Chapter 479: Sunk cost

"What?" Michael muttered out.

"Yeah. Max has been hounding me to include his GodForge pieces into the auction. But I’ve always rejected him because it’s way too dangerous to undergo surgery to remove the GodForge pieces in his heart."

"You can sell GodForge pieces in the auction?"

"It’s very common. Some of them sell GodForge pieces that they found in a discovery, while some, like Max here, sell the GodForge pieces in their heart."

Max sat down on the chair and held his hands together. "At this point, I don’t need the power of a Diva. I need money. The amount that I’d get for the GodForge pieces will be enough for us to start over here in Metropolis and completely revitalize our business. The risk to my life is worth it."

Barnaby disagreed. "Your family needs you more than you need money. Tell you what, I’ll lend you the money you need."

The two were good friends. And if Barnaby was a soulless human, then he would have definitely allowed the sale to happen. After all, GodForge pieces go up for millions of gold in the auction.

"No, I can’t accept any more of your help, Barnaby. I was just getting impatient. Selling my GodForge pieces will allow us to go back to the good old days when we were at the top," Max sighed.

Max having a Diva wasn’t that surprising to Michael. After all, he was the fifth child of Yze and was given this branch as inheritance. It wasn’t a far leap to guess that he’d get a GodForge piece as well.

However, he didn’t think that he’d be so desperate for money that he’d be willing to sell it and risk his life.

"What happened to your business?" Bart asked plainly. Vanderbilts were supposed to be the wealthiest family in the world. Yet now, his brother was willing to sell his greatest weapon for money.

"It’s a long story," Max replied. "Let’s talk about it back home."

They all said goodbye to Barnaby and went back to the Vanderbilt estate using the automobile.

"Michael! I’ll be notifying the Duchess about your visit with her!" Barnaby shouted before they left. According to their agreement, he would help Michael make the trucks legal in the street. All Michael had to do was present his case to the Duchess.

Michael thanked him before they went on their way back to the Vanderbilt estate.

As they rode on the streets, Max began to tell the story of how he lost the Vanderbilt business.

"I made a couple of bad decisions throughout my tenure in our branch. I thought I was doing the right thing by trying to expand the company, but I was naive. I didn’t know the business well enough, and ended up losing all of my investment.

And my inexperience led me to believe that things would get better. So, I kept spending more money to try and recoup my losses. In hindsight, I should have given up sooner. But I didn’t. Slowly, the money got depleted until it led me to where I am now."

Michael felt sorry for Max. He was caught up in the concept called sunk cost fallacy, which was mostly found in gamblers. Losing a lot of money led him to believe it was too late to back out now. But in truth, it only led him deeper and deeper into debt.

"I had to sell off most of the land to pay off the debt. However, this led me to lose more business since I didn’t have that territory to rely on. Meaning, I lost even more money.

But hope is not all lost. I’m slowly working on bringing it back. We have a small business that brings enough money for us to stay stable. We’re trying to buy back the territories we had. It’ll take a while, but we’ll eventually retrieve them."

Max was optimistic enough to smile. Still, there was a tinge of weariness in his eyes that could never be hidden.

Eventually, they arrived back in the Vanderbilt estate where they were welcomed by the butler and a few other people.

"Dad!"

One kid who looked to be the same age as Michael immediately rushed up Max’s embrace.

Right behind the kid was a woman who had short bob cut hair. She gave Max a peck on the cheeks as a greeting.

"William, Tracy, I’d like you to meet our relatives. This is my brother, Bart and his family."

The little kid called William immediately turned wide-eyed as he saw the metal automobile that they rode in.

"Woah! What’s this?! It looks so cool!"

Tracy, Max’s wife, immediately approached the Vanderbilts and curtsied. Lylia returned the greeting with her own curtsy.

Michael noticed that they weren’t the only ones inside the mansion. There were other people too, people that weren’t butlers or maids.

"Let’s go inside and we can introduce you to the rest of the Vanderbilts in Metropolis," said Max. "We are a full family lineage here in Metropolis, but I am the leader of the entire business."

They all walked inside the mansion and immediately, Michael saw the other Vanderbilts giving them a warm welcome.

"Come on in!"

"It’s a celebration! Bring out our good wine!"

"Let’s splurge a little bit and eat some meat today."

As it turned out, these people were all indirectly or directly related to Yze. It looked more like a community rather than a family since there were about thirty Vanderbilts in total living in this mansion.

All in all, there were about eight families that made up the Vanderbilt branch in Metropolis. The one in charge, of course, was Max’s family since he was the eldest and the one who inherited the branch from Yze.

Some of them Bart and Lylia were already familiar with. And some, this was just the first time that they saw each other.

As they sat on the dinner table, they began to catch up on each other.

"You came all the way from the Kings region? That’s very far from here."

"Yeah," Bart answered. "We’re here because my son has established a company in Metropolis."

This caused quite a commotion within the Vanderbitl estate. They celebrated Michael’s accomplishment genuinely.

"Woah," William gasped as he looked at Michael. "Did you...did you create that metal thing outside?"

"Yeah, I did."

"Woah...I want to also become like you. I want to succeed my father and take over the business!" he proclaimed.

Max looked fondly at his son. He was the reason why he was working hard to bring back the Vanderbilt business. He wanted his son to inherit something worthwhile.

Meanwhile, Tracy began serving the food to Michael and his family. "I’m sorry, but this is all we have right now," she apologized.

They served chicken soup, which had a lot of water but not a lot of meat. Michael saw this as a sign of their financial struggles. Despite that, they still graciously served their only food for him and his family.

"Do you mind if we bring some meat and vegetables here? It’s my thank you for feeding us in your own home," Michael said to Max.

Immediately, the other family members shook their heads no.

"Oh, there’s no need for that, Michael. The prices for food right now are high in Metropolis."

"That’s right. Today’s a special occasion that’s why we prepared the food for you. There’s no need to feel guilty. Eat up!"

They all thought that Michael offered to buy items from the markets in Metropolis to replenish their food supplies.

And since they knew that they were from the Kings region, they thought that their financial situation wasn’t that much better from their own.