“I ONCE BELIEVED IN HIS LOVE!” HIDING MY BILLIONAIRE IDENTITY AND MARRYING A POOR MAN, I RETURNS HOME TO FIND MY LOVER HAS TAKEN OVER THE MANSION, AND DECIDES TO END IT.
“Victoria are you sure you read this right?” Martha gasped turning pale.
“Jax company is about to go public. How could he possibly owe such a massive amount of money?”
“I thought it was a stupid mistake too,” Lexi lied smoothly.
“But today when I went out to take out the trash I overheard Doctor Henderson wife gossip about it. She said this family villa will be listed on the court website for public notice next week. Then everyone in the entire wealthy community can just click on the web page and see the Miller family being kicked out onto the street for not paying property taxes.”
“Absolutely not!” Martha shrieked clutching her pearls.
“It was so incredibly hard for me to break into the elite social circle of wealthy wives in this community. If they find out I am living in a foreclosed house how could I ever hold my head up in front of them again?”
“Yes especially your exclusive book club friends,” Lexi added fueling the fire.
“If they pass by and see that big red sheriff sale sign stuck in the front lawn it will be over.”
“Jax! You come home right now! Immediately!” Martha screamed into her phone.
When Jax arrived he looked frantic.
“Do not tell me the money has been moved,” Jax yelled pacing the living room.
“Did Lexi max out your card again? Clean this mess up!”
“Miller family just fall slowly into hell like this,” I muttered under my breath watching them panic.
Jax pulled a thick document out of his briefcase and slammed it onto the coffee table in front of me.
“Sign it,” Jax demanded pointing at the signature line.
“As long as you sign right here as the guarantor the bank two million dollars will be in our account tonight and our precious house will be fully saved.”
I looked at the document pretending to be terrified.
“Jax this says that if the company IPO completely fails I will bear unlimited joint liability. I am so scared. My credit score is already completely ruined. I will be thrown in jail.”
“What are you so afraid of?” Jax yelled grabbing my arm.
“The company is going public next week. How could it possibly fail? Those investment bankers are practically throwing endless money at me.”
“But what if nobody buys the stock? No one can predict the stock market,” I whimpered.
“You think I am making you sign this just for my own sake?” Jax sneered. “If the house gets foreclosed you will not even have a place to live either. Stop whining. Sign it right now or get the hell out of this house.”
“Okay I will sign,” I said picking up the pen with trembling hands.
Lexi pushed me out of the way grabbing the pen.
“Damn it. Can you not even write your own name fast enough? Get out of the way. Do not waste my valuable time.”
Lexi forged my signature flawlessly onto the document.
“Jax you let her sign for me,” I said feigning shock.
“Is this legal?”
“Legal?” Jax laughed snatching the paper.
“As long as that money comes in who cares whose handwriting it is?”
“Yes,” I smiled secretly.
“Since you signed for me I can rest assured.”
Lexi turned to me with a wicked grin.
“For the bell ringing ceremony at the NASDAQ in New York I have ordered a custom made dress with hand sewed diamonds. You must be so incredibly jealous right?”
“See that clearly?” Jax shoved the tax notice in my face.
“A property tax default notice for over one hundred thousand dollars. My company is about to go public. Are you trying to drag me down?”
“I have not,” I said.
“I am warning you,” Jax growled.
“Get your ass over to my company desk and do some actual work. You have to pay off this debt. Stay here in despair.”
“Fine,” I said meekly.
“I will go report to the company today.”
“Smart move,” Lexi mocked.
“Listen up. You are only fit to serve tea and water in the printing area. If you dare to set foot in the executive office area even once I will make you regret it. Do you hear me?”
“I hear you,” I said walking out the door.
Serve tea and water? Jax I am here to dismantle your entire IPO foundation.
Later that afternoon I slipped into the company restricted financial archives.
“Found it,” I whispered into my earpiece.
“The fake audit reports and the original bills are all right here. You two scumbags. The bell ringing day will be your ultimate judgment day.”
“Chloe access the underlying protocol,” I instructed.
“I can see their raw data now,” Chloe replied.
“We are in. Oh my god boss. This is literal financial suicide. Three shell companies in the Cayman Islands are aggressively shuffling money between each other. Inflating their book profits by a full margin. They stole your social security number to buy three Porsches just to create the fake illusion of profitability and secure that pre IPO funding from NASDAQ.”
