CHAPTER 123: BOW

While Victor’s life fell apart, María was standing outside her building completely surprised, speechless and maybe a bit embarrassed.

The reason?

Well, before her was a group of fully grown men and women but just that wasn’t the reason for her surprise.

The reason she was surprised was the position they were in. The group in neat suits had their foreheads completely touching the floor, bowing before her in apology.

How had this even happened?

-------A Couple of minutes back--------

Ethan was relaxing in his room, basically done with dealing with the trio and all others involved in threatening Marìa.

From this point on, everything would just go downhill for them and it wouldn’t stop until they were completely penniless and in the streets.... homeless.

Maybe they’d finally get a taste of what they had been doing to families for years now. But the point was, Ethan couldn’t care less what happened to them from this point on.

He was almost completely satisfied with the outcome..... Almost.

There were a couple more things needed to be done before he was really satisfied.

"Athena?" he called calmly as he lay in the bed, eyes locked on the ceiling.

{Yes, Ethan?} she responded

"Send a message to Solterra’s CEO," Ethan instructed, moved from the ceiling to the window by his left. "Tell him that I expect him and his board to personally apologize to every other person they’ve extorted, threatened, or tried to push out of their homes these last two years."

{Right away,} Athena said as she immediately composed and sent the message.

"Also, have them offer either monetary compensation to said people or upgrade their building with no strings attached." He added after a short while and Athena immediately sent it.

{Done}

"Thank you," Ethan said.

{You’re welcome,}. Athena responded with a light smile on her avatar’s face.

This way, he could handle the complete renovation of María’s building without her realizing it was his work and also not reveal to the CEO a weakness... María

It was like killing two birds with one stone.

___________

Solterra’s CEO sat behind his desk, completing a task assigned to him by the new scary owner.

He might look like a kid, but the CEO had quickly learnt how dangerous that kid was and crossing him was the last thing that would ever cross his mind.

One of the tasks, was making sure that no contract, present or future ones would ever go to Bell and Partners, essentially blacklisting them forever.

Did it seem like a smart move?

The CEO didn’t think so, since the Bell’s were fairly influential in this field. Not Romanova big but they had a couple of connections, making them the right option for Solterra’s expansion contract.

But was he going to tell this to the new owner, hell no.

He’d rather be known as a cowardly CEO who bent too easily than anger the kid...no, anger Mr. Carter.

It wasn’t just because of the money that Mr Carter seemed to control, it was his invisible hand that could crush or elevate anyone he wished overnight.

Proof of this?

Victor, Anthony and Melissa’s situation was more than enough proof for him and that’s not even considered whatever relationship was between him and Ms. Romanova, a topic he didn’t want to think about.

Soon enough, a notification popped up at the side of his PC’s monitor and he immediately froze seeing the name of the sender.

It was from the new owner so he immediately stopped what he was doing and immediately clicked open the email.

[On it was a simple instruction, find all the families you’ve wronged in the last two years. Every one of them. You and your board will apologize in person.

You will offer them either full financial compensation or upgrade their buildings at no cost. This is not optional. You have forty-eight hours. Fail, and you’ll realize that what happened Victor and the others was me showing mercy.]

The last bit was Athena’s choice to add but it had worked incredibly well, not that the results would have been different anyway.

The moment the finished reading the email, he quickly stood up and tapped on the comms on his table, calling for his secretary.

"Get the board together. Now," the CEO said the moment she walked in, though his voice betrayed a slight tremor.

"Right away, sir," his secretary answered, already moving with urgency.

Minutes later, the board members had quickly filled the meeting room, sweat rolling down their backs. They had only come this fast because they assumed it was another meeting by the new owner just like the previous day.

They were sure the skeletons in another one or all of their closets was about to be revealed.

But that fear turned to confusion when they walked into the conference room only to see the CEO standing there looking completely nervous.

The screen behind him was off, indicating that the owner wouldn’t be joining them this time, so what was this about.

But before they could ask, he immediately started talking.

He picked up the remote, turned the projector back on, and the email appeared on the large screen. The board members squinted, then froze as they read the words.

A heavy silence filled the room.

"I won’t do it," one of the executives at the table suddenly muttered after reading the email, he leaned back in defiance, "you want us to get on our knees for peasants? I’m sorry but that’s not happening."

The CEO’s hand slammed against the table, making several flinch. His voice rose, several decibels higher.

"You think we have any choice in this?" He asked, "have any of you recently checked on what’s happening to our dismissed employees? AND ACCORDING TO THIS, THAT’S CONSIDERED MERCY."

He took a breath to calm himself down before he added, "we all know how much we’re hiding and so does he, so if you want those to remain hidden, I suggest we follow what he says."

That silenced the room.

The executives exchanged uneasy glances. They were aware that they were completely tied to a leash and the other end was in the hand of their new owner.

One by one, they gave reluctant nods.

"Good," the CEO said, breathing out as if he had been holding it in all this time. "We start immediately. You’ll split into groups. Each of you will take a list of tenants we’ve wronged in the last two years. You’ll go to their homes. If you have to, you’ll bow, you’ll apologize, and you’ll offer compensation. Understand?"

Nobody dared speak against it again.

-------------Present-------------

And that was exactly how María had found herself in this situation.

The CEO and some of the executives had taken her surprised silence as her refusing to accept the apology so they had no choice but to go on their knees.

The CEO being the first to, followed by the rest.

This had successfully gotten the attention of of some neighbors as they moved their blinds wondering what the commotion was about.

At the balcony of the top floor, Ethan Stroud there watching the group bow to the surprised María with a mental face palm.

All bowing did was make María even more uncomfortable so who the hell had order them to do so?

Letting out a sigh he just walked back inside, he wasn’t going to continue watching since he was getting second hand embarrassment even from the far up.

Downstairs, María finally reacted and said, "please stand up, no need to bow."

"We’ll only stand when you accept both our apology and offer," the CEO said, much to the annoyance of the others since they were already embarrassed enough due to bowing before a peasant added to the fact that other peasants were already watching.

But the CEO didn’t care, Mr Carter wasn’t here but he could feel that he was keeping an eye on them so he couldn’t risk messing up at this point.

His words put María in a bit of dilemma.

On one hand, she wanted them to get off the floor already, but on the other, she didn’t trust that the building upgrade came with no strings attached.

After a while of thinking, she sighed and said, "fine, just get up."

"Thank you," The CEO said before extending his hand and his secretary hurriedly handed him a file.

He respectfully handed it to María and said, "please, sign this."

María took the file from him before replying, "I’ll read it with my son tonight and we’ll get back to you."

"No problem, " the CEO said before handing her his card and turning to leave with the embarrassed executives.

María shook her head and muttered under her breath, "Ay, qué vergüenza..." ( "Ay, what an embarrassment..." ) before walking back inside with the file tucked under her arm.