Chapter 2

They acted quickly.

While Candace and I were at home eating her birthday cake, their post went viral. They must have spent serious money boosting its popularity.

The hashtag 'Kept Man Insults Waiter In a Restaurant' left both of us stunned.

They really knew how to bend the truth.

The earliest and most viral video was posted by that waiter called Ethan Fawn.

In the video, he portrayed himself as an underpaid employee being bullied by the rich. He looked exhausted and wronged as he accused me of mistreating him.

"I'm just a regular waiter. I only want to make an honest living. I never expected him to be so mean. Right after ordering, he called me a pauper. Maybe it's because I don't wear designer brands like him that he looked down on me.

"But every dollar I earn comes from my own hard work. It's clean money. Unlike him, living off a rich woman just because of his looks.

"Luckily, our manager is a reasonable person and stood up for me. Otherwise, he might have even gotten violent with how aggressive he looked."

As if that wasn't enough, he posted another video to prove his claims.

Our restaurant equipped every staff member with a body camera. It was meant to protect employees from unreasonable customers and to protect their legal rights.

Ironically, it gave Ethan the perfect tool.

He edited the footage from his body camera, carefully cutting it to show me angrily calling him a pauper. It looked like I was insulting him out of nowhere. He then added clips of me supposedly harassing him.

With both witness testimony and video evidence, netizens began expressing their anger by criticizing me in the comment section. They were determined to stand up for Ethan.

[I hate guys who live off women and ruin society. It's unfair to people like us who work ourselves to the bone for a few grand a month.]

[This video pissed me off. What gives this guy the right to act so arrogantly? Dating a rich woman doesn't make you better than everyone else. What a joke.]

[Throwing in some foreign language too. It's probably only one of the few phrases he knows. He just wants to sound educated. Who's he trying to fool?]

They even dug up my social media account.

My posts showed off gifts from Candace like luxury watches and sports cars. These only reinforced their belief that I was a kept man.

My posts and inbox were filled with insulting comments and messages.

Among them, I spotted messages from Ethan.

[So, how does it feel, you pathetic kept man? That's the price you pay for messing with me at the restaurant. I bet being cyberbullied doesn't feel good.]

[Here's a deal. Post a public apology, and I'll forgive you. I'll even say a few nice things for you.]

[But it better be sincere. Kneel in front of the camera, bang your head on the ground, and slap yourself a few times. Maybe then I'll stop feeling angry.]

I replied with a blank expression.

[Who are you to act this arrogantly? Mandy, that manager of yours? You do realize you've already committed a crime, don't you?]

I had already looked into it. Mandy Lindt was the daughter of my mom's distant cousin.

He replied instantly.

[Haha! Our manager was personally appointed by HQ. What do you have to fight us with, you loser?]

Whether she was appointed by the headquarters or secured the position through family connections, I knew the truth better than anyone.

To put it bluntly, Ethan was barking up the wrong tree.

I didn't reply to him. Instead, I immediately texted my mom, Martha Keele. I didn't explain what happened. I just asked for access to the restaurant's surveillance footage.

This incident was too minor to involve her as the group CEO. The moment she stepped in, all her subordinates would know this wasn't a trivial matter.

Less than five minutes later, the restaurant's real-time cloud surveillance footage was sent to my phone.