Mark, the Professional

Chapter 15 The Lawrence In Trouble

Usually, at this time of the day, it was quiet at Kate’s office building, however, right now, phone calls kept coming in and the staff was running about nervously busy solving problems.

Kate had just rung Mark to inform him. The Lawrence was in real trouble this time. Senior Mr. Lawrence had volunteered to take Mark to see the Jones. It looked like the Jones wasn’t going to make it easy for them.

He defended me after all. It wasn’t his fault. Kate thought and heaved a sigh.

“Miss Lawrence, the Jones Corporation had a conference just now and they announced that they are canceling every single collaboration project with us. They are withdrawing all the investment within three days!” Kate’s PA hurried in and exclaimed anxiously.

“Our stock price is dropping dramatically. The news isn’t doing us any good. What should we do?”

“Get the publicity department to make a clarification. Also, ask the law department to sue the companies that are reporting false news, to send each of them a letter.” Kate said clearly and calmly. Though she was wrongly accused and insulted by the news and the Jones were giving her a hard time, Kate remained strong-minded.

The secretary nodded and walked away. Kate’s phone rang again. It was her father, Matt Lawrence.

“Hello. Dad, is everything ok?”

“Kate. Things aren’t going well. Your two uncles are having a fight. What should I do?” Matt said anxiously.  

“Having a fight? Why?” Kate frowned. The company is in trouble now. Shouldn’t they work together and solve the problems first? She wondered.

“We had a meeting just now. Marcus decided that a few projects should be suspended so that we can invest in purchasing a piece of land. Nate and some shareholders disagreed and they ended up arguing.” Matt explained. “Nate accused Mark of lacking competence and said that he shouldn’t be the president of the company…”

Kate listened quietly and heaved a sigh of helplessness. Are they serious? They should be wise enough to not fight over ownership under such circumstances now. Grandpa will soon find out for sure. He will be so mad and they will be sorry for themselves.

“Dad, go to grandpa’s now. I’m sure he will ask everyone to be there soon. There will be a family meeting.” Kate said.

“Alright. Alright.” Matt hung up and felt much better after speaking to his daughter. Soon he sneaked out and was on his way to senior Mr. Lawrence.

As Kate expected, John Lawrence’s secretary called and asked everyone to meet at the family mansion, everyone except Marcus’ and Nate’s sons, Ben and Toby, who were not in England at the moment.

Kate spoke to all the managers and had everything arranged before she left the company in a rush and drove to her grandpa’s. On the way, she couldn’t help wondering how Mark was feeling. Surely everyone would blame him for what happened.

When she arrived, Mark had been waiting outside the garage for quite a long time. “Grandpa requested that you have to be here. That’s why I called you.” Kate explained.

Mark nodded and said quietly, “Cool. Let’s go in.”

Marcus’s wife, Jessica Lawrence, arrived just as Kate and Mark were walking towards the door.

“You are the hero that beat up Tony Jones, aren’t you? We are in serious trouble now, thanks to you!” Jessica said sarcastically.

Mark took no notice of her, which irritated Jessica even more. “Huh! How arrogant!” she exclaimed angrily.

The meeting was held in the dining room. John sat at the head of the grand dining table and waited quietly till everyone was seated.

He glanced around the table and took a good look at everyone, feeling disappointed and concerned. He built the Lawrence Corporation on his own, starting with nothing. Now he was old and retired, he needed someone to take over. However, he couldn’t trust any of his children or grandchildren yet.

Kate was his favorite person in the family, but he thought she still lacked experience.

“Everyone knows what the current situation with our company is now. Tell me what you think.” He said and stomped his cane hard and loud.   

Senior Mr. Lawrence had heard about the fight between Marcus and Nate and had told them off furiously just now. Marcus kept quiet. So did Nate.

Jessica looked around and said matter-of-factly, “One thing I’m sure about is that Marcus didn’t do anything wrong. He has worked hard for the company. I don’t understand why he should take the blame.”

“Right. I agree.” Alice supported. “It definitely isn’t dad’s fault and we all know who is the cause of all this.” She threw a look of contempt at Mark.

“True. What Jessica and Alice said makes sense to me.” Nate’s wife joined in. “It was Matt’s son-in-law that got us in trouble.” She too looked at Mark unkindly.

It was obvious that everyone blamed Mark. Matt sat there quietly. He looked nervous and even frightened.

“What do you think, Matt?” John asked.

“I…I… father, I don’t know. I mean…it’s Mark that got us in trouble.” Matt muttered.

Mark almost burst out laughing, finding it ridiculous. Thanks, my dearest father-in-law. He thought to himself.

John closed his eyes, heaved a sigh, feeling utterly disappointed and speechless. Then, he glanced around the table and said clearly, “We are buying the land, but the other projects are as important and we can’t just stop. In terms of money for investment, I will talk to the Jones.”

The Lawrence and the Jones were known as the two biggest corporations in the country. When John Lawrence was young, he befriended senior Mr. Jones. However, Mr. Jones was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and had support from his family from the very beginning and help from the family of his wife later on. Senior Mr. Lawrence, on the contrary, had to start his business from scratch on his own. Soon, the Jones Corporation grew bigger and became the most successful business in the UK, followed by the Lawrence.

Though the two companies collaborated through the years in some projects, the difference in their social status gradually brought an end to their friendship. One could imagine how helpless John felt about going to ask the Jones for help now.

Seeing that the family was not responsive at all, Mark felt sorry for John and to everyone’s surprise, he stood up and said, “No worries. Mr. Jones, I will take responsibility and sort it out.”