Chapter 37 - Chapter 37. Dorothy's Surprise

Dorothy's Surprise "Vito, we're family now. There's no need for you to give me anything." While Iris was saying this, she reached out and took the gift.Her friends practically begged her to open the present.As they all watched enviously, Iris happily opened the package.When she pulled out the gift, everyone immediately gasped in surprise.Inside the box was a lustrous green emerald bracelet. They couldn't believe their eyes.One of her friends exclaimed, "Iris, your son-in-law is so generous!"Iris was also very surprised and asked Vito, "This bracelet is beautiful. I hope it didn't cost you too much."Not much, Mom, just about thirty thousand dollars!" Vito smiled and said, "But the price isn't important. What matters is whether you like it."Lily looked at the expensive emerald bracelet and was a little envious herself.Iris was ecstatic, but pretended to protest, "No, Vito, this is way too expensive. I can't accept this gift. You should give it to Rose."Her friends' jealous looks filled her with pride. "Mom, it's only thirty thousand. How is that expensive? Why don't you let your friends decide if it looks good on you?" Vito smiled casually and added, "If Rose likes it, I'll buy one for her, too."Okay, since you insist, I'll keep it!" Iris said as she excitedly put the bracelet on her wrist."Vito, you're more than a son-in-law to me," Iris said very seriously, "You're a wonderful young man and a welcome addition to our family."After Iris said this, she gave Dorothy a haughty look.Lily understood exactly what Iris meant by this. Vito was the general manager of KWTD Corporation's Chicago branch and Kevin was only a clerk in a small company. There was no comparison between the two.Kevin suddenly put down his coffee and got up to leave the room.Dorothy let out a little snort. She'd already decided that, after this embarrassing afternoon, she would definitely let Lily and Kevin divorce."Dorothy, why did your son-in-law just leave?" Iris asked in a tone that was full of ridicule."Maybe he has to get back to work," Dorothy replied coldly."He's just a clerk. What could he possibly be so busy with? Could it be that his tiny little company doesn't allow him to take a day off?" Iris said in disdain.A few of the other women heard this and couldn't help but laugh.Now that there wasn't anyone there to ridicule, their little gathering started to get a little boring.Just as some of them were thinking of leaving, Kevin came back with a red gift bag in his hand."Why did you come back? Haven't you had enough?" Dorothy asked him in disgust.Lily sighed and walked over to Kevin. She whispered in his ear, "Just wait for me downstairs. There's no need to stay here and put up with this."But Kevin didn't say anything. He just gave her an enigmatic smile.Before they entered the café earlier, he'd already expected something like this would happen. So he texted Adriana and asked her to buy something special for him to present to his mother-in-law.Adriana had spent a lot of time in the upper class and knew how competitive some people could be. Kevin trusted her sense of taste, so he figured the gift couldn't be too bad.Kevin slowly placed the bag in front of Dorothy and said in his sweetest voice, "Mom, Lily and I have been married for a long time now and I've never given you anything decent. This gathering seems like a nice place to present you with something to show you how much you mean to me!"Most of them figured that Kevin, who was just a lowly clerk at a small company, had bought her something from the supermarket across the street. It couldn't be nearly as nice as the expensive bracelet that Vito had just given to Iris.Dorothy could hear her friends whispering to each other and hesitated to open the gift bag while they watched. She couldn't handle any more embarrassment today.When she pulled the gift box out of the red bag, it was obvious that it came from an expensive store, not one of those kiosks at the mall. Even before Dorothy opened the box, they all knew that whatever it was, it wasn't a knockoff.Vito saw this as another opportunity to try to embarrass Kevin. This strategy hadn't gone too well when he asked about Kevin's car, but it was certain that this gift wouldn't be as expensive as the one that he'd just given to Iris. "How did you find that so quickly, Kevin? Did you just grab it from one of the shops down the street?"Before Kevin could say anything, Iris stood up and said, "Quick, Dorothy, open it up. We're dying to see what your son-in-law just bought for you."The rest of her friends joined in, egging her on. Dorothy took a deep breath and looked anxiously at the box.Finally, she made up her mind. This would probably be another disappointment in her competition with Iris, but with all the peer pressure she had no choice. As soon as she got home, she was definitely going to make Lily divorce Kevin. The room grew silent as she opened the velvet box to reveal a sparkling diamond necklace."Kevin, is this really from you?" Dorothy asked in disbelief."Do you like it, Mom?" Kevin asked with a smile.But Dorothy's friends still didn't believe that it was a genuine diamond necklace. How could someone like Kevin afford to buy something so expensive? On the other hand, it sure looked like the diamonds were real. Vito felt his mouth go dry as he looked on. Even from where he was sitting, he could tell that the diamonds were genuine, not cubic zirconia like you could get at a department store."Who is this guy? He's not what I expected from all the rumors I've been hearing," Vito thought to himself.Lily got over her initial shock and tugged on Kevin's sleeve, "Tell