I flashed her a small, thin-lipped, smile. “No matter what I say and no matter what the truth is, the public will always believe what their version of the truth is. A lot of those people who will spread hate are die-hard fans of Julian who will want to paint me as the villain but most of those people are young girls who are too caught up in celebrity drama to think rationally.”
“So what are you trying to say?”
I signalled Theo to play the video that we had. I watched as he opened a laptop that he brought, put in the drive, and then had the video on pause shown on the white screen. “What I’m trying to say is the people in this room aren’t young girls incapable of thinking rationally. I wondered why Julian would say what he did and he wouldn’t if no one would dare ask. I also wondered how the video made rounds online.”
Standing up, I motioned at the white screen and had Theo play the video. Thankfully, the CCTV cameras in the company could record sound too so although the audio wasn’t all too audible, it was good enough. I allowed all of them to watch Julian interact with the four ladies first and watched how they reacted when Anthony came into the scene.
Apparently, Anthony was the one who started it all. Although the ladies did ask Julian about his answer to the question, all they wanted was to know who he meant. Anthony, on the other hand, put a name to Julian’s answer and brought out the fact that he saw Julian in my house that time he came unannounced despite the fact that we weren’t doing anything wrong at that time.
Anthony scoffed loudly and shook his head. “Julian said it without anyone pressuring him to or ordering him to say that. It was all him. I don’t understand what you’re trying to do here, Audrey. Just admit that you used sex to your advantage just so you could remain in that position.”
I wanted to lash out at his comment but I also knew that he would say that. Although the video showed that Anthony was the one Julian was talking to, it still didn’t explain how the video became viral and how it was acquired by the media. Rather than responding to Anthony’s statement, I had Theo pause the video.
“As you can see, one of the four has her camera pointed to Julian and is clearly recording the video.” Just as I said that, Theo opened the door again and pulled in the woman who recorded the video. She was looking down on the ground and I knew that she might’ve felt like she was going to lose her job for simply recording a video of a guy that she must’ve idolized.
Anthony snorted but there was a slight panic in his eyes when he saw her. “What are you going to do with her? Fire her because she recorded a video and you’re assuming that she was the one who sent it?”
I scoffed. “I’m not stupid, Anthony, and I know she isn’t either. Before we confronted her, we already knew who posted the video. We also didn’t want her to pay for a mistake that she did not even commit and besides, she doesn’t have any reason to post the video online because she’s aware what the repercussions might be.”
“So why record a video?”
I looked at the lady and she swallowed and finally spoke, “I was already recording the whole thing before Mr. Carson came in. It was my first time meeting Julian Hudson and I didn’t think the conversation he had with Mr. Carson would pan out that way.”
“And why didn’t you delete the video?”
Her eyes fell on Anthony and she quickly looked down. “Mr. Carson noticed me recording the moment Julian left and asked to see me in private.”
Anthony sputtered beside his father. “You have got to be kidding me! Why the fuck would I do that? She’s making that up! Audrey paid you to say that, didn’t she?”
But the lady refused to look at her and I signalled Theo to play the other clip we found. Anthony’s office had cameras, just as every other office in the company. It must’ve slipped his mind that his dirty transaction with our employee could be recorded or maybe he didn’t think that I would be smart enough to remember that there were cameras around our company for me to figure it all out.
“The video depicts Anthony talking with her. Although the audio is more inaudible than the previous one, you can see him handing her money and her transferring the file to his computer. So it’s clear to everyone that the person who handed that video to the media was someone of our own, the person who could’ve caused the downfall of the company was him.”
Anthony was shaking. “Why would I even want to do that?”
“You want my position, Anthony. You always did. You and your father, you want Finch Records to yourselves. You thought that since I was a woman, it was easier to remove me from the position.” I was looking at the father-son duo straight in the eyes.
“Then what are you going to do, Audrey? Remove my son from the position for damaging the company’s name by publicly sharing what you’ve done just for a band to sign with us? You’re not even denying the allegations so it must be true then, you let Julian Hudson fuck you just so you could get him to damn sign!”
I narrowed my eyes at Dick who was glowering at me. “What’s going on with my private life isn’t something that I will disclose with you. But your son blatantly exposed something that wasn’t his to do so, just so he could gain position. Now, if I was to do the same thing, how would that reflect your family name?”
Anthony clenched his fists. Dick pursed his lips. “You act so confident that you forget that our family has the biggest shares in this company. I’m a big investor. I deserve this seat on the board and my son deserves your position more than you ever will. If we withdraw our funds…”
“Withdraw it,” I said cockily, almost resembling Julian when I spoke as I tilted my head to the side., “to hell, I care.”
Dick laughed. “You honestly think that your company could survive without my funding?”
“How much funds you shared will be shouldered by me.” Finally, Dad came into the room. I wanted to start with him but I knew that he would be running a little late. Mom was with him, as elegant and regal as always. “By my wife and I. I’ve honoured the gentlemen’s agreement between you and my grandfather and had swallowed every criticism you had of me when I was in position but I cannot allow you to scheme against my daughter to gain power.”
Dick clenched his fists. “You’re making a mistake, Albert. You know that this company would be nothing…”
“Our family built this company. We’ve run it for years. All you did was invest, Mr. Carson, but as my father said, you crossed the line. I’m sorry but it’s either you face the wrath of the media like I do or you let your son get the hell out of this company. If you want to withdraw your funding because of that, we won’t stop you.”
Dick was seething and if he were a cartoon, he would probably be drawn with his nostrils flaring and smoke coming out of them. He slammed his hands against the table but I did not even flinch, neither did my parents because Finches don’t flinch. Dick stood up and then marched out, his head held high and after a beat, Anthony followed his father.
It was silent for a moment before someone cleared his throat. It was Beth Hauser again. “He’ll come back. He would allow you to fire Anthony for the sake of their family name and he wouldn’t even want to withdraw his funds because he knows that this had been the best investment he had ever made. Even with the regression issue that arose.”