The Traps of Black Swan

Everyone's eyes were etched on the wooden door after seeing Leon's reaction. The door was slowly pushed open and Leon breathed out. He didn't know if he should be glad it wasn't Aarvi or be more anxious about her move.

"I am sorry." Emma corrected her glass and ran inside in little steps without making a noise of her heels. Everyone's eyes were on the two men.

Emma placed the file in front of Leon and whispered, "President Harmon, Everything is arranged as per date." She kept a Pendrive next to the file as she continued, "This has the copy of the scanned documents."

Leon merely nodded. "Sit." He commanded without bothering to be polite for the work. He is paying for the work so he believes he doesn't have to say thank you to her.

Emma stepped back and silently sat with the other secretaries to watch the battle with a straight face.

Elder Harmon took the charge. He spoke, calmly addressing everyone, slowly drawing out his words, watching everyone's expression. "Hello, dear shareholders. I am very grateful for your support all these years. I will forever remember it."

Elder Harmon paused. He could count how many were angry and the rest sitting in discontent and resentment. Elder Harmon had expected Leon to take control immediately and understood where the confidence of Leon came from.

Unbothered, he continued, "Now the company is hit with an emergency. I could understand your worry, urge to get the answers, and how Leon is going to address the setback. Trust me, I am in the same state." The age was just a number to his composition and how he controlled all the shareholders' emotions, even if it's just for a few minutes.

Leon was impressed by his grandfather. However, he wasn't an idiot to consider he was giving him a chance. He already recognized Aarvi's way of giving little victories to see him laugh, then she would laugh at the end. So he watched the drama unfold.

Elder Harmon flashed a reassuring smile at Leon. Reassurance to the defeat. "As we have all seen, Leon successfully took care of the company and reached glorious days in the past years. I am very sure you all are aware of his capabilities. So please have patience so that we could hear him. If you have any questions, let's keep it after he delivers what he has to say."

The shareholder wanted to comment. They suspiciously looked at Leon and back at Elder Harmon. They all had seen the viral video of Aarvi throwing wine and reprimanding badly while Elder Harmon stood, weak and helpless, holding Aaron's hand. They highly doubted Leon threatening and controlling his grandfather to speak well. 

Leon watched how his grandfather's words affected shareholders. He was momentarily speechless when he discerned despite the kind words of his grandfather, everyone had the spectacle gaze on him. He didn't know whether he should hail to Aarvi or his grandfather. One ruined his image of a family man and another one had a good rapport with Aarvi.

Well, he ignored them and flashed a faint smile to his grandfather, "Thank you, grandfather- Chairman Harmon." He faked to be correcting himself for the situation.

Then he turned to the shareholders. His face morphed to the seriousness with a hint of disappointment. "Trust, it's a very powerful word. If we lose trust in someone, it is hard to earn it back."

Many were left baffled at his words and some even felt nauseous.. 'Trust,' Leon never earned their trust, they were supporting him because he was good at business.

Leon continued with his eyes halting at the middle-aged man, "Being an elder son of the Harmon family, being president of the conglomerate, the pressure on me is far higher than you could even think."

He paused seeing the shareholders' disinterest. He needs to build the atmosphere so that they agree with his ideas and end the meeting. 

Elder Harmon wasn't new to Leon's meticulous yet crafty way of dealing with people and issues. He leaned back on the seat and watched the show unfold. He knew Leon was capable of handling but his confidence was high on Aarvi.

However, the secretaries were speechless. They clearly knew Dylan was always the one who does the work of two while Leon did as he pleased.

Leon was mindful of everyone's reaction. However, they failed to affect him. He continued with a determined and convincing voice, "I have poured my sweat and blood, working day and night for this company and the development of it. I have increased the net worth of Harmon Industries by 200%. So why do you think I will do something which will affect the company and waste all my hard work?"

The sensible shareholders looked at each other. Leon made sense. Why would he put his hard work and company in jeopardy?

Leon witnessed the shareholders slowly gathering patience and falling calm. However, he knew it would only be till they got the chance to speak. Humans are greedy, they care too much about the money for their livelihood.

Now he slowly moved to the main topic, "Coming to the current crisis."

Everyone's ears sharped and eyes bored on Leon's face. They wanted to hear the solution and get their profits like every year.

"If such a huge project could go wrong right after it was signed, think carefully, don't you think somebody is playing dirty?"

A huff fell over in the meeting hall when they understood somebody was targeting Harmon Industries.

Leon didn't give time for them to butt in. He continued keeping the mystery. He wasn't going to bring the sacrificial lamb so quickly, as it might appear to be fake.

"We have a professional team for analysis of every project we handle. Yet, why did this one project get out of our hands right after the signing?" He probed them to think harder. The more he stresses, the middle-aged to old shareholders started to understand it.

Leon noted many were nodding at his words. The middle-aged man started to panic looking at others' reactions. He continued, "This isn't a small case which I could get to the conclusion overnight. I need concrete evidence. Hence, I will keep my guesses to myself now. But I assure you that I will not let that person off easily and get back to you very soon."

If a person could have such a huge plan to get their money, why would they reveal themselves so easily? Thus it was reasonable that time was needed. 

Leon came to the crucial point which would make or break all his efforts. "Likewise, as an acting CEO and the president of Harmon Industries, I have to be very careful without choosing any shortcut to solve the crisis. And the reliable solution would take time to come into effect."

He blatantly lied as he had a solution, "As of now, I am not in the position to speak about how I am going to solve the problem and get our money back. Because there are ears in this meeting and the owner of those ears will report to that attacker. I hope you can consider this and wait for me to stabilize the company." He ended his long speech.

The shareholders wanted to retort, ask questions but Leon covered most of the questions. They didn't know if it was an excuse or a fact but whatever he said made sense to them.

Elder Harmon gave his grandson a round of applause, causing others to force a smile and hesitantly add, "We trust you could handle this President Harmon." A shareholder who believed Leon voiced his thoughts.

"But make sure we don't lose the company to a third party."

"Yeah, and please be quick."

Amidst maximum supporters, others felt like they lost their voice.

Leon heard the supporting members willingly or unwillingly give their opinion and support Leon. The latter nodded at them and sipped water. He mockingly gazed at his grandfather saying he successfully stalled their plan.. He was confident that he could solve the issue and keep the throne.