Chapter Eight

Charles left the hotel shortly after speaking with Vera. He was so happy that the system gave him great cooking skills to beat the chef. Then, Vera had given him her number after the competition. Everything was going well for him since he activated the system.

He booked a cab to Adam's family mansion where he was hoping to meet and settle everything with his wife, Angela.

Ding!

The system’s screen appeared before his eyes as usual and Charles smiled widely.

[New task: Spend 10 million dollars within 24 hours. Two black card points will be awarded once you complete this mission. You can choose to upgrade your previous skill or purchase new skills.]

Charles couldn’t hide his excitement as the screen disappeared. 10 million dollars? What would he spend 10 million dollars on?

Just then, he received a notification from the bank that 10 million dollars had been transferred to his account. As he was thinking of what to spend his money on, the cab pulled over to the Adam’s family mansion.

Charles walked in, feeling quite confident. He was no longer the poor orphan who was maltreated by everyone. He had 10 million dollars in his bank account.

“Here he comes,” Angela’s sister, Mary said immediately as he walked into the sitting room. The entire family except Mark were gathered and Charles could immediately tell they were having a meeting. “The useless son-in-law is finally back.”

Charles glanced around the room and his eyes met their distasteful gazes. They were all staring at him with hatred and disgust. To his surprise, he spotted Jefferson sitting next to Angela’s grandmother at the table. He had a proud smile on his face and Angela was also grinning from ear to ear.

“Where have you been?” Angela asked, eyeing him up. “Does your stupid job stop you from coming back on time?”

“I had things to do,” Charles said, taking a seat at the end of the table. He was usually not offered a seat during family meetings but spent his time serving everyone and cleaning up. And maybe once in a while, they would pay attention to him but only to mock him. “Why have you been looking for me?” He asked.

“Who asked you to sit? Only a true member of this family is permitted to sit. Stand up, now.” The grandmother, Mrs. Adam, barked and Charles rose slowly from the seat. He didn’t even care about sitting, he just wanted to get over everything and leave.

Angela rose from her seat and walked up to him. She was holding a small file which she flung toward him. “Those are our divorce papers. Open it and sign everything. I’m tired of being your wife.”

Charles picked up the file from the ground and opened it. Like she said, they contained their divorce papers which she had already signed. He flipped through them and sighed. “You have already signed them. Is this your final decision?”

Angela chuckled. “That has been my decision since the day I married you. I’m just so happy that I met Jefferson and he is going to be a much better husband than you ever were. You must sign the papers before you leave so that I’ll have nothing to do with you anymore. You have already dented my image and ruined my reputation in this city. Go back to the street where you belong.”

“Ok,” Charles said, without hesitation. “I'd like to have the necklace I gave you on our wedding night back. It is my family heirloom which belonged to my mother.”

Angela was immediately angered that he wasn’t begging her like she expected. She wanted him to beg so that she would humiliate him more in front of Jefferson.

She went into the room where she kept the necklace and retrieved it. She never wore it out because she thought it was cheap and old school. “Are you talking about this?” She asked, then threw it on the floor and crushed it with her leg while everyone watched. She made sure that she crushed it beyond repair. Charles’ eyes narrowed in anger as he watched her.

“If you still want it, you can pick up the pieces from the ground,” Angela said, smiling. “It has always been cheap and worthless to me.”

“I gave that to you even though it was the only thing of my mother’s that I had left.” Charles responded, his voice laced with anger and disappointment. “Do you know how much it is worth to me? Couldn’t you give it back to me without destroying it?”

“I don’t care about what it means to you. Pick up the pieces and get your things out of this place.” She fired back. “The more I see you, the more disgusted I feel.”

Charles picked up the broken pieces of the necklace and put it in his pocket. It was still worth something to him even though it was broken.

“Take your bag and cheap belongings,” Mary said as she threw Charles’s bag to him. “You’re lucky we didn’t burn them.”

Just as Mary was insulting him, Mark walked into the city room, his face reddened with anger. Immediately he saw Charles, he lost his composure.

“Who let him into this place?” He yelled, grabbing Charles by his clothes. “How dare you come back here after everything you’ve done today? How dare you?!!”

“Mark, calm down.” Mrs. Adam said and he released Charles slowly. “What happened? What did this good for nothing do again?”

“He made them kick me out of the Golden State hotel. Can you imagine that?” He said angrily. “After all our attempts to pay for their hotel membership, this idiot ruined everything.”

“What?” Mrs. Adam was shocked by Mark’s revelation. The family had been trying to pay for the hotel membership for a long time and when Mark could finally afford it, she was overjoyed. She was hoping to hear the good news from him when he returned so she would boast to her friends that her family had secured a membership spot at the best hotel in the city.

Mark told them everything that happened and by the time he was done, the entire Adam family were staring at Charles with undiluted anger.

“Why do you have to ruin everything?” Angela was furious. “You are a disease to this family and I’m so happy you’re leaving today.”

Mrs. Adam was so angry that she couldn’t speak for some minutes. She adjusted her glasses and looked up at Charles. “I regret the day that you came into this family. From today, I don’t want to ever see you within the environs of this mansion. My granddaughter will marry this gentleman, Jefferson, and he will expand our company to become one of the best in the city. If you dare try to come back here after the divorce, I’ll make sure you’re arrested and thrown into jail.”

“I’ll make sure that he never gets to see Angela talk more of touching her,” Jefferson said, rising to his feet. He commanded authority among the Adam’s family unlike Charles. “This man here is nothing but a liability to your family. I, on the other hand, will do everything possible to elevate this family to the next level. As Angela’s soon to be husband, I will provide everything she needs and will never be a failure like this beggar here.” He said, referring to Charles.

“Things will change soon,” Charles said within himself. In fact, he didn’t care about the Adam’s family anymore. He was focused on how to complete his next mission and earn black card points. His revenge on Angela and her family will come later.

He picked up his bag and turned to Angela with a small smile on his face. “Good bye, Angela.”

“Good bye!” She yelled. “Get out of here.”

“And don’t ever come back!” Mark added, still fuming.