"Alex, what do you have to say for yourself?" Mr. Berkley asked as he held up the note.
"The truth isn't what you're thinking. I was trying to help Mr. Morgan by writing this note." All Alex could do was to try to defend himself, whether they believed him or not.
"It's written so clearly on this paper, yet you're still trying to argue. You are dumb." Cathy sneered as she looked at Alex. Now, she was feeling good. "Swindling Mr. Morgan out of three hundred fifty thousand. You'll serve twenty years for this."
Cathy took out her phone and started to call 911.
Mr. Berkley stopped her and said, "Wait a moment. Let's take him to the hospital and confront Mr. Morgan with that girl. We'll see if he dares to face Mr. Morgan." Mr. Berkley grabbed Alex, afraid that he would try to run away.
Hearing that Debbie was also involved, Alex became afraid. Debbie's such a delicate person, he thought. How will she ever cope with this?
He didn't think about his situation at all. He only wanted to get back to Debbie's side to protect her.
Mr. Berkley escorted Alex to the school gate, got him into his car, and they drove straight to the hospital.
By this time, Mr. Morgan's ward had become quite crowded with students. They had heard that the money had been found and had decided to come to the hospital themselves to find out more.
Of course, Darren and Donna were also there. They had heard that Alex was the thief, and they had come to gloat.
As Mr. Berkley escorted Alex inside the hospital, the students started calling out.
One said, "Hey, isn't that the rich guy who donated all that money?"
"Alex, you're so gorgeous. You're my idol, can we talk on Snapchat?" said another.
Another girl called out, "Alex, I love you. We'd look so great together. Give me a chance."
A small group of female students ran up to Alex and tried to grab his attention.
Darren and Donna rushed over, and Donna said to the girls, "Are you all dumb? What a bunch of idiots you are. It was him that stole Mr. Morgan's money."
Darren backed her up. "It's true. That scum stole the three hundred fifty thousand dollars. All he cares about is money."
The students started to believe Darren and Donna. One said, "Ah, you stole the money from Mr. Morgan? You scumbag."
Another joined in, "That money was to build up the internship program, and you took it to spend on yourself and your girlfriend. You sleazebag!"
"I hope they catch you, or Mr. Morgan will be blamed for the missing money. Mr. Morgan's such a good person. He's your teacher and this is how you repay him?"
In no time at all, the girls had turned against him. They were angry and some even punched Alex a few times.
Although it was painful, Alex didn't feel it at all. He didn't try to defend himself as his mind was focused on worrying about Debbie.
He had a bad feeling. He was sure that these people were capable of treating Debbie as cruelly as they were treating him.
Ignoring the punches and kicks and insults from his classmates, Alex strode into Luke's ward.
When he entered the ward, he couldn't believe what he saw.
Debbie was sprawled on the ground, surrounded by a circle of people. Her hair was messy and there were traces of saliva on the top of her head. There were even a few grey footprints on the new beige dress that he had bought her.
"Debbie—" In his heart, Alex blamed himself. He hadn't protected her properly, and he was furious.
"You scum, I'll kill you all!" Alex was about to throw a chair at the other students. He looked deranged.
Debbie stopped him. She cried, "Alex, no." He stopped and looked at her. His eyes were red and he was shaking. A small smile appeared on Debbie's battered face, "Don't fight with them, just tell them that you're not the person who stole the money, and then get me away from here."
"Okay." Alex put down the chair, walked to Debbie's side, and hugged her. He gently tidied up her messy hair as if there was no one else in the room.
The others were scared of his temper, so they kept quiet and watched.
"Oh wow, these two scumbags are showing us how much they love each other." Cathy crossed her arms and walked over to Alex and Debbie with a proud smile. "Alex, tell me, where did you put what's left of the stolen money? Quickly hand over the details."
"I didn't touch Mr. Morgan's money." Alex didn't even look at Cathy. He was still fussing over Debbie.
"Even now, you won't admit it." Cathy then took out the note he had written. "Mr. Morgan, everyone, look. When we found Alex, he was writing this note. The words on it explain everything."
After the students finished reading the note, they handed it to Luke. He didn't want to believe it, but he couldn't deny what he was reading. He was heartbroken. "Alex, this is—"
"Mr. Morgan, I wrote this on purpose to help you—" Alex started to explain.
Cathy burst out laughing. "Haha, you know how to bullshit." She looked at Alex with a sneer and continued, "Tell us, if you didn't steal it, where did you get the one hundred thirty thousand for the donation and the money to go out for expensive meals and to buy designer clothes for this peasant? Go on, tell us."
