The Pinnacle of Life

As night fell in California, the Assex’s residence was filled with brilliant light and cheerful noises.

Today marked the birthday of Madame Claire of the Assex family. Despite her age, she was still the epitome of elegance and beauty. More remarkably, was the beauty and grace of her two daughters.  One of them was deemed California’s most beautiful; and the other was said to be the best looking in her college. Countless men who had been drooling over their beauty seized the opportunity, and came to wish Madame Claire a happy birthday.

“Madame Claire, I present to you, The Pearl of the East Sea. Wearing it will help your complexion. Happy birthday!”

“Madame, I present to you, a pair of jade scepters. Wishing you eternal youth and may all your wishes come true.”

As the gifts were presented to her one by one, the look of delight could not be hidden on Madame Claire’s face.  She was feeling overjoyed.

Like a bolt from the blue, a young man wearing a pair of worn out jeans rushed into the villa looking distressed.  He said to Madame Claire, “Mum, my mother is very sick and needs immediate attention. Could you please lend me half a million dollars?”

Everyone was in shock and stared at the young man.  The disgust on their faces was apparent.  He had the audacity to not only come in empty-handed, but to ask for half a million dollars of hand out.  Had he gone insane?

A faint voice in the crowd asked, “Who is this person?”

A man in a suit arrogantly said, “Who else can it be? He is Alex Rockefeller, the son-in-law of the Assex family. The useless husband of Lady Dorothy! He is but a husband only in name, Lady Dorothy is a virgin. Otherwise, none of us will be here today!”

The villa was bursting with laughter as he finished his sentence.

A beautiful lady sitting on the couch looked at Alex with disappointment. She was Alex’s wife, Lady Dorothy Assex. They had been married for almost a year, but Alex’s status in the family was worse than that of a nanny. He was never even allowed to enter his wife’s room.

A year ago, on the day of their wedding, Alex’s parents were involved in a traffic accident. His father, William Rockefeller, was pronounced dead on the spot; his mother had been in a coma up till now. To make matters worse, his father was framed for corruption, and his company as well as all the properties had been seized. Alex was expelled from the house of Rockefeller. A man who was once treated as a young prince had turned into a nobody overnight. Naturally, his money-loving mother-in-law despised him to his very core.

In order to afford his mother’s medical bills, he had to sell off the only house that he had under his legal ownership, and it was still nowhere near enough to pay for the exorbitant fees incurred by her treatment.  He had just been notified by the hospital that he had to come up with half a million dollars for a critical operation immediately, otherwise, his mother would only have three days of life left.  Alex had exhausted all other options, he had no choice but to come to beg the Assex family for money.

Looking at Alex’s desperate begging, embarrassing her in front of her guests on her birthday, Madame Claire’s face turned red with fury.  She took a piece of her birthday cake and threw it at Alex and said, “You are such garbage, the only thing you know how to do is beg for money from us every day. Do you think our money grows on trees? Is it not enough that we give you a stipend of ten thousand dollars every month? You dare to come here begging for half a million dollars? Your mother’s medical expenses are like a bottomless pit. There’s no need for an operation, just prepare for her funeral already!”

Alex immediately let go of his tightly held hands.

Lady Dorothy finally stood up and handed some tissue to Alex.  She then said, “Mom, you should be more civil about this, there’s no need to get physical.”

At this moment, Beatrice, the younger sister of Dorothy, said sneeringly, “Sister, why are you still defending this trash? Look at him. Has he contributed a single cent since he came into our family? Has he ever given a gift to me and Mother? No! What else can he do apart from asking our family for money? I think you should leave him as soon as possible. There are many young, talented, and eligible men here today. Any one of them  is a thousandfold better than him.”

As they heard the words of Lady Beatrice Assex, all of the young men couldn’t wait to speak up.

“I agree! Being married to this loser is truly unfortunate for Lady Dorothy, it’s much better to get the marriage annulled immediately!”  said one young man. “I’m willing to marry Lady Dorothy immediately, I will provide a dowry of a mansion in Beverly Hills worth thirty million dollars and another twenty million dollars in cash.”

Someone else immediately shouted, “Thirty million dollars mansion in Beverly Hills?  That has to be the cheapest home in the neighborhood! I am willing to give a mansion worth eighty million in Beverly Hills if you marry me, Lady Dorothy!”

Another shouted, “Me, me, me! As long as Lady Dorothy marries me, all of Jones’s Family’s billions in assets will be yours.”

Alex’s face had gone pale with humiliation.  Dorothy’s face had also turned pale.  She was depressed because of the words her mother spoke next.

Madame Claire was pleased to see everyone offering such sky-high dowries for her daughter’s hand in marriage and said, “Gentlemen, please settle down and listen to what I have to say. Truth be told, my daughter Dorothy recently came upon a problem and accidentally ran into Sir Gaston Gates of Thousand Miles Corporation. Sir Gaston has threatened to run our Assex Construction out of business. Whoever is willing and able to help Dorothy out of this mess, you have my blessing for my daughter’s hand in marriage.”

She did not mention that Sir Gaston had asked for the companionship of Lady Dorothy, otherwise, he would run the Assex family out of town.

Alex was fuelled with anger and exclaimed loudly, “I will not agree to that, Dorothy is my wife...”

Madame Claire slapped Alex across his face and said, “Who is your wife? Are you not aware that you are a nobody? You have no right to speak.”

She asked again, “Gentlemen, what do you say?” After hearing of the threat of Gaston Gates, all those who were vying to marry Lady Dorothy changed their attitude drastically and did not utter a single word.  Thousand Miles Conglomerate was the leading corporation in California. Their assets were worth trillions of dollars.  A single word from the Gates family could make the world tremble. What was more frightening was the fact that Lex Gunther, the owner of Thousand Miles Conglomerate, known as Lord Lex, was the Don of California’s underground world, with unfathomable power and influence. None of them were crazy enough to be making enemies of the Thousand Miles Conglomerate just for Lady Dorothy’s hand in marriage.

Witnessing the utter silence of the moment, Madame Claire's heart sank a little with restlessness.

Suddenly, someone said, “Alright, I will settle this matter with Thousand Miles Conglomerate, and once it’s done, I will marry Lady Dorothy.”

Everyone’s head turned and all eyes were on a young man wearing a Giorgio Armani suit with extraordinary temperament walking in with his head held high.