Chapter 157: Liars Stay Lying
With all that had been going on at Haven Group, from the unprecedented fall of Olaf Group to his uncle’s would-be scandal, Derek had not wanted to think of sleep at all. In fact, he had pushed the possibility of it to the farthest corner of his mind and buried it there.
He had not wanted to be distracted. Not only that, he had wanted to give the job his all, making sure that by the time all was said and done, he knew for a fact that he had done his best. It had been very difficult to do, especially since Emily, who was very possibly the solution to all of his sleeping problems had constantly been there. Her presence working to both comfort him, and to tease him with something that he could not have. But through it all Derek had hung on. And now the day had finally arrived. They were free. The evening belonged to them.
They had no emergencies to attend to, no issues that required the presence of the CEO. Everything that was on his desk at that moment could be delegated to someone else and Derek was delegating to his heart’s content. He had been working himself to the bone for weeks. Now it was time for people to do, what he paid them to do. As he sent out various emails assigning different people with tasks that were best suited for them, Derek could not help the smile that played across his face every few seconds.
"Good day ladies and gentlemen. My name is Sebastian Haven of Haven Group. As I’m sure all of you already know," His uncle’s lackluster greeting was followed by a few quiet murmurs, the sound of pages turning and a few clicks here and there as cameras went off.
"Today I am here to clarify the issue between myself and the young lady with whom I was recently pictured with on social media. First of all I would like to start by offering a sincere apology. The awful terms that I called her were not said by me, instead they were said by a me that I am ashamed of. Someone who did not think, before they acted. It is shameful that such a thing is now out there on the web for all to see. I do not look down on women and I have never in my life referred to them in the terms that I used to describe the young lady that I was with. But thanks to a lapse in judgement and drinking more than was advisable, I ended up saying things that I did not mean, which is why I stand before you today to offer an apology not only to the general public who had to bear witness to my lapse in self-control. But also to the young lady in question," Sebastian paused, wiping a single tear. Derek felt like he was watching the biggest scam on Earth unfolding before his very eyes.
"I respect all women, and I hope that you can find it in your heart to forgive me for all of the awful things that I said," Standing at the back of the conference room with Emily by his side, Derek focused all of his attention on keeping a straight face. That had to be the worst apology that he had ever heard, but the press was eating it up, buying every single thing that his uncle was saying.
It was a good thing. It meant that public sentiment was most likely going to be steered in a way that would benefit Haven Group’s reputation. But Derek still found himself disappointed in the press. Was this really what journalism amounted to nowadays?
The people before him were not there to delve deeper into anything. They had not come to the press conference looking for a hot scoop. Instead they had come to be fed information straight from the horse’s mouth. Looking at them, it was clear that they were not there to hear about what had happened with the woman. Instead, for them, the biggest scoop seemed to be that Sebastian Haven was apologizing at all. The reason behind his apology, conveniently forgotten. It was a sad state of affairs.