Geoffrey silently listened to Carlos shout. After he finished speaking, he said calmly, “So, it turns out this is what you’ve been thinking all this time. Even you think that I’m greedy for power, and that’s why I handed the position of helmsman to you so late, right?”
“Isn’t that the case?” Carlos immediately asked back.
Geoffrey laughed self-deprecatingly. “Hah, do you know how much effort I’ve put in over the years to make you a qualified helmsman sooner?
“Don’t you think I want to enjoy the last years of my life? If it wasn’t because you weren’t capable enough to take on the responsibility of the helmsman, do you think I’d still drag my old and weak body around to take up the duty and exhaust myself to make plans for the family?”
At this moment, Geoffrey was so disappointed with Carlos that he didn’t even want to look at him anymore.
But perhaps because Carlos was stimulated by Geoffrey’s remarks about him being not capable enough to take on the responsibility of the helmsman, he flew into a rage immediately and shouted, “Who are you to say that I’m not capable enough?
“If I’m really incompetent, how could the businesses I manage generate so much revenue every year?
“You keep saying that you put in effort to make me a qualified helmsman, but what exactly have you done? Whenever I asked you to hand over some of the family’s key businesses to me, you kept turning me down!
“You had no intention of letting me inherit the position of helmsman, and you never wanted to nurture me. Now, you’re actually saying that I’m not competent enough?”
Geoffrey didn’t want to say much to Carlos at first. But after hearing his accusation, he said with a self-deprecating sneer, “Do you really think that you’re the reason those businesses are doing well?”
Carlos frowned and asked in confusion, “What do you mean by that?”
“Have you forgotten? When I first handed those businesses over to you, all of them suffered immense losses. And they only started generating profit after a period of time. Surely you haven’t forgotten about this, have you?
“I planned to keep this a secret forever, but now that you’re acting like this, I have to tell you the truth. If I hadn’t helped you behind the scenes, those businesses would have gone bankrupt in your hands, let alone make any profit!”
Geoffrey’s words were like a heavy hammer slamming into Carlos’s head, instantly making him dizzy.
“No, you’re lying to me! You must be lying to me! Those industries only became profitable because of my hard work. You didn’t help at all!”
Carlos couldn’t believe this cruel truth at all. His face turned pale as he frantically denied it.
Geoffrey sneered. “Do you think you’re so lucky that each of the businesses that suffered heavy losses of hundreds of millions of dollars a year miraculously started making profit?
“If you believe that this is your luck, it just means that you’re hopelessly naive, and I have nothing else to say.”
Carlos stood dumbfounded for a while as various details of the past were presented in front of him again and again.
Although he was extremely reluctant to admit it, he could no longer describe his past experiences as coincidences or attribute them to luck.
It turned out that the businesses he managed in the past had all been revived and turned around for the better because of the help that Geoffrey had secretly given him…
“Wow, I only found out today that those businesses he managed suddenly started generating profit wasn’t really because of luck…”
“Uh, I also thought Carlos was lucky. That’s why it seemed like he could avoid all danger and turn the situation around for the better, but it turns out that he received help from Geoffrey!”
“Oh, that reminds me of many things that happened back then. If it wasn’t for Uncle Geoffrey, I’m afraid those companies would have had losses of over a billion! My god!”
…
The Stones discussed the matter incessantly.
After hearing the conversation between Geoffrey and Carlos, many of them recalled what had happened in the past.
Just over ten years ago, there was indeed a time when Geoffrey agreed to Carlos’s request and handed over a few of the family’s major businesses to him to manage.
However, the strange thing was that these businesses had been thriving before Carlos took over, but they had suddenly started incurring losses once he did. Thus, the family had held several meetings to propose taking back these businesses from Carlos.
But soon, these struggling businesses simultaneously stopped suffering losses and even started making profit.
The Stones all thought that Carlos was just lucky enough to reverse the situation and turn the losses into profit.
But since then, Geoffrey took away some of the businesses from Carlos and refused his requests for Geoffrey to hand over other businesses to him.
However, although the key major businesses were not handed over to Carlos, he was still in control of most of the family’s small and medium-sized businesses.
Now, they finally understood everything and knew that Geoffrey made this decision because he didn’t want the family to suffer heavy losses but also wanted to give Carlos an opportunity to train.
But this just proved that Carlos was indeed an incompetent person.
Carlos was definitely not willing to accept this!
“Nonsense! You’re just spouting nonsense to tarnish my reputation because you want to take power back now. You want to make me obediently hand over authority to you again by saying that I’m a good-for-nothing!
“It’s been over a decade since those things happened. Why did you choose to bring it up now? It’s been so many years. What evidence do you have? It’s all a one-sided statement on your part!”
“Father, you are already so old. Why are you still unwilling to let go and let me make decisions for the Stones on my own?”
Carlos yelled maniacally, refusing to admit that he was incompetent. Thus, he blamed Geoffrey and accused him of making things up to regain control over the family’s affairs.
Seeing how Carlos was behaving, Geoffrey felt extremely disappointed.
He had put in so much hard work and effort behind the scenes for his incompetent yet ambitious son.
If Carlos was a little more capable, he would have handed the family over to him a long time ago and retired leisurely. He wouldn’t have had to slog his guts out every day for the family.
But in Carlos’s eyes, his father was doing it purely because of his selfish desire for power, for which he would even go so far as to fabricate a story to defame him.
It really wasn’t worth his effort.
At this moment, Geoffrey felt deeply discouraged, disappointed, and emotionally exhausted.
He had already done his best for his son and family. From now on, he decided that he would stay out of their affairs.
