Free Web NovelChapter 557: The Truth Does Not Matter
The food was served fairly quickly. Michael raised his wine glass and stood up.
Smiling, he said, "Mr. Zavier, I’d like to offer you a toast. Thank you for taking time out despite your busy schedule to have lunch with us."
"Mr. Lucas, please, don’t say that," Mr. Zavier said, standing too with his wine glass, smiling. He knew that Michael had not come in peace.
The mood at the table was a little awkward and strange. At first, Michael and Yonina concentrated on eating and made the occasional small talk with Mr. Zavier.
Michael had deliberately created an awkward atmosphere. He wanted Mr. Zavier to feel worried and scared. When they were almost done with lunch, Michael set his cutlery down and smiled at Mr. Zavier, saying, "Why have you asked us out for lunch? We’re almost done eating so you can come straight to the point."
Michael had chosen his words carefully. It was obvious that he was the one who wanted to meet Mr. Zavier.
As expected, Mr. Zavier replied, "Mr. Lucas, you must be joking. You should come straight to the point. It was wrong of me to brush you off. So please accept this meal as my apology. And please don’t bear any grudges."
"Mr. Zavier, I don’t understand. Why would we be bearing any grudges? We appreciate you treating us to lunch." Michael turned to Yonina and said, "Am I right?"
"Yes," Yonina went along with Michael. "That’s right. It’s my pleasure to be able to have lunch with you, Mr. Zavier."
Mr. Zavier understood their intention. They refused to be the ones to initiate business talk. He let out an indiscernible sigh and said, "Oh all right. Let’s talk business. I have seen your proposal. And I am very satisfied with it. But that proposal is an improved version of the original one. Why do you have the complete proposal by Christian Lucas?
"Although everyone had presented their proposals at the meeting, those were only summaries, and definitely did not include that much detail. The proposal you had just sent me is like an improved version of Christian Lucas’s proposal."
"I wonder if you remember," Michael said to Mr. Zavier with a smile, "That my initial proposal and Christian’s were the same."
"Yes. But there would usually be some differences between what was being presented and the actual execution of the proposal. For such a huge project, the proposal would contain lots of details. I haven’t finished looking through your entire proposal, but based on what I’ve seen so far, they are basically the same.
"Does this mean that you’re very familiar with how Christian Lucas’s company works?" Mr. Zavier asked, puzzled. "The business rivalry between the two of you is actually none of my business. I only wish to get this project done well. But when you bring such a proposal to me, no matter how good it is, I cannot accept it."
"Mr. Zavier, do you remember that I had told you previously, that Christian Lucas stole my proposal?" Michael locked his hands together and placed them on the table. His faint smile exuded self-confidence.
"Christian Lucas stole your proposal? He really did?" Mr. Zavier had remembered that incident. But he was not bothered by it. As long as there was competition, therwould be some who would resort to underhand means.
Mr. Zavier had decided to tolerate some form of cheating, because all he wanted was for the project to be done well. That’s why he had not investigated Michael’s claim of his proposal being stolen.
...
Michael nodded his head. Puzzled, Mr. Zavier looked at him and asked again, "Since you know that Christian Lucas had stolen your proposal, why didn’t you take any action? Your influence in Lake City isn’t any less than Christian Lucas. If you had wanted to take revenge, he would not have been able to proceed with the project so smoothly."
"How do you know I did not take any action?" Michael asked Mr. Zavier. "Isn’t this taking action?"
Mr. Zavier was taken aback momentarily and did not respond.
Michael continued, "Let me put it this way. I allowed Christian Lucas to win the bid for this project. I knew he lacked funds, and that when he gets awarded this project, he would definitely be worried about the money.
"Even if he were able to raise enough money for the first stage, if he could not raise enough money for the second stage, you would have to end your partnership with him.
"When that happens, I, Michael Lucas will be the best person to take over this project. He had used my proposal so I am very clear about the subsequent stages of the project’s development. I can also absorb the few billions that had been invested in the first stage." ƒrēewebnovel.com
"So your plan was to let Christian Lucas help you with the first stage of the project?
And then you will take over from him?" Mr. Zavier was finally getting the picture.
"Mr. Lucas, I didn’t expect you to be so crafty."
"Mr. Zavier, I’m not crafty, I am fighting back." Michael’s face darkened, his voice turning cold. "Christian Lucas and I have always been enemies. Only one of us can remain in Lake City.
"Since he had intended to steal my proposal all along, he would have to face the consequences of losing everything after I fight back."
