Chapter 56.2

Chapter 56.2

[Bienvenue de retour! Tu m’as manqué, André. (Welcome back! I’ve missed you, Andre.)]

Charles welcomed him with a French-style cheek kiss, known as a “bisou,” while patting his shoulder. Andre responded with an awkward smile and a slight bow.

[Yes, Father.]

When Andre was 8 years old, his mother, Grace, had taken him back to New York, and his parents had effectively started living separate lives. Since then, Andre had only seen his father once or twice a year. As a result, they didn’t have a warm and informal relationship as father and son.

Even in his middle age, Charles still retained the remnants of his dazzling youth. His appearance was a quintessence of the aristocratic characteristics that were once revered in the past. He possessed a refined and aesthetic taste for beauty, a liberal arts education, refined speech, and an elegant appearance.

It was a pity that he wasn’t born in an era where simply being an aristocrat was enough.

Charles was a well-liked person and was welcomed wherever he went, but he had no talent or interest in business. He lived a romantic and aristocratic life, enjoying the family’s wealth and privileges without worrying about the rapidly changing world, and occasionally made ill-fated investments or fell victim to scams, losing a significant amount of money in the process.

Therefore, the merger of the Lafayette Group, which focused on hotels and real estate, with the Lowell & Company, which focused on distribution and department stores, and the subsequent relocation of the headquarters to New York, with Grace taking the reins of the business, was a brilliant strategy.

Under her iron grip, the Lafayette-Lowell Group had gone public two years ago. Charles, the nominal group chairman and figurehead, had lived without complaint until then.

But six months ago, the “Iron Lady”, Grace, had passed away.

And Charles, who had always looked younger than his age, now appeared to have aged 10 years in those six months.

Charles shuffled towards his chair, picked up the pipe that was on his desk, and weakly opened and closed his mouth, like a fish that had been out of water for too long. Cedric Laurent, the secretary in his late 30s, who had been standing beside Charles’ desk waiting for the two of them, greeted Andre with a bow.

Andre took a seat on the opposite side of Charles. With a sharp gaze, he alternated between looking at Charles and Cedric. Without hesitation, he asked in a low voice:

[What’s going on?]

Charles let out a sigh, exhaling cigarette smoke, and clicked his tongue.

[Those fvck!ng parasites…]

The only people Charles would refer to as “parasites” were Alice and Gordon Lowell and their family.

Alice Lowell, the sole heir to the vast distribution company Lowell & Company, which owned a chain of department stores across North America, was the cousin of Grace. However, since childhood, Alice and her family had clung to Grace like leeches. Alice had grown up with Grace like sisters, and she had married a somewhat capable used car salesman named Gordon Smith. On her husband’s suggestion, the entire family had changed their last name to Lowell.

Gordon, who had been waiting for an opportunity, had gained Grace’s trust and joined the department store affiliate of Lafayette-Lowell.

He had acted like a loyal servant, attending to Grace’s every need, and had even taken on unpleasant tasks without hesitation. A few years ago, he had achieved the remarkable feat of becoming the overall director of the Lafayette-Lowell department store chain. As an added bonus, two of his three sons had been promoted to executive positions within the company.

At this point, six months after Grace’s death, Charles, who would normally be enjoying the warm weather and social life at his villa in southern France, had come all the way to New York to wait for Andre. This suggested that a serious matter had arisen, and Gordon Lowell was likely the center of it.

As Andre looked at Cedric, expecting an answer, Cedric opened his mouth with a somber expression.

[In the past two years since going public, the Lafayette-Lowell Group’s steady march of losses has increased its debt-to-equity ratio. During the Vice Chairman’s hospitalization, Gordon Lowell took over as acting Vice Chairman, and although it’s unclear if it was intentional, financial management became worse. Last year, to pay off the matured bank loan, they issued commercial paper (CP), and when that matured, they issued more CP to roll it over. As a result, the credit rating has been downgraded to Ba1, and there are even rumors int he stock market that he’s preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.]

Andre’s eyebrows twitched. He had not received any reports of this nature over the past year. Cedric glanced at him, his face tense, and licked his dry lips. Andre nodded at him to continue.

[Go on.]

[Gordon Lowell’s eldest son, James Lowell, who is the Managing Director of Mars Investment, has announced that they will pursue a hostile takeover, citing poor management as the reason. They will demand the removal of the Chairman at the shareholders’ meeting…]