The Last Successor

02. The Price of Dignity

The guests crowded around the corridor. They started whispering and pointing. Chloe was still holding her phone, broadcasted everything live. The comments on her screen were flying fast, all mocking the useless son-in-law of the Sterling family.

Elena finally walked through the crowd. She looked at the spilled wine, her brother on the floor, and Adrian standing alone in the center of the mess. For a split second, a look of conflict passed through her beautiful gray eyes. But she quickly covered it with her usual icy mask.

"Elena, look at your husband!" Vivian shouted, her voice shrill. "He is an ungrateful dog! We gave him a roof over his head, and this is how he repays us? He is trying to humiliate us!"

Edward Sterling stepped forward. He looked down at Adrian as if he were looking at a piece of garbage on the street.

"Three years ago, my father made me promise to let you marry Elena. I regretted it every single day. You run a tiny, useless delivery service that makes no profit. You bring nothing to this family but shame."

"Father, the truth is—"

"I said, shut up!" Edward interrupted harshly. He took out his thick leather wallet from his jacket. He pulled out a large stack of hundred-dollar bills. "You want money, right? That is the only reason a beggar like you stays in our house."

Edward raised his hand and threw the stack of cash directly at Adrian’s face.

The heavy bills struck Adrian’s cheek and scattered all over the wet, wine-stained floor. Some notes fell right into the puddle of red wine, soaking instantly.

"Pariarch Edward is right! A dog only understands money!" someone in the crowd laughed.

"Look at him, he probably earns less in a year than those bottles cost," another guest whispered.

"Pick it up," Edward ordered coldly. "Pick up the money, get out of my sight, and buy yourself a new brain. You are no longer welcome at this party. In fact, tomorrow, you will sign the divorce papers with Elena. The Sterling family is done with you."

Adrian did not look at the money on the floor. He looked at Elena.

"Elena," Adrian said quietly, his voice pleading for just one word of fairness. "You know I wouldn't do this."

Elena looked at him. Her lips trembled slightly, but she closed her eyes and turned her head away. She did not say a single word. She stood by her family, choosing her status over the man who had cooked her breakfast every day for three years.

"So, she chooses them," Adrian thought, feeling a cold numbness spread through his body. "Even after everything, she still thinks I am just a low-life who causes trouble."

Raymond sneered from the floor. "What are you waiting for, Adrian? Pick up the money! Isn't your mother dying in the hospital? I heard the hospital is going to turn off her life support tomorrow if you don't pay the medical bills. Go on, get down on your knees and crawl for it!"

Hearing his mother’s condition mentioned, Adrian’s heart skipped a beat. It was true. His small business had been failing because Raymond secretly blocked his clients. This morning, the hospital had called him. He needed ten thousand dollars by tomorrow morning, or they would stop his mother’s treatment.

He had no choice. Dignity could not buy medicine. Pride could not keep his mother alive.

Adrian closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them, the anger was gone, replaced by a terrifying calmness. He slowly bent his knees. Under the mocking laughter of the city's elite and the camera of his sister-in-law, Adrian knelt on the wet, cold marble floor.

His hands, calloused from years of hard work, reached into the red wine puddle. One by one, he picked up the soaked bills. The red liquid stained his fingers like blood.

"Look at that! He really knelt!" Chloe laughed into her phone. "The live stream views are breaking records, guys!"

Raymond laughed so hard he coughed. Vivian looked deeply satisfied. Only Elena looked away, her hands trembling slightly against her dress.

Adrian finished gathering the money. He stood up, his suit ruined, his hands dripping with red wine and water. He carefully placed the wet money into his inner jacket pocket, protecting it. He did not look at anyone. He turned around and walked toward the exit.

As he walked through the grand doors of the hotel, the heavy rain outside hit his face. The cold wind blew against his wet suit, but he did not feel cold. The fire inside his heart was burning brighter than ever.

"Edward, Vivian, Raymond..." Adrian thought as he walked into the dark, stormy night. "You think you have destroyed me. But you only showed me that being patient with monsters is useless."