THE GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY

It was the golden anniversary of the Williams Family Patriarch and his wife. They had been married for 50 solid years together.

All their children and the few grandkids that they already had were gathered in the house, with a few of their closest friends who had pretty much become family to them, joining them as well.

The entire living room was decked out in glittering lights, tiny wires filled with golden light that shined and illuminated the whole space.

The large five tier cake, each tier to mark one decade had already been cut into, and served to the guests. The champagne fountain had also noticeably reduced.

Everyone was having a good time. Forget great, they were having a blast. Despite the fact that Master Williams himself was bedridden and couldn't even come out for the anniversary, it was just his wife who was receiving all the gifts and good wishes.

“Madame Williams, this is one of the only two pairs of shoes from the greatest fashion designer the world had ever seen,” Lady Clarissa, one of Madame Williams' closest friends over the years, said.

“Well, who has the other pair now? You know I couldn't possibly share shoes with anyone.”

Madame Williams said with a snide smile as everyone laughed with her as if she had said something particularly funny.

Lady Clarissa stuttered out a nervous laugh. “Ehm, it's really only one other pair in the world,

Madame Williams. And that pair is rumored to be worn by the granddaughter of the Duke

family.”

Madame Williams sharp in drawn breath couldn't be missed. She looked at the pair of glittering silver slingback shoes in the thick black box on the table in front of her, filled to the brim and creaking under the weight of other gifts.

There was a new glint of interest in Madame Williams' eyes. “You mean the granddaughter of the Duke family wears the only other pair in the world?”

Everyone had stopped whispering to listen. The only thing better than having an exclusive pair of anything by a designer was having all the pairs said designer had made.

But what was even better than that, a million times more satisfying, was the existence of two pairs, and she got to wear one, and the person wearing the other only pair in existence was the granddaughter of the most powerful and wealthy family in their large City.

Madame Williams picked up the shoes, her long red nails caressing them. “So only I and the young daughter of the Duke family own this magnificent creation.” Now she could brag that she wore what the most fashionable and wealthy young girl wore as well.

If she wore what the Duke family wore, that meant they were all on the same level now, more or less. She smiled at Lady Clarissa. Her first genuine smile to the woman in the entire day. “Accept my thanks, Clarissa. I would never have thought that you were such a thoughtful and kind friend.”

That was as much of a thanks any one could get from her. Clarissa beamed, satisfied that she had been smart enough to get the pair of shoes.

Her husband wanted the support of the Williams Family for the launch of his new pharmaceutical company. Maybe the Williams family would enter a deal with them and allow their company to supply them drugs, and eventually they would partner up.

Timothy spoke up from the sidelines. He was standing behind his wife, who was the first daughter of Chairman Willis Williams and Madame Williams. “Mother in law, I got you a gift. It is right outside, if you would please follow me.”

His wife, Alora was preening with pride, and it could be guessed that whatever they had brought had to be extremely opulent.

Madame Williams got to her feet, wrinkling her nose. “I hope it will be worth my time and energy,

Timothy. I wouldn't like to walk all the way outside for nothing.”

Alora siddled up to her mother, careful not to press against her mother's expensive brocade material worth hundreds of millions of dollars. “It is well worth it, mother. Just come,”

Timothy and Alora led the way, with Madame Williams following, and the rest of them closely behind Madame Williams.

One person did not follow. He remained in the sitting room, wondering why everyone had to go out when the gift was for one person. It was Lawton.

Elijah Lawton was the son in law of Chairman Willis Williams and Madame Williams. He was the husband of their second daughter and second to the last child, Amanda Williams. He was also the most cursed and embarrassing member of the family.

Everyone wanted him gone.

Everyone except Chairman Willis that was. And to some extent, Amanda.

No one noticed that he didn't even follow the crowd outside. Quite literally, no one cared.

He snagged a glass of champagne and settled on one of the lush sofas to wait for them.

Outside the mansion that was the Williams residence, the latest model of a Mercedes Benz E-class was in the driveway, a huge red bow secured to the top.

Timothy handed a set of keys to Madame Williams with flourish. “For you, mother in law.”

Madame Williams was speechless. It didn't matter that she didn't know how to drive, she always had to appear in the back seat of the latest cars, flashing her money.

“Timothy!” She said, “Is this not too much? How do you always manage to spoil me more than my own sons?”

Her two sons rolled their eyes. One of them, the first son, Barry, had made a sculpture of their mother in their very courtyard, which had angered her because she said the sculpture was ugly, a hideous representation of her.

The second son, Charles had bought her a fancy new gun that was tiny and served as more or less a paperweight. It was a cute little thing, golden in color. She loved it, but of course it didn't compare to this car she could show everyone.

“Oh my God, I have got to enter inside.”

She rushed and opened the front door and slid in. She came out after a few minutes of admiring the interiors.

Lawton stood up from the sofa inside, taking his drink outside to the quiet backyard. He walked closer to the sculpture of Madame Williams and he couldn't help a chuckle as he looked at the face.

Madame Williams hadn't been lying. The replica of her had a face twisted in a grimace that made her look ugly. But what Madame Williams didn't realize, or maybe she just didn't want to accept it, was that that was exactly how her face was most times.

She always wore a condescending grimace on her face. Like everyone was beneath her and she suffered just to exist along with the rest of them.

Just then the youngest daughter of the Williams family, Allison came out of the house. She looked Lawton up and down and siddled closer to him.

Lawton shifted away. Allison always acted weirdly when it was just the two of them but she never hesitated to mock him in front of others.

“Hi, Lawton,” she drawled in what she probably thought was a sexy voice. Her dress had a low

plunging neckline and her boobs were almost all out. The dress was short and molded to her body.

She reached out a hand and ran her hand over Lawton's chest, pressing closer into his chest.

Lawton jerked away, his hand gripping his champagne flute so hard it almost shattered.

“Stop it, Allison.” he bit out, annoyed with her behavior. He felt nothing for what she put on display. He would never betray Amanda's trust or reduce himself to such a lowly man who cheated on his wife.

She shook her head and then laughed softly at him. “I know Amanda doesn't let you touch her.

But don't worry, I'm the only woman you have to think about anyway.”

Lawton shook his head. He couldn't understand why she was always like this. Why she wanted him. His only explanation was that maybe she liked slumming it up with poor guys such as himself.

“You have to stop it with sneaking up on me. Don't make me tell anyone about this.”

Allison laughed. “Go ahead and tell them. No one would believe you anyway,”

Lawton knew what she said was true.

She came to him again and this time pressed her entire body to him. “Kiss me, I know you want to.”

Lawton pushed her away, stepping around the sculpture to get away from her. Just then they heard the voice of the others approaching.

Allison's eyes flashed as her face twisted into a scowl that Lawton had rejected her advances again!

Her hand reached out and with a defiant and twisted need to punish Lawton, she pushed the sculpture.

“Allison!” Lawton yelled, his mouth wide open in shock.