me honestly, where did you get this necklace?"A friend of mine gave it to me!" Kevin said very honestly.When Dorothy heard this she immediately wanted to throw the necklace in the trash. How could Kevin make her look like a fool?Just then, one of Dorothy's classmates walked over to her and asked, "May I take a look at your necklace? I studied jewelry appraisal in college and I'd be happy to give you my opinion."Oh, all right," Dorothy said hesitantly before handing the necklace over to her.A few minutes later, the woman raised her head and then gave Kevin a puzzled look. She said, "In my opinion, these diamonds are all real. Judging from the color and size of them, they're all top quality."Also, the cut and polish are exquisite. Obviously the work of an expert." She looked at the necklace again and added, "I believe that this necklace has a value of at least two hundred thousand dollars!"Iris and Vito felt very awkward when they heard this. The thirty thousand dollar emerald bracelet he'd given his new mother-in-law paled in comparison."Kevin, are you really giving this necklace to me?" Dorothy was so shocked that she couldn't even speak clearly.Kevin didn't answer Dorothy's question. Instead, he asked her, "Mom, do you really like it?" "Of course I like it!" Dorothy answered without thinking."I'm happy that you like it!" Kevin said with a pleasant smile.Dorothy was so excited that she got a little short of breath. As everyone watched, she carefully put the necklace on.Her friends were envious and started commenting on how lucky she and Lily were to have Kevin in their family. One of them even invited them to visit them at their home.Dorothy was happy to have everyone sucking up to her for a change. Better yet, Iris and Vito were no longer the center of attention.Lily and Kevin left soon after and drove back to Corwin Tower.While they were heading down Lake Shore Drive, Lily looked sideways at Kevin and asked him, "I'm very curious to know what kind of friend would give you a necklace that's worth over two hundred thousand dollars."Oh, it's just a friend who borrowed some money from me a while back," Kevin answered carefully.Lily thought about this and said, "Since he gave us such a valuable gift, we should at least invite him to dinner."Kevin wasn't sure it would be a good idea for Lily to meet his friends yet, so he explained, "He was just passing through town after working abroad for a couple of years. I think he's already headed back." Lily could tell that Kevin was hiding something, but she didn't want to start an argument. She just shook her head silently.When they returned home, Lily went to her room to rest. Kevin went to the study and pulled out the box that Dominic gave him and looked at the special blend of supplements."Five hundred thousand for a single herbal pill. This guy's definitely wealthy," Kevin thought to himself.Then he opened one of the books that Officer Emmett had let him borrow and flipped through it.He found the instructions for putting the ingredients Dominic had given him into an energy drink. After carefully mixing everything and drinking the entire glass, Kevin sat down on the living room couch. He didn't feel any different at first, but about a half an hour later, he let out a long breath and felt a surge of energy. Even though it had been a long day, he changed his clothes and went to his home gym for a bodyweight workout. It was refreshing to do this in the comfort of his apartment, looking out on the park from the top of Corwin Tower.*The next morning, Lily got a call from her family. They were having another meeting. She went down to the lobby and took a taxi to the Jones mansion.A little while later, Kevin woke up from a very deep and refreshing night of sleep and went to his office at Williams Media.Kevin sat back in his comfortable office chair and murmured to himself, "That blend Dominic gave me really was potent. I feel better already!"Meanwhile, the Jones family was meeting to discuss how to move forward after all the upheaval in the past few days.Grandma Jones looked around the room at all the eager faces and said, "Now that the KWTD Corporation has invested three hundred million dollars to help us get through this crisis, we only have 40% of our company's shares left. Do any of you have some ideas about what we should do next?"They were unsure how to deal with this. While KWTD had saved them from bankruptcy, they didn't stand to see much profit at the end of the year.While they were wrestling with this dilemma, Jason stood up and shared what was on his mind."Grandma, I've got an idea. If it succeeds, the Jones family will be back on top in no time," Jason said confidently."What do you propose?" Grandma Jones asked.Jason explained, "Grandma, now that we've turned over sixty percent of our shares to KWTD, we may never be able to recover them. So, Tyler Dawn now has controlling interest in our company. My suggestion is to forget about the sixty percent that we've lost. Let's sell off ten percent of the shares we have left. We can use that as seed money to start a new company. That's how we'll make our comeback!" "That sounds like a good idea, but who would be willing to buy any of our shares?" Grandma Jones asked worriedly."Grandma, don't forget that everyone knows that we're affiliated with KWTD Corporation now," Jason said with a smile. "When someone buys our shares, it's like they're forming a business relationship with KWTD. We can use that to our advantage."One of his uncles had his doubts, "But, who would be able to buy our shares? Even ten percent is a lot of money!"They all looked back at Jason, wondering if he already had a plan.