two men would not be as good a match as they made out. At most, it could be something akin to how opposites attract.

But what she could have never fathomed was that the famed Henry Reyes could be so savage. She felt as if the world might collapse around her, that was how shocking it was. However, now she could not deny that the two men were matched exceptionally well. Especially with their following interaction.

"So, have them fired and if everything goes to hell, I'm the one being sacrificed." Joshua had no issue with saying it as it was, only turning to Henry with an eyebrow raised.

While his face did not show it, he had been quite angry over the men's actions. After the initial confusion, as the conversation had progressed, he found himself thinking about the fact that people were measuring Henry as inferior to him. It was strange in the sense that Joshua never once felt he even reached Henry's level, but also angered him. They said that he deserved a better person, but the man wholeheartedly did believe that he was the lesser of the two men, just where could they find someone better than Henry? And to top it off, they had called him ugly? Were the men blind? The whole reason they had originally met was because he had mistaken Henry for a beautiful woman.

Joshua was not too aware of it himself, but his initial reaction had held more weight than intended. A lot of the anger stemmed from that one point. Of course, he ever recognised that, he'd start to think something was wrong with his head.

But all the anger had melted away slowly as Henry proposed his 'solution'. Now, Joshua, while still mildly cold, was mostly bemused.

"You're the one who demanded they get fired. You can take the responsibility for it."

"You make it sound like you want this to blow up. What happened to all the talk about being lowkey from last night?"

"Never… but the louder it is the easier it is to ruin them."

Samuel and Archer once again looked at the young man in shock. It had just been the evening before where it had become clear that Henry took after his much calmer father. But in that moment, they could all here the strange tinge of cruelness in his voice.

Henry, of course, noticed the looks, turning to them. "Just because I won't take revenge on Caleb doesn't mean I'm not angry. But I couldn't care less about those three and have no problem venting on them, they just got unlucky."

"So I'm a means to an end then?"

Even though the older brothers were still looking at Henry, the junior PA turned, frozen at the slight smirk on Joshua's face as he spoke.

"Do you not want them fired anymore?" Henry sent a sideways look to Joshua.

"I didn't say that."

"Well, then, let's keep having as much fun as we can."

Joshua instantly knew what the man was referring to, their conversation last night. While that had been regarding the wedding, he easily knew what was meant. "Fun it is, then."

The three onlookers almost felt as though they were watching the interaction between to psychopaths. It was a stark comparison to the usually bashful and cute vibe they gave off, the brothers in particular felt extremely weird watching it. The weirdest of all, despite the atmosphere between them being almost the opposite of normal, their chemistry seemed to burn brighter than anyone had ever seen before.

It was no surprise when Archer had finally had enough.