At Black Rock Co., August was at best a minor shareholder. The largest stake belonged to Charles, who held 50% of the shares, while Philip owned 30%, and the remaining 20% was divided among senior founding shareholders. Now, with Charles making a decisive ruling, the others naturally followed his lead and unanimously voted to expel August from the company.
August was no match for Charles. This time, he was utterly defeated. In fact, Charles had long been aware that when he entrusted August with some key company decisions, August repeatedly leaked business secrets to Manfred. The ZT Group then exploited various channels to snatch away Black Rock Co.'s lost contracts—something Charles knew very well.
The reason Charles had turned a blind eye was that he was waiting for the right moment to catch August in one fell swoop. He didn't like playing cat-and-mouse games—when he cut ties, it was absolute and final.
