The whole week was spent cleaning up the mess of mismanagement in the company. Interviews were being held back to back, trying to replace the positions left vacant by all those being fired. Some of the fired employees came together to file a wrongful termination lawsuit, but Eliza wasn’t worried about that. She had evidence to back her actions for every single person fired. In fact, they made her job easier. Instead of wasting time suing them all at a time, she just had to present evidence of their misconduct in court, and get them punished or fined.
During her investigations, she found enough evidence against her own family. Fraud, embezzlement, fake deals, ghost employees receiving pay and benefits and more. She kept those to herself for now, because she knew suing them would be too much bad publicity for the company. Maybe when she was done stabilising, she could open that can of worms. Fresh chapters posted on n͟o͟v͟e͟l͟f͟i͟r͟e͟.net
In the evenings, she helped Gaya plan for the official opening ceremony for Crestview Group. Among that was changing Alrik’s last name from Gren to Crest. Eliza believed Crest was a better name, to signify Alrik’s new status. She was also officially dropping her own family name, now to be known as Eliza Crest. New beginnings for both of them with no strings to their family. Gren had just been a stand-in name Alrik chose when he was disowned by the Zerdon family.
"I think we’re all done. We’ve put every possible scenario into account and planned accordingly. So unless a portal opens up in the middle of the event hall, we’re prepared."Gaya said as they concluded their meeting.
"Don’t even joke about that Gaya. Do you know how terrifying it would be to have beasts within the city? Even the thought of them on the outskirts is still horrible." Eliza said.
Alrik was silent, but he remembered the dream he had once of Eliza being killed by beasts from a portal opened within the city. Hearing Gaya say something like that, even as a joke made a feeling of dread pool in his gut. Every time this happened, he always had a strong urge to find his family’s sword. Was this a premonition? Or was he just being paranoid? He had no idea. But just to appease his mind, he was already putting plans in motion to find the sword. Through information obtained from Kalen’s laptop, his team was trying to trace down the location. It was just a bit difficult because it was no longer in Velmorra.
"For the finishing touch. Would you both like a separate grand entrance, and to be announced on entry? Or you’ll join the other guests and only come up when it’s time for the speech?" Gaya asked.
"No grand entry. We’ll mingle first, and get a feel for the companies on the shortlist for partnership." Alrik said.
"Okay then. You both have a nice night. After the announcement tomorrow. The whole country will be more interested in your lives. Enjoy your last night of privacy."
She left, and they both went to bed. The next day, all media stations only carried news of Crestview Group. The opening ceremony was the talk of the town, and so many guests used the opportunity to flaunt their invitations. Everyone believed if you weren’t invited, then you weren’t important.
The event was held in the grand hall of Crestview’s new office building. The entire floor had been designed just for this purpose. By mid afternoon, guests began to arrive for the red carpet. No one wanted to be late for such a prestigious event, and they wanted to use the time to build connections, hoping to finally meet the elusive CEO.
So many business and elite families dressed their daughters up in the finest outfits, hoping one of them would get the CEO’s attention when he was finally revealed. No one knew much about the CEO so they could only hope he wasn’t married yet. Some representatives from the military were also present since the Crestview Group was one of the biggest supporters and sponsors making sure the soldiers had enough supplies and keeping the country safe.
Griffin Zerdon was also present, but only to check out his competition. After running his company successfully for many years, he wanted to see the face of the man that surpassed him in only a few years. The Zerdon conglomerate had not submitted any proposal for partnership with Crestview Group. Griffin saw that as an insult, basically begging partnership from a company that wasn’t even up to a decade old. Jett, Vaida and Kalen also came along, and he warned them sternly to avoid causing any trouble that would make his company look bad.
"Welcome to the opening ceremony of Crestview Group’s new headquarters. Reporters stay in your designated area. Any attempt to sneak off will be met with legal action. Guests, feel free to mingle while we wait. An auction will be held shortly, and all proceeds will be for charity. Then there will be an announcement of successful companies chosen to partner with Crestview, after which the CEO will give his speech and answer questions."
Eliza and Alrik arrived, but since they both weren’t really known as a couple, most of the reporters stationed at the red carpet didn’t take pictures. Alrik held his wife, and they walked to the entrance.
"I’m so nervous." Eliza said as they stepped through without showing any invitation. All the guards on duty already knew who they were, as arranged by Gaya.
"Just breathe. You have nothing to fear. I’ll be by your side all night."He said and she chuckled.
"You’re the one who will be the centre of attention tonight. I should be comforting you instead."
"There’s no need to..."
"How did you get in here? I got all the invitation cards for our family. There was no one for you." Eliza’s father said as he noticed them.
"Must you always try to disgrace us? Why would you bring this pauper to such a prestigious event?" Her grandfather added, and her brothers laughed.
"They probably stole someone else’s invitation.
"What sort of security exists here that riffraffs can just sneak in uninvited, huh?" Henry Pratt raised his voice, and several guests turned in their direction.
Kalen noticed Alrik and his eyes widened. He thought he was hallucinating. There’s no way Alrik was standing there, looking normal, dressed in a designer suit.