“These low level criminals aimed to only fool those reading retail short selling capital,” I said snapping photos of the documents.
“Should we trigger the trap now?”
“No,” I replied firmly.
“Wait until the exact bell ringing ceremony. I want him to watch the stock price plummet into the circuit breaker zone with his own two eyes. I want him to pay with his entire life to cover my ruined credit score.”
“Boss Jax is heading towards the finance office right now,” Chloe warned urgently.
“Infrared surveillance shows he is ten meters away. Get out now.”
“Finance I need to talk to you,” Jax voice echoed down the hall.
“Are you in there?”
I quickly ducked under the desk as Jax pushed the door open. He saw me holding a mop.
“Victoria what are you doing here?” Jax demanded his face turning red.
“Who gave you permission to enter the financial restricted area just now?”
“The finance manager said there was coffee spilled on the floor and I had to clean it,” I lied smoothly.
“Finance sent you?” Jax narrowed his eyes.
“Which finance person?”
“I do not know,” I shrugged.
“A tall man with glasses.”
“With glasses?” Jax stepped closer. “There is absolutely no one in the entire finance department who wears glasses.”
“Then I must have remembered wrong,” I said walking toward the door.
Jax rushed to his computer feeling the monitor.
“Someone has been using my computer. The processing unit is still hot. Security! Someone broke into the finance room and copied sensitive data from my computer! Not even a fly is to leave this building! Investigate everyone. Find out who did it.”
Jax grabbed my apron.
“What is in your pocket?”
“Nothing,” I said pulling away.
“Take your hand away,” Jax demanded.
“Really it is nothing,” I pulled out a dirty towel.
“Just a cleaning rag.”
“Disgusting,” Jax sneered wiping his hand on his pants.
“Boss the surveillance footage has been flawlessly replaced,” Chloe confirmed in my ear.
“I swapped your face in the video with Lexi guy the cousin she forced into the security department yesterday.”
“Well done Chloe,” I smiled walking out of the building.
“Now let us light the fire.”
Back at the mansion Jax burst through the front door looking absolutely murderous.
“We caught the person you were looking for boss,” the security chief said dragging a terrified young man into the living room.
“Who is it?” Martha asked clutching her chest.
“It is that bodyguard Miss Lexi forced into the security team yesterday,” Jax roared pointing a shaking finger at Lexi.
“He entered the finance room and copied core data from my personal computer.”
“What?” Lexi gasped turning pale.
“He was trying to sneak out the back door just now,” the guard explained tossing a black bag onto the table.
“We stopped him and found him carrying this bag.”
Jax ripped the bag open dumping papers everywhere.
“Financial records shareholder lists and my Cayman Islands account information. These are all my highly classified core data! That idiot Lexi dares to plant a corporate spy in my own territory!”
Jax grabbed Lexi by the hair pulling her screaming to the floor.
“I knew you were secretly eyeing my shares. You want to swallow my company before the IPO? Dream on.”
“Boss should we call the police first?” the guard asked.
“Call the police for what?” Jax spat. “What good would that do? I will ask her myself. Let us see what else she has to say.”
“Jax what the hell is wrong with you?” Lexi sobbed holding her head.
“I must be out of my goddamn mind. You did not even wait for me to sign the prenup before accusing me of sending someone to steal your IPO ledger.”
“What ledger? What nonsense are you talking about?” Lexi cried desperately.
“All I care about is the wedding and the diamond ring. I have absolutely no interest in your boring numbers.”
“No interest?” Jax laughed a psychotic sound.
“Then explain to me right now. Who is that bodyguard you forced into the security team yesterday?”
“That is my cousin,” Lexi pleaded.
“He is the only college graduate in the family. He just wants a decent job to show off back home.”
“Cousin?” Jax yelled throwing a vase against the wall.
“Do you think I am old or do you think I love you so much that I am easy to fool?”
“He really is my cousin,” Lexi begged crawling toward him.
“His name is Kevin. You have met him. He came for dinner last Thanksgiving.”
“Kevin? I do not remember,” Jax said coldly.
“Jax listen to me carefully,” Lexi pointed a shaking finger at me. “It must be that wicked Victoria who is framing me. She wants to violently drive a wedge between us.”
“What? It is her?” Jax scoffed looking at me then back at Lexi. “Do you think I will believe anything you say? You are still lying to me even now. Do you really think carrying my child gives you the absolute right to swallow up my assets?”
