The next day, at six in the evening, Alex left the girls in the villa and took a cab to the Continental hotel.
When he arrived, he noticed a lot of luxury cars parked in front of the hotel. The people walking into the hotel were all dressed very elegantly in expensive dresses, suits, and tuxedos.
He walked into the hotel and took the elevator to the eighth floor. As soon as he stepped out of the elevator, a waiter stopped him. He looked at Alex and asked, "Sir, do you have an invitation?"
Alex thought, "An invitation? What's going on?"
He shook his head.
The waiter said impatiently, "If you don't have an invitation letter, please leave the hotel. Thank you for your cooperation."
Alex was upset and said, "I was invited to come here, but only by a phone call. I don't know anything about invitation letters. Is this where the Sultan of Brunei is holding a banquet?"
With a sneer, the waiter said, "Yes, the Sultan of Brunei has booked this entire floor. This evening, he will entertain all the important families in D. C. They have all received invitation letters, and his people have specifically requested that we don't allow anyone in who doesn't have one. I don't know why you're here, but I cannot let you in. Please leave now or I'll ask the security guard to remove you."
The elevator opened again, and a portly man stepped out. He had an invitation letter in his hand. After the waiter looked at it, he beamed, bowed to the man, and said, "Welcome, sir. Please step this way. The Sultan of Brunei welcomes you."
The man smiled proudly. When he saw Alex, he looked at him with contempt and said, "How has this scruffy loser been allowed in? What if the people of Brunei saw a man like this in the company of the Sultan? This could negatively affect the cooperation between Brunei and our country. Can your hotel afford a scandal like that? Get this man out of here right now."
"Yes, of course," the waiter said hurriedly.
He opened the elevator, looked at Alex angrily, and said, "You really must leave now. You can see that you're upsetting our guests. Now go. I can tell from the way you're dressed that you can't afford to stay in our hotel. I don't know how you sneaked in, but you must leave now."
Alex looked at the waiter, stepped away from the elevator, took out his cell phone, and called Nelly.
When the waiter saw realized that he still wasn't leaving, he stepped toward him ready to grab him and push him into the elevator.
Alex put out his hand to stop him but accidentally hit him harder than he'd intended in the chest. The waiter stepped back two steps and put his hands to his chest. It was throbbing. He pointed at Alex and said, "Good. Now that you've assaulted me, I can call the security guard to have you removed."
Nelly answered the phone and Alex asked her, "Nelly, where are you now? I don't have an invitation letter and the hotel refuses to let me in."
She told him, "The Sultan is still at the guesthouse where he's staying, but we'll be there soon. Don't worry, I'll call the hotel and tell their manager to let you in."
"Okay, thanks," Alex said and ended the call.
The waiter sneered and said, "You're still trying to pretend that you're invited to the dinner? Who were you talking to? The Sultan? Oh, how funny you are. Well, I've called security. They'll be here soon to throw you out."
At that moment, the hotel manager arrived. He had received a phone call from the Sultan of Brunei, complaining that one of their very important guests had been stopped outside the dining hall and was not allowed to enter. He had instructed him to resolve the situation immediately.
The manager approached Alex and asked him, "Are you, Alex?"
Alex nodded and said with a smile, "Yes, I am."
The waiter said hurriedly, "Sir, this man doesn't have an invitation. When I told him that he had to leave, he assaulted me. I've called the security guards. They'll be here in a moment to take him away."
The waiter looked at Alex with disgust.
When the manager heard what the waiter said, his face became anxious. Clearly, this was the person who the Sultan of Brunei had called him about. He must be someone very important.
He thought, "And this stupid waiter has spoken to him so rudely, and even called the security guard to throw him out."
If the Sultan of Brunei knew that their hotel had treated his guest like that, they could be ruined.
The manager gave the waiter a sharp look and said, "Alex is a distinguished guest of the Sultan of Brunei. How dare you speak to him like that? What have you done asking security to throw him out?"
The waiter looked at him in a daze. When he heard that Alex was a guest of the Sultan, his heart almost jumped out of his throat.
"Apologize to him immediately," the manager snapped.
"Yes, of course." The waiter looked at Alex, bowed, and said, "Sir, please accept my apology. I'm so sorry. I was wrong, please forgive me."
When several security guards arrived, the manager pointed to the waiter and said, "Please get him out of my sight. Take him to the financial department to settle any outstanding wages, and then make sure he leaves. Ask the HR team to start advertising his position." Although the waiter's mistakes were understandable, the manager felt that he had no choice but to let him go to protect the hotel's reputation.
"No, sir, please give me another chance." The waiter was about to cry. He was very sorry and knew that it was his fault. If he'd had a better attitude, it would never have happened.
