"Mr. Yates, you're really amazing! Mr. Dreck hardly comes out to greet anyone", said someone from the crowd.
"Yes, the Ruby is one of the top hotels in Washington, D.C. Mr. Dreck's fortune is at least
several million dollars. Even when the local rich people come, he doesn't show up in
person. We're outsiders to him, but not to Mr. Yates", said a woman with a smile.
"There's a future to following Mr. Yates", said a man with a big smile.
The guests were all praising Lester, but he could only smile awkwardly. He had not yet
figured out why Dreck would come to see him. Although he had some achievements to his
name in Washington, his business wasn't that big. In terms of his wealth, he may not even
rank in the top three hundred in the city.
But, anyway, Dreck had stopped by, which was always a good thing.
Lester took the opportunity to boast, trying to take advantage of this moment to reinforce
his position as leader of the Texans in the Washington group. "Mr. Dreck and I have known
each other for a long time. The last time I went to Chicago, Mr. Dreck and Mr. Ken Stokes paid me a special visit. We had dinner together."
"Are you friends with Mr. Stokes?" asked the same man curiously.
"In several nearby states, people from all walks of life have to show Mr. Stokes respect.
Mr. Yates, can you introduce us?" asked another inquisitively.
The other people in the room admired Lester even more. It was amazing to have a
connection with Ken Stokes.
"It's hard to say if I can. If I have a chance in the future, I'll invite Mr. Stokes to one of our
meetings, but let's have dinner first," he said.
When he finished speaking, all the others sat down at their tables.
"Mr. Yates, this man has not left yet." Myriam took his arm and looked at Alex with a sneer.
When she heard that Lester knew Ken, who was such a powerful figure, she had an idea for getting rid of her boyfriend Jake.
"Boy, can you afford to pay for your meal? If you can't afford to pay, you can report to the
hotel and do some chores for them to pay it off," said Lester.
"I'll step out and get some money," Alex said.
"My mother is here. I'll go ask her for some money to pay him back", he thought.
"Oh, you think I'm a fool, do you? I don't think you can afford it. If you run out of this door,
you're probably not coming back," said Lester.
"Yes, how can a pancake seller pay for this meal?" said a young man.
"Remember Miss Myriam's story about the Crown hotel. He probably doesn't have much
money."
"If you can't afford it, you should go work for the hotel!" said Lester.
"Who said that he can't afford it?" The sound of a woman's voice came from the door. A
beautiful middle-aged woman quickly walked in. She was wearing a long black dress with
sheer fabric covering her shoulders. Her hair was tied back and revealed her gold earrings. She had big, bright eyes and emitted the charm of a mature woman. It was Alex's mother, Flora. Her face was full of beauty.
After seeing his mother for the first time in seven years, Alex heard her voice but wanted to stop her from speaking.
She had come to visit Alex behind the family's back. In front of so many people, they still
needed to maintain their status as the reclusive Ambrose family.
She walked in by herself, and then Ken and Dreck followed her. She moved to the front in a dignified manner and sat on a chair. Ken and Dreck stood on both sides of her. Alex also
stood beside her.
"Who is that?" The guests were looking at each other and didn't recognize the woman who
had just walked in and didn't even look at them.
"Mr. Dreck, you—" Lester knew nothing about the other two, so he had to ask Dreck. Dreck was about to say something, but Flora nodded her head slightly at him, so he obediently closed his mouth.
"Who is Myriam? Stand up for me now!" Flora commanded.
Myriam heard her name and was shocked. She stood up.
"What did you say about this young man?" Flora asked her with a smile, but to Myriam, her smile was weird and terrifying.
In front of this woman, she felt like a primary school student. She was flustered and dared not lie to her.
"There's a security guard for the building outside—" Myriam said as Flora slowly stood up
and walked over to her.
Flora grabbed Myriam by the hair and slapped her hard on one side of her face. She let go of her hair and returned to her chair, where she sat staring at Myriam. Myriam felt dizzy, but, fortunately, she was held upright by the people around her. The guests near her were
afraid of Flora, so they didn't dare to intervene.
"Which one of you is Lester? Get over here!" Flora didn't take them seriously at all.
The crowd became excited. The middle-aged beauty was so strong that she even spoke to
Lester this way.
"I'm here!" Lester was still trying to figure out who this woman was.
