My Child and I Married a Billionaire

Chapter 141: Chapter 141: Vaughn, You’re Heartless

After finishing Grandpa’s physical therapy and having lunch at home, Mrs. Vaughn still hadn’t returned.

With time on her hands, Cecelia Archer took Candy to the hospital to visit Shane Grant, a visit that was long overdue.

They were friends, and she had seen him get injured with her own eyes, yet she was only now visiting him after he’d been hospitalized for so long. Cecelia Archer felt incredibly embarrassed.

But Shane Grant didn’t mind.

Zeke Walton had been by his side for the past few days.

He took care of all his daily needs and discussed work with him, so his days were full, leaving no time for idle or morbid thoughts.

Seeing him in good spirits, Cecelia Archer relaxed a little too.

"Let me take you guys out to dinner tonight. You’ve been cooped up in the hospital for so many days. You should get out for a change of scenery."

It was rare for Cecelia Archer to visit, and now she was offering to treat him to dinner. Of course, Shane Grant wasn’t going to refuse.

Cecelia Archer took out her phone and leaned in close to him, and the two of them picked a restaurant together.

Seeing how close they were, leaning in together, Zeke Walton felt a surge of alarm. He furtively snapped a photo and sent it to Damien Vaughn.

"We’re going out for dinner tonight. Want to come?"

Damien Vaughn opened the photo. His mind instantly filled with questions.

Immediately, he called the driver.

"Where are you?"

The driver gave him the address of a beauty salon.

"Is the Young Madam at the salon?"

"No, she went back this morning. Said her shoes were uncomfortable and hurting her feet. I’ve been with Mrs. Vaughn all day."

Damien Vaughn hung up, unable to stop himself from frowning.

’She went back this morning?’

’Her feet hurt too much to go shopping with my mom, but they’re fine for running to the hospital to see Shane Grant?’

’Fine, so she went to see him. But now it’s dinnertime, and she’s still not planning on coming home? Leaning in so close to him with no sense of boundaries, without even giving me a heads-up. Was everything I said to her before for nothing?’

’Or do I really mean so little to her that she can’t be bothered to consider my feelings in the slightest?’

The more he thought about it, the angrier he got. Damien Vaughn called Cecelia Archer. freēwebnovel.com

Cecelia Archer was busy scrolling through top-rated restaurants on an app with Shane Grant when Damien Vaughn’s name suddenly popped up on her screen, making her jump.

She exchanged a slightly awkward glance with Shane Grant before turning aside to answer.

"Hello?"

Damien Vaughn suppressed his anger. "Where are you?"

"At the hospital. I—"

"Come home."

"What??"

"Grandpa misses Candy. He just called me and said he wants to see her right now. Get back here, quickly."

Cecelia Archer hadn’t realized Grandpa was so fond of Candy that he’d get this anxious after she was gone for less than three hours.

"But I—"

"No buts. Grandpa isn’t in good health. If he gets worked up and has an episode, it’ll be a huge problem. I’m heading back now too. Stop wasting time."

"..."

When she hung up, Shane Grant could tell from the look on Cecelia Archer’s face that Damien Vaughn hadn’t said anything pleasant. He was confused.

"You still haven’t answered my questions, Cecelia. What is the deal between you and Damien Vaughn? Why are you and Candy living at his house? Why is he always ordering you around? Cecelia, you..."

Cecelia Archer didn’t want to answer his questions.

Her past with Damien Vaughn was too disgraceful. She didn’t want anyone to know about it.

She had wanted to treat him to dinner, but with Damien Vaughn’s interruption and Shane’s insistence on this topic, Cecelia Archer lost the inclination.

"Mr. Grant, everyone has their own private life. I don’t pry into yours, so please respect mine. I’m sorry. I know we were going to have dinner, but something urgent has come up... Maybe some other time. I’ll definitely make it up to you another day."

With that, she took Candy and was about to leave when Zeke Walton stood up and followed her.

"I’ll go with you. I haven’t seen Vaughn in a few days. I kind of miss him, so I’ll go say hi."

By the time she and Zeke Walton arrived back at the Vaughn residence, Damien Vaughn was already there.

He was sitting on the sofa with a grim expression, looking like someone owed him a million dollars.

When Zeke Walton saw him, he grinned and lunged at him playfully, but Damien Vaughn shoved him aside.

"Did you forget your meds again today? Be careful Grandpa doesn’t see you, think you’re gay, and have you sent to a mental hospital."

Like a roly-poly toy, Zeke Walton wobbled back from the shove and latched onto his arm, refusing to let go.

"We’ve been all over each other like this for years, Grandpa’s used to it, okay? You never used to mind me being clingy. What’s wrong with you lately? Are you avoiding me just because you have a sister-in-law now? You’re heartless!"

’Sister-in-law? He actually knows Cecelia is his sister-in-law?’

Damien Vaughn irritably shoved him aside again.

’He knows perfectly well that Cecelia is my woman, yet he just stood by and watched her sit that close to Shane Grant, their heads practically touching. What good is he?’

"Aren’t you infatuated with Shane Grant lately, playing his little errand boy at the hospital every day? Why’d you suddenly run over here? With you gone, won’t your dear Mr. Grant, with his bum leg, be giving someone else an opportunity?"

To be honest, Zeke Walton was actually quite worried about that.

But for the sake of Shane Grant’s great enterprise, he had to temporarily set aside such trivial matters.

Ever since Shane Grant injured his leg, Zeke Walton had been by his side, not even going home for several days.

His mother had called to nag him twice, but he didn’t budge. Then his father called him personally.

But when his father heard he was with Shane Grant, not only did he stop telling him to come home, he actually encouraged him to spend more time with Shane, saying that was exactly the kind of person he should befriend.

So, Zeke Walton stayed by Shane Grant’s side, now with his family’s blessing.

Since Shane Grant’s mobility was limited, handling work was also very inconvenient, so Zeke voluntarily took on the duties of an assistant.

He had no idea until he started helping, but what he discovered was a shock.

It turned out that running a company was incredibly difficult, and running a massive real estate corporation like the Grant Group was even harder.

On the surface, the real estate industry seemed endlessly glamorous, and the Grant Group was a huge enterprise. But only he knew the immense financial difficulties Shane Grant was facing.

With macroeconomic policy adjustments and a saturated real estate market, real estate companies had stopped being profitable since last year. They needed to pull out of the capital market in a timely manner.

But because so many different aspects were involved, many projects couldn’t be pulled on short notice. Shane Grant had tens of billions in capital tied up.

As the real estate industry was heading toward a decline, the company still had to grow. Shane Grant was currently working on an international airport project.

If he could secure it, not only would he achieve fame and success and create another landmark for Veridia, but he could also make one last big score in the real estate business to cover the funding gaps in his other projects. That was why he was determined to win it.

However, ambition alone did not guarantee success.

Because he was facing a powerful rival: the Vaughn Group.

Although the Vaughn Group didn’t specialize in real estate, it had a real estate subsidiary.

It wasn’t just the Grant Group’s real estate company that had run into trouble; the Vaughn Group’s had as well.

To meet the real estate subsidiary’s KPIs for the year, Damien Vaughn was personally overseeing the international airport project and was equally determined to win.

Before getting to know Shane, Zeke Walton would have definitely wanted Damien Vaughn to have smooth sailing and make as much money as possible—the more, the better.

But now that he had come to care for Shane Grant, the scales of his loyalty were uncontrollably tipping in Shane’s favor.

The reason he had followed them today was to secretly help Shane Grant.

Given his friendship with Damien Vaughn, he figured that maybe, if he acted cute and wheedled a bit, Damien Vaughn might just give up on the international airport project.