The sudden slap dumbfounded William!

He thought that since Franco was here to create trouble, he would definitely state his requests before they negotiated the terms.

But the menacing-looking Franco opposite William didn't act according to what he had imagined at all and instead slapped him hard on the face without saying much.

Franco was in charge of running an entertainment joint that offered vice-related services, so he was definitely tough and strong. His slap immediately made one side of William's face redden and swell up. There was even an obvious cut at the corner of his lips, from which a stream of blood was flowing down. His entire head was buzzing.

"Who are you people? How dare you slap our general manager, Mr. Carter?!" The head of the security department, whom William had just promoted yesterday, hollered furiously when he saw William getting humiliated. He quickly led more than ten security guards over to surround Franco and his men.

Franco sneered. "Hah, you're just a bunch of small fries. What can you do to me?"

He gave an order to his burly underlings, who were blocking the entrances of the warehouse, and all of a sudden, more than ten of them charged over aggressively, each holding a steel rod more than half a meter long. Without hesitation, they began hitting the security guards that William had brought over.

"Damn it! Watch what you're saying when speaking to Mr. Franco!"

"How dare a bunch of idiotic security guards clamor about noisily?!"

They were all gangsters adept at fighting and had stained their hands with blood countless times before. How could these ordinary security guards be a match for them?

Moreover, they were all holding steel rods and obviously trying to establish dominance in front of William and the security guards. So Franco's underlings viciously and ruthlessly struck the security guards on their legs, elbows, backs, and abdomens.

"Ah!"

"Stop… Stop hitting me! Ah!"

"My leg!"

Shrieks suddenly started resounding at the warehouse together with the hair-raising sounds of iron rods striking against bones and flesh.

William shivered uncontrollably as he stared wide-eyed at this chilling scene.

They were all just ordinary employees of the company!

"Stop! Stop hitting them! What do you want? Just tell me what you want! Why do you have to hit these ordinary people?!" William hollered at Franco, suppressing the fear within him.

"Damn it! How many times have I told you that I want to speak to Adrian Hill? Are you f*cking deaf?" Franco narrowed his eyes and kicked William in the chest, sending him flying far away. His dark gray suit was instantly covered in mud and dust, making him look extremely disheveled.

William clutched his ribs in pain and struggled to prop himself up from the ground. As he did so, a few people took advantage of the situation to kick him a few more times.

"Okay, I'll call Adrian Hill and ask him to come over right now. Tell your men to stop hitting them! If this goes on, things will get out of hand!" William exclaimed anxiously while trying to bear with the pain and hurriedly pulled out his phone.

Franco looked at the security guards huddling on the ground while wailing endlessly in pain. He raised his hand reluctantly and gestured for his underlings to stop for the time being.

"Mr. Carter, something terrible has happened!" Louis, the secretary, was pale as a sheet as he whispered to William. "They've blocked the entrances and exits of the warehouse, so we can't load and unload the goods! We're going to incur immense losses today! Moreover, there's a large delivery order belonging to a very important client that we have to fulfill by this afternoon! Once there's a breach of contract, we'll have to compensate millions of dollars!

"And these people are too difficult to handle. They're definitely not ordinary people. What should we do now?"

Of course, William was aware of the major consequences that would entail, which was why he had personally come to the warehouse to deal with it. Unfortunately, Franco wasn't compromising at all.

Besides, although William had purposely brought a group of security guards with him to prevent such situations, the security guards were obviously helpless in the face of Franco's underlings. As a result, they ended up getting beaten up badly and had probably sustained severe injuries.

William wiped away the blood at the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand, looked at the security guards who had been beaten up beyond recognition, and then turned to look at the burly men still standing in front of the entrances and exits of the warehouse to block them. He had no choice but to obey Franco's instructions and call Adrian.

The phone rang for a long time before Adrian finally picked up.

He snapped impatiently with annoyance, "Who's calling? Do you know how early it is? You're disturbing me from sleeping! Don't you have any manners?"

"Adrian Hill, it's me, William Carter."

"Oh, I thought it was some scoundrel disturbing me. Turns out it's our most impressive Mr. Carter! You're a noble figure high above us plebeians and enjoy the great support of the chairman. Aren't you afraid of lowering yourself by speaking to someone like me?" Adrian said sarcastically.

William could hear the sounds of vehicle engines roaring coming from the other end, so he knew that Adrian was clearly outside. Yet he pretended that call had just woken him up. But of course, it wasn't the time to pursue this matter now.

"I'm calling you because there's something important. Someone wants to have a chat with you in the large warehouse by the harbor on the outskirts of Orange County. Please make a trip here."

If possible, William wouldn't have called Adrian at all.

At the beginning, he wasn't sure if Franco was here to look for Adrian or not, nor was he certain if Franco wanted to take revenge on him or for some other reason. After Franco and his underlings resorted to violence, William ruled out the fact that it could have been a personal grudge.

After all, these people were powerful and skilled in fighting, and they had obviously been gangsters for a long time. If they merely wanted to seek revenge on Adrian, they could have gone straight to Adrian's home instead of blocking the entrances of the company's warehouse despite knowing that he had already been fired. Besides, they definitely had plenty of ways to find Adrian's address, and there was no need for them to threaten William into calling Adrian over.

It was especially suspicious because Adrian had just been fired yesterday, and yet there were gangsters here to cause trouble today while insisting on having Adrian settle the matter.

William wasn't a fool, so he could naturally tell that there was something fishy about this.

Adrian said mockingly, "Haha, Mr. Carter, is your brain damaged? Or have you developed senile dementia at such a young age? I remember that you kicked me out of the company just yesterday, and now you're asking me to go to that lousy warehouse? What for? Who do you take me for?"

William gritted his teeth. "As long as you come over now and help solve this matter, I can rescind my orders and let you return to the company!"

That's probably Adrian Hill's agenda, right? William wondered. But in order to resolve the current issue, he had no choice but to promise to let Adrian return to the company temporarily.

To his surprise, Adrian chuckled and gibed, "Hah, you want me to go back and continue being the deputy general manager who still has to take orders from you? No way!"

"What else do you want then?" William asked with his jaw clenched.

"I want to be the general manager! I want you to resign from your job and recommend me to the chairman to be the general manager!" Adrian immediately stated the condition that he had thought of long ago.