The Beggar Husband Is a Trillionaire God

Chapter 3

Claire Hayes stared at Ethan Cole as if she were looking at a ghost.

Her fingers dug into her designer leather purse. Her chest rose and fell with sharp breaths under her silk blouse.

"You followed me here!" Claire shouted, stepping into Ethan's path. "Five thousand dollars was not enough for you?! You took advantage of a drugged woman in a cheap motel, and now you have the nerve to track me to my home?!"

Ethan looked at her with calm indifference. He adjusted the rope of his wooden toolbox over his shoulder.

"Miss Hayes, you have a very high opinion of yourself," Ethan said in a steady voice. "I arrived in Riverdale yesterday. I do not know you, and I certainly did not follow you. I came here for my own business."

"Business?!" Claire scoffed, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "At my family's private estate? In those dusty sneakers and that faded shirt? What business could a homeless vagrant have at the Hayes Villa?!"

"I am here to meet someone," Ethan said, pulling a folded piece of paper from his canvas pocket. "The address says 44 Westcliff Drive. The name is Claire Hayes. If you know where she is, call her out so I can finish this matter and leave."

Claire froze.

Her hazel eyes went wide with shock. Her lips parted, but no sound came out for several seconds.

"Wait..." Claire whispered, her mind spinning with confusion. "You are here for... that Claire Hayes?"

"Yes," Ethan said. "Do you know her or not?"

Claire swallowed hard, feeling as if the world had turned upside down.

"I am Claire Hayes," she stammered. "Why are you looking for me?!"

Before Ethan could answer, the double doors of the villa swung open.

An elderly man walked out onto the stone patio. He was thin, supporting his weight with a polished mahogany cane. Behind him stood an old butler carrying a portable oxygen tank.

The moment the old man's eyes landed on Ethan, his face lit up with radiant joy.

"Ethan Cole!" the old man called out, his voice trembling with emotion. "You have arrived! Master Lin told me you would come before the autumn equinox!"

Claire turned around in disbelief. "Grandfather?!"

Old Master William Hayes hurried down the front steps. He completely ignored Ethan's dusty clothes, his torn sneakers, and his battered wooden box. He reached out with both trembling hands and grabbed Ethan's wrists.

"It is really you!" William's eyes welled with tears of relief. "The heavens have not abandoned my Hayes family! You look just like your father, Alexander Cole!"

Ethan felt the warmth in the old man's grip. He gave a respectful nod. "Greetings, Old Master Hayes. My master sends his regards. He told me to come to Riverdale to fulfill the promise made twenty years ago."

"Good, good!" William laughed happily, patting Ethan's arm. "Come inside! Claire, call your parents to the Great Hall immediately! Today is the happiest day of my life!"

Claire stood frozen, her heart hammering with dread.

"Grandfather, wait," Claire pleaded, rushing up the steps. "Who is this man? Why are you welcoming him like this?!"

William turned to her, smiling warmly. "Claire, this is Ethan Cole. He is your betrothed. Today, the two of you will officially sign your marriage papers!"

"What?!" Claire gasped, stumbling back.

She had lost her virginity to this man only hours ago in a dirty motel room. And now, her own grandfather was ordering her to marry him!

"No!" Claire shouted in panic. "Grandfather, I cannot marry him! He is just a stranger!"

"Silence!" William's voice turned firm, carrying the cold weight of a patriarch. "This marriage was arranged twenty years ago by Master Lin. Without Master Lin, I would have died two decades ago! Go to the Great Hall. Now!"

Inside the Great Hall of the Hayes Villa, the air was heavy with tension.

William Hayes sat in the carved wooden master chair, offering Ethan a cup of hot green tea.

"Ethan, drink some tea. You must be tired from your journey."

"Thank you, Old Master," Ethan replied politely.

Just then, the double doors of the hall were pushed open with a violent bang.

"William, have you completely lost your mind?!"

A woman in her early fifties stormed into the room, her high heels clicking sharply on the polished marble. She wore an emerald silk dress and a heavy diamond necklace.

It was Patricia Hayes, Claire's mother.

Behind her walked Robert Hayes, Claire's father. Claire trailed behind them, her face pale and her eyes red from holding back tears.

Patricia marched straight up to Ethan, glaring down at his dusty sneakers and wooden toolbox.

"Look at this creature!" Patricia shrieked, pointing a manicured red nail at Ethan's nose. "Worn sneakers! Faded clothes! A toolbox tied with dirty rope! He looks like an illiterate beggar who sleeps under bridges! And you want our Claire, the greatest beauty in Riverdale, to marry this piece of trash?!"

"Patricia! Watch your tongue!" William slammed his cane onto the floor.

"I will not watch my tongue!" Patricia shouted back. "Richard Vance offered fifty million dollars in emergency funding to marry Claire! Richard's family controls the shipping ports of Riverdale! Marrying Richard will save our company! What can this beggar give Claire?! A cardboard box to sleep in?!"

Robert Hayes also stepped forward, frowning deeply. "Father, Patricia is right. Claire's future cannot be thrown away. This boy does not belong in our world."

Claire looked at her grandfather with pleading eyes. "Grandfather, please. I do not want to marry him."

William looked at them with cold stubbornness.

"You know nothing!" William roared, his chest heaving with anger. "Richard Vance is a greedy snake who wants to swallow our company! But Ethan is a true dragon! You are all blinded by worldly money! As long as I draw breath, Claire will marry Ethan today!"

"I refuse!" Patricia screamed. "If you force Claire to marry this beggar, I will file for divorce and ruin the Hayes name!"

Ethan watched the chaotic family drama unfold. He did not get angry. He did not raise his voice.

He placed his teacup on the table and looked closely at William's face.

The old man's skin had turned gray. The veins along his neck were bulging, and his breathing was shallow and ragged.

"Old Master Hayes," Ethan said in a calm voice. "Calm your mind. Your heart meridian is congested with dark toxins. If you let your anger rise any further, the blood will reverse its flow and rupture your chest."

Patricia turned on Ethan with blazing fury. "Shut your dirty mouth, you peasant! Who gave you permission to speak?! How dare you curse my father-in-law with death?!"

"I am merely speaking the truth," Ethan replied evenly.

"You hear that, William?!" Patricia yelled, pointing wildly at Ethan. "This beggar is cursing you right to your face! Kick him out before I call the security guards to break his legs!"

William opened his mouth to shout at Patricia, his face turning dark purple with rage.

"You... you insolent woman! Get out of my sight..."

Suddenly, William's voice choked off.

His eyes rolled back into his head. A terrible rattling sound tore from his throat, and a stream of dark, purplish blood spilled from his lips.

His mahogany cane clattered onto the marble floor.

With a heavy, sickening thud, the patriarch of the Hayes family collapsed flat on his back!

"Grandfather!" Claire screamed in horror, throwing herself onto the floor.

"Father!" Robert yelled, his face turning ghost-white.

Chaos erupted in the Great Hall. Patricia froze in terror, while maids ran around screaming for help.

Ethan stood up calmly from his chair, unhooking the hemp rope from his dented wooden toolbox.

His eyes were cold as ice.

"I told you," Ethan murmured. "Death has arrived."