Chapter 1 A New Beginning

In front of the gold building in C City, Martin James stood at the door with a smile evident on his face and two movie tickets in hand.

Just as Martin was about to enter, a man and a woman came out of the building. The man wore a suit and there was a BMW car key pinned on his waist. The woman, however, had a good figure and was very attractive.

The woman seemed familiar to Martin, so he decided to call her out.

"Jessie!" Martin said as he greeted the woman with a smile.

When the woman saw Martin, her face suddenly changed to a look of shock.

"M-Martin? What are you doing here? I told you not to come! It'd be embarrassing if my colleagues saw me like this." Jessie said, looking unhappy about the fact that Martin was standing in front of her.

"Jessie, today's our second anniversary, remember? I even bought tickets so we could go to the movies together." Martin smiled at he handed over the movie tickets to Jessie.

The man beside Jessie, who was Rudolf Joseph, frowned as he saw Martin handing over the movie tickets. "Jessie, you said that you didn't have a boyfriend, right?"

"Rudolf, I-I can explain."

Rudolf couldn't help but look at Martin with disdain. "I mean, look at him, Jessie! He's obviously a loser who can't afford anything. Why're you even with this man?"

Jessie felt humiliated. She didn't want Martin to go where she worked because she was afraid that people would see her as a loser as well.

Martin felt as if Jessie was just being manipulated, so he decided to reach out to her and pull her away from Rudolf. "Jessie, let's get out of here."

"Let go of my hand, Martin!" Jessie said as she pushed Martin's hand away. "Rudolf's right about you being a loser. Have you ever bought me the stuff I wanted to buy?"

"Jessie, I know I'm poor, but I swear I'll work hard and pour all my hard work into the things you want to buy!" Martin said as he clenched his teeth.

"Work hard? What a joke!" Jessie sneered. "Even if you work hard all your life, I doubt that you'll be nearly as rich as Rudolf!"

"I'm obviously more superior than you could ever be, Martin." Rudolf sneered as well.

"Martin, I just want to make things clear." Jessie told Martin with a stern look. "You don't deserve me at all, so I want to break up with you."

All of a sudden, Jessie turned to Rudolf and smiled. "Rudolf, let's go."

With that, Jessie took the initiative and held Rudolf's arm.

Rudolf couldn't help but smile at his so-called 'achievement'. He then got into the car alongside Jessie, which was not too far from where they were standing a minute ago.

Meanwhile, Martin simply felt useless.

He felt like his heart was torn into pieces and he couldn't do anything about it.

Martin then clenched his fists in anger as he reminisced the time when he met Jessie.

Martin met Jessie in high school. When they graduated from their third year, it was then that they confirmed their relationship. At that time, Jessie was a simple person.

After graduation, Martin was admitted to a local university. Meanwhile, Jessie wasn't admitted to the university she wanted, so she decided to get a job. Since then, Jessie gradually changed. She became a materialistic person and worshipped money as if she would die without it.

Martin decided not to let Jessie stay because there wasn't any point. She wouldn't stay just because Martin asked her to.

After all, he was a loser in Jessie's eyes now.

"Jessie, you look down on me now, but I swear I'll make you regret it." Martin said as he kept clenching is fists in anger. "I'll even surpass Rudolf one day, just you wait and see."

Meanwhile, in Shantytown, C City, people who lived here were considered as 'losers' or 'poor people'.

On the way home, Martin thought about making money. However, he had no idea how to make a lot of it. His family was poor, after all. Thus, it was going to be hard for him to make a lot of money in just a single day.

Society wasn't as fair as it seemed to be. Even if he worked hard enough, he probably wouldn't be able to get as rich as Rudolf.

As soon as Martin arrived at home, he saw a Bentley parked in front of his house, which made him bewildered. He then immediately quickened his pace and opened the door.

After entering the door, Martin found another person aside from his mom. There was a mysterious man wearing a suit and he certainly didn't look like an ordinary person.

"Grandson!" The man said as he smiled at Martin.

That sentence alone immediately confused Martin and he looked at his mom.

"Mom...What the heck is going on?" He told her with a bewildered look on his face.

Martin's mother had never told him the truth. She told him that his grandfather and grandmother already passed away, so Martin himself never met his grandparents.

She sighed. "Martin, I've been lying to you for all these years. I'm sorry about that. I ran away from your grandfather and eloped with your father."

The sudden news suddenly made Martin dizzy. He never expected anything from his grandparents and yet his grandfather suddenly came to their home.

"Martin, go greet your grandfather, now. His name is Morgan Gracie, by the way." Martin's mother added.

Martin's face suddenly twitched. He had heard that name before. After all, Morgan Gracie was the richest man in California. Not to mention, he was a famous celebrity because he was the one who made the Gold Group company.

"Are you truly Morgan Gracie who's the chairman of Gold Group?" Martin said as he simply stared at Morgan.

"That's right, Martin!" Morgan said as he came forward with a smile on his face.

Martin took a step back.

"How could you just abandon my mother like that?! She already lived a hard life. How could you do that to your own daughter?!" Martin shouted angrily.

Martin witnessed how his mother suffered alone. His father died early and their lives could have been better if his grandfather helped them.

"Martin, I've sent money to your mother many times, but she's stubborn and won't even let me see you. In fact, I've wanted to recognize you as my grandson for a long time, but your mother wouldn't let me." Morgan said helplessly.

"Mom, is he telling the truth?" Martin said as he looked at his mother.

Martin's mother nodded. "He's right, Martin. But I've come to terms with this and I can't let my mistakes ruin your life anymore. I hope you can accept him."

"Martin!" Morgan said as he hugged Martin.

This time, Martin didn't struggle.

"Martin, you've suffered all these years. Don't worry, I'll will make it up to you." Morgan said as he took out a bank card and handed it to Martin.

"You have a million dollars in that card, Martin. Use it as your pocket money." Morgan smiled. "If that's not enough, you can just tell me."

"A million dollars?!" Martin shouted as his hands trembled.

After all, Martin never expected that Morgan would say that a million dollars is just 'pocket money'

Morgan naturally saw what Martin was astonished about and laughed. "A million dollars is a small amount of money for me, Martin."

Morgan then slipped the card into Martin's hand. "Besides, I want to give you my business in C City."

"W-what do you mean? I'm still in college. I could never handle such a large business like yours." Martin retorted.

"You don't need to have experience in running a business, Martin. I just need you to be the new chairman and track all the sales. You can also use the money as much as you want, if that helps." Morgan told him.

Martin simply nodded. A glimmer of hope was evident in his eyes as he realized the importance of money and status.

Martin suddenly remembered that Jessie, who had just broken up with him, worked as a receptionist in the Gold Group. And the fact that he was about to become a chairman of the same company Jessie worked for made him ecstatic.

He was definitely looking forward for a new beginning.