Chapter 202: Choose

"Subordinates??"

?The three wives blinked in unison, momentarily rendered speechless by the title.

?’Well, it isn’t a bad position, but I suppose I’d happily accept being called his personal secretary,’ Kelly mused inwardly with a subtle smirk.

?’Subordinates?! I am his legally wedded wife! Though... being addressed as a subordinate has a certain playful charm to it. What if I pretend he is my subordinate instead?’ Juliana thought, her lips curving into a mischievous grin.

?".....?"

?Sara, on the other hand, simply maintained her quiet composure, not bothering to waste breath on a verbal reply.

?"Ahem. To clarify, the three of us are not his subordinates—we are his wives. And the lady standing behind us is our head of security." Kelly introduced clearly, stepping forward.

?"....?!"

?The former director felt his brain stall entirely. He stood frozen, staring blankly at the three stunning women before him:

?’Wives? Can a single mortal man honestly be blessed with multiple wives of this caliber? There’s an old saying: having one good wife is a blessing, two is a stroke of fortune, and three or more is straight-up divine providence. This mysterious Boss is truly living the absolute peak of the high life.’ He thought, frantically pulling his composure back together.

?"Oh!! Please forgive my utter blindness and ignorance! Right this way, please—let me give you a complete tour of the facilities." He stammered, gesturing toward the main administration block, trying his best to ignore the fact that he had been forcefully abducted to this location by five terrifying iron-clad knights.

?"There is no need to put yourself through that trouble... We drove all the way out here strictly to review the legal documents and execute the final administrative paperwork." Kelly cut him off, stopping his nervous advance in its tracks.

?’Paperwork? Oh god... Are they about to uncover the missing ledger discrepancies...?’

?"--What’s the matter? Don’t tell me you failed to bring the mandatory corporate paperwork?" Kelly asked, her sharp brow furrowing slightly.

?"Ah—no, no! I have all the ledgers right here in my briefcase!" He hurriedly lowered his gaze to the heavy leather briefcase clutched tightly in his hand, thanking whatever higher power was listening that he hadn’t dropped it when the knights ambushed his car.

?Still...

?He glanced up nervously at Kelly: ’My gut business instinct is screaming at me that this young woman is infinitely more dangerous than she looks.’

?Trembling internally, he slowly popped the latches of the briefcase and spun the case around so the contents faced the three women. Inside lay an orderly stack of financial files, corporate seals, and identification passports.

?"The top red file is the primary acquisition deed." He pointed out, his voice squeaking slightly.

?Kelly gracefully extended her hand, plucked the thick file from the case, and flipped it open. Her eyes scanned the columns of financial data with practiced speed; what felt like ten agonizing minutes to the old man was actually barely two minutes of reading before she paused, raising her cool gaze to lock onto the director, who was already breaking out in a cold, profuse sweat.

?She lowered her eyes back to the parchment and continued reading in dead silence. The director swallowed hard, waiting for the axe to fall. The next moment, a sleek obsidian pen materialized seamlessly in Kelly’s fingers, and to his absolute horror, she signed her signature across the transfer line before handing the document to Juliana.

?"You’ve managed to keep the management running." Kelly remarked casually.

?’What on earth is she actually implying by that...?’ The director thought, his heart dropping into his stomach.

?Such polite phrasing carried dual meanings, and he was acutely aware of the disaster hidden behind those words:

?"I am... I am deeply and profoundly sorry for my poor managerial oversight! I will personally bear the brunt of all financial losses!" He blurted out in a panic, as sweat poured down his neck in buckets.

?"Do you think you can bear it? The spirit mines were fully paid for in advance weeks ago, yet under your watch, not only did management stagnate, but the operations managed to leak and lose one hundred million in liquid capital." Kelly stated coldly, a deep frown settling on her face.

?"One hundred million?! But—that’s mathematically impossible, the deficit on record is only fifty million!" He protested desperately, his eyes wide with confusion.

?"Fifty million? What about the rampant devaluation and systemic loss of active spirit stones? And what about the low-grade crafting equipment that caused over fifty percent of outgoing stones to suffer micro-fractures during extraction?!" Kelly’s voice rose slightly, sharp as a razor:

?"If those structurally compromised stones are sold out to the market and utilized by craftsmen, they will instantly trigger catastrophic energy destabilization in whatever gear is forged from them! If it’s a weapon, it will literally explode the moment a regular Awakened channels spirit energy into it, causing severe, permanent injuries to the user! Or even death!"

?She pinned him with a blistering, unblinking stare:

?"Are you financially and legally prepared to shoulder total liability once the major guilds and independent mercenaries file lawsuits over these defective stones? Do you have any earthly idea how much corporate capital would have to be burned just to suppress and settle those scandals?! And you dare stand there and whiningly claim it’s ’only fifty million’?"

?Kelly narrowed her eyes into dangerous slits: "Furthermore, if you managed to drain fifty million in a mere two weeks of mismanagement, do you honestly think the bleeding would have stopped there if we hadn’t stepped in?"

?THUD!

?"I apologize a thousand times over!! I should have maintained strict quality control instead of giving in to greed and cutting corners! Please, have mercy—I’m just a small-scale mine owners, I don’t possess the generational wealth required to pay back a debt of that magnitude!" The old man wailed, pressing his forehead directly against the dusty gravel as he begged for his life.

?Any single one of those corporate negligence infractions could land him in a prison for decades; he had zero desire to spend the remainder of his natural life rotting away in a dark detention cell—what would happen to his wife and children if he vanished?

?"Such a trivial sum like a mere hundred million means practically nothing to the wealth of the Aetheldawn family, but you must still pay the price for your gross incompetence and compensate us for the operational losses." Kelly pronounced, looking down at him with absolute indifference.

?’Besides, our Husband deposited one trillion dollars onto each of our private cards... One hundred million is literally pocket change.’ Juliana thought to herself with a quiet, amused smirk.

?"But I truly don’t have any liquid cash left on me..."

?"Oh, but you do... I happen to know quite well that you have five additional spirit Mines in this sector." Kelly said smoothly, shifting her gaze momentarily toward the stunned guards standing by the gate before returning her focus to the trembling old man:

?"And I am entirely confident that the exact same rot and embezzlement happening here is currently taking place across those five other mines as well. If you refuse to voluntarily hand over the deeds to those properties right now, you won’t just lose money—you’ll face criminal prosecution. Some of those aggrieved, high-ranking Awakened whose lives you endangered might even hunt you down for personal revenge. Do you honestly believe you can survive all of that?"

?"....?!!!"

?The former director froze completely, his mind completely short-circuiting as the terrifying reality of his situation finally crushed him into total submission.