Chapter 32: A Bone for Thousand Dollars
"Shut the fuck up, Emily," Rick stated coldly, shattering her delusional fantasy in an instant, "If you open your mouth one more time, I will make you lick the wine off this floor like the bitch in heat you are."
"You..." Emily flinched as she covered her mouth with both hands, shrinking back into the corner with tears streaming down her face.
How can her friend, her most obedient simp she used to control talk back to her like that?
Roy was frowning now, as his alpha persona was crumbling by the second, since his money, his status, and his women were completely useless against this monster.
"Marcus!" Roy screamed in pure panic, as he pointed at the manager, "How can you let this happen to Tristan? Aren’t you afraid of the consequences?"
"I swear to God her mother will have you fired and blacklisted from the industry!"
Marcus finally moved, and the lackeys let out a collective sigh of relief, as they assumed the manager was finally going to do his job and put this arrogant beggar in his place.
Roy smirked triumphantly, as he crossed his arms, "You are finished, Rick. You should have left when you had the chance, but now you are going to..."
But Roy’s words died in his throat when instead of pulling out the radio to call in the security, Marcus walked straight past the shattered table, completely ignoring the bleeding heir on the floor, and stopped exactly three feet in front of Rick.
The tall, silver-haired manager placed his hands formally at his sides, as he bent at the waist and delivered a deep, perfectly executed ninety-degree bow directly to Rick.
"Boss," Marcus spoke loudly, his voice echoing with absolute respect. "The medical team is waiting outside, but they will not enter until you give the order. How would you like to proceed?"
The entire room dropped into a dead, horrified silence.
The air in the room became so heavy it was suffocating, as every pair of eyes widened to the size of saucers, unable to comprehend what had just happened.
Did the floor manager just call Rick... Boss?
"What the fuck is going on?" Roy muttered, as his voice shook uncontrollably, his mind completely failing to process the reality in front of him. "Marcus, are you blind?! He is a beggar! He is a nobody! Why the fuck are you bowing to him?!"
Marcus slowly straightened his posture, as he turned his head to look at Roy with glacial, absolute contempt, as if he were looking at a buzzing mosquito.
"You are the one who is blind, you ignorant fool," Marcus stated coldly, as his words hit the room like a heavy sledgehammer, "You stand in the presence of greatness and dare to bark like a wild dog."
Marcus gestured respectfully toward Rick with an open palm.
"Allow me to properly introduce the man you have been insulting all night," Marcus announced, his voice ringing with undeniable authority. "This is Mr. Rick Smith. He is the new majority shareholder of the Peninsula Hotel, personally owning exactly fifty percent of the controlling stakes."
CRASH!
One of the guys dropped the wine glass as all the blood drained from their faces, leaving them as pale as a sheet of white paper.
They had just spent the last few minutes mocking, insulting, and threatening the man who literally owned the very building they were standing in?
But how is that possible? they all knew Rick. He was nothing but a broke loser who was nothing, nothing at all in front of them. Even his family lived somewhere in the countryside.
Roy’s smug, arrogant face completely collapsed, as his jaw dropped so low it almost hit the floor.
"Fifty... fifty percent?" Roy stammered, as his legs turned into pure jelly, making him stagger backward until his back hit the table, "That is impossible! That is billions of dollars! He is just a broke college loser! This has to be a joke!"
Rick let out a dark, menacing laugh, as he casually kicked Tristan’s unconscious body out of the way, stepping directly toward Roy.
Roy was completely paralyzed by fear, as he watched Rick approach him like a grim reaper coming to collect his soul.
Rick stopped right in front of Roy, as he raised his hand and aggressively tapped Roy’s pale cheek with the back of his fingers.
Slap! Slap! Slap!
The light, humiliating slaps echoed in the quiet room, completely destroying the last remaining shreds of Roy’s dignity.
"You really love flashing this cheap piece of metal around, don’t you, Roy?" Rick mocked crudely, as he held up the black titanium card he had picked up.
"Just because it is black, does not make it premium," Rick sneered, as he effortlessly bent the solid titanium card in half with his bare hands, before tossing the ruined metal directly into Roy’s face. "This isn’t enough to cover your bill tonight."
Roy’s smug, arrogant face twitched, as a loud, mocking laugh suddenly erupted from his throat, completely shattering the tense silence.
"Actors?!" Roy sneered loudly, as he pointed a finger directly at Marcus and Rick. "You actually hired the manager to play along with your pathetic little fantasy?! Fifty percent?! You are a broke college loser, Rick! Do you really think anyone here is stupid enough to believe this absolute bullshit?!"
Marcus’s eyes turned glacial, as he stepped forward to reprimand the insolent brat, but Rick simply raised a hand, stopping the manager in his tracks.
Rick looked at Roy with a dark, amused smirk, because watching a frog at the bottom of a well try to deny the vast sky was incredibly entertaining.
"Believe whatever helps you sleep at night, Roy," Rick stated lazily, as he pressed his heavy boot down even harder onto Tristan’s fractured ribs, drawing a pathetic, gurgling scream from the bleeding heir, "I only care about one thing. You pay up for the services.,"
"But the price for this room just went up to a flat one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Pay the bill and you are free to leave."
"If you can’t... I will break the bones of every single one of you and then make you wash dishes in the kitchen until you have paid off your debt."
Roy scoffed arrogantly, as his massive ego simply could not accept being extorted by a beggar.
"One hundred and fifty grand?!" Roy sneered maliciously, as he turned toward the five guysstanding behind him, pointing a shaking finger directly at Rick, "Don’t just stand there like idiots! Beat the living shit out of this pathetic loser! Break his bones."
"For each bone you break, I will give you a thousand dollars."
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