The Genuine Top G Alexander Davis

008 - A Man With Ambition

That middle aged lady looks a bit clueless, until Alex commands her to look for the data from five years ago.

  

“Let’s check on your expenditure for wheat flour in March!” Alex issues.

  

Julia follows it with an unsure expression. On the other hand, Harry Gaines also checks on Alex’s file for the same month, focusing on that said commodity.

  

“Based on the amount you bought, and the total price you paid, it can be concluded that you are buying at a base price of...”

  

Julia immediately takes out her phone, and looks for the calculator application to calculate the base price. But...

  

“It was $7.46 per kilogram,” continues Alex after taking a few seconds in recalling the data and calculating the numbers.

  

It stuns Julia for a moment. But she still thinks that Alex is just bluffing, so he rushes to use her calculator and calculates it herself, only to find the exact same numbers, 7.46.

However, the document in Harry’s hand shows that the average price for that commodity for that month was only around 1 – 3 dollars per Kilogram. His face immediately wrinkles to find it.

  

“What’s this? It’s double the average price?” mumbles Harry.

  

“But..., The information he has there is not necessarily reliable,” Julia argues. “Did he even include the source there? After all, we buy the highest quality goods at the price...?”

  

“We always secure the best price,” refutes Harry coldly. “And we never went too far from the market prices in supplying goods.”

  

Despite that, Harry admits that Alex himself did not include the source of his information at all in that document.

  

He questions Alex regarding the credibility of his data. But Alex ignores Harry’s doubts, and just continues his evaluation for the next time that company ordered the same commodity.

  

He keeps going on with it for the next three years, before he moves to other commodities and the materials for their packaging, only to find out the base prices for all those goods were inflated by a similar ratio.

  

Julia herself no longer has any desire to continue her examination of Alex's evaluation. Alex keeps going on with all the data and calculation inside his head, while that middle-aged lady just turns silent with a guilty face.

  

“I believe you’ve secured a good relationship to the ones who sell those commodities to your company,” says Alex to Harry. “You can ask them yourself. It’d be great if they have a history of transactions between you and them.”

  

Harry then makes a call just to make sure about it. After a few moments, he puts down the phone and waits. Soon, he gets a message and he immediately reads it.

  

And the situation is really just like what Alex has calculated. He then makes another call to the supplier of other goods, only to find the same condition.

  

The expenditure records for these items were indeed deliberately manipulated. Harry slowly puts down his phone while averting his cold gaze to Julia. He really looks so upset and disappointed.

  

“Anyway, something like this can’t be done by one person,” says Alex.

  

Harry slowly takes a long deep breath, and then holds it to the point making his neck buldged.

  

“Did you know about this?” he inquires to Julia, speaking with a low intimidating voice while restraining his rage.

  

“No! I, I…, I don’t know anything about...”

  

“Whether you know anything or not, you are still guilty,” Alex interferes.

  

“What? Who the hell do you think you are?” argues Julia as she looks so shaken with the way Alex cornered her. “You can’t simply judge me like this without doing any further investigation. We have so many staff members and employees here. After all, I’m not the one who...”

  

“But you are the Chief Financial Officer, aren’t you?” Alex interferes again rhetorically. “If you know, you must be part of it. If you don’t know, it only means you’ve been making a terrible error as the Chief Financial Officer to let this happen under your management.”

  

Even so, Alex admits that it will need a further investigation to find out anyone who was involved in this heinous act. He explains that situation to Harry, and even openly says that Harry himself was also guilty of this oversight.

  

“Your company is still too young. This place still needs its leader to always be here,” he says.

  

“Then, why don't you become the CEO to lead this company?” offers Harry. “You may be able to investigate this case as well, and I will pay you specifically for the investigation, outside the salary as a CEO that you will carry out.”

  

“Naah! I’m not interested,” denies Alex as he grabs his backpack. “There’s something else that I need to do. And there’s no amount of money that can persuade me.”

  

However, he just stops right behind Julia, and turns back by putting his hand on her left shoulder.

  

“You have a great Chief Financial Officer here. There's no way someone like her could escape the oddities in that financial report.”

  

Julia immediately knocks Alex’s hand aside.

  

“Whatch your mouth, young man! I could just sue you for this accusation!”

  

“Are you sure you can do that?” Alex taunts her confidently.

  

And that taunt is really effective to make Julia deter from her retaliation.

  

“Why don’t we make a deal?” Alex suddenly changes her attitude toward her.

  

“A deal?”

  

“With the way how cleanly that financial report is, I know how great you are as a Chief Financial Officer here. As a CEO, I can promise to keep you here, with one condition.”

  

“Hey, stop making me like I'm really the...”

  

“Name everyone involved,” Alex interferes calmly. “And I promise I won't kick you out of this company. You will have my words.”

  

Harry, the real boss, looks slightly objected to such an offer. But he senses Alex is setting up a scenario. So he restrains himself out of his interest to see what Alex would do next.

  

And indeed, the offer Alex gives to Julia manages to persuade her. With a restrained voice, she begins mentioning a few names who were involved in the manipulation of the company’s finances.

  

“Please, Mr. Harry! It was never my intention to do this,” Julia pleads.

  

“But you did steal my money, didn’t you?” grumbles Harry.

  

“No, I never received anything. I just got a salary raise. Even that was not my wish.”

  

Harry's brows furrowed. “You mean, there’s someone higher than you who set this up?”

  

“Ye, yes!”

  

“Don’t tell me it’s my...”

  

“No! Nelson has nothing to do with this. It's, it’s Mr. Darnel!”

  

That confession makes Harry's emotions run high. His fists are shaking with rage, realizing that it’s his own right hand who has conned him.

  

But the rage in his eyes is misunderstood by Julia. She thinks that Harry might just kill her later after this. She then averts her attention to Alex, hoping him to save her.

  

“Why you just silent? You promised me that...”

  

“Yup, I promised to save you, if I were the CEO here,” replies Alex nonchalantly. “But I never said I’d accept Mr. Harry’s offer. I’m just an outsider, an uneducated man who doesn't deserve your acknowledgement, let alone to be your boss. It’s not up to me to kick you out of this company.”

  

Alex nonchalantly pats her shoulder a few times, and then walks towards the door. However, he turns back again, as he remembers something else. He is such a professional, and he will feel so bad if he doesn’t wrap his job entirely.

  

He sends a message to Harry’s phone. As Harry checks the message, it’s just a bank account number.

  

“I forgot to tell you. Based on my estimation, they've stolen around 12 Million dollars of your money in the past five years. It could be more or less. Anyway, don’t forget to send my money. I really need it.”

  

Hearing that, Harry's face immediately turned red with anger. He stands up and immediately walks around his desk to approach Alex.

  

“Alex, wait!” he calls.

  

He glares at Julia in passing. That middle-aged woman immediately lowers her gaze out of fear. But Harry ignores her for now, since he still wants to persuade Alex to accept his offer.

  

“I know you are a man with ambition. And you’ve been kicked out by that Vintage Vega. Work for me, and I’ll help you to pay them back.”