“That really was not me!” Lexi screamed.
“If you dare touch my company I will make you disappear in an Ohio lake,” Jax threatened grabbing her throat. “Not a single bone left behind. Understand?”
“Jax you will choke the baby,” Martha cried trying to pull him off.
“The company is gone!” Jax roared pushing his mother away. “What use is this child to me? To go begging in the freezing slums?”
“It really was not me I swear,” Lexi gasped for air.
“Yes Miller what are you doing?” Martha panicked. “Do you want the entire Miller family to go to jail with you? Let her go. She is a traitor. She sent someone to steal the company core ledger. Martha she wants to bankrupt us.”
“I did it,” I said stepping forward playing the terrified maid. “Jax you need to wake up. The ledgers can be recovered but if this woman dies in a Miller family bedroom tomorrow headlines will be about you going to prison. Do you want the company to go to zero before it is even listed because of a messy murder case?”
Jax dropped Lexi staring at his shaking hands. “Jax do you not think it is strange? All the evidence is just too perfectly laid out.”
“Believe me it really was not me,” Lexi sobbed rubbing her bruised neck.
“Then who do you say it was?” Jax demanded.
“Victoria,” Lexi spat glaring at me. “Who else could it be but her?”
“Victoria?” Jax laughed mockingly. “That pathetic loser? If she could somehow orchestrate a corporate spy operation of this high level she would have gone to Wall Street a long time ago.”
“Jax wake up,” Martha said grabbing his arm. “Now is not the time to discuss who the actual spy is. If news breaks now about the bride to be stealing trade secrets or the Miller heir murdering his fiance our stock price will plummet into hell. The Miller name cannot afford this kind of public disgrace.”
“So what do you suggest we do Lexi?” Jax asked his eyes full of venom.
“You will get the wedding you want,” Jax said pulling a paper from his desk.
“You will wear that custom made gown and put on that heavy diamond ring you have been dreaming of.”
“Really?” Lexi sniffled.
“But as the brutal price you must sign a supplemental agreement,” Jax slammed the paper down.
“You will waive all rights to any division of marital property. If there is a divorce in the future you will not take a single cent.”
“What?” Lexi gasped.
“In this family only assets that can be liquidated have any real value,” Jax sneered.
“Lexi this is your only way out. Either sign it right now and preserve your pathetic vanity as Mrs Miller or I will call the police right now and let you give birth to that child behind iron prison bars.”
“I will sign,” Lexi whispered taking the pen.
A few days later the situation grew incredibly desperate for Jax. The bank downgraded his credit rating because of the stolen ledger rumor. He was bleeding cash.
“Atlas Global Capital,” I said quietly while mopping the floor near his desk.
“They just entered the local market and have five hundred million in idle positions.”
“Atlas?” Jax head snapped up.
“That is the most famous shark fund on Wall Street. Even at the Miller family peak it was hard to get a meeting. Where did you hear that?”
“Cleaners can hear many secrets from the trash cans of Wall Street,” I said keeping my head down.
“If you want to get the check before the road show this is your only lifeline.”
Jax immediately contacted them. Chloe acting as the representative of Athena Capital arrived at the mansion.
“So you are sure you want to invest even though my rating was just downgraded?” Jax asked pouring expensive tea.
“Mr Miller ratings are only for mediocre people,” Chloe smiled coldly crossing her legs.
“Our massive fund is only interested in your pre IPO growth curve. The amount? Thirty million dollars. We will transfer it tonight but the condition is we need a permanent board observer seat.”
“Agreed,” Jax smiled greedily shaking her hand.
“Miss Chloe from Atlas. Then we have a solid deal.”
He did not even check the complex details of our cross shareholding agreement. He just saw the money and his eyes lit up. Jax has always been that kind of person. Greedy shortsighted arrogant.
“Boss with the current setup on the day of the bell ringing with just your single command his stock price will hit the lower limit within fifteen minutes of opening,” Chloe told me later that night.
“He will go from being a fake billionaire to a debt ridden prisoner.”
“No rush Chloe,” I smiled swirling a glass of wine. “Let him enjoy himself for a few days first. What do you mean? Let him buy huge yachts private jets and squander that illusionary wealth that has not even fully arrived yet. The higher he climbs the sweeter the sound of his bones shattering when he falls.”
