Revenge Fantasy

#16.5 - Wronged

"W... What? Am I hearing you correctly, Oliver...?"

"Yes... you are. My sincerest of apologies, Charles. I'm going to have to withdraw from our arrangement."

Charles Ashford... the late Charles Ashford. A conversation that came upon his summons to an office, indulging in a tea cup of business as he sat across the table from a business partner of his. Disbelief on his face, with shock and dismay at this withdrawal.

The partner in question was a dear friend. Sir Oliver [REDACTED], a wealthy philanthropist that has invested funding towards one of Ashford's subsidiary charities. A dear friend who has visited countless times, who has worked with Charles on countless business projects and affairs, and one that had a rather beneficial impact to the cause itself.

On paper, funding was to be distributed to funding homeless efforts, constructing soup kitchens that could provide shelter and financial security in exchange for service to the community. Those poor folk with nowhere to go would have had a place to call home, a place to accept help and assistance... a place to reintegrate into civilized society. Charles sought to carry out this endeavor, feeling it would create a sense of community.

With Oliver's withdrawal, however, a substantial amount of this funding is no longer present, leading to the proposed objectives being unable to be fulfilled. Thus, Charles was utterly tense at this, feeling... wronged, somehow.

"... may I ask for your reasons, Oliver? You were quite charmed by the idea at first."

"I was, Charles. But this charity focuses on an issue that, on second thought, is admittedly narrow and limited in terms of benefits. I cannot, in good faith, lend my money out to a charity that does not have our best interests in mind."

"On what grounds is this not in best interest? A high population of people on the streets, sleeping on streets rather than a bed... a number that grows higher with each year, Oliver. Your funding could save hundreds of thousands of impoverished citizens."

"Charles... the homeless is not a pressing issue. You are speaking of men and women whose financial decisions brought them into that life of suffering, something they could change on their own... but choose not to. A charity proposing your ideas is just... I find no purpose, no point to it. Nothing to gain whatsoever. I sincerely apologize, once again... but..."

Sincerely apologize...

...

Charles tuned out the rest of the conversation. Losing the specifics of the words that came after this, only retaining the general main idea. The charity was not an idea that Oliver intended to support any further.

A decision he must accept in that moment to maintain pleasantries... but, after some time, Charles departed from this office, and made his way back to the car, unable to accept it. Sitting quietly in the car, with a tense scowl on his face for... a long while, after that.

Charles could not get those words out of his mind. In truth, it deeply frustrated him, irritated him, those reasons that sounded absurd and nonsensical to him. Charity is not something that you gain from, it is something that you do from the goodness of your heart. And Oliver simply spat on the very concept of societal altruism. Disregarded its high morals, abandoned the cause all for meaningless profit.

For lack of a better term, Oliver has disgraced their partnership...

Charles... sat, as he quietly thought... rethought about the entirety of that conversation. As he was mildly lost on what to do after this, as he struggled to figure out how to approach this major setback. Without Oliver's support, without his funding, connections and expertise, their projected costs would not be met, and - ultimately - the amount of constructed buildings will not be substantial enough to have meaningful impact. The charity was already on dying legs before it could even begin.