Second Chance For Revenge

Chapter 3

Gerald didn't even blink. Instead, he turned back to the server, his voice calm and steady.

"Add another five hundred portions of the premium steak," he said. "And double the Caesar salads. Make sure everything is vacuum sealed for long term storage."

The server's hand shook as he held his pen. His eyes darted between Gerald and the Hills table, not knowing what to do.

The crowd gasped again. Someone dropped their fork.

"Is he serious? He's still ordering more?"

"The divorce has completely broken his brain!"

Tina lunged forward and slammed her hand on the counter, stopping the server from writing anything down.

"Don't you dare write another word!" she snapped at the server. Then she turned to face the room, her voice loud enough for everyone to hear. "Listen to me, everyone. This man is pitiful. He cannot even afford to feed himself properly, let alone make an order like this. He spent every cent he had buying me cheap gifts for years. He has nothing left!"

She pointed at Gerald like he was something disgusting.

"He's trying to leech off my family's name one last time. He thinks if he makes a big scene, we'll be embarrassed enough to pay his bill. Well, it's not going to work!"

The crowd jumped on her words like hungry wolves, tearing Gerald apart with their words.

"The divorce must have gotten to his head completely."

"No wonder he was acting so calm earlier. He's lost his mind."

"Someone that broke doesn't just walk into a place like this and start ordering even a thousand dollar meal let alone a million."

"He's clearly having some kind of breakdown."

"Probably thought if he acted confident enough, someone would feel sorry for him."

The insults came from every direction, filled with so much mockery and cruelty. People who had never spoken to Gerald in their lives were suddenly experts on what he could and couldn't afford.

Gerald stood in the middle of all the noise and let them talk. He looked at the server and spoke like none of them existed.

"Are you really willing to lose a customer," he asked quietly, "because of people who know nothing about me?"

The server froze, caught between the angry crowd and something in Gerald's voice that didn't sound like a man who was bluffing.

Tina let out a sharp, mocking laugh.

"Know nothing about you?" she said. "Gerald, I was married to you for three years. I know everything about you. I've seen your bank statements. I've watched you cry when rent was due. You already spent all your money and savings buying me things just so you could feel like a real man. You don't have anything left. Not a single dollar."

A grim laugh escaped Gerald's lips, low and humorless.

Of course. Now he understood the real reason for tonight. The timing wasn't a coincidence.

They had squeezed him dry. Or at least, they thought they had. They thought there was nothing left to take from him, so now they were cutting him loose before he became a burden. Like throwing away an empty milk carton.

The tension in the room was so thick you could cut it with a knife.

The server looked between Gerald's calm face and Tina's furious expression, then at the crowd of people staring at him. He was completely out of his depth.

"I... I think I should get the manager," he stammered, backing away from the counter. "Please wait just a moment."

He practically ran toward the back office.

A few moments later, a woman in a sharp black suit walked out. She had the confident look of someone who had dealt with every kind of restaurant drama there was. But when she saw the size of the crowd gathered around the counter, even she looked surprised.

Before the manager could ask what was happening, Tina rushed forward to speak first.

"Manager, thank god you're here!" Tina said, switching to a sweet, reasonable voice. "This man is trying to scam your restaurant. He's my ex-husband - we just signed divorce papers. He's a factory worker with no money, no savings, nothing. He's placing fake orders to waste your staff's time and embarrass my family. Please have him removed."

The crowd backed her up immediately.

"We all saw it happen."

"He's been acting strange since he walked in."

"The order is obviously fake. Look at his clothes."

"Someone like him placing a half-million dollar order? It's a joke."

The manager's face darkened. She hated people who caused scenes in her restaurant. She turned toward Gerald, already forming the words to have security throw him out.

Then she stopped.

She looked at Gerald's face properly for the first time. Not his clothes or his shoes, but his face.

Something clicked in her mind. She had seen that face before. Recently. Not in person, but somewhere else.

The Newtop story. It had been all over the financial forums that morning. A mystery investor had bought massive amounts of Newtop stock when everyone else was selling, right before the company announced a breakthrough that sent the stock price through the roof. The man had turned of thousands into millions overnight.

And as a part-time stock broker herself, she never forgot a face connected to a move like that.

The manager stared at Gerald, her anger slowly turning into something else entirely.

"Sir," the manager said slowly, her voice much softer than it had been a moment before.

Her eyes stayed locked on Gerald's face, and her confident expression began to crack. She had been ready to throw him out, but now doubt was creeping in.

She had seen his picture that morning on every trading forum she followed. The mystery man who had made the Newtop investment that everyone was talking about. The factory worker who had just become a millionaire while the experts were all wrong.

And now he was standing in her restaurant, calm as anything, while everyone called him broke.

The manager swallowed hard, suddenly unsure if this was really a scam after all or she was making a mistake.