When Luke got home, he felt less suffocated. He pressed the doorbell and Chloe opened the door.
"You're back.", she smiled in her sweater.
"Just that?", he mumbled entering inside. He kept his bag and took off his coat.
"What do you mean just that?", she closed the door and approached him crossing her arms.
Luke turned to her and smiled.
"I suddenly missed you sister." Chloe was surprised as he opened his arms wide. Knowing her brother, she could detect he was tired and bothered. She walked over and hugged him. Luke took a deep breath and embraced his sister's warmth.
Chloe rubbed his back gently and muttered, "This isn't just about missing me right?"
"What are you saying? We've been gone for six days girl." he shrugged it off.
"Hmmm." she rolled her eyes and pulled back. "Go sit there while I prepare some coffee." She pointed at the couch before walking to the kitchen. Luke smiled and went to sit down resting his head on the seat. Chloe came back in a minute with a mug of hot coffee.
"Thank you," he said and took the coffee. He felt much better now. Chloe sat down beside him crossing her legs on the couch.
"So............", she broke the silence. "You know I won't read boring news. Tell me what happened at the resort. Did Dad get it? Or he didn't? Is that why you have those scowls on your forehead?"
Luke shook his head at her quick questions. He rubbed his forehead and asked, "What scowls?"
"Forget it. Tell me what happened?", she waved her hand and inquired.
Luke took a deep breath and told her about the situation. Chloe was excited about the result but her jaw dropped at Mr. Li's betrayal.
"He did?", her count changed. "What about sister Juliet? Have you.....told her about this?" Luke shook his head. He wouldn't want to be the one to tell her. She'll find out soon. Chloe also understood where she was coming from.
"And that Susan!" Chloe fumed and snorted. "I swear if I get my hands on her, I'll rip her hair apart."
"Do that. I need to rest. Got a long day in the office tomorrow. "  Luke stood up and stretched.
"Don't get stressed up okay? If you feel down, just call sister Juliet, she will help you calm down.", Chloe smiled knowingly.
Luke just forced a smile. He didn't want her to find out what happened to Juliet. He went upstairs with his things to his room. After taking a bath, he sat on the bed with his laptop. He checked some emails he had to attend to before falling asleep.
............
Luke entered the company and before going upstairs, he heard some ruckus in the cabinets. Walking over, it was coming from the marketing department. He expected this though.
"Are you guys done?", he asked sternly. The workers stayed quiet from his firm gaze but someone still spoke up.
"First Miss Juliet left on a vacation and since Miss Susan was here, she took care of two posts but now even she left the company. "
"We had a hard time focusing yesterday on work."
"Yeah."
"Mr. Li also betrayed Cheng industry. Who knows, his daughter might do the same."
Luke breathed and replied. "First of all, I'm sorry for what miss Shi did but don't worry, everything will be fixed. Is there anyone that isn't getting his rights here?"
They shook their head.
"No right? Then get your games together. I'm still here and everything is still under my control. You've already heard about the change that will happen to this company and I plan to make it greater than before. If you feel like you can't trust us, then you're free to go. But have this in mind, Utopia won't accept traitors." Luke said seriously. Susan must have instigated some of them to cause this ruckus.
The workers had their heads down. Luke looked around and raised his voice.
"One more thing, Juliet doesn't know anything about her Dad. You might think that she went on a vacation but she's working for the company out there. She was one of the reasons I was able to succeed this time, so mind your words. Now get back to work. We can't afford to waste any time." Having said that, Luke walked upstairs to his office.
Luke took his office telephone and called Leo.
"Get the board meeting ready now. Have all the members there in ten minutes. " He checked what he needed and went to the meeting room.
The board members arrived quickly.
The marketing manager was missing.
Yvonne was the advertising manager.
David was the production manager.
Yu Luo was the sales manager. (New character. Needed for the situation. )
(Note: I just made these members relate to the story. )
"You guys know what happened already. I want to know what happened when I left?", Luke asked them calmly.
Yvonne was the one who answered.
"Miss Susan was acting normally until on the thirteenth when she didn't come to work. We called her countless times but she didn't answer. Not to bother you, we didn't call. Sorry." She gave an apologetic smile and he just nodded.
"Of course, we didn't let the workers know that a manager was missing. Luckily, no urgent matter that needed the manager came up."
"After the news got in, a commotion broke out and we tried our best to calm it down," David said.
Yvonne took out a paper and passed it to Luke.
"We found this in Miss Shi's office today."
Luke took it and saw a resignation letter. He sneered and drooped it on the table.
"There hasn't been any problem from your side right?", he directed the question to Yu Luo.
"No one has complained of anything yet," he replied.
Luke sighed in relief and said,
"There's no need to panic because everything is under control. Susan not being here won't bring any problem. I didn't plan on revealing Utopia any time soon but we have to work together on it now. "
Yvonne just clapped happily.
"Don't celebrate too early.", he said and Leo entered the room.
"This is it, sir." He gave Luke some files.
Luke took it and went through it for a moment. "Take a look at this. This is the marketing strategies and plan Susan left." He said and passed it to David by the right. He checked it and passed it to Yvonne the Yu Luo.
"What do you think?", he asked.
"These plans are great. There are long-time and short-time strategies. ", David said. Even he complimented Susan. Yvonne and Yu Luo also nodded.
"You didn't notice it but if we use this, it will make the company look like a brand-new rookie. This plan will work perfectly for a new company not we that are going for a large production. ", Luke pointed out and they gasped. Yu Luo checked the files again carefully and nodded in acknowledgment.
"That vixen.", Yvonne hissed abruptly.
Luke didn't mind and connected his laptop to the screen.
"This is what I found yesterday. " The screen showed what peach peak was currently doing as they announced just yesterday and it went in line with what they just read.
"If we follow this strategy then it will look like we are copying them.", David muttered.
"We weren't going to use hers anyways. ", Luke said.
"But those are good.", Yvonne lamented.
Luke shook his head and changed the pic to the foul comments they had months ago.
"Remember this? I've already told you the cat will reveal its tail.", he said.
"You think Susan is behind this?", David asked.
"I wouldn't have believed it before but this piques my interest. It sounded irrelevant before but now.....", Luke showed them another and it was just last week when other people had spoken about the orange juice and even wished a new one can be introduced. There were comments about a new one taking over the old one.
The three just found this surprising.
"Yvonne, check for any update of a new advert. I'm sure they might have released theirs today. ", Luke said.
Yvonne nodded and checked her system.
"There is. Peach peaks. Wait.......", she said but her expression changed. "That's my plan sir!" She raised her head and exclaimed.