Everyone turned to look at Patrick, wondering what sort of news made him so upset.

Of course, some in the room already knew what it was, but pretended not to know as they kept a straight face.

"It seems that some of the shares have been sold off," Patrick began slowly, "Not the common shares, but the controlling shares."

His gaze was cold as he looked at the board members and seemed to pierce their souls, "We have never restricted your rights to sell those shares, but it was always with the proviso that it should be offered back to us instead."

"With such an action, you've started to weaken us," Kyle continued.

He held up a bunch of pencils and said, "United we stand, strong and is able to withstand anything."

He made a show of breaking that bunch of pencils into two with both of his hands, but failed.

"Divided, we fall," he continued, then let go of the pencils, which clattered to the table, making a deafening sound. He picked up the pencils one by one and began snapping it into two with just one hand.

"By your actions, it is evident that you're not even thinking about the Smith Industries anymore," Patrick said with a sigh.

"It's because we were, that we had to!!" one shouted indignantly.

"Oh, really?" Kyle said, "Then please tell me for I don't understand it at all."

Philip snorted, "What? Is it so hard to understand how the share capital works?"

Kyle raised an eyebrow, gave his uncle one brief look before he turned to face the board members, "Why would you even feel the need to sell the shares? If you were so convinced that I should be ousted, why not just vote it that way?"

"Obviously, you're still so green," Philip sneered, "Do you think that the Smith Industries can continue to thrive if you do not collaborate with more people? With just these current board members? Sooner or later, the Smith Industries will fail."

"We need new blood, new investments, new collaboration," Philip said and announced, "And I, the worthy one, have found three such collaborations."

"Patrick has not sought to expand at all," Philip pointed out, "And Kyle? What can he do? He might have, at one point, but now the Tans and the MA Oil have ostracised him."

"With such powerhouses already shunning him, what other company would even dare collaborate with the Smiths if he was to take over?" Philip finished with a flare, his face plastered with a huge grin.

"Oh wow, really?" Kyle said, "You'd go there?"

Philip looked puzzled.

"What do you mean?"

"First," Kyle began, ticking off the list with his fingers, "You decided, all by your lonesome, that collaborations are needed."

"Secondly, you encouraged the sale of our controlling shares - and I use the word 'encourage' extremely loosely here," Kyle said with a raised eyebrow.

"Thirdly, the identity of these collaborators had not gone through the board, let alone pass through the table of the CEO."

"In short, you, who deemed himself worthy," Kyle said, as he leaned back in his chair, "Unilaterally decided on something, used underhanded methods to achieve it, and then claim with grand flourish that it's all for the good of the Smith Industries."

"Of course it is for the good of the company!!" yelled Philip, "How could anyone deem these three to be unworthy?"

Philip stood up, pointing a finger at Kyle, "What do YOU know?! You're still wet behind the ears!!"

Philip turned to the board members, "We have 'Aegle', the health company that started the revolution of safe and quick transportation of life-saving equipment."

"There is Xuelin Co, the top technology company in Country Tz and amongst the top ten in the world."

"We even have international company eager to collaborate: the Cosa Nostra from Country I. One of the biggest, if not the biggest, company responsible for most of the businesses in Country I."

Philip stood there proudly.

"Sure, they sound very impressive," Kyle said, emphasizing the word 'sound', "But remember, no one here truly knows what they are like. We just have to accept your judgment?"

"Also, you've given them controlling shares. Just how much do they own, and what were their conditions to join?"

"Does anyone know?" Kyle asked the board members.

There was absolute silence.

The ones responsible for selling their shares only began to think then.

Truth be told, they were all shocked for each one had believed they were the only ones who had sold their shares. With that thought, the amount that they had sold was not enough to threaten Smith Industries.

Even if they were swayed by Philip, they still had a sense of loyalty towards Smith Industries. They had just been led astray with his sweet words and half-truths. Each one started thinking about the rules that they had broken.

It seemed so 'small' but it was only now that they realised, it wasn't.

The first mistake had been to question the Smith Heir's Test results.

The second was doing things behind the backs of the current CEO on the basis of it 'being the good of the company'.

Right now, it looked like they were losing control and if Kyle's points were correct, Philip was setting the whole company up to be his completely. Smith Industries had always worked as a team with absolute belief in the Leader.

Just like Kyle had indicated before with the pencil analogy. They were strong as a group. A team. Humans are not perfect and no one can know everything. The board members were all knowledgeable and cared for the company.

A strong team with a strong Leader, working together. That was the secret behind the Smith Industries success.

Philip, however, was a dictator.

He had used all sorts of methods to get his way. Once he was the CEO? He no longer had to work in the shadows to do so.

So what use were they?