“By the way boss there is one more thing,” Chloe added. “Lexi has been incredibly restless lately. She has been frequently contacting a shady lawyer. At this critical moment instead of preparing for the wedding she is looking for a lawyer. She is using an unregistered pay phone. Very cautious. Every call is in the middle of the night.”
“I suspect she has discovered your trust account that was not completely frozen,” I deduced. “Let her stir things up. In fact we can even slightly lower the firewall security level of that account. Leave a hidden back door for her. The more she tries to transfer assets through illegal means the more solid evidence of federal fraud she will leave behind.”
“I want her to forcefully change into an orange prison uniform the exact moment she puts on her white wedding dress,” I declared.
“Understood,” Chloe agreed. “I will keep watching.”
The trap was fully set. Lexi forged my signature and transferred thirty million dollars to a Cayman Islands account trying to steal my actual trust fund. She thought she was brilliant. She thought she was getting away with stealing millions from a helpless maid.
But Jax found out the money was missing. He panicked realizing the thirty million he needed for the IPO was gone. He confronted Lexi. She blamed a bodyguard named Marco.
In a desperate bid to get the money back Jax needed the actual beneficiary of the trust fund to either sign it over or die. The beneficiary was me.
“Mr Miller this trust has an extremely high firewall level,” the banker explained to Jax on speakerphone.
“According to the terms there are only two possibilities for accessing the massive funds. First Victoria herself signs an authorization transferring the beneficial interest to you free of charge. Second the natural death of the beneficiary. The money will automatically settle into your account.”
“Jax you are looking up death certificates,” Lexi gasped looking over his shoulder.
“You want to kill me? Just because I lied to you you are going to kill me to silence me?”
“Kill you?” Jax scoffed.
“If I kill you not only do I not get a single cent but I also go to jail. Relax baby. The person that I want to kill is not you. It is Victoria.”
“As long as it is not me,” Lexi sighed in relief.
“But Victoria has been taking care of us for so long. Jax killing is extremely wrong. That is a serious crime.”
“Wrong?” Jax yelled. “Was it right when you stole her identity? Was it right when you embezzled thirty million in public funds? Lexi as long as she dies in a tragic accident all our debts are fully cleaned. You can still be Mrs Miller. So how do you want to do it?”
“We absolutely cannot leave any traces,” Lexi said her eyes turning cold. “I know a black market doctor. If we pay him enough he can make the cause of death look like natural heart failure.”
They paid the doctor. They got the drug. Colorless odorless metabolizes extremely fast.
“Darling do you have a plan?” Lexi whispered later that night.
“Since that trust fund has a massive payout for accidental death we cannot let her die at home,” Jax explained.
“I have checked that steep cliff in the Hudson Valley mountains. Tomorrow we will take her on a picnic. Say it is to celebrate the company surviving the financial crisis. Take her out to relax. Put the heavy drug in her thermos.”
“Once the drug takes effect and she loses consciousness we will push her in the car over the rocky edge,” Jax detailed the murder plot.
“As long as we make it look like an accidental fall caused by brake failure. By then I will be the only eyewitness. I will tell the police I saw her swerve to avoid a large deer and crash through the weak guardrail.”
The next day they took me to the cliff. They gave me the drugged water. I pretended to drink it spilling it into my sleeve. I faked passing out.
“She is heavier than she looks,” Jax grunted dragging my body to the edge of the cliff.
“Stop talking. Hurry up and push.”
They rolled me over the edge. I tumbled down landing safely on a hidden silicon net Chloe and my security team had set up just ten feet below the lip of the cliff.
“She is gone,” Lexi cheered from above. “That wicked woman is finally dead. I can get her money now. Time to call the police. Are you sure you can pull this fake story off?”
“Just watch,” Jax said dialing his phone. “Help! Help! We are at the back hill. Someone fell off the cliff. Please come quickly!”
I lay on the safety net listening to them celebrate my murder.
Victoria do not blame me for being ruthless. You were the one standing in my way. If you had slipped just now I would be fishing your broken pieces out of the river right now. You are really risking your entire life for revenge.
If I do not see with my own eyes that they firmly think I am dead how would they dare to touch that inheritance with total confidence?
They should be celebrating right now. Jax has probably popped the expensive champagne. Lexi is probably already thinking about which designer bag to buy. Let them be happy. The higher the better.
