My CEO Husband Says I'm Irreplaceable

Chapter 60: Chapter 60: Dismissal from All Posts

"I did nothing wrong! I was just fighting for what I want. What’s wrong with that?"

Gwen Grayson tilted her chin up, her gaze stubborn. "Before they’re married, I have every right to compete for him fairly!"

"So you had someone send those photos to the family dinner today, slandering Vesper’s reputation, all to destroy this engagement?" Milton Grayson looked at her, his eyes filled with bitter disappointment.

A flicker of panic crossed Gwen Grayson’s eyes, but she still bit her lip. "What proof do you have that I did it? In your eyes, Dad, am I really that despicable of a person?"

"You know perfectly well whether you did it or not!" Milton Grayson’s voice was frigid. "Vesper hasn’t been back to Northolme in three years. Who would target her for no reason?"

"Maybe it was someone who’s disliked her for a long time?" Gwen Grayson remained defiant.

Seeing her so brazenly unrepentant, Milton Grayson’s anger flared, and he raised his hand and slapped her. Gwen Grayson’s head snapped to the side, and one cheek instantly turned red.

Vesper Grayson quickly covered Jonathan Grayson’s eyes and carried him back to his room.

"Big Sis, what did Second Sis do wrong? Why is Dad so angry?"

Jonathan Grayson asked timidly in a small voice, his head resting on her shoulder.

No matter how much Dad had scolded Second Sis in the past, he’d never hit her before.

Vesper Grayson set him down on the bed and gently stroked his hair. "When you’re all grown up, you’ll understand."

’The adult world is too complicated,’ she thought. ’I don’t want such a young child to get dragged into it.’

Jonathan Grayson seemed to understand, yet not quite. He nodded, squeezed her hand tightly, and earnestly pledged his loyalty. "Big Sis, no matter why Second Sis and Mom don’t like you, I’ll always like you."

Vesper Grayson smiled gently. "I’ll go run a bath for you."

After his bath, she took him back to his room and told him a story about Sergeant Black Cat until the boy was fast asleep, then quietly slipped out of the room.

Just as she reached the top of the stairs, she ran into Joyce Rivers, whose expression was utterly foul.

The moment she saw her, Joyce Rivers’s gaze turned colder than ever before.

"Gwen has been forced to kneel in the ancestral hall. Are you satisfied now?"

Instead of answering, Vesper Grayson retorted, "Miss Joyce, was it Gwen who sent that package to the family dinner today?"

Joyce Rivers’s brows knitted together. "I don’t know, but I believe in Gwen. She wouldn’t do something so outrageous."

Her expression didn’t seem feigned; she clearly hadn’t known about it beforehand.

"Then was seducing Elias Hawthorne your idea for her too?"

"What are you trying to say?"

"If this is all a misunderstanding, I’ll explain it to Dad. But if she really did it, then she deserves to be taught a lesson so she’ll remember it. Otherwise, the next time she does something even more outrageous, you won’t be able to cover for her even if you want to."

Vesper Grayson’s tone was calm but carried an undeniable sharpness. "I can tolerate her petty squabbles at home and at the company, but that doesn’t mean others will put up with her. The very idea of sleeping her way to the top—a thought so demeaning—should never have even crossed her mind!"

With that said, she didn’t spare another glance at Joyce Rivers’s ashen face and walked straight downstairs.

In the living room, Milton Grayson sat on the sofa, one hand propping up his temple, an air of suppressed exhaustion surrounding him.

"Dad, getting so angry is bad for your health. Please take care of yourself."

Vesper Grayson brought a cup of hot tea and gently placed it by his hand.

Milton Grayson looked up, and seeing how considerate and sensible she was, his heart felt a little soothed.

"If Gwen were half as sensible as you, I wouldn’t be this angry."

"She’s still young, just momentarily confused. She needs someone to guide her properly," Vesper Grayson advised softly.

"It’s all because Joyce Rivers spoils her! She can’t even raise her own daughter right, just indulges her endlessly and gives her terrible ideas!"

Vesper Grayson gave a faint smile. "Miss Joyce is a mother, after all. Her judgment is clouded by concern. I’m sure that after this, they’ll both have learned their lesson."

She coaxed Milton Grayson to go upstairs and rest, then turned and walked toward the ancestral hall.