When he had heard her coming, he had slowly blended in with the group. How could he bear such humiliation in front of so many people?
He strode up to Flora and said, "I'm Lester. Who are you?"
"Who am I? You don't have the right to ask me this question," she sneered. "When I walked
into this room, I heard that you were shouting about losing money. What's the matter?"
Lester answered Flora's question in a meaningful way.
"That boy ate my food, so shouldn't he give me money to pay for it? But he can't afford to
pay, so I'll leave him here to work it off," said Lester.
"So, you said he can't afford it? Hmm," Flora said with a sneer. She asked, "What else did
you say with that stinky mouth of yours?"
Although she scolded him for his bad mouth, he felt that as long as he didn't cause a conflict with this woman, he could take advantage of the moment.
"Of course, he can't afford it. I saw it with my own eyes outside. The boy asked an old lady
for money. If he had money, why would he ask an old lady for her money?" he said.
"Tell me clearly… why did he want money from an old lady?" Flora asked as she didn't
believe that her son would take money from a poor old woman.
"I heard the boy call the old lady his mother. The woman was maybe seventy or eighty
years old, so she can't be the boy's mother. Although I only heard a few words, I'm guessing that the boy must have a mother but wasn't taught well by her, so now he's turned into this mess," said Lester.
"Hey, yes, what child who has a mother would dress so badly?" said a woman from the crowd.
"A child without a mother is like a weed, which means they must be pitied," a man said.
The other people echoed his observation.
When Alex looked at his mother, his eyes were watering and tears started to form. He was
so distressed that he wanted to hug her so that she would not be so sad.
Flora stood up, rushed over to Lester, and hit him in the mouth. When she tried to hit him again, he grabbed her hand.
"Let go!" she said angrily.
"Hey, you're a vicious shrew—" he exclaimed.
Alex interrupted him and moved to kick him in the chest. He fell to the ground.
Alex pulled his mother to his side and asked anxiously, "What are you doing?"
He wanted to understand why she acted like she didn't recognize him, so he didn't call her by her name.
"Child—," she said with tearful eyes and stretched out her hand to gently touch his face.
Lester had been helped up off the ground.
"Look at this… a shrew and a loser dare to bully me. Do you think I deserve to be bullied?
Fellow Texans, help me fight these two people. Who's the bravest here? I'll help you solve
any future problems that you encounter in this city," said Lester.
Lester had great prestige among these people. When he said this, several men got up to
attack Alex and Flora.
All of a sudden, Dreck and Ken were in front of Alex and Flora.
"Mr. Dreck, please get out of the way. If there are any damages to the room, I'll pay you
twice as much. You can see that these two people are so arrogant. I need to get my revenge, so I don't look like a fool in front of the Texans." Lester was furious.
"You want revenge? Don't make a fool of yourself… go apologize to this lady. You can't
afford the consequences of offending her," advised Dreck.
"Ah, Mr. Dreck, you really look down on me. Although I'm a stranger, I deserve some
respect. I've been humiliated so much today, and now you want me to apologize to this
woman?" asked Lester. "I don't know who this rich woman is, but I'm not afraid of her like
you are. I'm one of the top ten richest people around here, and I want my revenge!"
Lester knew that this woman couldn't be part of the Washington elite. As long as
the woman wasn't one of the top ten, he really didn't care about her.
Several of Lester's fellow Texans started bluffing.
"Mr. Yates knows Ken. Are you better than Mr. Stokes?" said a woman snootily.
"You should quickly apologize to Mr. Yates, and he might be able to forgive you!" said another man with pity.
Ken looked solemnly at Lester and asked, "Have you really met Ken Stokes in person? Do
you know what he looks like?"
"Of course! If you're smart, you'll get out of my way or—" Lester also wanted to frighten
them with Ken's name. But he started to panic when he noticed that the man standing in
front of him had been silently staring back at him. He felt that he must be somebody
important.
He looked at Ken and asked, "Who are you?"
"Who do you think I am?" Ken sneered.
Lester panicked, and he looked over at Dreck. "Mr. Dreck, who is he?"
Dreck snorted and said with a sarcastic smile, "He's the famous Ken Stokes… Mr. Stokes of
the East Coast Division."
In the end, it turned out that the man standing in front of Lester was the famous Ken Stokes.