From now on the helpless maid Victoria is dead and her true place is the powerful silent partner of Athena Capital. Jax thinks he killed a helpless maid. He does not know he has awakened a warrior goddess like Athena. So we go to total war now.
“Boss what is next?” Chloe asked helping me up.
“First secure all the concrete evidence from today,” I ordered taking off the dirty clothes.
“The steel cable the silicone sheet the wet wipes. Seal absolutely everything.”
“Understood.”
“Second notify the FBI,” I said my eyes flashing with vengeance. “The tip off letter can be sent out now. Make sure they receive it on the exact morning of the bell ringing ceremony.”
A few days later Jax and Martha held a fake funeral for me to process the inheritance. They buried an empty casket.
“Lord please accept this lost soul Victoria Belmont,” the priest chanted.
“Jax I keep getting cold chills down my spine,” Martha whispered shivering.
“This expensive coffin is empty. Do you think her angry ghost might come back to haunt us?”
“Do not scare yourself Mom,” Jax laughed quietly.
“That cliff is hundreds of meters high with violent rapids below. Even if she turned into a powerful ghost she would have to swim ashore first. Done. The massive money is finally ours.”
“Father stop the eulogy,” I said stepping out from behind a large marble mausoleum.
“Bury it. Now it is my time to make an entrance.”
Jax Lexi and Martha froze completely. They stared at me like I was a demon crawling out of hell.
“In such a huge hurry to bury me?” I smiled walking toward them.
“Afraid I would come back to collect exactly what you owe me?”
“A ghost,” Martha screamed dropping her umbrella.
“The ghost! I saw her fall with my own eyes!”
“A ghost?” I laughed a bright ringing sound.
“If I were a ghost Lexi do you think you would still be standing here talking? The moment I fell off that cliff I really thought I was dead. But the second I hit the freezing river I suddenly remembered. I have not seen you ring the golden bell yet. I have not seen Miller Industries go public. How could I bear to die so soon?”
“Shut up,” Jax panicked stepping back.
“You. If you are alive why did you not come back sooner? Why show up right now of all times?”
“Because I wanted to see exactly how much my life is worth in your dark hearts,” I said staring him down.
“Thirty million dollars. Jax my life is worth that much. As long as I draw breath you will not see a single cent of that trust fund money.”
“Victoria do not think you can just waltz back in and control us,” Lexi yelled finding her fake courage. “Who knows what dirty things you have been up to for days. Maybe you are back to blackmail us.”
“Blackmail? No. I am just coming home,” I smiled innocently. “How are you going to pay back what you owe me?”
“Victoria what are you trying to do?” Jax demanded sweating profusely.
“Do not be nervous dear husband,” I said patting his shoulder. “Even though the thirty million dollars are locked away as long as I am alive you can all continue living in this luxury villa that has my name on the deed. If I had really died at the bottom of the cliff the angry bank would have repossessed this place tomorrow.”
“What do you mean?” Jax asked. “Are you threatening me? You disappeared for a whole week. Who knows what you went through? You think you can just waltz back in here like before?”
“If the police find out that you were the ones who violently threw me off the cliff that day guess what will come first?” I whispered in his ear. “Your glorious IPO plan or your massive sentencing?”
Jax swallowed hard. He knew I had him cornered.
I moved back into the mansion playing my part perfectly while they scrambled. Jax tried to declare me legally insane to get the money. He played horror movie sounds outside my door at night hoping I would lose my mind.
I simply recorded him doing it hacked his phone and replaced the audio files. When the psychiatrist arrived the evidence showed Jax wandering the halls screaming at empty walls. The doctor recommended Jax be committed to a mental hospital.
Jax escaped the hospital stealing an ambulance. He was desperate. He hacked into the offshore accounts trying to short his own company before the IPO hoping to buy the crashed shares for pennies and steal the final funds.
But I had rigged the entire system. Every command he entered transferred his remaining assets directly to Athena Capital.
The day of the NASDAQ bell ringing arrived. The trading floor in New York City was packed with wealthy investors bright screens and flashing cameras.
I stood at the main podium wearing a pristine white suit. The room buzzed with anticipation.
“Three more minutes until the bell rings,” Jax thought to himself hiding in plain sight.
He had broken a drummer leg and infiltrated the opening act drum corps wearing a heavy metal mask to hide his face. He planned to hack the network from inside the building.