Inside the ancestral hall, candlelight flickered. Gwen Grayson knelt ramrod straight on a prayer cushion, one side of her face red and swollen with a clear handprint, her eyes filled with defiance and resentment.

Vesper Grayson walked in slowly, took out three sticks of incense and lit them. She bowed three times to the ancestral tablets before placing the incense in the censer.

She lowered her gaze to the person on the floor, her voice light.

"Gwen Grayson, from the time we were little until now, you’ve competed and competed, but you’ve never once won against me. After all these years, how have you still not learned your lesson?"

"That’s just because you’re lucky!"

"Is it, really?"

Gwen Grayson glared at her with reddened eyes. "It is!"

"You’re quite good at consoling yourself." Vesper Grayson brushed it off with a smile. "Even if you had succeeded, do you really think you could have entered the Hawthorne Family and secured your position as Mrs. Hawthorne with no emotional foundation, relying only on selling your body?"

"What are you trying to say?"

"If it were as simple as you think, some woman would have already succeeded in climbing the ladder with such a classless tactic!" Vesper Grayson bent down to look her in the eye. "Do you think no one’s tried, or that those women have already been... dealt with?"

A jolt of fear shot through Gwen Grayson.

She wasn’t as smart as Vesper Grayson, but she wasn’t an idiot.

With the Hawthorne Family’s power and influence, even if she had actually succeeded in sleeping her way into his bed, they had a thousand ways to force her to keep her mouth shut.

But she just couldn’t stand the sight of Vesper Grayson acting so high and mighty, lecturing her.

"Vesper Grayson, did you come here just to gloat that the Hawthorne Family only acknowledges you?"

"It’s a fact. Who can blame them? After all, I did Grandfather Hawthorne a great favor."

Vesper Grayson turned, adding as she reached the door, "I told you to study hard back then, but you insisted on goofing off and chasing pleasure. Now you see the benefits of studying, don’t you?"

...

「Zephyr Conference Room.」

On both sides of the long table, several grim-faced shareholders and directors were already seated. The air was thick with the oppressive tension of a coming storm.

Luke Lockwood, dressed in a custom-tailored suit, sat at the head of the table. He wore his usual cold and detached expression of someone accustomed to being in control, but a grim hostility was visible deep in his eyes.

He looked toward Kyle Zimmerman, the head of Zenith.

"Mr. Zimmerman, what is the meaning of this?"

"There is only one reason for calling this emergency shareholders’ meeting today."

Kyle Zimmerman slapped a stack of documents down on the table. Audit reports, investment contracts, and details of the losses were clearly visible.

"In response to Chairman Luke Lockwood’s unauthorized decisions and irregular investments, which led to a direct loss of one hundred million for the group, causing the company’s stock price to plummet and its reputation to be damaged, all shareholders jointly propose the removal of Luke Lockwood from all his positions!"

As he finished speaking, the room fell dead silent for a moment before erupting in low murmurs.

Luke Lockwood’s eyes darkened, his voice icy. "Investing inherently carries risk. A fluctuation of one hundred million is still within the group’s tolerable range."

"Who will bear it? You?" Kyle Zimmerman sneered. "Everyone in the company knows that one-hundred-million-dollar investment wasn’t a project you vetted personally. It was your secretary who made the decision without authorization! What do you take the group for?"

A director spoke up in a low voice, "We’re all business people here, so let’s not mince words. The matter of your affair and betrayal at the wedding a while back caused a city-wide scandal! The stock market plunged and still hasn’t recovered. Now that this has happened, we seriously question whether you are fit to sit in this position."

Another continued, "If a family is not in order, how can one govern the world? You can’t even maintain the most basic moral principles or marital fidelity. Your private life is a mess, and your character is deplorable. You’ve brought shame upon the entire group!"

Luke Lockwood’s face was grim, his sharp, dark eyes sweeping over the crowd.

’The very shareholders who once fought alongside me to build this empire are now turning their backs on me, betraying me at such a critical moment.’

"Since this company’s founding, I, Luke Lockwood, have been at the helm for many years, and the profits I’ve generated are far more than a mere one hundred million." Luke Lockwood’s back was straight, his powerful aura undiminished. "And for a single poor decision, you want to hunt me down and finish me off?"

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