Chapter 3
On Charles's first day at Shaw Corp, he showed up in a custom-tailored suit, his hair slicked back with gel, and the air around him was thick with the scent of cologne he'd picked up at Heathrow Duty Free.
Joe told me all this later.
Even though Joe wasn't my secretary anymore, he took it upon himself to be my "frontline correspondent," sending me live updates every day.
I told him he really didn't have to.
He grinned and said he was happy to help.
On his first day, Charles gave a forty-five-minute speech at the company-wide meeting, titled "Reconstructing Corporate Strategy from a Global Perspective."
He used an all-English PowerPoint for the entire presentation.
About eighty percent of Shaw Corp's employees couldn't understand a word.
But Isabelle sat in the audience, smiling the whole time and leading the applause.
After the meeting, the first thing Charles did was clear out everything from my office and replace it with a set of minimalist furniture he'd picked up at IKEA.
The second thing he did was set up a dinner with Marcus from Stellar Holdings.
Word was, he sounded super confident when he made the call. "Mr. Lawson, this is Charles, the new VP at Shaw Corp. I'm taking over Gavin's responsibilities. Would you be free to meet up sometime?"
There was a three-second pause on the other end.
Then Marcus asked, "Gavin's gone?"
"Yeah, he's no longer with the company."
Another two seconds of silence.
"We're not renewing our contract with Shaw Corp once it's up." Marcus said.
"Huh?" Charles asked.
"Tell Ms. Shaw to check the contract. We're allowed to walk away after the term's up. Go through the usual steps."
And with that, he hung up.
Charles stared at his phone for ages, trying to convince himself, 'Maybe Marcus's in a bad mood today.'
Then he called Felix from Riverside Realty.
Felix didn't waste any time. "Where's Gavin? Tell him to call me."
"Mr. Quinn, I'm handling things now, " Charles tried to explain.
"I told you, get Gavin to call me. If he doesn't, I'm out."
He hung up on him.
Charles gripped his phone, his smile finally starting to falter.
His third call was to Emmett from Skyline Technologies.
Emmett picked up and asked, "Who is this?"
"Hi, Mr. Carter, it's Charles from Shaw Corp, " Charles started.
"Oh, insurance? No thanks."
"No, I'm the new VP. "
"I only know Gavin at Shaw. Never heard of you. Don't call me again."
Beep, beep, beep.
Joe said that by that afternoon, everyone in the office could see how bad Charles looked.
He went from a hotshot overseas returnee to just some poor guy whose ATM card had been swallowed.
Meanwhile, Isabelle Shaw received three official termination notices from their partners.
Three letters.
All on the same day.
Joe said her hand shook for a second when she saw the letters, but she quickly regained her composure and slammed the documents down on Charles's desk.
"What's going on?" she demanded.
Charles kept his cool, his smile only faltering for half a second before he plastered it back on. "Isabelle, relax. These clients are probably just watching and waiting. Building trust takes time. I've dealt with stuff like this in London."
"I said, what's going on?" Isabelle cut him off.
Charles went quiet for a couple of seconds, then said, "Maybe Gavin did something shady before he left."
Isabelle's brows knitted together.
She thought, 'Did something shady?
'Gavin?
'That useless kept man who had to check with her to take a client out for dinner?'
She didn't buy it.
Still, for now, she had no better explanation.
"Do whatever it takes to keep those clients from leaving. And do it fast," Isabelle ordered.
"Don't worry," Charles said, forcing another smile. "Give me a week, I'll win them back."
What he didn't know was that all three clients had already blocked his number.