Chapter 2

“How could that be?” I exclaimed.

The Silk Canopy was a fairly upscale restaurant and was my go-to spot for entertaining clients and holding company events.

To make things convenient, I signed an agreement with The Silk Canopy. They would bill us once a month.

Over the years, I would keep my monthly expenditure at The Silk Canopy within 20,000 dollars and I seldom spent more than 30,000 dollars.

Out of nowhere, it hit 100,000 dollars.

I couldn’t quite wrap my head around it.

“Send me the bill.”

“Sure,” the finance manager said. I received the bill soon after.

I tallied it with my own records.

Each time I hosted a client, I would spend about 1,000 dollars. Sometimes, the figure might be higher but not more than 2,000 or 3,000 dollars. I couldn’t possibly have spent 100,000 dollars.

I checked through the line items on the bill. I had spent a total of 23,000 dollars on hosting eight clients and a few company events.

The other line items had nothing to do with me.

For example, there was an expense two days ago that stood at 10,000 dollars.

Last night, when I spent slightly over 1,000 dollars to host a client, there was another expense that stood at 5,000 dollars.

Aside from these random expenses, there were some accommodation expenses as well.

This restaurant offered accommodation as well. The room charges alone were about 10,000 dollars.

I was getting increasingly confused as doubts grew in my mind. I started getting frustrated.

I quickly forced myself to calm down.

I took a deep breath and said to the finance manager, “Don’t settle the bill. Let me make a trip to The Silk Canopy first.”

“Okay, Mr. Grant.”

After hanging up, I walked out of my room and saw that Lucy had prepared a glass of warm water.

After drinking some warm water, I asked, “Where is Toby?”

There was a subtle shift in the look on Lucy’s face. “He went out. He told me to tell you that he isn’t free to be your driver today, and that you should hail a taxi to go to your office.”

“Did he say what he was going to do?”

“No. I didn’t dare ask, either,” Lucy said.

I saw a tinge of fear in Lucy’s eyes.

I quickly called Toby, but the moment he answered, he drawled, “Hudson, I’m driving. Don’t call me.”

He hung up right after that.

I called him another three times, all of which he declined to answer almost immediately. When I called him for the fourth time, his voice finally came through the phone.

“Hudson, why are you being so insensible? I have something important to do, why do you keep calling me? Can’t you wait till I return? It’s a wonder how you manage such a huge company when you’re so hasty and impulsive.”

“Who are you calling Hudson? Call me Mr. Grant,” I said darkly. “Also, I’m officially informing you right now that you’ve been fired. Return my car to me right now.”

“What did you say? It’s too windy here, and I can’t hear you. Also, you’re still young and not very mature in the way you do things. You're overreacting over trivial matters. I’ll guide you on how to do things once I’m back, and teach you some important lessons about life.”

He hung up once more. When I tried calling him again, no one came to the phone anymore.

When I arrived at The Silk Canopy, I saw Pierre Charlton, the general manager of The Silk Canopy.

He even greeted me brightly, “Mr. Grant! Here to settle the bill in person?”

I placed the bill in front of Pierre.

“Look. Aside from the parts I underlined in red that had to do with our company expenses, none of the other line items has anything to do with our company,” I said gravely.