Alex smiled and said to the manager, "I think he knows what he's done wrong and has repented. Why not let it go this time?"
The manager replied, "Well, sir, if you're happy to forgive him, I'll give him another chance."
The waiter was overjoyed and shook Alex's hand excitedly. He said, "Thank you, sir. I will never behave so badly again. Thank you so much, sir."
Alex nodded to the manager and walked into the dining room.
**
There were more than ten round tables in the dining room and a stage at the front.
There were already a lot of people in there. All of them were from the twenty wealthiest families in D. C.
Alex calmly found a seat and sat down. He saw that Colin Patterson and Jason Morley were there, but they didn't notice him.
Colin and Jason were drinking from glasses of red wine and chatting with several of their peers.
Colin took a sip of red wine and said, "Although Brunei is a small country, there's a lot of money there. Apparently, the Sultan wants to discuss a five-billion-dollar investment project. It is a huge deal and an amazing opportunity for everyone here to get involved."
Originally, the Sultan of Brunei came to America to attend the Olympic Games, but he was also looking to invest in a new project. In the process of deciding whether to invest in D. C. or New York, his team had spent the last ten days negotiating with the D.C. government and the top twenty D.C. families. He was planning to leave America the following day and would decide that day where to invest his money.
One rich young man was saying, "The Sultan of Brunei is going to invest five billion dollars in either New York or D.C., but he hasn't decided yet which city to invest in. We've got to convince him to go for D. C."
Jason slapped the man on the shoulder and said with a smile, "What are you worried about? The Sultan has invited us all here tonight so he must have already made up his mind. If he wasn't going to invest in D. C., what would be the point of holding this party?"
The people around him agreed that the Sultan of Brunei must have already decided to invest his money in D. C.
One said, "That's right, otherwise the sultan would be holding this banquet in New York."
Another said, "Once the money has been invested, we're all going to be even wealthier. We'll all make a huge profit."
The first man agreed, "Yes, and remember we had the Olympics here. No other city has the facilities we have in D.C. Of course, he'll pick us."
Colin looked around at the people standing near him and said doubtfully, "Has anyone seen David Drake? The Drake family would certainly be involved in such an important business deal, but I haven't seen him here. Didn't he come?"
Jason said, "David's father's here, but David didn't come. Apparently, he's ill."
The others were slightly surprised.
In truth, David wasn't really sick. He was afraid of seeing the Sultan of Brunei after offending him with Zora in the Tinsdale Hotel.
Alex was watching Colin chatting with his friends when he heard someone calling him. "Alex, what are you doing here?"
He turned around and saw that it was Gordon Parker calling him and that he had just stepped out of the elevator.
When Gordon spoke, everyone turned and looked at Alex.
Colin and Jason were surprised to see him there and walked over to him.
"Alex, how did you get in? Only the top twenty families in D. C. were invited. Did you sneak in?" Colin asked rudely.
"I was invited. What's your problem?" Alex replied.
"Yeah right, I believe you. Of course, you were invited," Colin said sarcastically.
A man standing nearby heard them and asked, "Who is he? Look at what he's wearing. He's not from a wealthy family. How did someone like him get invited to the Sultan's banquet?"
Other people frowned at Alex. Only rich people were invited to the banquet and they didn't want it to be spoiled by a loser like him.
Colin told everyone, "I happen to know this man. Although he's not from a rich family like us, he is also a student at Richmond University. And he donated one and a half million euros to the university last month."
No one could believe that this scruffy loser could afford to donate so much money. They started to think that perhaps he wasn't a loser after all but was from a middle-class family.
But as soon as they saw Colin's sneer, they all knew that was not the case.
Colin looked at Alex and said, "Actually, he sold pancakes on the street during summer vacation. A lady took pity on him and gave him one and a half million euros. He felt guilty about it so donated it to the school.
When the others heard that, they all laughed. One said, "Oh, so he's just a pancake seller."
Another laughed, "One and a half million euros, that's over 1.6 million dollars. This guy is crazy. No wonder he came here, he wanted to meet some more rich people, hoping that we would take pity and give him more money. Unbelievable."
Jason said in a loud voice, "That's probably true. I know this man too; be careful of him. He's a clever fraudster."
He continued, "Do you remember before the Olympic Games opening ceremony, the world's most expensive Ferrari drove into the square in front of the stadium? It was all over the news. I was there that day and I saw the Ferrari. It was an incredible car with the most innovative technology in the world. This kid somehow managed to make it start. He's a conman with no morals."
He glared at Alex and said, "A loser is a loser. You should know that by now. You should learn your place and not try to have something that's not yours."