"But how can I be sure you’re not lying?" Mr. Zavier asked. "Maybe you had stolen Christian Lucas’s proposal. Now that he’s in trouble, perhaps you are trying to take advantage of the situation to make a profit?"
"I knew you would have your doubts," said Michael. He turned to look at Yonina and smiled, "She is my witness."
Mr. Zavier followed Michael’s gaze and looked at Yonina.
"Mr. Zavier, I was the one who had helped Christian Lucas steal the proposal," explained Yonina. "It was a rather complicated situation and it’s hard to explain everything clearly.
"But to cut to the chase, Christian Lucas had approached me to take down Michael.
So Michael and I decided to play along and I became Michael’s spy. We knew all along that Christian Lucas wanted me to steal the proposal. So we went along with him. And you know what happened after that."
Michael continued, "If you still don’t believe us, you could send someone to investigate." Michael tapped the tabletop lightly with his fingers. "The complicated relationship between the three of us can all be found online. But you may not have read all the messy tabloid news, so I’m not surprised you’re unfamiliar with what happened."
By now, Mr. Zavier believed them completely. Michael Lucas and Yonina Collins were the CEOs of two of Lake City’s largest companies. They could definitely be trusted.
Besides, both Michael and Christian had indeed presented similar proposals.
If Michael had stolen Christian’s proposal, there was no reason for Yonina to lie for Michael. On the other hand, so what if Yonina was lying to cover up for Michael? The fact was, Christian Lucas was getting squeezed by MC Group and Collins Group.
In many cases, the truth does not matter. What matters most is, the winner will get the job.
...
Mr. Zavier lowered his head a little, as if deep in thought. Michael saw it and continued, "You had thought earlier that I had stolen Christian Lucas’s proposal. And so no matter how much better it was, you would not accept it. Now that you know that it was Christian Lucas who had stolen my proposal, how would you choose?"
Michael knew the right buttons to push. Mr. Zavier had only said that to put on a righteous front when rejecting Michael. Now, Michael had turned it around to force him to make a decision.
"Well..." Mr. Zavier started to feel a little awkward and did not know what to say.
"I know very well what you are worried about," Michael said to Mr. Zavier. "All you care about is whether this project can be completed smoothly and whether you can make a name for yourself from this project. It isn’t about the money, it’s about your reputation.
"You made the decision to award the project to Christian Lucas. Now that he is in trouble, if you don’t side with him, it would mean that you are admitting you had made the wrong choice.
"You are also afraid that if Christian Lucas backs out from this project, you might lose your position as the person in charge of this project. Even if you managed to retain your position, you are afraid that you might not be able to have a hold over a new partner. Am I right?"
Michael had hit the nail on the head. Mr. Zavier was already in his forties, he wouldn’t have much opportunities to be in charge of such a huge project. This was likely his only chance at making a name for himself. But he dared not call off his partnership with Christian Lucas that easily.
While Mr. Zavier remained silent, Michael continued, "There is something you must know. It might seem cruel, but you’ll find out sooner or later. If you find out later, it may tarnish your reputation. Or worse, you may lose everything."
Michael made it sound so grave that Mr. Zavier started clenching his fists subconsciously. "What is it?" he asked quickly.
"Christian Lucas is involved in illegal businesses." Michael looked Mr. Zavier in the eye. Fear was evident in Mr. Zavier’s eyes instantly.
"Illegal businesses? How could that be possible?" Mr. Zavier’s eyes were wide with panic. "There were some rumors online about his involvement with gangs, but there wasn’t any concrete evidence. And before that, we had run a background check on him and everything was clean. He had also sworn to me that he was definitely clean and had nothing to hide so he wasn’t afraid of us checking up on him again."
"Of course, what else could he say?" Michael chuckled. "Do you think he would have said, ’Yes, I do illegal businesses, catch me if you can.’?"
"Well..." Mr. Zavier was at a loss for words. There was a time when he was afraid that the rumors circulating online were true. He didn’t want to be implicated by Christian. But he thought that since they had run a background check and Christian himself had guaranteed that those rumors were false, there should not be any problems.
However, now that Michael had said it out plainly, Mr. Zavier did not dare to hope he would be twice lucky.
"Christian has been selling illegal drugs and other illegal goods for more than ten years in Rheinsville City. He’s been very good at covering his tracks. Unless you know what to look for, it’s understandable that you found nothing," explained Michael.
"The reason he wanted this project so badly was because he could use his partnership with the government for money laundering. If word got out and evidence is found, and you insist on working with Christian, what would the government think?"
