Once A Billionaire

As he trailed slowly into the hotel reception, all eyes were on him. No one could deny the fact that this was the same man whose name and pictures were on every newspaper and TV. Max could hear low mumbles from the people that walked past him and so was the sympathy and mimicry in their voice was clear. Even he had his hood on which he used as disguise, but there was no hiding it anymore. They knew him. He slowly trailed to the lady standing behind the counter in the reception lobby, her back facing him. “What can I help you with?” She said, turning around, revealing her face for the first time, and Max felt his chest constrict slightly as her smile widened in recognition, before softening. Her eyes looked sympathetic and tired, but she did not pity him in any way. Max has been here on several occasions a few months ago, in fact he once rented the entire hotel for a whole month for the sum of $60 million dollars. This particular receptionist knew Max well and Max had treated her well during his stay at the hotel but the receptionist did not give Max a warm welcome today which meant that she was aware of the recent events surrounding him. He was surprised because the receptionist seemed nice enough, but the altitude he was receiving today from her was not welcoming. Max quickly regained his composure, "I need to see Jane. I heard she was here,"The woman nodded negatively," I'm sorry but Miss. Jane did not want to be disturbed." The receptionist immediately turned to answer a phone call leaving Max waiting for her. Max stood silently for what seemed like an eternity waiting for her to hang up the intercom and turn around again. When she didn't after a solid minute, his patience wore thin and suddenly dashed towards the elevator without saying a word. Just like that, he ran down the hall and then the Receptionist hanged up the phone call and caught glimpse of Max running towards the Elevator, she quickly alerted security to stop Max before he escaped. But they couldn't; by the time they arrived at the elevators. "Hey wait! You're-" the guard stopped his sentence halfway through, when he saw the Elevator door closed shut. Once inside the elevator, he pressed the button with the number five on it, then leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes. He began thinking about his past life and the good times he had with his girlfriend and other people who were no longer with him. Three months ago, Max was a wealthy man with an estimated fortune of $50 billion, now he's homeless and living off of takeaways and food. He remembered how Jane always tried to look forward while he tried to push himself away from the world. Now he wasn't sure where he would go next since he lost everything and he couldn't even find himself a job. How Max lost all his money was a mystery to the public but most people around Max knew him as someone who spend lavishly, but their thoughts was not valid because there's no way one could lavish $50 billion without any asset left within the space of a month. Not to mention that everyone knows that there are two types of rich men; those who keep the money and the ones who keeps on investing. But Max wasn't going to be any of them, he prefers to make losses rather than making profits, it seemed like his money was his enemy and have to spend everything until he became poor: this is what everybody around Max thought, but Max knew what he was doing. Max was once a poor man, yes, he had never met anyone poorer than him. But when his long lost wealthy great grandfather died. Max was his only remaining relative, making him his sole heir. When Max learned that his great grandfather had left him a $900 billion inheritance, he knew he had to pass his great grandfather's test if he was to inherit his fortune. A challenge for Max to spend $50 billion in a month with no assets remaining at the end of the month. _ Deep in his thoughts, Max heard the elevator chimp and slowly alighted from the elevator into a huge marble lobby. In front of him was a giant painting of himself wearing a suit as well as some sort of fancy watch with a large price tag, next to it hung a big sign reading 'Max Caulfield.' Max sighed, trying to get rid of the memories of when he first stepped foot into the hotel lobby. He just wanted to forget his current situation and get out of there, however Max knew he must see Jane and explain everything that had happened to her, especially how he lost all his money due to his great-grandfather's test. He knew where Jane's room was because during the days he was at the hotel, he knew this was Jane's favorite room. Max walked up to a room door with the number 5 etched on the shiny gold plate above the door. He knocked twice and then waited a couple of seconds for someone to answer the door. After waiting for a few minutes of waiting for the door to be opened, Max was already fed up with waiting, knowing that the security men will be here anytime soon. After waiting for another minute, Max decided to enter. When he opened the door, the sight that greeted him made Max close his eyes briefly before looking again. Inside the apartment, there was his best friend Alex and Jane in a s*x position with Jane leaning on the wall and Alex between her legs pressing on her thighs as he entered deeply and fast