Page 124 of King of Ruin

"Mr. Chen?"

Benjamin lowered his head respectfully.

Without saying a word, Xavier lifted two fingers and motioned for him to come closer.

Benjamin hesitated for the briefest moment before bending down.

"Closer."

Swallowing nervously, Benjamin leaned in until only the two of them could hear each other.

For a long second, Xavier said nothing. His brows remained tightly furrowed, as though something had been irritating him all morning.

Finally, in a low voice that carried unmistakable impatience, he asked,

"Where's Elise?"

Benjamin blinked.

For a split second, genuine confusion crossed his face.

Then he remembered.

"Mr. Chen..." he replied cautiously. "Have you forgotten? Miss Foster took the day off today. She didn't come to the office."

The words had barely left his mouth when Xavier's expression darkened even further.

His jaw clenched.

An irritated breath escaped through his nose as he leaned back in his chair, looking even more displeased than before.

Benjamin stared at him, completely bewildered.

‘Was... that why he had been in such a terrible mood all morning?’

Before he could think any further, Xavier lazily lifted one hand and flicked his fingers toward the conference room door.

The executives looked at one another for less than a second before realization dawned on every face.

The meeting was over.

Relief washed over the room so quickly that it was almost visible.

Everyone hurriedly gathered their laptops, documents, and tablets, trying to do so as quietly as possible. Chairs scraped softly against the floor as one after another, they slipped toward the exit with restrained urgency, each person eager to escape before Xavier changed his mind.

Within moments, the conference room began to empty.

If anyone had been watching from outside, they would have thought the executives were fleeing a burning building.

No one wanted to stay a second longer.

The meeting had begun early that morning and had stretched well past lunchtime. Hours of relentless questioning, impossible standards, and Xavier's increasingly volatile temper had left everyone mentally exhausted.

By the end, no one had been thinking about quarterly profits anymore.

They had only been thinking about surviving.

As the last executive quietly closed the conference room door behind him, a collective sigh of relief echoed through the executive floor.