Chapter 1038

Displeasure festered within Devin when he saw how Peter had become the center of attention of the gala. Although he had been beaten black and blue by Jack earlier, he stubbornly raised his sign and yelled out, "15 million dollars!"

As part of the Big Four, Devin knew that his donation amount had to surpass the Trevell family's. He needed to ensure that he left a good impression on both Patrick and Gerard.

The hall erupted into chaos once more. The guests didn't expect that Devin would

be even more generous than Peter. Not wanting to be left in the dust, Jett scrambled to raise his sign and announced that he would be donating 12 million dollars, matching the amount that the Roe and Trevell families were donating.

Jett was also indirectly announcing to the entirety of Tarthy City that he was abandoning the Carpenter family and was now officially allied with the Roe and Trevell families. Three of the Big Four's donations totaled up to 37 million dollars, which was more than double of what the people before them had donated.

It was no wonder that they were a part of the Big Four. They were pulling out all the stops to flaunt their wealth. Gerard nodded as an approving smile appeared on his face. Patrick was also greatly pleased by the amount that the Roe, Trevell, and Gould families were donating.

He glanced at Winona, who was nearby, and noticed that she was looking at him with a gentle gaze. He then directed his gaze toward Casey and realized that she was also staring at him. A mixture of melancholy and envy swirled in her eyes. It was obvious that she was jealous of the silent moment of affection that Patrick and Winona had shared.

Satisfaction welled up in Patrick's heart. Nothing was more pleasing to him than to win both power and the affection of beautiful women at the same time. Patrick waved his hand lightly, signalling to his subordinate behind him, whose face was set in an impassive mask, to raise a sign that read "five million dollars".

Patrick's donation was 50 million dollars, which was more than the total amount of donations that had been received thus far. He was truly flaunting his immense fortune! Everybody that was present was stunned by the astronomical amount of money that Patrick was willing to donate. Soon, thunderous applause erupted in the hall while many people gave Patrick a thumbs-up.

Even Gerard was slightly impressed-Winona had chosen the right person to give her affections to.

Winona was still by Gerard's side. Upon noticing the approving glint in Gerard's eyes when he looked at Patrick, her heart overflowed with sweetness. Her greatest wish had been for Patrick to win the approval of Gerard.

A young girl, who was as pretty as a porcelain doll, offered a bouquet of fresh flowers to Patrick to express her respect for him.

The people could already predict what the headlines of the different Tarthy City media outlets would be like the next day. Patrick's handsome countenance as he cradled a bouquet of flowers would undoubtedly appear on the front page.

"100 million dollars!"

Just as everyone's attention was focused on Patrick, including John and Ignatius, someone raised their sign and called out an even bigger number from an inconspicuous corner of the hall.

Everyone in the hall was shocked once again. Some were even convinced that their ears were playing tricks on them.

"What? 100 million dollars? Someone is donating 100 million dollars?"

"It must be a joke, right?"

"Who's generous enough to donate 100 million dollars?"

"The money isn't the issue here. For him to donate that much money in front of Mr. Hamilton, isn't his intention to go against him?"

Everyone had assumed that

Patrick's huge donation would be the biggest one during the charity gala. Elias, who was seated in a

corner at the front row and had been

ignored for most of the night had e night had seized his chance when everyone was still shocked over Patrick's donation.

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He raised his sign that read "100 million dollars", causing the guests of the gala to once again descend into chaos. Countless reporters aimed their cameras at Elias and rapidly snapped photos of him. The Carpenter family was a part of the Big Four along with the Roe, Trevell, and Gould families. However, Elias' enormous donation had left the other three families in the dust.

Other than the reporters who were still snapping photos of Elias, no one clapped or smiled at Elias. Even Gerard found that he was at a loss for what to do. He never

imagined that Elias would donate 100 million dollars out of the blue!

Meanwhile, Devin's and Peter's

faces had turned as dark as coal.

Only they knew that not only was Elias publicly going against the other three families of the Big Four, butche was also openly declaring to the entire upper class of Tarthy City that the Carpenter family was going to challenge Patrick.