into her. Jane let her arms fall to the ground by her sides, giving Alex more access to her body and Alex gave his all to the task at hand. As the door slammed shut behind Max, Alex pulled out from Jane's body and sat up straight. The moment Alex noticed him, he smiled sheepishly."Uh hi Max!" he said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck as he got up from the bed. Max simply stood there with his mouth wide open as he stared at Jane. The last thing he expected to see on his visit was his ex and his friend f*****g on the bed. After a few awkward seconds of silence, Alex broke the tension,"Well, uh, don't mind us." he said as he continued rubbing the back of his neck. Max snapped out of his state when he saw Jane getting up and pulling herself up using Alex's shirt. Before leaving the room, Max called out to them,"Oh, yeah, it's okay! It's cool." he paused for a second,"I'll just uh...go now." Jane looked over her shoulder with furrowed eyebrows, "Why is your face red and surprised?" she asked," You are broke Max, it's Alex that can now take care of me not You!" Max chuckled softly, still looking at Alex,"Thanks." he said quietly and winked at his ex."You guys have fun" Max said and then turned around to leave, walking straight past the security guards that had now arrived at the door of the room. The security guards let Max pass beside them after seeing what happened and felt pity for him. All these security guards were once Max guards when he rented the hotel a few months ago and they all knew the relationship between Max, Jane and Alex. The security guards looked at each other as they saw how quiet Max was acting. None of the security guards had ever seen Max act so...normal. It wasn't until that morning, when Max came into the hotel and went directly to the lift. His usual bright eyes weren't there, he looked like he's barely sleeping and his hair, normally perfectly tamed, was messy. And the bags under his eyes were so dark that the guards feared for his sanity. And finally, the clothes that the young man had worn today weren't anything too flashy or expensive either: a simple white tee shirt tucked into loose gray pants. The guards had no idea why he'd even bother to come here unless he just wanted to tell Jane something. That probably wouldn't happen though if he was looking for comfort instead of Jane. The guards looked at Max who kept staring at the floor. No one in the hotel staff really paid much attention to this boy with messy hair and tired eyes, but every single person who saw him today recognised his signature green eyes, the only thing that the security guards had ever seen in their lives. The elevator doors opened and Max quickly stepped inside. Just before exiting the elevator, he looked behind him one last time and saw the security guards staring at him. Once the doors of the elevator closed, Max looked up at the camera, "This is the last time I'll ever come here" Max whispered angrily. With that said, Max exited the elevator and headed for the stairwell. _ Max's footsteps echoed through the silent halls, echoing as he took steps on the stairs, the sound causing Max to jump slightly. He stopped for a brief moment as he caught himself from falling backwards and proceeded his path. His heart rate quickened as his mind wandered off into the darkness of his past. After his father died years ago, Max's mother passed away as well. His brother, Jack, was busy with work and was not particularly interested in spending any extra time with his little brother whom he loved very much before dying in an airplane crash. So for the next few years, Max lived alone in a small apartment and worked in one of the many bars that were scattered across New York City. He drank and partied almost every day for about three months and he didn't even care of his friends' advice. If the bartender or one of the patrons of the bar ever asked him about his condition, he just replied,"f**k you". No one dared to ask him what was wrong. Max's mother's death left an emptiness inside of him which eventually started to eat him alive. He was depressed and he felt like he had become someone else and didn't really know what to do anymore, he didn't want to get angry anymore and he had no interest in taking risks. After spending three months living in the same apartment building with nothing to eat but coffee and bread, Max moved to another apartment complex. His roommates were nice enough, but they didn't seem to care if he slept or did anything else that didn't concern them. The only things that bothered the other tenants were the noise they made sometimes in their sleep so one night, Max just went out into the city. He spent hours roaming through the city with his hands stuffed in the pockets of his pants, feeling the cold wind on his skin. He ended up buying a cheap bottle of vodka that cost less than 100 bucks and then started drinking heavily from it. His alcohol intake increased and became worse with every day. The only way to stop the constant pain he experienced was to drink, and then when he finished drinking, he would just lie down on the floor and stare at the ceiling until dawn came. Eventually, the pain disappeared but his alcoholism grew and now it was like it never disappeared. After the third bottle of alcohol, Max fell unconscious.