The Black Card System

Chapter One

On a busy Friday night in Los Angeles, Charles eagerly rode his scooter to the Silver Hotel for a delivery. He was excited on this particular night because deliveries to hotels attracted extra tips.

As a full-time door-dash delivery man, his job was to drop off food and orders for people and various businesses. It was his only means of income and he worked tirelessly to earn enough money to take care of his wife. But she never seemed to appreciate what he did and looked down on him all the time.

"You can't get anything right. You're just useless." Her words to him that morning replayed in his head countless times as he rode quickly to the hotel.

The truth was that his wife, Angela, and her family despised him because he was poor. But he remained hardworking, hoping that he would someday prove them wrong and earn their respect.

He arrived at the parking lot of the hotel and parked his scooter.

"I'm here to deliver an order to one of your residents." Charles informed the receptionist at the lobby. "Please which floor is room 304."

"Sixteenth floor," the receptionist replied, eyeing his messy hair, wrinkled shirt and dirty jeans.

"Thank you," Charles murmured. He got into the elevator and on the sixteenth floor, he got out.

With a quick glance, he spotted room 304 and knocked on the door. When he didn't receive any response, he knocked again.

"I'm here to deliver your–" He froze midday as the door opened and his gaze fell on no one else but his wife. "Angel–Angela?"

Angela stared at him in shock. "What are you doing here?" She asked, folding her arms.

Charles couldn't speak for a moment as he stared at her in disbelief. "The real question is, what are you doing here? I'm supposed to deliver an order to a man in this room. What's going –"

Before he could finish, a man walked up the door and wrapped his arms around Angela. He was about forty years old, with blue electric eyes and broad shoulders. The expensive cut of his clothes screamed money and power. He was nothing like Charles and his heart sank.

"Honey, what's going on? Is this the delivery man?" The man asked, planting a kiss on Angela's chin. Charles staggered back in shock, his eyes darting between his wife and the man embracing her.

"That's my useless husband." Angela replied. "I guess I've told you about him." Like it wasn't enough that he caught her cheating on him, Angela was humiliating him the more. There was no ounce of remorse detected on her face or voice. At that moment, Charles felt like his world had crumbled right before his eyes.

"How could you do this to me? Why would you cheat on me?"

Angela chuckled bitterly. "How can you ask me that stupid question when you can't even act like a man? Just look at you, you're nothing but a mockery to me. I can't believe I married a failure like you."

Charles was taken aback by her words and his heart churned with betrayal. "Angela, I've done everything possible to please you. I've tried my best to work hard to get you the things you need. Why would you do this?"

"You? Get me the things I need?" Angela spat. "You can only afford cheap things. I'm not cheap and I want to be given the most exquisite things in the city. Jefferson takes care of me unlike you. He doesn't give me pennies everyday but instead showers me with diamonds and expensive gifts. I regret the day I married you with all of my heart. I'm ashamed to be seen with you in public because you always look like a wretched beggar."

Jefferson, who was watching the altercation between them, had a smug smile on his face as Angela praised him. "You don't have to waste your time on him, honey. Let's go back and enjoy the night." He said, trying to take Angela inside.

"Don't you dare touch my wife again," Charles warned, taking a step toward them.

"And what would you do?" Angela chipped in. "Do you have any idea who you're talking to? This is Jefferson Stone, a renowned businessman in the city and the CEO of stones enterprise. You're nothing compared to him so I suggest you lower your voice while you speak to him. In case you have forgotten, you're nobody in this city."

Rage, real rage filled Charles as he stared at her. His body was trembling with anger and hurt. "We've been married for a year and you decided to betray me like this."

"Don't bring up our marriage, Charles." Angela responded. "I never wanted to marry a loser like you. My family thought you were the son of one of the most famous and wealthy men in the city. We didn't know you were just a bastard until it was too late. Did you think I settled for you out of love? No woman will marry someone like you. You're nothing but a liability to me. No wonder your family abandoned you and your mother."

Charles' eyes darkened with anger as she mentioned his mother. "Don't bring my mother up."

"Or what?" Angela bit back. "What will you do? Are you ashamed to tell everyone that your mother was a wretched maid? Are you embarrassed that your father slept with her and dumped her on the street? It's so unfortunate that I ended up with you. A reject, a complete disappointment to your family. But now, Jefferson will take good care of me. After all, his family owns a million-dollar company in the city."

At this point, Charles could not take it anymore. How could she involve his late mother? He rushed and tried to grab Angela out of anger. "How dare you?!!!" He yelled, his voice echoing across the sixteenth floor.

"Leave this place before I call the police and get you arrested for harassment!" Jefferson threatened as he stood between Charles and Angela.

"She is my wife. You have no right to come between us!" Charles barked, trying to confront Angela.

"You heard her. She doesn't want you anymore." Jefferson said and turned slightly to Angela. "Call the hotel's security personnel. Tell them to come and get this crazy man out of here."

Within minutes, two large, angry looking bodyguards came to take Charles away.

"No, no, no..," Charles begged. "You don't understand. This man is with my wife. Let me go!" But the bodyguards didn't care and quickly obeyed Jefferson's instructions to take him away.

"You'll pay for this! I promise that you'll regret this!" Charles threatened as the bodyguards took him away. "Angela, you'll pay for this!" They hauled him into an elevator and down to the lobby.

"If you ever come back here, we will get you arrested and beaten up." The bodyguards warned as they threw Charles out of the hotel building. He fell to the ground and bruised his body. The bodyguards mocked him bitterly before leaving.

Sitting on the floor of the parking lot, Charles was heartbroken and dejected. "I'm going to make all of them pay. I will take revenge on everyone who abandoned me and my mother. I will deal with everyone who threw my mother out on the streets and made our life miserable. All of them." He swore to himself in anger.

When his mother was thrown out by his father's family, she struggled to take care of Charles. He grew up in poverty, while his father was a billionaire in the city and never even considered helping him out.

Charles swore to himself that he would take revenge on his father and family for abandoning his mother on the streets. And he will make his wife pay for cheating on him.

And then, as he tried to get up, he heard a loud voice in his head and he fell back to the floor in pain. "[HOST DETECTED....INTRODUCING THE BLACK CARD SYSTEM].

At this moment, he felt his blood pumping wildly to his brain and his eyes reddened with pain. He held his head, trying to stop the pain but he couldn't control it. Then, he passed out on the ground.