SHE MADE A LAUGHINGSTOCK OF ME AT THE UNIVERSITY ALUMNI REUNION, UNAWARE THAT I AM THE CHAIRMAN OF A $10 BILLION COMPANY.
Chapter 6
Ten years after the reunion, Daniel returned to the university once more.
This time, he was invited to receive an honorary doctorate.
The campus had changed.
So had he.
His hair was slightly gray.
His company had expanded globally.
Carter Global Holdings had become one of the most influential investment groups in the country.
But Daniel still carried the same old notebook.
The one he had used as a student.
After the ceremony, he sat alone in the old cafeteria.
He ordered coffee.
Then smiled.
The coffee was still terrible.
Some things never changed.
A young student approached.
“Excuse me.”
Daniel looked up.
“Yes?”
“Are you Daniel Carter?”
“Yes.”
The student smiled.
“My professor told me about you.”
“That’s dangerous.”
The student laughed.
“I’ve been accepted into your scholarship program.”
“Congratulations.”
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“How did you handle people who laughed at you?”
Daniel looked at him.
“Sometimes badly.”
The student smiled.
“Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
“I thought you were always confident.”
“No.”
Daniel shook his head.
“I was terrified.”
“Then how did you keep going?”
“I learned that confidence doesn’t come before action.”
The student listened.
“You act first.”
“Then?”
“Confidence follows.”
The student nodded.
Daniel stood.
“You’ll be okay.”
“Thank you.”
As the student walked away, Daniel looked around the cafeteria.
He remembered himself at twenty-two.
Poor.
Exhausted.
Uncertain.
But hopeful.
He wondered what that young man would think if he could see him now.
Would he be proud?
Maybe.
Would he believe it?
Probably not.
Daniel smiled.
He didn’t become successful because he was destined to.
He became successful because he kept making the next decision.
One step.
Then another.
Then another.
That was all.
Outside, Victoria was waiting.
She had become a major philanthropist herself.
She approached Daniel.
“Congratulations, Doctor Carter.”
He laughed.
“Please don’t call me that.”
She smiled.
“I remember when I called you a nobody.”
Daniel looked at her.
“You were wrong.”
“I know.”
They laughed.
Victoria had changed.
So had Daniel.
She looked at the university.
“Do you ever think about that night?”
“Sometimes.”
“Do you wish it never happened?”
Daniel thought.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because it brought me here.”
Victoria smiled.
“You really don’t hold grudges.”
“Life is too short.”
She nodded.
Then she handed him a small envelope.
“What is this?”
“Open it.”
Inside was a photograph.
The entire alumni class from twenty years earlier.
Daniel stared.
Someone had circled him.
Then written beneath the photograph:
We were wrong about him.
Daniel laughed.
“Who wrote this?”
Victoria smiled.
“I did.”
He looked at her.
“Thank you.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“Thank you.”
And for the first time, Daniel understood that sometimes the best revenge isn’t success.
It is peace.
