Beyond Riches: The Inexplainable Trillionaire

Chapter 14: The Weight of Mercy

VC Hector was still on his knees. Behind his desperate eyes he was still angry. He did not believe what was happening. Ethan, the kid who cleaned the toilets was not really a Silvercrests. This did not make sense to Hector. He firmly believed the rich people were always rich and the poor people were always poor.

Hector thought to himself "He is tricking them." He was thinking fast even though his body was shaking. "He somehow fooled Donald Steflon. This is a scam, If I pretend to be sorry now and act really humble I can get out of this and bid my time. When the truth comes out, when they find out Ethan is not who he says he is. I will their to see him crumble."

He put his forehead on the floor. "Young Master Silvercrest " he said, trying to sound sorry. "I am sorry, i was wrong and rude. I did things to you that are unforgivable. I was afraid of the Golden Five so I did not do what was right."

The people who gave money to the school were watching and they were very surprised. The people on the board who had known Hector for a time could not believe what they were seeing. The man who was in charge of the school was now on his knees saying sorry.

Ethan looked at Hector. He saw something in his eyes. It was not anger, rather it was like he was thinking, "I know what you are doing." Ethan could see that Hector was not really sorry. He was just sorry that he got caught.

"Hector thinks I am fruad," Ethan thought to himself, " Even now when everything is against him, he still refuses to believe Ethan the Janitor boy could be a Silvercrest." It would have been easy for Ethan to let Hector crumble at the hands of Donald. But then Ethan looked at Amelia. She was standing near him. She was tearing up slightly. She loved her father even though he had done things to her.

For her sake Ethan decided to be kind. "Get up Mr. Freeman " he said to Hector.

Hector looked up confused. "Young Master?" he said.

Ethan said, "Get up." As he helped Hector up from the floor. This was a surprise to everyone and people started murmuring.

Hector was confused. "What does this mean?" he asked.

Ethan said, "You are not fired, instead you will be put on probation. You will still be the vice chancellor. However, you have to promise to do what is right. You have to treat everyone equally no matter if they are rich or poor."

Hector said, "Yes I will do it. I promise."

Ethan looked at everyone in the room. "This is a warning to all of you. This school is for learning not for helping the rich people get ahead. From now on everyone will be treated the same. No matter if you are rich or poor you will be treated with respect."

He looked at Hector again. "Do you understand?"

Hector said, "Yes I understand. I will make sure of it."

Ethan said, "Good, because I will be watching. If you do not do what you promised you will be sorry."

Amelia rushed forward and threw her arms around Ethan. "Thank you," she whispered, her voice thick with emotion. "Thank you for forgiving him. I know he didn't deserve it. But he's still my father."

Ethan returned the embrace gently. "Everyone deserves a second chance," he said quietly. "Even him. Besides, I couldn't let your father be fired on the same night you agreed to be my date. That would make for a terrible evening."

Amelia pulled back, a wet laugh escaping her lips. "Is that really what you're thinking about right now?"

"I'm thinking about a lot of things," Ethan admitted. "Mostly that I'm glad you're here. Both of you." He looked at Trevor, who stood nearby, still wearing the dazed expression of someone who hadn't fully processed the last twenty minutes.

"I need to sit down," Trevor said weakly. "I just watched my best friend—who I've seen eat ramen for dinner three nights in a row—command the second most powerful man in the world and forgive the man who expelled him in the same breath. I need a chair. And possibly a very strong drink."

Ethan smiled. "Get two. I'll join you in a minute."

Across the ballroom, Celia had slipped away during the chaos. She had watched Donald Steflon kneel to Ethan. She had watched VC Hector grovel and beg. She had watched the man she'd called a charity case become the most powerful person in the room.

And she had watched Brad stumble through the side door.

She found him in a service corridor, slumped against the wall. His phone lay shattered on the floor beside him. His perfect suit was wrinkled, his perfect hair disheveled, his perfect composure utterly destroyed. Tears streamed down his face.

"Brad?" She knelt beside him. "What happened? What did your father say?"

He looked at her with hollow eyes. "It's true. All of it. My father confirmed it. The Charlesly accounts are frozen. Every asset, every investment, every property, locked by the Silvercrest financial division. We can't access a single dollar."

Celia's blood ran cold. "But... your family is worth over a hundred billion. There has to be something. Some account they can't touch and some property in another name."

Brad laughed, but it was a broken, hollow sound. "You don't understand how the Silvercrest Clan works. When they quarantine you, they quarantine everything. Every shell company, every offshore account, every asset hidden behind three layers of legal fiction. They see it all and they control it all. We're not centibillionaires anymore, Celia. We're nothing. My family is broke."

The word hit Celia like a physical blow. Broke. She had been broke her whole life. She had attached herself to Brad precisely so she would never have to be broke again. The Mercedes he'd promised, the designer clothes, the future of endless luxury, all of it had been built on a foundation she'd believed was unshakeable.

And now that foundation was dust. "Brad," she said, her voice shaking. "What are we going to do?"

Brad didn't answer. He just stared at the opposite wall, his eyes empty.

Celia's mind spiraled. She had traded Ethan for Brad. She had humiliated Ethan publicly, lied to the vice chancellor, laughed while Jessica poured champagne over his head, all to secure her place beside the prince of the university. She had thrown away a man who genuinely loved her for a man who saw her as arm candy. A man who, it turned out, had never been the prince she thought he was. A man who was, as of tonight, just as poor as the janitor she had discarded.

She looked at Brad, weeping, broken, powerless and felt nothing but cold, bottomless dread, she said to herself, "Dear God what have I done."