1317 Stepping Down

“Amelia, does it still hurt?” Lucas carefully touched Amelia’s swollen face as gently as possible.

Amelia hissed softly and said aggrievedly, “A little, but it should stop hurting soon! Daddy, don’t worry.”

Seeing how well-behaved and sensible his daughter was, Lucas felt warm and fuzzy inside.

At the same time, he was annoyed. He thought that he had been too kind to the woman who had slapped Amelia by crippling only one of her hands.

The kick William suffered wasn’t light either. There was an obvious bruise in the middle of his chest.

After seeing it, Lucas brought William to the hospital for a detailed checkup.

After all, William wasn’t young anymore. If he had sustained any internal injuries from the kick, it would be terrible.

Fortunately, the results of the checkup were good, and he had only suffered superficial wounds and bruises, which would soon recover.

…

Meanwhile, in the conference room of the Holmes’ manor…

Norman had left the meeting halfway to save his son, Luther. When he returned home, there was a large group of family members waiting for him in the conference room.

But compared to when his family trusted and supported him, the atmosphere in the conference room was much more solemn, and many of them were clearly displeased.

In particular, an elderly man who resembled Norman was furious and disgruntled.

After Norman took his seat, the elderly man immediately questioned, “Norman, shouldn’t you give us a reasonable explanation for what happened?

“The Holmes have already handed over half of our assets this morning, losing the efforts and hard work of countless people over the years! But you claimed that it was necessary because we accidentally offended a powerful enemy. Fine, we can understand your rationale here.

“But what happened now? You suddenly transferred 2.2 billion dollars from our family’s account to the Stardust Corporation out of nowhere. This massive sum of money is basically all of the Holmes’ liquidity! Don’t you think you owe us an explanation for this?”

The person who spoke was Richie Holmes, Norman’s cousin, who was about the same age as him.

Richie had a high status in the Holmes family, second only to Norman’s.

If Richie’s father had succeeded the position of helmsman back then, the current helmsman of the Holmes would be Richie, not Norman.

Now, apart from Richie, many other esteemed elders of the family were also extremely displeased with Norman.

After losing half of their family’s assets, they were already in a precarious position. But Norman suddenly transferred all of the family’s working capital, which made many people extremely upset.

With Richie’s lead, the others chimed in one after another, “Norman, quickly give us a reasonable explanation!”

“2.2 billion dollars is not a small sum. Even if you’re the family’s helmsman, you can’t squander our money away like that. You owe us an explanation!”

“That’s right, Norman. If you can’t give us an acceptable reason, we won’t accept it!”

…

The atmosphere in the conference room was getting tense, and Norman’s expression was extremely gloomy.

Over the decades that he had been the helmsman of the Holmes, he had done countless things for the family and had always been showered with compliments and respect. It was the first time he was facing so much doubt and criticism during a family meeting.

“What are you doing? As I’ve said, Lucas Gray from the Stardust Corporation isn’t someone we can offend. As the helmsman of the Holmes, if I had any other solution, I wouldn’t have transferred so much money from the family! What other explanation do you want from me?”

Norman refused to mention what had happened and merely said this, making it sound as if Lucas had forced him to transfer the 2.2 billion dollars.

Richie sneered. “Norman, stop fooling everyone here. The transfer has something to do with your incompetent son, Luther, right? If it wasn’t because of him, the Holmes wouldn’t have lost an additional 2.2 billion dollars!”

Norman’s expression immediately changed. “Are you stalking me?”

“Hah, must you call it stalking? This matter happened in public. As long as you take a look, you’ll know. Why would I have to stalk you?”

Richie snorted disdainfully. “Norman, stop covering up for your troublemaker son and his wife. We already know what they’ve done! If they hadn’t offended Lucas Gray, we wouldn’t have lost 2.2 billion dollars!

“Your son and daughter-in-law are the culprits, but you are to blame too!”

Suppressing his anger, Norman asked, “Since things have already come to this, what do you want me to do?”

Smack!

Richie slammed his hand hard against the table and said, “As the helmsman of the Holmes, you’ve actually caused the family to suffer such severe losses because of your son and daughter-in-law. I think you’re no longer fit to be the helmsman!

“Norman, it’s time for you to step down!”

Norman realized what was going on and nodded. He laughed. “Richie, is this your agenda? You just want to force me to give up my position so that you can take over as helmsman yourself!”

He had long known that Richie wasn’t as compliant as he pretended to be. He had always coveted the position of helmsman, and he only chose to express it now!

He finally showed his greed!

But Richie ignored what Norman said and sneered. “Cut the crap! The fact now is that you’re no longer qualified to be the helmsman of the Holmes! And now that I have the ability, you should step down!

“You’ve lost dozens of your experts and caused our family to suffer heavy losses. And now, you’ve lost the support of most of the family. What do you have to compete with me?”

Richie didn’t hide his intentions to become the next helmsman at all. He had indeed found the best opportunity to make trouble for Norman.

Norman had lost his sixty most powerful experts yesterday, so now he was no longer a match for Richie’s forces.

Norman had caused the Holmes to suffer heavy losses within one day, thus losing the prestige he had built up with great difficulty over the past few decades.

No one wanted him to continue being the Holmes’ helmsman.

At this moment, an esteemed elder of the Holmes said, “Norman, you’d better step down! I think it’s time for the Holmes to have a new helmsman.”

“I agree! It’s time the Holmes has a new helmsman!”

“Yes, we need a new helmsman!”

…

All of a sudden, everyone in the conference room chorused in unison, demanding that Norman step down so that they could choose a new helmsman.