Now, though, due to their lack of familiarity with Travis, they could not help but be cautious.

"I'd Like each department to report on their progress over the past six months and their outlook for the rest of the year, starting with the accounting department." Travis took his place at the head of the table, looking stern and condescending.

He had just been promoted, so he could not help but feel more than a little cocky.

Overconfidence, however, could Lead to complacency.

The head of the accounting department gave a Lengthy presentation and discussed the department's performance over the past half year, among other topics. According to him, a lot of money was put into other projects, but none of them yielded any positive results.

He then gave the newly appointed CEO a copy of the invoices.

Travis' face darkened.

The stacks of paper in front of him represented logs of money being paid out. Given that any bill totalling more than ten billion would have to go through the board of directors for approval, the fact that these bills were all less than that sum explained why they went unnoticed.

The board of directors and the employees trusted Isaac's judgment because he had brought the company a great deal of success over the years.

For this reason, nobody thought to verify the company's financial standing.

Now, however...

Travis did his best to contain his ire.

He was not surprised by any of the following reports from various departments. There were ongoing financial losses, interruptions, and the need for additional funding for several projects.

In summary, he received more bad news than good.

In the end, Travis concluded the meeting earlier than expected.

After everyone had left and the door to the meeting room had been closed, Travis finally lost it. "Isaac, you damn bastard!"

For a while, Audrey remained silent in her seat.

She had expected that things would not go as smoothly as she had hoped, but she had not anticipated it to be like this at all.

“Travis, we can't let the broad of directors know about this, or else they'll blame us for the loss. We'll be completely defenseless if that happens. They need to be silenced, and I think we can only do that by completing two projects immediately.”

Travis thought the same.

He sighed. The current circumstances had worn him down considerably.

“We have a wide variety of projects at our disposal, and surely some of them will yield a profit." Audrey continued, "Don't be discouraged, dear. You're still young. You have plenty of time to work this out."

Rather than concede that he was not as talented as Isaac, Travis dove headfirst into the company's affairs with Audrey in an attempt to save, recreate, and rebrand the Paramount Corporation.

Travis had been so preoccupied with work that he forgot to make time to take Lilith out.

Lilith was always in a trance lately; her mind was constantly occupied with depressing thoughts.