Chapter 36: Purging the Court
Leah Sinclair smiled, in a great mood as she arranged the flowers one by one in a vase. She added the sunflower she had bought for herself into the mix. Once she was done, she looked at the arrangement from every angle, feeling that the two types of flowers looked quite harmonious together.
With Asher Keating away, Leah Sinclair wasn’t being worn out at night, so she was full of energy every day. On this particular day, just as Leah arrived at the office, her teammate, Zion Sawyer, pulled her aside to gossip. "Leah, have you heard? Our company’s about to go through a major shake-up."
Leah Sinclair looked at her, confused. "What do you mean?"
Zion Sawyer had been with the company for over a year. She had just recently been promoted to assistant engineer and was now studying for her constructor certification exam.
Leah Sinclair had majored in civil engineering in college, a field where women were outnumbered by men. Take their Project Department One for example: out of about thirty people, only eight were women.
Before Leah arrived, Zion had been the youngest and most junior person there. So, after Leah joined, Zion quickly befriended her.
Then there was Todd Coleman, who was slightly more senior than Zion. In Mr. Langdon’s words, the three of them were the grunts of Project Department One—three bricks to be moved wherever they were needed.
This wasn’t to say that Project Department One was a bad department. On the contrary, it was just incredibly difficult to get into. In the year-plus between Zion’s hiring and Leah’s, Leah was the only newcomer the department had accepted. And if it weren’t for her advisor’s recommendation, she wouldn’t have gotten in either.
"Well..." Zion Sawyer glanced around to make sure no one was listening, then whispered, "You know our group has a new president, right? They say the new president is coming today, and he’s going to make some big moves."
"What kind of big moves? And can a president just be replaced on a whim?" Having just entered the workforce, Leah Sinclair didn’t really understand how things worked with high-level leadership.
Todd Coleman arrived just then. "The design department and a few other project teams got wind of this a few days ago. The word is, once the new president arrives, he’s going to fire a lot of people. You know what that’s called? Cleaning house!"
"That’s so brutal! Is he some kind of life-reaping Devil?" Zion Sawyer’s voice rose in shock.
"Keep it down!" Todd Coleman quickly glanced around.
Zion clapped a hand over her mouth, then said in a hushed tone, "Suddenly I’m seeing the upside of being so junior. They wouldn’t go after small fry like us, right?"
Just as Leah was about to speak, Mr. Langdon came over. "You three! Stop huddling and get ready. We have a meeting in the main conference room on the sixteenth floor in ten minutes."
He glanced to the side, then lowered his voice and said to the three of them, "Things are tense at the company right now. You three need to watch yourselves. Don’t say things you shouldn’t, and—especially you, Zion Sawyer!—don’t go snooping for gossip. If you get into trouble, don’t blame me for not covering for you."
The three of them immediately shut up and quickly gathered their things. As he got ready, Todd Coleman remarked, "The main conference room on the sixteenth floor... I’ve been here almost three years, and I’ve never been to a meeting in that room."
Five minutes later, Mr. Langdon led the entire department to the largest conference room on the sixteenth floor. In the elevator, Mr. Langdon said, "We probably won’t be getting out early today. If you need to let your families know, do it now."
Immediately, people began pulling out their phones to send texts. Leah Sinclair sent a message to Asher Keating as well. He had told her yesterday that he would be back today, though he might be late.
Leah had been hoping to get home early, but it looked like that wasn’t going to happen now. She sent the text, but Asher Keating didn’t reply.
When they arrived at the sixteenth-floor conference room, it was already filled with people. Leah Sinclair glanced around; it was a sea of faces from all the various project departments. No wonder they needed such a large room.
Since joining Aevon, she still couldn’t recognize everyone from all the project departments. It was a massive corporation, after all; they occupied the entire building, so it was only natural there would be so many employees.
The seating was arranged by department number. Their department was seated on the left side, and Leah, Zion Sawyer, and Todd Coleman sat together in a corner of their section.
After a short while, staff from the administration department entered. The room, which had been buzzing with hushed conversations, fell silent as soon as they appeared.
All eyes turned in unison toward the entrance. A few people filed in, none of whom Leah Sinclair recognized; she figured they must be high-level executives. And then, walking in at the very end, she saw Asher Keating.
For a split second, she thought her eyes were playing tricks on her. She blinked and looked again, uncertain. A perfectly tailored blue-gray suit, gold-rimmed glasses... wasn’t that Asher Keating? Leah felt her mind go blank. Then, when Asher took the seat right in the center of the stage, she was utterly dumbfounded.
"Oh my god, he’s so handsome!" Zion Sawyer whispered, grabbing Leah’s hand and trying her best to keep her voice down.
Leah was in a panic. ’Please, God,’ she prayed, ’don’t let Asher Keating be the new president!’
But clearly, God wasn’t listening. The director of Human Resources formally announced the new president was none other than Asher Keating, and then invited him to say a few words.
Asher Keating smiled slightly. "Hello, everyone. I’m Asher Keating. I apologize for calling this impromptu meeting and taking up your time. My main purpose today is to get acquainted with all of you from the project departments."
Asher Keating’s appointment as the president of Aevon Group had been decided by the old Mr. Keating a while back. The primary reason for the decision was Asher’s success in securing the land rights for the Southwood project.
The Keating Group had built its fortune on construction. And while it had since branched out into many other industries, construction remained its largest and most important sector.
Aevon Group was a crucial part of that sector. Previously, Asher’s cousin, Second Master Keating, Aaron Keating, had also coveted the presidential position at Aevon. The old Mr. Keating, however, had delayed making his stance clear, and the two cousins had clashed frequently over the position, both openly and behind the scenes.
Before his arrival, Asher Keating had already reviewed the files on most of the group’s employees. Excluding interns and staff who had been with the company for a year or less, he had a firm grasp on everyone else, especially the mid- and high-level managers. He knew Aaron Keating had planted more than a few of his own people here.
Of course, Asher had his own people in place as well. Now that his position was confirmed, the first order of business was naturally to sweep out everyone loyal to Aaron Keating.
The HR director handed Asher Keating a dossier containing the files of everyone present from the project departments. Asher had, of course, already reviewed the files for all the managers and assistant managers.
But he acted as if this was all new to him, smiling as he said, "To save time and keep from interrupting your work, when I call your name, please stand up so I can put a face to it. Let’s start with Project Department One. The manager, Keith Langdon."
Leah was seated off to the side, with nine rows of her colleagues in front of her. She kept her head bowed, not daring to look up, trying to make herself as small and unnoticeable as possible. From the stage, Asher Keating called out the names one by one. To Leah, it felt no different than The Devil calling names from his book of death.
After calling Zion Sawyer’s name, Asher’s hand paused for a fraction of a second when he saw Leah Sinclair’s file. He looked up, his gaze sweeping over to her corner, his voice tinged with amusement as he said, "Leah Sinclair."