She continued, "Are you trying to say that you won all that money on lottery tickets? Bullshit. "Who the hell would believe you?" Cathy was determined to make sure that everyone hated Alex.
Alex thought, Previously, I had to hide my identity to avoid problems, but now, it seems that hiding my identity has made these people despise me even more. And I've even caused Debbie to get beaten up. What's the use of hiding who I am any longer?
He said, "It's true that I didn't win the money in the lottery." He helped Debbie stand up and looked at Cathy with a faint smile. "This money is all mine. My family is rich."
When Alex finished speaking, everyone in the ward was stunned for a moment before bursting out in laughter.
Cathy laughed and said, "Alex, is that all you've got? Can't you think of anything better? With that image, I think you really should be a screenwriter." She didn't believe him at all.
"If you're rich, then I'm super-rich. Maybe you should call me Lady Cathy," she joked.
Alex replied in earnest, "I'm one of the richest people in the world and you're still being rude to me. You'd better watch out or my family will destroy yours."
The others didn't take his words seriously at all.
Alex was really angry. This bunch of arrogant kids, he thought. They have no idea who they're talking to right now. With a single word from my father, their entire families could vanish into thin air.
He looked around at the people present and said, "Listen to me, you have no idea how powerful my family is. Everything you eat; all your clothes; everything you use at school, all your medical treatments; even your cars and houses; and even the buttons you've got on your clothes; they've all come from my family's businesses. I advise you to keep your mouths shut."
The others burst into laughter. In their eyes, Alex was a raving lunatic.
"What's this idiot saying?" One of the students said. "Is he trying to make me die from laughing too hard? Is he distracting us so he can run away?"
"Hurry up and record it on your phones. Alex is going to be famous on social media."
No one believed Alex's words. Only Debbie knew he was speaking the truth.
One of the teachers from the student affairs office approached Alex and advised him, "Alex, the school has already recovered the one hundred thirty thousand dollars that you donated. As long as you hand over the rest of the stolen money, I can assure you that the school will treat you with leniency."
"I'll say it again, that money is my own money. I never touched Mr. Morgan's money," Alex said coldly.
He thought, Okay if you insist, I'll show you who my family are. You have no idea.
With this in mind, he took out his Sky Metro Bank supreme card from his pocket and held it up. "This is my Sky Metro Bank supreme card. In my account, you'll find I have around twenty million dollars. If any of you don't believe me, you can take this card and look for yourselves. If anyone dares to touch a single cent of this money, I guarantee you'll regret it."
Alex's card looked cool, and no one there was rich enough to have a supreme card. They had heard about them but had never seen one.
"Have we made this kid go completely crazy?" One student asked.
Another responded, "Don't you need three million to use the Sky Metro Bank?"
"If he wants to play, let's humour him. It'll be entertaining. The hospital has a card machine. Let's go right now," another suggested.
The card machine was quickly brought to the ward. Cathy personally held the supreme card and prepared to try it.
Alex stood calmly at the side and watched. He was thinking, I can't wait to see their reactions. When they see the amount of money in the account, they'll be stunned and I'm sure they'll all start sucking up to me then. They'll soon know how stupid they've been and how badly they've treated me and Debbie.
Alex entered his PIN. But instead of displaying twenty million dollars, a few words flashed across the screen: [This account is temporarily unavailable.]
Cathy said sarcastically, "Oh right. This is the Metro Sky Bank's supreme card and it doesn't even work in the card machine." The others also mocked and ridiculed him.
How can this be? Alex wondered. He couldn't figure out what was happening. I've used my card in the last few days and it was fine. A few days ago, I even bought a villa at Green Island Garden.
He quickly called the customer manager of Metro Sky Bank, Robert Miller, to ask him about his account.
"Sorry, Mr. Ambrose, your card is connected to your family's account. Half an hour ago, your card was restricted by your family. I'm sorry but you can no longer use it."
My family? Alex thought. But my family has only just given me access to my money. Why have they stopped me from using it again so quickly?
Alex was shocked and confused. He called Mark Stephens.
"Mark, what's going on with my account?" Alex asked urgently.
"Ah—" Mark was also troubled. "It's like this, Sir. In the short period since you've had access to your money, you've already spent almost 200 thousand dollars. Although this is not a huge sum of money, some members of the family think that you haven't yet matured enough to have access to your account, so it's been temporarily frozen. But don't worry. I believe that it should be released again very soon."