I Am the Ruler of All

"A delivery?"
Everyone at the table froze. They had seen the nametag and the badge with the brand monogram pinned to Frank's shirt. He
was the manager of Gustav Atelier!
They gasped and exclaimed, "Wait, isn't Gustav Atelier one of the top designer brands in the world? All their clothes come with
five-figure price tags!"
In the midst of their astonishment, Frank merely waved his hand to beckon the assistants, saying, "Bring the goods in."
The three assistants immediately brought the ornate boxes forward and rested them carefully on the long banquet table. They
carried ten each, which meant there were thirty of these boxes altogether.
"I-Is this..." Emory gaped at the boxes with wide eyes, then said in disbelief, "This is the most popular design in one of Gustav's
seasonal collections! It retails for eighty-eight thousand!"
"Holy crap!"
"Are you serious? Then all these together cost more than an arm and a leg!"
Eighty-eight thousand did not mean much to the guests at the table, but what astonished them the most was that someone had
ordered thirty of these belts. They were staring at the boxes hungrily, and one of them turned to ask Frank, "A-Are these all for
us?"
"Yes," Frank began. "The gentleman over there—"
However, he was cut off mid-sentence by Emory, who stood up excitedly as he said to Nancy, "Wow, Mr. Jovovich was already
generous enough to have offered to buy us a meal, but to splurge on these lucrative gifts for us? Nancy, he's way too gracious!"
Enlightenment descended upon the room at that moment as everyone leaped to compliment and thank Nancy.

"I guess bigshots like Mr. Jovovich are just different, huh? He really does not hold back."
"Thanks for the gift, Nancy! I could never bring myself to splurge like this. This sure is a special way to commemorate a reunion,
am I right?"
Nancy was bewildered by everyone's praises and gratitude. Tyler never mentioned any of this to me, she thought in a daze, but
when she saw how impressed her friends were, she felt certain that Tyler was the only person who had the money to pull this
gesture off.
As such, she giggled and said indulgently, "What can I say? Tyler loves me so much that he's always coming up with ways to
make me happy." She raised a brow as she glanced over at Serena and Kingsley, then drawled haughtily, "I bet the both of you
have never dreamed about owning something as luxurious as this. You can each take a belt home. Think of it as charity on my
part."
Paige interjected angirly before Kingsley could even say anything, "He doesn't need your charity, you filthy hag. I'll get one for
him as a gift!"
"Hah! So at the end of the day, the only way for him to own a designer belt is through a woman's altruism." Emory was so jealous
that the only way he could feel better was to put Kingsley down, and he went on to tease viciously, "If you're so great, why don't
you make your own money and buy it for yourself?"
Frank heard this and pointed out incredulously, "What are you talking about? Mr. Nicholson was the one who bought these belts
in the first place!"
Everyone gaped at him as the news sunk in. They exchanged questioning looks and asked among themselves, "Who's Mr,
Nicholson? Do we know anyone with that name?"
In the midst of the confusion, Kingsley put his hand up and addressed Frank, "Thank you for coming all this way to deliver the
belts, Mr. Lowell."
Bowing his head respectfully, Frank replied, "It's no trouble at all, Mr. Nicholson. We hope to serve you again." With that, he
backed out of the private dining room and closed the door.

For a while, a deathly silence filled the air, and everyone was staring at Kingsley with such utter shock that it was a wonder their
eyes did not bug out of their heads.
They could not believe that he was the one who had bought these expensive belts.
Some of them were so astonished that their jaws dropped, and it was as if they could not wrap their heads around this plot twist.
No one said a word at first, then Nancy snapped out of her reverie and cried belligerently, "No! That's impossible! There's no way
a bumpkin like him could afford these!"
She had taken all the credit earlier, and it was too late for her to get off her high horse now. Even though Frank had clearly said
that Kingsley was the one who bought the belts, she refused to believe that that was the truth.
"Nancy's right. Where would an orphan get the money to buy all these anyway? These belts cost over two million altogether!"
Emory seethed with rage. "I bet he hired that man earlier as part of his act. These belts must be counterfeits!"
The crowd nodded when they heard this. They were more than willing to accept the probability that this was the truth.
The only person who remained wordless was Noah, who knew for a fact that Frank was the manager of Gustav Atelier, and that
there was no way these belts could be counterfeits.
On the other end of the table, all the color drained from Serena's face as she began to look distinctly uneasy. She recalled
Kingsley telling her that these belts were high-quality counterfeits, and if her old friends were to figure this out, then she could
never show her face in front of them ever again!