My Child and I Married a Billionaire

Chapter 191: Chapter 191: I’m Despicable and Shameless?

"I’m just speculating. You should know more about this than I do. You and Damien are the ones who are good friends..."

Mr. Walton said after a brief pause.

"Vaughn Group has been competing with Grant Properties for the international airport project recently. Grant Properties lost badly, paying nearly five billion for a worthless piece of land... That’s just how business is. You strike when your opponent is down. Grant Properties has dominated the real estate industry for so many years; I bet Damien has had it with them for a long time. I have reason to suspect that the recent series of unfortunate events at Grant Group are all related to the Vaughn Group."

Zeke Walton stood there, stunned, unable to process what his father had just said.

’What does he mean, Grant Properties spent five billion on a worthless piece of land?’

’Damien told him personally that he wasn’t going to compete for the international airport project. How could Shane Grant possibly have lost?’

"Dad, something urgent came up. I have to go out. We can talk more when I get back."

Zeke Walton didn’t even have time to change, rushing out the door in his loungewear.

He called Damien Vaughn while driving.

Damien Vaughn had just returned from a vacation with the old man and hadn’t gone to the office yet. Seeing Zeke’s name, he casually answered the call.

"Damien, where are you?"

"Home. What’s wrong?"

Zeke Walton pulled the car over to the side of the road and asked with a grave expression.

"Do you know that Grant Properties is in trouble?"

Damien Vaughn’s tone was light. "I was on vacation for the past few days. I just got back, so I’m not really up to speed. What’s going on?"

"Are you really not up to speed, or did you deliberately arrange for everything to be so ’coincidental’?"

It was only then that Zeke Walton realized he had been used by Damien Vaughn. He couldn’t believe it.

"Didn’t you tell me before that you weren’t going after the international airport project? Why would Shane Grant still lose?"

Damien Vaughn knew this was what the call was about. ’Zeke Walton is far more naive than I imagined,’ he thought, ’and far more serious about Shane Grant.’

"The company isn’t mine alone. I spend so much money every year hiring all those executives; they’re not just there to collect a paycheck. They felt the conditions were favorable and that they could make a play for it, so they went ahead. I had no reason to disagree."

’So, it’s true.’

’It’s true that I was used by him.’

’He never intended to give up on the airport project. He just put on a show for me, all so I would pass the wrong information to Shane Grant!’

He had been used completely by Damien Vaughn, only to be brushed off with a casual excuse about his subordinates’ actions. Zeke Walton felt his entire worldview shattering.

Back when Cecelia Archer got into trouble, he had still held onto a sliver of hope for Damien Vaughn, thinking their friendship had fractured over a misunderstanding.

Now, he saw the truth: Damien was a cold-blooded, ruthless person who put profit above everything else!

"You must have been planning this for a long time, haven’t you? You started scheming the day I told you I wanted to be friends with Shane Grant."

’How terrifying. How can someone’s mind be so calculating?’

’So ruthless he’d even use his own childhood friend!’

Zeke Walton’s voice was agitated. "Damien, I don’t understand. Isn’t Vaughn Group successful enough already? How much money do you have to make before you’re satisfied? Why do you have to push people to their breaking point? Is your ultimate goal to be the only dominant company in all of Veridia, with everyone else crushed beneath your heel?"

Damien Vaughn stood up from his chair, walked to the window, and lit a cigarette as he gazed at the increasingly bleak scenery outside.

His tone remained light.

"I don’t know where all this emotion is coming from, but I want to tell you something, Zeke. I’m a businessman. Maximizing profit is my instinct. I’m not trying to drive anyone into a corner; I’m just competing in the market through normal means."

"This world has always been about survival of the fittest. If Shane Grant lost, it just means he wasn’t capable enough. He deserves to be knocked out of the game and replaced by someone stronger. That’s how society has always progressed. Just because he’s not as good as me, I’m supposed to just let him win? If that’s how things worked, would Veridia’s economy ever move forward?"

Yes. Logically, everything he said was correct. But Zeke Walton couldn’t bring himself to be logical.

"This isn’t fair competition! This is despicable! You stole his project and then tried to ruin his reputation. Do you hate Shane Grant that much?"

Damien Vaughn had assumed that since Zeke Walton came from a business family and was his childhood friend, he would understand his actions.

Only now did he realize what a huge gap existed between their ways of thinking.

"Me, despicable? I stole his project? I ruined his reputation? Who decreed that the international airport project had to be Shane Grant’s, and that my getting involved was ’stealing’ it? I didn’t force him to hire workers illegally or withhold their wages, did I? Mr. Walton, before you start throwing accusations around, maybe you should think things through first."

"All I can say is, you reap what you sow. Shane Grant is in this position today because of his own actions. He can’t blame anyone else."

"But you’re the one who personally told me you didn’t want the international airport project!"

This was the point Zeke Walton was stuck on.

If Damien Vaughn hadn’t personally said that to him, he wouldn’t have gone out of his way to call Shane Grant and warn him, and Shane Grant wouldn’t have so quickly decided to bid on that worthless piece of land.

Shane’s investment blunder, his current stalemate—it was all his fault. Zeke Walton was overwhelmed with guilt.

Obviously, Damien Vaughn also knew this was the point he was stuck on.

He couldn’t help but let out a cold laugh.

"I did tell you that, personally. But I didn’t tell you to relay it to Shane Grant. As a friend of many years, you passed on my sensitive information to a man you just met—who also happens to be my competitor. Do you think that was appropriate?"

Zeke Walton was choked by his words.

’That’s right. He saw Damien Vaughn as his childhood friend, and Damien saw him the same way.’

’Was it appropriate for a childhood friend to reveal his crucial information to someone else?’

Zeke Walton grew more guilty and conflicted. He felt like he was going crazy.

"I’m sorry, Damien, I just... I know the Grant Group isn’t as powerful as you. I figured that even if you let him have one project, it wouldn’t be a big loss for you, but for him, it would be different."

Damien Vaughn continued coldly, "Then have you ever thought about this? There are plenty of companies weaker than Grant Group, but Shane Grant doesn’t go easy on them. Why don’t you go ask Shane Grant to share his easily won profits with those weaker than him? Is it just because you like Shane Grant, so you think he deserves the best of everything in the world, is that it?"

With those words, Zeke Walton knew his friendship with Damien Vaughn was truly over.

It wasn’t just that he resented Damien Vaughn for scheming against him; Damien also resented him for betraying their friendship.

"I’m sorry. I was wrong. I’m an idiot, the biggest fool in the world. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be friends with anyone. A person like me doesn’t deserve friends. You can go be your President Vaughn, go swallow up the entire business empire. As of today, I don’t know you."

Zeke Walton hung up, started the car with a trembling hand, and called Shane Grant. The phone rang and rang, but no one answered.

After he tried again and again, an assistant finally picked up.

"Mr. Walton, I’m sorry, but President Grant has been hospitalized. Is there something you need from him?"