“I have finally reclaimed everything that is mine,” Jax muttered under his mask. “In three minutes Victoria you will know who the real winner of this high stakes game is. The bell has rung. Victoria watch your net worth go to absolute zero. Watch your company crash. Watch your arrogant face turn from smug to total despair.”
He executed the malicious code on his hidden tablet.
Nothing happened.
“How is this possible?” Jax gasped staring at the error screen.
“It cannot be. I clearly planted the Trojan. I tested it. It is impossible.”
“Jax,” my voice boomed over the main PA system.
The entire trading floor went dead silent. Everyone turned to look at the drummer holding a tablet.
“We did detect an attack from an overseas IP,” I announced staring directly at the metal mask.
“However that was just bait to lure a certain greedy fool into showing his hidden hand.”
Jax ripped the mask off his face red with fury. “What did you do?”
“Jax the account you tampered with was a dead shell we completely abandoned three years ago,” I said my voice echoing across Wall Street. “The funds inside were all completely fake. The transaction records were all fabricated and even the server was isolated. Every single illegal instruction you just entered was not transferring funds. It was helping the federal police compile ironclad evidence of your massive crimes.”
“Victoria you set me up,” Jax screamed trying to run toward the podium. “You knew what I was going to do from the very beginning.”
“I knew from the exact moment you took the key from Lexi hands,” I said coldly. “Now the whole world can see clearly who the real pathetic clown is. The one who fell from heaven straight into hell.”
“I will kill you!” Jax roared.
“The feast has only just begun,” I smiled. “And you Jax do not even have the qualifications to be a spectator. Security get this loser out of here.”
Massive guards tackled Jax to the floor handcuffing him violently.
“Victoria do not get too smug,” Jax spat blood onto the floor.
“You think you have won? You are just as dirty as I am. The media will dig deep into you.”
“Think I am making one sided accusations?” I asked motioning to the side door.
“Jax I have invited an old friend. She has a lot she wants to say to the federal judge in person.”
Lexi walked out wearing a sharp dress surrounded by FBI agents.
“All the wire transfer records all the overseas shell companies and the concrete evidence of those accidents he deliberately caused years ago to commit insurance fraud,” Lexi said looking down at Jax.
“It is all right here. Jax Miller you told me yourself once Victoria was dead all of this would be ours. But I was wrong. Someone like you has never loved anyone.”
“You wicked woman!” Jax screamed struggling against the guards.
“How dare you betray me! I will kill you!”
“Jax I will let you live a long miserable life,” I said stepping down from the podium.
“In that cold room with only four concrete walls you can slowly watch my stock price rise to heights you could never even imagine in your lifetime.”
“Take him away,” the lead FBI agent ordered.
“My money,” Jax sobbed as they dragged him out. “Victoria you took all my money.”
The next day the Belmont Group officially announced the completion of its massive corporate reconstruction. Founder Victoria Belmont stated that she would donate all the illegal assets recovered from her ex husband Jax Miller to families affected by violent financial crime.
Jax was sentenced to life in federal prison. But that was not enough. I applied for a lifetime debt collection order against him. He was forced to work twelve hours a day in the prison factory. Every single cent he earned except for the bare minimum rations to keep him alive was used to slowly repay the small creditors he had ruined.
Lexi tried to beg for my help to avoid prison since she testified. I handed her a ten dollar fake ruby necklace she had once bragged about.
“The law will evaluate your good deed and it will also severely punish your crime,” I told her as the agents led her away.
“Lexi what you stole was never my wealth but your own soul that could have been clean.”
Three long years. This thousand day long nightmare had finally burned to absolute ashes.
I stood on the balcony of my penthouse looking out over the glittering skyline of New York City.
“Victoria my brilliant daughter,” my father Arthur Belmont said walking up behind me handing me a glass of champagne. “This journey must have been incredibly arduous.”
“A Belmont daughter does not speak of hardship,” I smiled clinking my glass against his. “Only of ultimate victory and defeat.”
“That slap Jax gave you,” my father asked softly.
“Does it still hurt?”
“Hurt? No father,” I said looking out at the city I now owned.
“That slap was the greatest gift I have ever received in my entire life. A gift because it reminded me that gentle kindness does not ever earn respect in this world. What it earned was the total downfall of Miller Industries the end of an old corrupt empire and the glorious beginning of my era.”